United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to extend through FY 2002 the authorization of appropriations for: (1) the Federal Council on the Aging; (2) administration; (3) grants for State and community programs on aging; (4) the availability of surplus commodities; (5) training, research, and discretionary projects and programs; (6) community service employment for older Americans; (7) grants for Native Americans; (8) allotments for Vulnerable Elder Rights Protection activities; and (9) the Native American program.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to transfer the following excess defense materials to Federal and State agencies for law enforcement activities: (1) small arms, ammunition, protective equipment, vehicles, and other personal property with a direct application to such activities; and (2) personal property intended to enhance the training, safety, or working conditions of law enforcement officers.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Research on Lupus Title II: Delivery of Services Regarding Lupus Lupus Research and Care Amendments of 1999 - Title I: Research on Lupus - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to expand and intensify research and related activities of the Institute regarding lupus. Requires the Director to: (1) coordinate such activities with similar activities conducted by other national research institutes and agencies of the National Institutes of Health; and (2) conduct or support research to expand the understanding of the causes of, and to find a cure for, lupus, including research to determine the reasons underlying the elevated prevalence of the disease among African-American and other women. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Delivery of Services Regarding Lupus - Mandates grants for the establishment, operation, and coordination of effective and cost-efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals with lupus and their families. Regulates charges (whether they are characterized as enrollment fees, premiums, deductibles, cost sharing, copayments, coinsurance, or other charges) imposed by grantees on service recipients. Authorizes technical assistance. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1999
Guam War Restitution Act - Amends the Organic Act of Guam to set forth award and benefit eligibility requirements for living Guamanians, or the heirs or next of kin of deceased Guamanians, who suffered a compensable injury during the occupation of Guam in World War II. Defines "compensable injury" as: (1) death; (2) personal injury; or (3) forced labor, forced march, or internment. Establishes the Guam Trust Fund and the Guam Trust Fund Commission. Authorizes the Commission to make disbursements from the Fund to: (1) make awards available to Guamanians who personally received the compensable injury, or to their heirs or next of kin in claims for death; (2) make benefits (including scholarships, medical expenses, or first-time home ownership grants) available to Guamanians who are heirs or next of kin of the decedent Guamanian who received the compensable injury that is the basis for a claim if the claim is for a compensable injury other than death; (3) sponsor research and public educational activities to commemorate the events surrounding the wartime experiences and losses of the Guamanian people; and (4) pay the Commission's administrative expenses. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the President to submit to the Congress a list of recommended spending cuts or other measures that would provide, over the next five years, enough savings to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1999
Manufactured Housing Improvement Act - Amends the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 to revise Federal construction and safety provisions for manufactured homes based upon a consensus standards development process. Eliminates the National Manufactured Home Advisory Council. Revises related fee provisions to: (1) apply such fees to manufactured home manufacturers (currently fees apply to manufacturers, distributors, and dealers); and (2) establish in the Treasury the Manufactured Housing Fees Trust Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1999
Emergency Medical Services Enhancement Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit the issuance of tax-exempt bonds by qualified volunteer emergency services organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Title II: State, Local, and Urban Conservation and Recreation Title III: Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999 - Title I: Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance - Establishes the Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Fund (OCSIAF) to provide impact assistance to coastal States from a portion (27 percent) of allocable new OCS revenues (payments received by the United States as royalties, net profit share payments, and related late-payment interest from natural gas and oil leases under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act). Prohibits placement in the Fund of OCS revenues from a leased tract (or portion) located in a geographic area subject to a leasing moratorium on January 1, 1999, unless the lease was issued before the moratorium and was in production on such date. (Sec. 103) Sets forth a formula for use by the Secretary of the Interior to determine the portion of the allocable share of new revenues attributable to each coastal State and county eligible to receive impact assistance payments. Mandates that such OCS funds be expended by the eligible coastal States and counties for certain environmental projects and activities. Requires: (1) the Governor of every OCSIAF recipient State to develop (and certify to the Secretary) a State plan for the use of such funds; (2) an eligible county to submit for the Governor's approval a plan setting forth the projects and activities for which it proposes to expend OCSIA funds; and (3) the Governor of each recipient State to account to the Congress for all OCSIAF monies received for the previous fiscal year. Title II: State, Local, and Urban Conservation and Recreation - Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (LWCFA) to require an amount equal to 23 percent of specified Outer Continental Shelf revenues to be credited to a separate account in the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in the Treasury in each fiscal year through September 30, 2015. (Sec. 202) Makes such funds available, without further appropriation, to carry out LWCFA in the next succeeding fiscal year. Provides that, if such revenues in a fiscal year exceed $900 million, such excess shall be available, without further appropriation, in the next succeeding fiscal year for obligation or expenditure as payments in lieu of taxes. Authorizes appropriations to maintain a certain minimum total annual income of the LWCF. Makes certain amounts covered into the LWCF available for expenditure without appropriation. Sets forth formulae for allocation of such funds for: (1) Federal acquisition of certain lands, waters, or interests; (2) financial assistance to the States for land acquisition, urban conservation, and recreation projects; and (3) local governments through the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery Program of the Department of the Interior. Provides for an LWCFA allocation of funds to Indian tribes and Alaska Native Village Corporations. Requires States to make at least 50 percent of the annual State apportionment under LWCFA available as grants to local governments. Replaces, within a five-year period, LWCFA requirements for comprehensive State plans with requirements for State action agendas. Allows each State to define its own priorities and criteria for selection of outdoor recreation and conservation acquisition and development projects eligible for LWCFA grants so long as it provides for public involvement in this process and publishes an accurate and current State Action Agenda for Community Recreation and Conservation. Requires such Agendas to: (1) be strategic, originating in broad-based and long-term needs, but focused on actions that can be funded over the next four years, and be updated every four years; (2) consider all providers of recreation and conservation lands, and correlate with other State, regional and local plans for parks, recreation, open space, and wetlands conservation; (3) address wetlands as important outdoor recreation and conservation resources, and incorporate a State wetlands priority conservation plan consistent with the national plan developed under the Emergency Wetlands Resources Act; and (4) be guided in part by recovery action programs developed by urban localities under the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act. Revises LWCFA conditions for approval of conversions. (Sec. 203) Amends the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act (UPRRA) to provide (in addition to the current types of at-risk recreation grants and recovery action program grants) for matching capital grants to local governments in the form of: (1) development grants for development and construction on existing or new neighborhood recreation sites, including indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, support facilities, and landscaping, but excluding routine maintenance and upkeep activities; and (2) acquisition grants for purchasing new parkland to be permanently dedicated and made accessible for public recreation use. Revises UPRRA requirements for: (1) eligibility; (2) matching grants; (3) coordination; and (4) conversion approval. Repeals the limitation on the use of UPRRA funds for acquisition of land or interests in land. (Sec. 205) Establishes a Habitat Reserve Program (HRP) within the Department of the Interior to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior in association with the applicable State fish and wildlife department in the State where the affected land is located. Requires lands eligible for enrollment in the HRP to be privately owned and designated by the State agency as necessary to preserve the existence of one or more species listed under the Endangered Species Act, and their owners and operators to have voluntarily entered into partnership agreements with the Secretary and the State agency. Prescribes: (1) limitations on lands eligible for enrollment in the HRP; (2) HRP contract requirements; (3) HRP management plans; (4) HRP contract duration; and (5) payments to owners or operators of lands included in the HRP. Title III: Wildlife Conservation and Restoration - Amends the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (FAWRA) to require an amount equal to ten percent of specified Outer Continental Shelf revenues to be deposited in a new subaccount in the Federal aid to wildlife restoration fund (FAWRF), to be invested and to be made available without further appropriation, for apportionment in the next succeeding fiscal year for State wildlife conservation and restoration programs. Provides that all interest on such amounts shall be available without further appropriations, for obligation or expenditure for purposes of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act of 1989. (Sec. 305) Sets forth requirements for: (1) allocation of such subaccount receipts; (2) applications for approval of, and development grants for, State wildlife conservation and restoration programs; and (3) coordination. (Sec. 306) Allows certain subaccount funds for such a State wildlife conservation and restoration program to be used for law enforcement and education. (Sec. 307) Prohibits a State from receiving FAWRA matching funds if it diverts any funds from wildlife conservation purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1999
Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act of 1999 - Requires each participating manufacturer of a covered outpatient drug to make available for purchase by each pharmacy such covered outpatient drug in the described amount (an amount equal to the aggregate amount of the covered outpatient drug sold or distributed by the pharmacy to Medicare beneficiaries) and at the described price (the price equal to the lower of either the lowest price paid for the drug by the Federal Government or the manufacturer's best price for the drug). Sets forth special provisions with respect to hospice programs.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1999
Post Office Community Partnership Act of 1999 - Modifies Federal postal law to revise requirements for the closing or consolidation of a post office and apply them, as well, to its relocation or construction. Requires a 60-day notice before an office's relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction. Requires such notice to be: (1) hand delivered or delivered by mail; and (2) published in one or more newspapers of general circulation within the zip codes served by such post office. Sets forth provisions which: (1) allow any person served by the post office to offer an alternative relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction proposal within such 60-day period; and (2) require the Postal Service to conduct a hearing, if requested by such person, to allow the individual to present oral or written testimony. Revises the factors to be considered in deciding whether or not to relocate, close, consolidate, or construct a post office to include: (1) the extent to which the post office is part of a core downtown business area; (2) the sentiment of the community; (3) the adequacy of the existing post office; and (4) whether all reasonable alternatives to relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction have been explored. Requires the Postal Service to respond in a consolidated report to all of the alternative proposals offered within the 60-day notification period by persons served by the post office in question. Requires the Postal Service to follow a community's public participation procedures to address the relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction of buildings in the community if such procedures are more stringent than those provided in this Act. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to a temporary customer service facility used for less than 60 days. Allows for a one-time suspension of this Act with respect to a single emergency for any specific post office for a maximum 180-day period.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1999
Designates the U.S. courthouse located at the corner of Seventh Street and East Jackson Street in Brownsville, Texas, as the Garza-Vela United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1999
Safe Seniors Assurance Study Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct a study for a report to Congress on the mortality and adverse outcomes rates of Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act (SSA)) patients by providers of anesthesia services (service providers). Provides that if the HHS Secretary determines that lack of physician supervision of service providers results in an adverse impact on outcome rates of Medicare patients, then such providers under Medicare or Medicaid (SSA title XIX) shall be supervised by a physician in the same manner as they are supervised under HHS regulations in effect on January 1, 1999.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1999
Military Retired Pay Restoration Act of 1999 - Amends Federal armed forces provisions to repeal: (1) a reduction in retirement pay applicable to individuals who first became members after July 31, 1986, had less than 30 years of military service, and were under 62 years of age at the time of retirement; (2) a reduced annual cost-of-living adjustment in the retired pay of such individuals; and (3) a provision restoring the full retirement amount for such individuals upon reaching 62 years of age.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1999
Homeowners' Emergency Mortgage Assistance Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a mortgage emergency assistance program for qualifying homeowners with National Housing Act-insured mortgages who are temporarily unable to meet their obligations due to financial hardship beyond their control. Requires homeowner repayment of such assistance and interest.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1999
Honoring American Military Women for Their Service in World War II Resolution - Honors the women who served the United States in military capacities during World War II. Recognizes that these women contributed vitally to the victory of the United States and the Allies in the war.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Fairness and Voluntary Arbitration Act - Requires each party to a sales and service contract that provides for the use of arbitration in resolving controversies to have the option to reject arbitration as the means of settling a controversy. Requires the arbitrator, whenever arbitration is elected to settle a dispute under such a contract, to provide the parties with a written explanation of the factual and legal basis for the award.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Amends provisions relating to the census to eliminate the exception that prevents the use of sampling in determining the population for purposes of the apportionment of Representatives in the Congress among the several States.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Honors Cesar E. Chavez for his commitment to improve the plight of farm workers and the poor. Urges that a Federal holiday be recognized throughout the United States in his honor. Encourages all Americans to commit themselves to working for justice through nonviolence in their communities.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Directs the President to impose quotas, tariff surcharges, or negotiate enforceable voluntary export restraint agreements in order to ensure that the volume of imported steel products (semifinished, plates, sheets and strips, wire rods, wire and wire products, rail type products, bars, structural shapes and units, pipes and tubes, iron ore, and coke products) during any month does not exceed the average volume of imported steel for the 36-month period preceding July 1997. Directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and of Commerce to implement a program for administering and enforcing the restraints on such imports. Authorizes the Customs Service to refuse entry into the U.S. customs territory for a three year period of any steel products that exceed the allowable levels of such products.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Makes veterans who have been awarded the Purple Heart eligible for veterans' hospital care and medical services. Provides such veterans with a priority in the veterans' system of annual patient enrollment.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Condemns: (1) the racism and bigotry espoused by the Council of Conservative Citizens; and (2) all manifestations and expressions of racism, bigotry, and religious intolerance wherever they occur. Urges all Members of the House of Representatives not to support or endorse the Council and its views.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1999
Wire Transfer Fairness and Disclosure Act of 1999- Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require a financial institution or money transmitting business initiating an international money transfer on behalf of a consumer to disclose prominently on its premises and on its forms and receipts: (1) the exchange rate used in the transaction; (2) the exchange rate prevailing at a major financial center of the pertinent foreign country as of close of business on the business day immediately preceding the transaction date; and (3) all commissions and fees charged in such transaction. Requires such information to be: (1) included in print, broadcast, and electronic advertisements; and (2) in English and in the same language as principally used by the institution or money transmitting business to advertise, solicit, or negotiate at that office if other than English.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1999
Directs the Secretary of the military department concerned to ensure that any person who first becomes a member of the armed forces on or after the date of enactment of this Act is provided a written statement of all the benefits that will be provided to such person upon retirement from the armed forces. Prohibits any such statement from including a reservation of the right to change any such benefit. Requires any such person who subsequently retires from the armed forces to receive the benefits as described in the original statement.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1999
Health Care Access Improvement Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a limited tax credit to qualified primary health services providers who establish practices in health professional shortage areas.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1999
Medicare Common Sense Hospital Payment Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, to repeal a specified restriction on Medicare payment for certain hospital discharges to post-acute care.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1999
Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to prohibit any Medicaid-related funds recovered or paid to a State as part of a settlement or judgment reached in litigation the State initiated or pursued against one or more tobacco companies from being treated as an overpayment.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1999
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Treatment and Assistance Act of 1999 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for a waiver of the 24-month waiting period for Medicare coverage for individuals disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) to provide for Medicare coverage of any drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the treatment or alleviation of ALS-related symptoms.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance Act of 1999 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to prohibit a group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group coverage from discriminating on the basis: (1) of genetic information; or (2) that the participant or beneficiary has requested or received genetic services. Regulates genetic information collection and disclosure by plans and issuers. Provides for compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages. Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a group health plan, a health insurance issuer offering group coverage, or a health issuer in the individual market from so discriminating. Regulates genetic information collection and disclosure by plans and issuers. Provides for compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prohibit an issuer of a Medicare supplemental policy from so discriminating. Provides for compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit a group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group coverage from so discriminating. Regulates genetic information collection and disclosure by plans and issuers.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Autism Statistics, Surveillance, Research, and Epidemiology Act of 1999 (ASSURE) - Authorizes grants and contracts for the collection, analysis, and reporting of data on autism and pervasive developmental disabilities. Mandates establishment of three to five regional centers of excellence in autism and pervasive developmental disabilities epidemiology to collect and analyze information, to be established and operated through grants or cooperative agreements. Requires that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention serve as the coordinating agency for autism and pervasive developmental disabilities surveillance through the establishment of a clearinghouse for data generated from the monitoring programs created by this Act. Mandates establishment of an Advisory Committee for Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disabilities Epidemiology Research. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Permits certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
John Glenn Congressional Gold Medal Act - Authorizes the President to present, on behalf of the Congress, a congressional gold medal to Senator John Herschel Glenn, Jr., in recognition of his significant contributions to American society for more than 50 years. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell bronze duplicates.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Ethnic and Minority Bias Clearinghouse Act of 1999 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to establish within the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) an ethnic and minority affairs section which shall: (1) establish a clearinghouse for complaints, grievances, and opinions relating to the depiction of ethnic and minority groups in radio, television, and cable television programming; (2) collect, analyze, and prepare information concerning such portrayal; (3) conduct an annual conference to focus public attention on such portrayal; and (4) prepare and transmit to the Congress an annual report detailing the activities of the section. Directs the FCC Chairman to establish an advisory committee to assist the section in implementing its annual conference.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Uniformed Services Former Spouses Equity Act of 1999 - Requires payment from the monthly disposable retired pay of a member to his or her former spouse in compliance with court orders (division of property) to terminate upon the remarriage of that spouse, effective as of the last day of the month in which the remarriage occurs. Provides that, in the case of a member to whom a final decree of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation is issued before the member begins to receive retired pay, the disposable retired pay of such member, for purposes of such monthly payments, shall be computed based on the pay grade and length of service of the member while married. Increases such amount concurrently with retired pay increases. Requires a member's spouse or former spouse to obtain a court order for reapportionment of a member's monthly disposable retired pay by the later of the following dates: (1) two years of the date of the final decree of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation; or (2) six months after the enactment of this Act. Prohibits the court from treating as part of a member's disposable retired pay amounts which have been waived from such pay in order to receive veterans' disability compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Central American and Caribbean Refugee Adjustment Act of 1999 - Amends the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act to eliminate the Cuban or Nicaraguan nationality requirement for status adjustment of spouses and children. Makes nationals of Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Haiti eligible for permanent resident status adjustment under such Act. (Current law applies to nationals of Nicaragua and Cuba.) Makes conforming amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group health insurance coverage, with regard to hospital stays in connection with breast cancer treatment, from: (1) covering less than 48 hours after mastectomies or less than 24 hours after lymph node dissections; or (2) requiring plan or issuer authorization for prescribing any length of stay. Prohibits: (1) denying eligibility, enrollment, or renewal to avoid these requirements; (2) providing payments or rebates to women; or (3) penalizing or providing incentives to providers. Applies the same requirements to issuers in the individual market.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Treatment of Children's Deformities Act of 1998 - Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Internal Revenue Code to set standards requiring that group and individual health insurance coverage and group health plans provide coverage for treatment of a minor child's congenital or developmental deformity or disorder due to trauma, infection, tumor, or disease.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Notch Fairness Act of 1999 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to revise the formula for the computation of minimum Old Age Insurance benefits for individuals who reached age 65 in or after 1979 and to whom applies the 15-year transition period for the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977. Sets forth a schedule of additional benefit increases for such beneficiaries (and related beneficiaries), with percentages declining from 55 percent to five percent and keyed to the year an individual became eligible for such benefits between 1979 and 1988. Allows such beneficiaries, in the alternative, to receive lump sum payments over four years totaling $5,000. Specifies offsetting nondefense and discretionary spending reductions the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall make over a four-year period for the increase in direct spending estimated to result from this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 1999
Affordable Housing Opportunity Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase, and link to the cost-of-living adjustment, the State low-income housing credit ceiling.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1998
Military Retired Pay Restoration Act of 1998 - Amends Federal armed forces provisions to repeal: (1) a reduction in retirement pay applicable to individuals who first became members after July 31, 1986, had less than 30 years of military service, and were under 62 years of age at the time of retirement; (2) a reduced annual cost-of- living adjustment in the retired pay of such individuals; and (3) a provision restoring the full retirement amount for such individuals upon reaching 62 years of age.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1998
Prescription Drug Fairness Act - Allows any qualified pharmacy to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enable the pharmacy to sell covered outpatient drugs to Medicare beneficiaries (under title XVIII of the Social Security Act) at a reduced price. Requires such an agreement to: (1) entitle the participating pharmacy to purchase any covered outpatient drug listed on the Federal Supply Schedule of the General Services Administration at the participating pharmacy discount price for that drug; and (2) permit the participating pharmacy to purchase under this Act as much of a covered outpatient drug as it sells to Medicare beneficiaries. Sets forth guidelines for determining the participating pharmacy discount price and a special rule for Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in a hospice program. Directs the Secretary to: (1) administer this Act in a manner that uses existing methods of obtaining and distributing drugs to the maximum extent possible, consistent with efficiency and cost effectiveness; and (2) report to the Congress annually regarding the effectiveness of this Act in protecting Medicare beneficiaries from discriminatory pricing by drug manufacturers, along with any appropriate legislative recommendations to further reduce the cost of covered outpatient drugs to such beneficiaries.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1998
Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize appropriations for FY 1999 through 2001 for: (1) the Federal Council on the Aging; (2) administration; (3) grants for State and community programs on aging; (4) the availability of surplus commodities; (5) training, research, and discretionary projects and programs; (6) community service employment for older Americans; (7) grants for Native Americans; (8) allotments for vulnerable elder rights protection activities; and (9) the Native American Program. Revises guidelines governing the transfer between specified grant programs of certain Federal funds received by a State.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1998
Medicare Home Health Beneficiary Protection Act of 1998 - Amends part D (Miscellaneous Provisions) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA), as amended by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA '97), to revise reasonable cost requirements with regard to the interim system of limited payments for services provided by home health agencies. Establishes a moratorium on implementation of per beneficiary limits and a three-year freeze on cost limits. Amends BBA '97 to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to: (1) establish a process for eliminating inappropriate utilization of home health services by reviewing claims for reimbursement of such services furnished under the Medicare program in which the number of home health visits provided to a beneficiary in a year exceeds the regional average of per beneficiary annual visits; (2) if appropriate, issue a determination denying payment for such a claim, and refer the name of the claimant-provider to the HHS Office of Inspector General for investigation; and (3) include in the annual reports to the Congress on home health cost containment any recommendations for changes to the method of payment, claims review, and scope of benefits that the Secretary determines is necessary to achieve actual outlays equal to estimated outlays under Medicare parts A (Hospital Insurance) and B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) for such services during the following fiscal year. (Sec. 4) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for: (1) establishment of limits for calculating prospective payment rates for home health services under the payment system for such services; and (2) temporary restoration of periodic interim payment for such services.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1998
Urges: (1) the President to declare the Federal land on and around Kneeling Nun Mountain in Grand County, New Mexico, to be a national monument in accordance with the Antiquities Act of 1906; and (2) the Secretary of the Interior, until such time as the President makes such declaration, to protect and preserve the Federal land from private encroachment and environmental damage.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 1998
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 - Directs the President to establish an Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia. Requires the Task Force to develop action plans on harmful algal blooms and on hypoxia. Directs the President to: (1) disestablish such Task Force after the submission of specified reports; and (2) submit a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Commerce for research, education, and management activities related to prevention, reduction, and control of harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. Amends the: (1) National Sea Grant College Program Act to expand the purposes for which a specified sum may be used for competitive grants for research on Pfiesteria piscicida and other harmful algal blooms; and (2) Coastal Zone Management Act to authorize appropriations for grants for technical assistance to support State implementation and analysis of the effectiveness of measures to prevent, reduce, mitigate, or control harmful algal blooms and hypoxia.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1998
Veterans Benefits Restoration Act of 1998 - Repeals a Federal provision which prohibits a veteran's disability or death from being considered to have resulted from a personal injury suffered or a disease contracted in the line of duty on the basis that it resulted from the use of tobacco products during the veteran's military, naval, or air service. Provides that such repeal shall apply to any claim for compensation received by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs before or after enactment of this Act. Prohibits the Director of the Office of Management and Budget from making any estimate of changes in direct spending outlays under provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) for any fiscal year resulting from the enactment of this Act.
![Official portrait of Rep. Ortiz, Solomon P. [D-TX-27]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/o000107_200.jpg)