United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) continue the Chesapeake Bay Program; and (2) maintain a Chesapeake Bay Program Office. Requires the Office to support the Chesapeake Executive Council (signatories of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement to protect the Bay) by: (1) implementing activities that support the Program; (2) making available information pertaining to the environmental quality and living resources of the Bay; (3) assisting the signatories in implementing action plans to carry out Agreement authorities; (4) assisting in the development of strategies to improve Bay water quality and living resources; and (5) implementing outreach programs to foster stewardship of the Bay. Establishes a Chesapeake Bay Federal Agencies Committee to coordinate Federal activities relating to the restoration of the Bay. Requires Federal agencies to report to the President on activities planned and undertaken, and resources provided, to meet responsibilities under the Program. Directs Federal agencies that own or operate facilities within the Bay watershed to assess the facilities to ensure compliance with the Program (specifically identifying impacts on Bay water quality or living resources) and include a plan for addressing such impacts in the report to the President. Requires the Administrator to: (1) implement a research, monitoring, and data collection program to assess the environmental quality and living resources of the major tributaries, rivers, and streams within the Bay watershed and assist in the development of management plans for such tributaries; and (2) establish a habitat restoration and design program in the watershed to demonstrate low-cost techniques for restoring wetlands, forest riparian zones, and other Bay habitats. Authorizes grants to public or private entities to carry out such programs. Directs the Administrator to implement a basinwide toxics reduction strategy, as well as research and monitoring to improve understanding of intermedia transfers of toxic pollutants and the ultimate fate of the pollutants within the Bay ecosystem. Authorizes financial assistance for specified activities. Extends the authorization of appropriations for the Program and related interstate development plan grants. Authorizes appropriations for activities not covered under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
State Offices of Rural Health Amendments of 1993 - Revises matching funds provisions of the program of grants to States for operation of offices of rural health (under the Public Health Service Act) to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services: (1) from making grants under the program unless the State agrees to provide non-Federal contributions towards specified costs, in cash, in an amount not less than one dollar for each dollar of Federal funds provided in the grant; and (2) in determining the amount of non-Federal contributions in cash that a State has provided, from including any amounts provided to the State by the Federal Government. Authorizes appropriations. Increases grant amounts that may be made before termination of the program.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconcilitation Act of 1987 to: (1) reauthorize the rural health care transition grant program through FY 1997; (2) direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give preference in making grants under such program to hospitals that establish consortia with other providers in the communities in which the hospitals are located; and (3) revise the frequency of the Secretary's reports on the program to the Congress from every six months to every 12 months.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Health Professional Shortage Area Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to add a certain percentage of the population being 65 years old or older to the indicators of need which must be taken into consideration in designating health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). Prohibits, for frontier areas, considering the travel time between population centers or to contiguous area resources. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to continue, for three months after withdrawal of the designation of an area as an HPSA, the additional payments mandated for services furnished in HPSAs.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend special payments under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) for the operating costs of inpatient services of Medicare-dependent, small rural hospitals. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to permit such hospitals which have been reclassified as urban to decline such reclassification.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Rural Hospital Payment Equity Act of 1993 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to the application of a hospital to change its geographic classification for purposes of determining its average standardized amount or the area wage index applicable to it. Requires the Medicare Geographic Classification Review Board to find the hospital's wages to be comparable to the wages of hospitals in the relevant geographic area if the hospital's average hourly wage is at least 85 percent of the average hourly wage of hospitals paid in such area.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Rural Federally-Qualified Health Center Resident Training Act of 1993 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to include the services of interns and residents at federally-qualified health centers providing services in a rural area in determining the amount of payment to hospitals under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) for the indirect costs of medical education.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Emergency Medical Services Enhancement Act of 1993 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit the issuance of tax-exempt bonds by organizations which provide rescue or emergency medical services.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1993
Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 to extend special treatment rules under the Medicare program for regional referral centers. Permits any hospital that fails to qualify as a rural referral center under Medicare as a result of the hospital's urban reclassification to decline such reclassification and have the rural classification restored.
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1993
Every Fifth Child Appropriations Act - Appropriates funds to carry out the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (WIC program) authorized in the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. Declares that, in order to achieve full funding for the program, there should be specified amounts appropriated in certain fiscal years. Appropriates funds to carry out the Head Start programs authorized in the Head Start Act. Declares that, in order to achieve full funding for the programs, there should be specified amounts appropriated in certain fiscal years. Appropriates funds to carry out the Job Corps program authorized in the Job Training Partnership Act. Declares that, in order to establish a minimum number of additional centers, serve a minimum additional number of youths, and achieve full funding for the program, there should be specified amounts appropriated in certain fiscal years.
United States · United States Congress · 1 April 1993
Expedited Rescissions Act of 1993 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to allow the President to transmit to both Houses of the Congress, for expedited consideration, one special message proposing to rescind all or part of any item of budget authority provided in an appropriation bill. Requires that such special message be transmitted not later than three days after the President approves the appropriation bill and be accompanied by a draft bill or joint resolution that would, if enacted, rescind the budget authority proposed to be rescinded. Sets forth House and Senate procedures for the expedited consideration of such a proposal. Provides a special transition rule for messages of the 104th Congress proposing to rescind certain budget authority of the 103d Congress. Provides judicial review of congressional actions under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 1 April 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Cancellation and Suspension Title II: Data Collection Title III: Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Food Quality Protection Act of 1993 - Title I: Cancellation and Suspension - Amends provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) relating to cancellations, changes in classifications, or other terms of registration with respect to the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Requires that a rulemaking under such provisions be based on a validated test or other significant evidence raising prudent concerns of unreasonable adverse effects to man or to the environment. Denies registration applications that are not in compliance with this Act. Title II: Data Collection - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to collect pesticide use data of statewide or regional significance for all the major crops and crops of dietary significance. Mandates research, development, and dissemination of integrated pest management techniques and other pest control methods that enable producers to reduce or eliminate application of pesticides which pose a greater than negligible dietary risk to humans. Title III: Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to define, subject to exception, "pesticide chemical" as it is defined in FIFRA. Deems a food adulterated if it bears or contains: (1) a pesticide chemical residue that is unsafe; or (2) a new animal drug or conversion product that is unsafe. Sets forth requirements relating to tolerances and exemptions from tolerances for pesticide chemical residues in food, including residues of degradation products. Prohibits establishment of a tolerance higher than a level the Administrator determines is adequate to protect the public health. Allows a greater than negligible dietary risk if: (1) use protects from greater adverse health effects to humans or the environment; (2) use avoids greater risks from another pesticide; or (3) the unavailability of the pesticide would reduce the availability of an adequate, wholesome, and economical domestic supply of the food, and the adverse effects from the reduction would outweigh the risk posed by the residue. Allows the Administrator to issue an exemption from the requirement for a tolerance only if a tolerance is not needed to protect the public health, in view of the levels of dietary exposure that could reasonably be expected to occur. Prohibits a final rule that revokes, modifies, or suspends a tolerance or exemption until the Administrator has taken any necessary action under FIFRA with respect to the registration of the pesticide involved. Requires the Administrator, if the Administrator takes certain actions with respect to the registration of a pesticide, to revoke any tolerance or exemption that allows the presence of the chemical or chemical residue. Requires the suspension of any tolerance or exemption upon the suspension of the use of an associated registered pesticide. Provides for: (1) tolerances for unavoidable residues in the case of a residue of a canceled or suspended pesticide chemical that will unavoidably persist in the environment and be present in or on a food; and (2) residues resulting from an application which was lawful at the time of application. Prohibits, subject to exception, a State from enforcing any limit on a qualifying pesticide chemical residue in or on any food which is not identical to Federal requirements. Prohibits a State from enforcing a residue limit which was lawful at the time of application. Authorizes appropriations for increased monitoring of pesticide residues in imported and domestic food.
United States · United States Congress · 1 April 1993
Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into an agreement to permit the Caring Place at Loyola, Inc., an Illinois nonprofit organization, to establish on the grounds of the Edward Hines, Jr., Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital in Hines, Illinois, a facility for providing temporary accommodations for family members of severely ill children being treated at the Loyola University of Chicago Medical Center and other hospitals.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1993
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to extend, through December 31, 1995, the existing suspension of duty on machines designed for heat-set, stretch texturing of continuous man-made fibers.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1993
Rural Community Environmental Assistance Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to extend the authorization of appropriations for State water pollution control revolving funds through FY 2000. Requires each State to establish a rural community environmental assistance account in such fund to be used only for the construction of wastewater treatment works and public water systems in economically distressed rural communities, subject to certain loan and grant conditions. Requires States to establish grant eligibility criteria. Permits assistance to be provided only if: (1) the wastewater treatment works is consistent with planning requirements under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act; and (2) the public water system is approved by the State agency with primary enforcement authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Requires States, in providing such assistance, to give priority to an economically distressed rural community in which: (1) there is a need for collector sewers and interceptors to improve access to wastewater treatment facilities; (2) residents rely on inadequate wastewater treatment facilities or drinking water systems that are determined by public health officials to be a hazard; or (3) residents rely on public water systems which do not meet requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Requires States to submit plans for the intended uses of amounts in rural community environmental assistance accounts to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for approval. Permits the submission of a plan only if it has been approved by a State Rural Environmental Infrastructure Advisory Panel. Withholds payments from States that fail to comply with requirements for rural community environmental assistance accounts. Directs the Administrator to: (1) make grants to regional, State, and local agencies and not-for-profit organizations to assist economically distressed rural communities by providing technical assistance for the financing, operation, and maintenance of wastewater treatment works and public water systems; and (2) set aside appropriations for such grants.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1993
Communications Competitiveness and Infrastructure Modernization Act of 1993 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to allow a common carrier to provide video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone service area through its own facilities or an affiliate. Authorizes the common carrier to provide channels of communications, pole line conduit space, or other rental arrangements to any entity which is directly or indirectly owned, operated, or controlled by it if such facilities or arrangements are to be used for, or in connection with, the provision of video programming directly to subscribers in the telephone service area of the common carrier. Prohibits a common carrier from providing video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone service area unless the programming is provided through a separate video programming affiliate. Requires business arrangements and transactions between a common carrier and its video programming affiliate to be pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Federal Communications Commission and to be without cost to the telephone service ratepayers of the carrier. Requires any common carrier which provides video programming directly to subscribers through an affiliate in its telephone service area to establish a basic video dial tone platform. Requires such common carrier to make a maximum of 75 percent of the equipped capacity of its basic video dial tone platform available to unaffiliated video program providers. States that the carriage of local broadcast signals shall not constitute the provisions of affiliated video programming under this Act. Sets forth prohibitions on: (1) cross-subsidization between telephone service and video programming by common carriers; and (2) common carrier buyouts of cable systems located in the carrier's telephone service area. Requires the Commission to convene a Federal-State Joint Board to establish practices, classifications, and regulations necessary to ensure proper jurisdictional separation and allocation of the costs of providing broadband services, including affiliated video programming. Makes provisions of this Act inapplicable to video programming provided in a rural area by a common carrier that provides telephone exchange service in such area.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 1993
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a general business credit for metallurgical coal mining. Declares such credit to consist of: (1) the lesser of a percentage of coal industry health benefit premiums; or (2) a percentage of the sale of metallurgical coal. Allows such credit to offset a percentage of the minimum tax.
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1993
Expresses the sense of the Congress that any legislation enacted to reform the health care delivery system of the United States should: (1) ensure that the unique needs of rural residents are addressed and solved, that people who live in rural areas receive the same quality health care as others, and that rural health care services are coordinated effectively with existing systems and programs of medical, income, residential, and social support at the Federal, State, and local levels; (2) increase funding for programs that train health care professionals for rural practice and provide incentives for them to practice in rural areas, increase coordination among transportation programs, and increase funding to rural transit programs and to emergency medical services; and (3) encourage telecommunications consortia and other measures to ensure rural access to emerging medical technologies.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1993
Title I: Treatment of Vessels Under the Countervailing and Antidumping Duty Laws Title II: Fair Trade for the United States Shipbuilding and Repair Industry Title I: Treatment of Vessels Under the Countervailing and Antidumping Duty Laws - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to define "vessel" to mean any of the following: cruise ship, excursion boat, ferry boat, cargo ship, barge, or similar vessel for the transport of persons or goods, fishing vessel, factory ship or other vessel for processing or preserving fishery products, or other vessels (other than a warship), including lifeboats, of not less than 100 gross tons. Declares a "vessel" to be considered merchandise subject to antidumping and countervailing duties if an antidumping or countervailing duty order has been issued and the construction or repair of such vessel was carried out in a foreign country which: (1) is not a signatory to a trade agreement with the United States that provides for the elimination of the dumping of vessels and the subsidizing of vessel construction or repair; or (2) is a signatory to a trade agreement but was not in compliance with such agreement during the construction or repair. Title II: Fair Trade for the United States Shipbuilding and Repair Industry - Shipbuilding Trade Reform Act of 1993 - Requires the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to investigate and list foreign countries that provide, directly or indirectly, a subsidy for the construction or repair of vessels. Provides for administrative procedures and judicial review with respect to list determinations. Sets forth penalties for foreign countries that: (1) provide the Secretary with false or misleading information during an investigation; (2) renew subsidies after having been determined not to have provided them; or (3) fail to eliminate such subsidies. Provides for: (1) the negotiation of trade agreements for the elimination of subsidies for the construction or repair of vessels by foreign countries; and (2) penalties for noncompliance with such agreements.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1993
Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to permit the extra-label use of drugs in animals if such use is upon the order of licensed veterinarian, is in compliance with appropriate regulations, and is in the context of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Prohibits such use if it results in unacceptable residues of a drug in food.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1993
United States One Dollar Coin Act of 1993 - Amends Federal currency law to prescribe the color and content of one-dollar coins. Mandates that the reverse side of the one-dollar coin have a design recognizing America's veterans. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to cease regular production of one-dollar Federal Reserve notes by a specified date (except for such quantities as are required to meet collectors' needs).
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1993
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 - Prohibits any agency, department, or official of the United States or any State (the government) from burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except that the government may burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person: (1) furthers a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. Sets forth provisions pertaining to judicial relief, attorney's fees, and applicability.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1993
Workplace Leave Fairness Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide that the length of an employee's leave of absence (even if it is only part of one day) shall not disqualify that employee from the exemption from minimum wage and maximum hours requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Legislative Reform Title II: Federal Intergovernmental Relations Fiscal Accountability and Intergovernmental Reform Act (FAIR Act) - Title I: Legislative Reform - Provides that, with certain exceptions, whenever a committee of either House reports a bill or resolution of a public character to its House mandating unfunded requirements upon State or local governments or the private sector, the report accompanying that bill or resolution shall analyze the effect of the new requirements on: (1) State and local government expenditures necessary to comply with Federal mandates; (2) private businesses; and (3) economic growth and competitiveness. Title II: Federal Intergovernmental Relations - Requires, to the fullest extent practicable, that: (1) the policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States be interpreted and administered in accordance with this Act; (2) all Federal agencies, consistent with attainment of the requirements of Federal law, minimize the adverse effects of rules affecting the economy; and (3) Federal agencies take certain actions in promulgating new rules, reviewing existing rules, developing legislative proposals, or initiating any other major Federal action affecting the economy whenever an agency identifies two or more alternatives which will satisfy the agency's statutory obligations. Provides that, whenever an agency publishes a general notice of proposed rulemaking, promulgates a final rule, or before initiating or implementing any other major Federal action affecting the economy, the agency shall prepare and make available for public comment an Intergovernmental and Economic Impact Assessment. Specifies the contents of such an assessment.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1993
Amends the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1991 to reduce the Official Mail Allowance for each Member of the House of Representatives by 20 percent.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1993
Food Stamp Quality Control System Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to revise the formula (and related provisions) for determining a State's liability for excessive food stamp payment errors. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture and the State food stamp agencies to conduct a joint study and report to the appropriate congressional committees on measurement error and uniformity in the food stamp program quality control error-rate estimation system.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Satellite Carriers Title II: Secondary Transmissions by Cable Systems Title I: Satellite Carriers - Amends Federal copyright provisions to revise the formula for computing royalty fees for secondary transmissions for private home viewing by satellite carriers as follows: (1) 17.5 cents per subscriber for superstations not subject to syndicated exclusivity under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations; and (2) 14 cents per subscriber for superstations subject to such exclusivity. Requires such amounts to be totalled with the sum of the number of subscribers receiving secondary transmissions of network stations multiplied by six (currently, three) cents to calculate the royalty fee for a six-month period. Repeals provisions concerning notice of voluntary negotiation proceedings regarding such fees. Extends to June 1, 1995, the date by which the Copyright Royalty Tribunal is required to publish notice of arbitration proceedings for determining fees to be paid by satellite carriers that are not parties to voluntary royalty fee payment agreements. Title II: Secondary Transmissions by Cable Systems - Defines "cable system," for purposes of provisions governing secondary transmissions by cable systems, as a facility, other than a satellite carrier, that receives signals embodying a performance or display of a work transmitted by broadcast stations licensed by the FCC or by Canadian or Mexican governmental authorities and makes secondary transmissions of such signals to subscribing members of the public.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1993
Declares that it is the sense of the Congress that any legislation enacted to reform the health care system must: (1) ensure that every person has access to coverage for medically and psychologically necessary treatments for mental disorders that is equitable to the coverage provided for treatments of physical illnesses; and (2) meet specified requirements concerning coverage, consumer choice, financial protection, financing policies, and coordination across Federal, State, and local programs.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1993
Department of Veterans Affairs Employment Discrimination Act - Establishes in the Department of Veterans Affairs an Office of Employment Discrimination Complaints Resolution headed by a Director who shall administer Department procedures for resolving complaints of unlawful employment discrimination. Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include certain information with respect to Office budgets and activities in annual budget documents submitted to the Congress. Directs Office employees to counsel and resolve the complaints of Department employees in an expeditious and impartial manner through informal investigation and conciliation. Outlines procedures for: (1) the investigation of complaints through either an informal resolution process or assignment to an administrative law judge; (2) a hearing and final agency decision by such a judge for cases unresolved through the informal process; and (3) review of final agency decisions by either the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the appropriate U.S. district court.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1993 - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to revise those relating to the employment and reemployment rights of members of the uniformed services. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Government should be a model employer in carrying out the employment and reemployment practices enumerated in this Act. Prohibits an employer from denying employment, reemployment, retention, promotion, or any benefit of employment to a person on the basis of membership, service, or a service obligation in a uniformed service. Entitles any person absent from employment (other than temporary employment) by reason of the performance of military service to the employment and reemployment rights of this Act if such person gives the employer proper notification of such service. Entitles a person to reemployment in either the same position or one as closely related as possible. Continues (as if no service has occurred) the seniority and other rights and benefits that would have normally accrued to such person without such service. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to assist any person entitled to employment and reemployment rights and benefits under this Act in the pursuit of employment, whether in the Federal Government or otherwise. Allows Federal employees who are separated from Federal service in order to perform military service and who subsequently return to the same or a similar position to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan, as long as appropriate employee contributions are made during their absence.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Regulatory Impact on Credit Availability Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: Impact of Accounting and Capital Issues on Credit Availability Subtitle C: Disincentives to Risk-Taking Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Credit Availability Provisions Title II: Regulatory Micromanagement Title III: Unnecessary Cost, Paperwork and Regulation Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: Holding Company Efficiencies Title IV: Consumer Inconvenience, Paperwork, and Cost; Other Non-Supervisory Reforms Subtitle A: Consumer Benefits and Lending Process Improvements Subtitle B: Other Non-Supervisory Reforms Title V: Community Investment Economic Growth and Financial Institutions Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1993 - Title I: Regulatory Impact on Credit Availability - Subtitle A: General Provisions - (Sec. 101) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to direct the appropriate Federal banking agencies to minimize the negative impact upon credit availability for small business, residential, and agricultural purposes and on low-and moderate-income communities when prescribing real estate lending standards. (Sec. 102) Amends the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 to direct the Appraisal Subcommittee to encourage the States to develop reciprocity agreements among themselves so as to readily authorize licensed appraisers in good standing to perform appraisals in sister States. Subtitle B: Impact of Accounting and Capital Issues on Credit Availability - (Secs. 111-113) Amends the FDIA to amend the regulatory scheme with respect to: (1) audits of insured depository institutions; (2) recourse agreements; and (3) market value accounting. (Sec. 114) Requires the Department of the Treasury to report to certain congressional committees on the effect on the national economy resulting from implementation of risk based capital standards (including the Basle international capital standards). Subtitle C: Disincentives to Risk Taking - (Sec. 121) Amends the FDIA and the Federal Credit Union Act with respect to the due process protections accorded the attachment of assets, and the statutory authority to require a depository institution to prohibit a person from alienating property under certain circumstances. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Credit Availability Provisions - (Sec. 131) Mandates the establishment of a regulatory appeals process within each appropriate Federal banking agency and the National Credit Union Administration. (Secs. 132 and 133) Amends the Federal Reserve Act to modify the aggregate limits on insider lending for specified small banks. Mandates that certain agencies study and report to the Congress on the advisability and budgetary impact of requiring insured depository institutions to maintain sterile reserves. (Sec. 134) Amends the FDIA to prescribe guidelines under which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) may, with respect to an undercapitalized insured depository institution, waive its right to repudiate an agreement to sell credit card accounts receivable. (Sec. 135) Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to permit FHLBA banks to: (1) make secured advances upon obtaining a security interest in certain nonresidential real estate-related collateral; and (2) invest surplus funds to purchase participation interests in residential construction loans originated by member institutions. Title II: Regulatory Micromanagement - (Secs. 201-204) Amends the FDIA to modify the regulatory scheme with respect to: (1) safety and soundness standards; (2) paperwork reduction; (3) rules on deposit taking; and (4) a transition period for new regulations. Title III: Unnecessary Cost, Paperwork and Regulation -Subtitle A: General Provisions - (Secs. 301-303) Amends the FDIA with respect to: (1) bank examinations; (2) coordination of State and Federal examinations; and (3) the use of accounting principles. (Secs. 304-306) Prescribes guidelines for the reduction of call report requirements and capital compliance requirements. Excludes automated teller machines and specified bank branches from FDIA branch closure notice requirements. (Sec. 307) Amends Federal law regarding monetary instruments transactions to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to annually: (1) review all regulations pertaining to monetary instruments transaction requirements, seeking public comment; and (2) publish all written rulings interpreting such law, as well as staff commentaries. (Sec. 309) Amends the FRA and the FDIA to cite conditions under which accounts of U.S. banks are shielded from liability to repay] deposits made at foreign branches. Subtitle B: Holding Company Efficiencies - (Secs. 321-325) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to modify the procedures under which bank holding companies: (1) are formed; and (2) acquire interests in nonbanking activities. Reduces the post-approval waiting period for bank holding company acquisition and bank mergers. Title IV: Consumer Inconvenience, Paperwork, and Cost; Other Non-Supervisory Reforms - Subtitle A: Consumer Benefits and Lending Process Improvements - (Sec. 401) Mandates a Federal Reserve study and report to the Congress on ways to streamline the credit-granting process. (Secs. 402-403) Amends the Truth in Lending Act regarding: (1) certain exemptions from credit cost disclosure requirements; (2) modification of waiver of the debtor's rescission rights; and (3) alternative disclosures for adjustable rate mortgages. (Sec. 405) Amends the Truth in Savings Act to exempt business accounts from its purview. Subtitle B: Other Non-Supervisory Reforms - (Secs. 411-413) Amends the Expedited Funds Availability Act regarding: (1) the availability of Treasury checks and local checks; (2) new accounts; and (3) the allocation of risks of loss and liability to the States and political subdivisions. (Secs. 414 and 421) Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer and the Truth in Lending Act to increase the consumer liability limit in specified circumstances of unauthorized electronic fund transfers and unauthorized use of credit cards where the cardholder has substantially contributed to the unauthorized transfer or use. (Sec. 432) Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to reduce the homeownership debt counseling notification requirement to no more than once per year. (Sec. 433) Prohibits a Federal banking agency from imposing data collection requirements upon an institution under its jurisdiction other than the information required under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975. (Secs. 441 and 442) Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to: (1) modify the disclosure guidelines for the servicing of mortgage loans; and (2) exempt certain credit transactions from its purview. Title V: Community Investment - (Sec. 501) Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (the Act) with respect to: (1) minimizing the regulatory paperwork costs and burdens associated with compliance; (2) conditions under which an application for a deposit facility shall not be denied on the basis of compliance; (3) granting credit to a financial institution for making investments and loans to either minority and women's depository institutions, or to entities providing benefits to distressed communities; (4) assessments of special purpose banks; and (5) the acceptability of State examinations in lieu of Federal examinations.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to subject goods imported from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to column one rates of the tariff schedule (and deny them labeling as having been manufactured in the United States) unless the Commonwealth establishes that: (1) the labor rate paid to the workers producing such goods is greater than or equal to the prevailing U.S. minimum wage rate; and (2) not less than 50 percent of the direct labor cost of producing such goods is paid to Commonwealth residents. Requires the Secretary of Labor to assign a resident compliance officer to the Commonwealth to monitor its compliance with such conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide funding for offices of veterans affairs at institutions of higher education for educational assistance to veterans. Requires such institutions to apply for such payments and to agree to use the funds to enhance the functions of veterans education outreach programs during the proceeding academic year. Requires an office of veterans affairs to be maintained at each recipient institution to be responsible for veterans' certification, outreach, recruitment, and special education programs as well as other veterans services. Limits the per-veteran and per-institution payments for a fiscal year. Requires the coordination of such veterans' program with other Department programs. Earmarks funds for the program from amounts made available each year for the payment of veterans' readjustment benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Balancing the Budget Title II: Technical and Conforming Amendments Balanced Budget Enforcement Act of 1993 - Title I: Balancing the Budget - Part A: Purposes - Repeals provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) with respect to: (1) emergency powers to eliminate deficits in excess of the maximum deficit amount; (2) budgetary treatment of social security trust funds; and (3) miscellaneous and related provisions. Declares the purpose of this Act to balance the budget by FY 1998 and each year thereafter. Part B: The Deficit Elimination Act of 1993 - Establishes deficit reduction targets for direct spending and receipts legislation for FY 1994 through 1998. Establishes discretionary funding limits in terms of new budget authority for FY 1994 through 1998. Requires, whenever appropriate, that adjustments to such limits be made to reflect: (1) changes in budget accounting concepts; (2) changes in inflation for each year and outyear (any of the four fiscal years that follow the budget year); (3) renewal/replacement multiyear subsidized housing contracts; (4) emergency requirements; (5) new limits for 1998 and thereafter; and (6) any law that raises excise taxes dedicated to a transportation trust fund. Provides that if at the start of the 1998 budget-year session the baseline assuming deficit reduction projects a deficit (or surplus) for that year, then the direct spending and receipts deficit reduction requirement for that year and the discretionary funding limit for that year shall each be changed by amounts that, when debt service effects are added, will produce a balanced budget. Provides for preventing deficits starting with FY 1999. Provides for the enactment of a spin-off law through congressional budget procedures or other means to balance the budget in 1998 or prevent deficits after 1998. Establishes a scorecard for the recording of the estimated increase or decrease in deficit reduction for the current year, the budget year, and each fiscal year through 1998 due to enactment (after August 15, 1992) of any law, or the imposition of any sequestration, or the change in the baseline which relates to certain expiring provisions of law and to veterans' compensation, affecting the level of direct spending or the level of receipts. Requires the creation of a new scorecard for FY 1999 and thereafter for the estimated increase or decrease in the deficit or surplus for the budget year. Sets forth deficit reduction requirements for the scorecard. Establishes a scorecard for each fiscal year starting with 1994 for discretionary appropriations amounts due to: (1) the enactment of any law in the budget-year session; (2) the enactment of any law in any previous session of Congress; or (3) the imposition of any across-the-board reduction of discretionary programs. Sets forth the method of enforcing deficit reduction targets in direct spending programs through a targeted sequestration procedure. Requires enactment of a spin-off law to initiate such procedure. Establishes a comprehensive sequestration procedure if such spin-off bill is not enacted. Requires under such procedure a freeze of entitlement spending and some revenue provisions in the amount needed to meet deficit targets. Sets forth the method of sequestering discretionary programs through uniform across-the-board reductions, unless the excess of new budget authority is less than $250 million. Lists the budget accounts or activities exempted from sequestration. Authorizes the President to exempt some or all of the budgetary resources of any military personnel account from sequestration, pending notification of the Congress. Subjects Federal administrative expenses to sequestration orders, with specified exceptions. Provides for the permanent sequestration of direct spending and receipts and for determining applicable uniform percentages for reductions. Sets forth the method of making reductions for specified programs. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the method of sequestration through tax changes. Requires an increase in the top marginal rates and modifies the indexing provision under a sequestration order. Imposes a tax surcharge on individuals and corporations. Sets forth the timetable for estimating assumptions and filing reports and orders by the President, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Board of Estimates (established by this Act). Requires the making of sequestration reports, sequestration preview reports, and low-growth reports by CBO and OMB. Establishes the administrative procedures relative to such reports. Sets forth assumptions to be used in calculating the baseline for the budget year and each outyear with respect to direct spending and receipts and discretionary programs. Declares that a baseline assuming deficit reduction refers to a projection of current policy baseline surpluses or deficits into the budget year and the outlays that are adjusted in aggregate by: (1) assuming compliance with basic deficit reduction targets; (2) assuming compliance with the discretionary funding limits; and (3) excluding amounts resulting from legislation designated as an emergency requirement. Establishes as a deposit fund in the Treasury a Stabilization Reserve Fund to accumulate balances during years of comparative prosperity, which may later be used to cover the loss of receipts and the increase in outlays that occur during comparative economic distress. Requires annual surpluses to be paid into the Fund. Establishes congressional procedures in the event of a low-growth report or a declaration of war. Establishes a Board of Estimates to choose the applicable sequestration report from OMB or CBO to submit to the President. Provides judicial review procedures for provisions of this title. Title II: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Standing Rules of Senate, and specified other laws. Establishes the public debt limit.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
Expedited Consideration of Proposed Rescissions Act of 1993 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to require a special message, in the case of budget authority proposed to be rescinded, to include language amending the law authorizing such programs to allow them to continue to function at the proposed new level of budget authority. Allows the President to transmit to both Houses of the Congress, for expedited consideration, one or more special messages proposing to rescind all or part of any item of budget authority provided in an appropriation bill. Requires that such special message be transmitted not later than three days after the President approves the appropriation bill and be accompanied by a draft bill or joint resolution that would, if enacted, rescind the budget authority proposed to be rescinded. Sets forth House and Senate procedures for the expedited consideration of such a proposal.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
Provides for the appointment of candidates to the military service academies by the Resident Representative to the United States for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
United States · United States Congress · 18 February 1993
ASRM Termination Act - Prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Advanced Solid Rocket Motor Program.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 1993
Increases from $46,000 to $50,750 the amount of the loan guaranty by the Department of Veterans Affairs for loans to qualifying veterans for the purchase or construction of homes.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 1993
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to pay to a State a $150 plot allowance in the case of each veteran who is eligible for burial in a national cemetery but is buried in a State veterans' cemetery. Increases from 50 to 65 percent of the total value of land dedicated to State cemetery purposes the amount authorized for grants to States for aid in establishing, expanding, or improving State cemeteries.
United States · United States Congress · 17 February 1993
Immunization Now Act of 1993 - Entitles each infant in the United States under two years old who does not have other health insurance and who meets other requirements to receive immunizations without charge. Requires any licensed health care professional to provide immunizations in exchange for vouchers issued through hospitals or community health centers or on direct application by the parent, with quarterly reimbursements to health care providers in amounts set by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Directs the Secretary to carry out activities to inform the public and health care providers regarding the program. Authorizes appropriations. Establishes a national immunization registry system to provide for national surveillance of childhood immunization status through age six. Mandates grants for research and demonstration projects to identify mechanisms and structures to develop the registry. Requires certain measures to expand the registry from the projects to cover the entire Nation. Requires full implementation of the registry by 1997. Authorizes appropriations.