United States · United States Congress · 13 October 1977
Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize the Commissioner of the Administration on Aging to make grants to assist older persons adversely affected by a major disaster or emergency declared by the President in accordance with the Disaster Relief Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1977
Amends the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to make grants to certain cities or townships for construction of local public works projects. Sets forth limitations on the amount of such grants. Authorizes the appropriation of $196,927,000 to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1977
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to exempt a person from the requirement of understanding the English language, if such person is 50 years of age, has been living in the United States for periods totaling at least five years, and was admitted or granted asylum in the United States because of persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion, or political opinion.
United States · United States Congress · 4 October 1977
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide payment under the supplementary medical insurance program for preventive services furnished in the screening, testing, diagnosis, and treatment of individuals for hypertension.
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 1977
Provides that an unremarried former spouse of a Federal employee who was married to such employee for five years or more shall be entitled to a portion of such employee's annuity and to a portion of the annuity of any surviving spouse of such employee.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1977
Declares it the sense of the Congress that no Federal agency should consider the value of military exchange and commissary privileges in determining the entitlement of any retired or former member of the armed forces to any other Federal benefits or the amount of such benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1977
Amends the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to require all hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and intermediate care facilities which participate in programs under Titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of such Act to adopt and make public a statement of the rights and responsibilities of patients in the care of such facilities. Directs the Secretary to require that such statements establish specified guarantees including guarantees: (1) that the patient's civil and religious liberties will not be infringed; (2) that the patient has the right to private communications with his physician, attorney, or any other person; (3) that the patient has the right to conjugal visits; (4) that the patient has the right to have privacy in treatment in caring for personal needs and confidentiality in the treatment of personal and medical records; (5) that the patient has the right to notice and a hearing before being transferred or discharged from a facility; and (6) that the patient has such other rights as the Secretary deems appropriate. Directs the Secretary to require each facility to provide each patient and staff member with a copy of the statement of rights and the enforcement procedures and remedies available to patients, and requires further that each facility adopt a written plan for implementing such rights. Requires the Secretary to establish procedures for processing patients complaints and for the enforcement of patients' rights. Requires appropriate State agencies to investigate patients' complaints and to file a written report within 20 days disposing of such complaints. Imposes a fine, not to exceed $500 for each violation, upon a facility found in violation of patients' rights. Allows a patient to bring an original action in U.S. district court to enforce guaranteed rights. Authorizes the Attorney General of any State or of the United States to bring an action in U.S. district court or State court to enforce payment of fines imposed upon facilities found in violation of patients' rights. Provides that damages awarded to patients shall not constitute income or resources for purposes of determining eligibility under Medicaid or any Federal or federally-assisted program which conditions eligibility upon income or resources.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1977
Declares that the President should establish a Commission on Domestic and International Hunger and Malnutrition which should: (1) collect and generate information and resources on food, hunger, malnutrition and related concerns; (2) assess current programs affecting domestic and international hunger and malnutrition; (3) analyze and report its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, and the public; and (4) assist the President and the Congress in implementing its recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1977
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to include within the services to be provided under such Act medically required outpatient rehabilitation services. Defines the terms "outpatient rehabilitation facility," and "outpatient rehabilitation services" for purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1977
Small Business Impact Statement Act - Directs the head of each Federal agency to prepare a small business impact statement in connection with each rule made by such agency unless the agency head, with the approval of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration determines that such rule will not have a substantial effect on a significant number of small business. Sets forth information which must be present in each small business impact statement. Prescribes steps which each agency head must follow in preparing any small business impact statement including publication of the statement in the Federal Register.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1977
Amends the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to require all hospitals skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, intermediate care facilities, and shared health facilities which participate in programs under titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of such Act to adopt and make public a statement of the rights and responsibilities of patients in their care. Directs the Secretary to require that such statement establish specified guarantees including guarantees: (1) that the patient's civil and religious liberties will not be infringed; (2) that the patient has the right to private communications with his physician, attorney, or any other person; (3) that the patient has the right to have privacy in treatment and in caring for personal needs and confidentiality in the treatment of personal and medical records; and (4) that the patient has the right to notice and a hearing before being transferred or discharged from a facility. Directs the Secretary to provide each facility, patient and staff member with a copy of the statement of rights and the enforcement procedures and remedies available to patients, and requires further that each facility adopt a written plan for implementing such rights. Establishes a procedure for the enforcement of patients' rights. Directs the Secretary to prescribe a schedule of statutory money damages for violations of such rights. Requires State agencies responsible for inspection and enforcement of Medicare and Medicaid programs to investigate patients' complaints and to file a written report within ten days disposing of such complaints. Imposes fines upon facilities found in violation of patients' rights payable to the patient or his heirs. Allows a patient or facility to bring an original action in U.S. district court to enforce rights. Awards costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party. Provides that damages awarded to patients shall not constitute income or resources for purposes of determining eligibility under Medicaid or any Federal or federally-assisted State program which conditions eligibility upon income or resources.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1977
Removes the limitation on the amount of outside income which an individual may earn while receiving benefits under title II (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1977
Delays for six months the effective date of the increase in the hospital deductible for 1978 under the hospital insurance program of Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1977
Provides that representatives of the Polish Legion of American Veterans are recognized as claims agents for claims arising under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1977
Citizens' Postal Rate Relief Act - Sets the postal rate for personal mail of individuals sealed against inspection and mailed in the United States at 13 cents for the first ounce for each piece and 11 cents for each additional ounce for each piece. Permits the Postal Service to adjust such rate annually in the proportion to the increase in the Consumer Price Index since the previous rate adjustment but not to an amount exceeding the current rate for first class mail. (Adds 39 U.S.C. 3629; Amends 39 U.S.C. 2401)
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) remove the adjusted gross income limitation on the credit for the elderly; (2) increase the amount of the credit; and (3) provide an annual cost-of-living adjustment for the credit.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1977
Youth Internships in the Field of Aging Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize the Commissioner on Aging to make grants to, or enter into contracts with, any public or nonprofit private agency, organization, or institution, or State agency to aid internship programs for secondary school students at administrative, research, and service levels with professions in the field of aging. Establishes application criteria for any institution or agency desiring to participate in the grant program under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1977
World War I Pension Act - Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to pay a monthly pension of $150 to each veteran of World War I who meets specified service requirements, to the surviving spouse (who meets specified requirements), or, when there is no surviving spouse, to the child or children (who meet specified requirements).
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1977
Amends the program of optional State supplemental payment under Title XVI (Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled) (SSI) to direct the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to furnish States with such information about residential institutions, foster homes, and groups living arrangements in which a significant number of recipients of SSI benefits are residing as is necessary for the States to establish and enforce standards for such institutions. Sets forth specific matters which such State standards must cover. Deletes the requirement of a reduction of the payment of an SSI beneficiary who lives in such an institution, home, or group living arrangement when such residence does not meet State standards. Directs the Secretary, upon findings that the standards established by a State under this Act will assure a reasonable standard of well-being for residents of such institutions, to reimburse the State for the costs attributable to the compensation or training of personnel responsible for inspecting such institutions to determine whether they comply with the standards established by the States. Defers the effective date of the provisions of this Act, previously established by the Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1976, for one year, to October 1, 1978.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1977
Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1974, to increase to three the number of Lyndon Baines Johnson congressional interns which may be hired by each Member of the House of Representatives. Authorizes the payment of additional compensation to such interns from the clerk-hire allowance.
United States · United States Congress · 7 September 1977
Amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to authorize appropriations to enforce the prohibition in that Act against discrimination toward qualified handicapped individuals under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. Stipulates that not less than a third of such authorized expenditures be used for educational purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an individual the first $5,000 received from civil service and Foreign Service retirement annuities.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1977
Product Liability Insurance Tax Equity Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to qualify trusts established for the payment of product liability claims as tax exempt organizations. Allows taxpayers a business income tax deduction for contributions to such trusts only to the extent they exceed the reasonable costs of product liability insurance for the deducting taxpayer.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1977
National Home Health Care Act - Broadens the coverage of home health services under Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act and removes the 100-visit limitation presently applicable to the home health service program. Extends the coverage of posthospital home health services to include payment for items and services which the individual could otherwise obtain in a skilled nursing facility. Amends Title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require the inclusion of home health services in a State's Medicaid program and permit the payment of rent under such program for elderly and handicapped persons who would otherwise require nursing home care. Provides expanded Federal funding for congregate housing for the displaced and the elderly by increasing the amount available for such housing under the low-income housing program. Establishes, in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a Home Health Patient Ombudsman, who shall be appointed and provided with adequate staff and facilities by the Secretary. Makes it the duty and responsibility of the ombudsman to monitor specified programs under the Social Security and the various medical assistance programs under the State plans approved pursuant to such Act, and to maintain such oversight of those programs and their operation and administration as may be necessary to: (1) assure that home health patients under such programs are receiving the care to which they are entitled: (2) provide safeguards against over-charging for home health services; (3) identify abuses against home health patients; (4) receive, handle, and expedite complaints by home health patients; (5) recommend to the Secretary any changes in the regulations affecting home health services which may appear necessary or desirable; and (6) take appropriate action (including the transmission of findings to the Attorney General) with respect to abuses and violations of law affecting the provision or receipt of home health services under such programs. Requires the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to conduct a study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of extending to the Medicare program the prospective cost-related method of computing payments to nursing homes and home health agencies which is currently provided under the Medicaid program.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1977
Veterans Health Care Amendments Act - Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to furnish initial readjustment professional counseling (including a general mental and psychological assessment) for any veteran with readjustment problems who requests such aid within four years after his discharge or release from service, or within two years after enactment of this Act, whichever is later. Requires further mental health services on an outpatient basis if a physician employed by the Veterans' Administration determines on the basis of initial counseling that such services are necessary for the veteran's successful readjustment. Directs the Chief Medical Director to provide for the training of professional, paraprofessional, and lay personnel necessary to carry out such programs. Directs the Administrator to ensure that all potentially eligible veterans are advised of such potential eligibility. Authorizes the Administrator to provide a preventive health care program to ensure the best possible health care for veterans with service-connected disabilities. Directs the Administrator to provide for a health maintenance pilot program to demonstrate the medical advantages and cost-effectiveness of furnishing comprehensive preventive health care services to veterans with varied types and degrees of service-connected disabilities. Requires a comprehensive annual report to Congress on such programs. Requires the Administrator to carry out programs providing inpatient and outpatient treatment and rehabilitation services on a nationwide basis to eligible veterans suffering from alcohol or drug dependence or abuse disabilities. Directs the Administrator to assist the Secretary of Labor in providing veterans receiving such treatment with appropriate job and training opportunities. Requires the Administrator, when an applicant for such treatment has received a less than honorable discharge from the armed services, to advise such applicant of his right to apply for review and correction of such discharge. Requires the provision of such services to eligible veterans who are charged with or convicted of any criminal offense and who are not confined and not required to participate in such a treatment program; and permits provision of such services, under specified conditions, to eligible veterans similarly charged or convicted, if a court does require participation in such a program. Allows a member of the active armed services with alcohol or drug problems to transfer to any Veterans' Administration facility for treatment within the last 30 days of such member's tour of duty. Directs the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and the Administrator to coordinate the Professional Standards Review program carried out under part B of title XI (General Provision) of the Social Security Act and the comparable programs carried out by the Department of Medicine and Surgery to assess the quality of patient care in Veterans' Administration health care facilities. Requires the Chief Medical Director, through the Administrator, to report to Congress on the effectiveness of such coordination. Requires the Chief Medical Director to report to Congress, not later than three months after the end of each fiscal year, on all activities in which he or a designee, as a representative of the Veterans' Administration, has participated in an advisory or coordinating capacity with respect to programs carried out by the executive branch.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1977
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to prohibit the award of contracts for technical support services under rebid or recompetition procedures for substantially the same services on the basis of lower salaries than those paid by the predecessor contractor. Prohibits a procuring agency from awarding a contract unless it has determined that the salary levels for professional employees proposed under such contract are keeping with the professional contribution and reflect the professional status, responsibility, and value of the education and experience of such professional employees. (Amends 10 U.S.C. 2304)
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1977
Public Housing Security Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to monitor the planning and implementation of public housing construction, rehabilitation, or modernization projects to assure that crime prevention is taken into account in the design of such housing. Directs the Secretary to make funds available for citizen crime prevention programs.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1977
Declares it the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States delegation to the United Nations should work for a World Assembly on Aging and a World Year on Aging.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1977
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to include within the medical and other health services covered by such Title the transportation of patients confined to a stretcher or wheelchair in a vehicle which is not equipped as an ambulance but which is adequately equipped to transport such patients.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1977
Declares the sense of the Congress that the President and the Secretary of State should take all necessary steps to bring the Baltic States question before the United Nations and to urge the United Nations to request the Soviet Union to withdraw all non-native troops, agents, colonists, and controls from the Republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and to return all Baltic exiles from Siberia and from prisons and labor camps in the Soviet Union. Requires the Secretary of State to do his utmost to bring the matter of the Baltic States to the attention of all nations by means of special radio programs and publications. Declares that the United States should not agree to the recognition of the Soviet Union's annexation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Directs the President to take steps to provide that all maps of Europe show the Republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia as independent states. Calls for a return of self-determination to the peoples of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia through free elections conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1977
Prohibits the shipment in interstate or foreign commerce of any fur or leather, raw or in finished form, from animals trapped in any State or foreign country which has not banned the manufacture, sale, or use of such traps. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to publish a list of such States and foreign countries. Sets forth penalties for violations of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1977
Authorizes the Secretary of State to accept a statue or bust of George C. Marshall and place it in the Department of State. Establishes a noncompensated Commission under the direction of the Secretary to select a sculptor and select the size, style, design, and material of such statue or bust. Authorizes not more than $10,000 for its procurement, the remaining expense to be contributed without expense to the United States. Directs that the authority given to the Secretary lapse unless such statue or bust is installed within two years after enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1977
Deaf Services Act - Title I: Installation of Telecommunications Devices in Federal Agencies and in Other Locations - Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, after consultation with specified organizations with special knowledge of the problems of deaf persons, to select at least five Federal agencies with which deaf persons have the greatest need for communication and have installed in each such agency and its regional offices a device which permits two-way communication of textual messages in alphanumeric form by telephone lines. Directs the Secretary to select an additional 100 locations for installation of such devices which shall be available to deaf people for their use in communicating with the agencies selected under this Act and with Members of Congress who choose to install such a device under Title III of this Act. Requires the Secretary to prescribe the rates to be charged to the users of such telecommunications devices. Stipulates that such charges may not exceed the cost that would have been incurred had such users been nondeaf persons seeking the same assistance by use of a telephone. Directs the Secretary to disseminate information about the availability of such devices as widely as possible to local organizations of the deaf. Directs that at least one employee be available during normal working hours at each location where such devices are located for use by deaf persons to assist such persons in the use of such devices. Title II: Grants to States - Authorizes the Secretary to make a grant to any State or local government for installing telecommunications devices for the deaf in government agencies and other locations in a program to be identical to the Federal program established in Title I of this Act. Sets the level of such grants at 75 percent of the cost of installing and operating such devices. Authorizes annual continuing grants for such purposes to be made after assurances have been received that the requirements of this Act have been and will continue to be met during the ensuing year. Requires the Secretary to seek the cooperation of the Administrator of General Services in having transferred to States any telecommunications devices for the deaf categorized as Federal surplus property. Title III: Installation of Telecommunications Devices in Offices of Members of Congress and in the Capitol - Requires that any Member of Congress making a written request for a telecommunications device for the deaf be provided with one. Directs the Architect of the Capitol to install at the central switchboard in the United States Capitol a telecommunications device for the deaf and requires at least one employee trained in the use of such device to be available during normal working hours to provide assistance to deaf persons. Title IV: Report to Congress - Requires the Secretary to report to Congress within two years after the installation of the first telecommunications device under this Act describing the effectiveness of the programs established by this Act and making recommendations on the continuation and expansion of such programs.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1977
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the services and contributions of school volunteers be recognized, and requests the President of the United States to issue a proclamation in recognition of this fact.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1977
Urges the International Whaling Commission to adopt a ten-year moratorium on the commercial killing of whales, and to undertake the management of unprotected, small cetacean. Encourages specified nations to comply voluntarily with a ten-year moratorium on such killing, as endorsed by the United Nations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 1977
National Home Health Care Act - Broadens the coverage of home health services under Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act and removes the 100-visit limitation presently applicable to the home health service program. Extends the coverage of posthospital home health services to include payment for items and services which the individual could otherwise obtain in a skilled nursing facility. Amends Title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require the inclusion of home health services in a State's Medicaid program and permit the payment of rent under such program for elderly and handicapped persons who would otherwise require nursing home care. Provides expanded Federal funding for congregate housing for the displaced and the elderly by increasing the amount available for such housing under the low-income housing program. Establishes, in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a Home Health Patient Ombudsman, who shall be appointed and provided with adequate staff and facilities by the Secretary. Makes it the duty and responsibility of the ombudsman to monitor specified programs under the Social Security and the various medical assistance programs under the State plans approved pursuant to such Act, and to maintain such oversight of those programs and their operation and administration as may be necessary to: (1) assure that home health patients under such programs are receiving the care to which they are entitled: (2) provide safeguards against over-charging for home health services; (3) identify abuses against home health patients; (4) receive, handle, and expedite complaints by home health patients; (5) recommend to the Secretary any changes in the regulations affecting home health services which may appear necessary or desirable; and (6) take appropriate action (including the transmission of findings to the Attorney General) with respect to abuses and violations of law affecting the provision or receipt of home health services under such programs. Requires the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to conduct a study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of extending to the Medicare program the prospective cost-related method of computing payments to nursing homes and home health agencies which is currently provided under the Medicaid program.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 1977
Amends Title II (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare benefits for individuals who require total parenteral nutrition (TPN) as a result of intestinal surgery.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 1977
Prohibits the Postal Service from decreasing the frequency of mail delivery service below the frequency in effect for the calendar week beginning May 1, 1977.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1977
Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to permit the Bank to extend credit to the Peoples Republic of China. Eliminates the avoidance of arms races between countries not menaced by Communist China from the factors considered by the President in determining whether the prohibitions against credit extensions by the Export-Import Bank for defense sales to developing countries should be waived in the national interest.