United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1983
Child Protection Act of 1983 - Amends the Federal criminal code dealing with the sexual exploitation of children. Increases the penalties for the sexual exploitation of children from $10,000 to $100,000 and, on a subsequent conviction from $15,000 to $200,000. Prohibits the distribution involving the sexual exploitation of minors even if the material is not found to be "obscene." Eliminates the requirement that persons distributing such material in interstate commerce do so for purposes of sale. Raises the age of a minor to include any person under the age of eighteen. Redefines "sexually explicit conduct" to exclude simulated conduct when there is little or no possibility of harm to the minor and when there is redeeming social, literary, educational, scientific or artistic value. Permits authorization for the interception of wire or oral communications in the investigation of such offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1983
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide that nursing care and home health aid services may be provided on a daily basis as home health services for up to 90 days with monthly physician certification of the need for such services, and after the 90 day period, on a physician certification of exceptional circumstances. Limits to 20 the number of home health service visits covered under Medicare in the case of individuals who were furnished certain home health services but continue to need nursing care or the services of a home health aide.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1983
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should: (1) proclaim his or her intention to establish a Productivity and Quality Award to be made to businesses, workers, other individuals, and public sector organizations that make major contributions toward sustained improvement in productivity and quality performance; and (2) establish a President's interagency Productivity and Quality Award Committee to recommend criteria for such awards and to design certificates and medals of commendation for presentation to award recipients.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1983
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should urge the Soviet Union to terminate its jamming of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty broadcasts.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 1983
Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1983 - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments, in addition to those already provided under part D, to any State whose part D program is found to be exemplary in the amount of collections made, the cost efficiency with which the program is operated, or the magnitude of the costs to other assistance programs that could reasonably have been expected to occur but for the operation and the effective performance of the State's program. Repeals the present provisions for incentive payments to States and localities. Reduces Federal funding to States under part D. Eliminates funding for the planning, design, development, installation, or enhancement of an automatic data processing and information retrieval system under part D. Revises provisions of part D relating to the distribution of the amounts collected as child support by a State. Provides: (1) that amounts collected by a State under part D as support for families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (part A of title IV of the Social Security Act) shall be paid to the family, to the extent that such amounts exceed the amount of AFDC paid to the family but do not exceed the amount of required court ordered support; (2) that amounts in excess of those required to be paid to the family shall be retained by the State to the extent they do not exceed the total amount of AFDC previously paid to the family; and (3) that any balance shall be paid to the family. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in the development or improvement of clearinghouses and other information management systems to aid in the enforcement of support by facilitating the collection and exchange, both within a State and among States, of child support information. Authorizes appropriations for such purpose. Requires charging an application fee of at least $25 for child support or paternity determination services furnished under part D to individuals not otherwise eligible. Provides that the cost of providing collection services may range from three to ten percent of the amount collected. Requires a State under part D to implement procedures providing for: (1) the withholding of child support from wages if a support order has been entered by a State; (2) quasi-judicial or administrative procedures for entering child support orders which have the same force and effect as orders entered by a court; (3) the collection of past-due support from State tax refunds; and (4) placing liens on real property for amounts of past-due support. Requires a designee of the State to conduct a review of each State's part D program at least once every three years in order to determine the program's effectiveness and compliance with part D requirements. Requires a State which is receiving funds under part A of title IV to have in effect a plan under part D and operate a child support program in substantial compliance (currently, in conformity) with the part D plan. Provides for reduced Federal funding under part A for any State whose part D program is not in compliance. Eliminates the requirement that before a State agency can request information from the Secretary the agency must have determined that the absent parent cannot be located through procedures under the control of the agency. Makes provisions of part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Social Security Act relating to demonstration project authority applicable to part D. Makes modifications in the timing and content of the Secretary's annual part D report to Congress. Requires child support collected by a State on behalf of a child for whom a public agency is making foster care payments under part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act to be paid to the public agency responsible for supervising placement of the child, to the extent that the amounts collected exceed the monthly foster care maintenance payments but not the monthly amount required by a court to be paid on behalf of the child or agreed to by both parents of such child. Requires a State plan under part E to provide that all steps will be taken to secure an assignment to the State of any rights to support on behalf of each child receiving part E foster care maintenance payments.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1983
Pretrial Detention Act of 1983 - Amends the Bail Reform Act of 1966 to authorize a judicial officer, in making a determination of whether a person charged with a noncapital offense should be released on bail, to consider the safety of any person or the community (in addition to assurance of appearance as currently provided). Permits consideration of a defendant's past conduct in making any such determination. Authorizes a judicial officer to order the detention for up to five days of any person who: (1) is presently on probation, parole, or mandatory release for an offense punishable under State or Federal law; and (2) poses a risk of flight or danger to the safety of any person or the community. Authorizes a U.S. attorney to move for a pretrial order after a determination that a defendant is eligible for release. Requires that such motion be heard as soon as practicable. Entitles a defendant to be represented by counsel, to present witnesses and evidence, and to make cross-examination. Makes a defendant's testimony inadmissible in any other proceeding, except for purposes of impeachment. Permits a judicial officer to make such an order upon finding that: (1) there is a substantial probability that the defendant committed the offense; and (2) the defendant poses a danger to the safety of any other person or the community, based on specified findings by clear and convincing evidence, including that the offense is a violent or serious drug crime. Authorizes such officer to order the defendant detained at all or specified hours before trial upon a determination by clear and convincing evidence that the danger cannot be reasonably minimized by advancement of trial or other conditions of release. Requires that any defendant detained be confined to a place other than one designated for convicted persons to the extent practicable. Entitles a defendant who is convicted to credit for time spent in pretial custody.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1983
Patent Term Restoration Act of 1983 - Amends the patent laws to extend the terms of patents which encompass specified products or a method for using a product, any of which are subject to certain nonpatent regulatory review periods. Sets forth the terms and conditions of such extension, including a seven year limitation. Directs the Commissioner of Patents to issue to the owner of record of a patent a certificate of extension stating the fact and length of the extension and identifying the product and the use and the claim to which such extension is applicable. Makes such certificate a part of the original patent. Limits the application of such patent term extension to patents for products subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Act of March 4, 1913 (relating to virus, serum, toxin, and analogous products).
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1983
Work Opportunities and Renewed Competition Act of 1983 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer to elect to treat an excess investment tax credit as a reinvestment tax credit. Requires a taxpayer to forfeit any investment tax credit carryover if the taxpayer elects to take a reinvestment tax credit. Sets the amount of such reinvestment tax credit at 85 percent of the taxpayer's qualified investment in reinvestment credit property. Terminates such credit after 1984. Makes such reinvestment tax credit refundable. Requires the recapture of the reinvestment tax credit under specified circumstances. Sets forth rules relating to such recapture.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1983
Expresses the sense of the Congress that further expansion of cargo preference requirements, either for commercial or other trade, should not be imposed.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 1983
National Acid Deposition Control Act of 1983 - Title I: Acid Deposition Control and Assistance Program - Amends the Clean Air Act to establish new requirements for acid deposition control. Sets forth direct federally mandated emission reductions and retrofit technology for the 50 fossil fuel fired electric utility generating plants which had the largest total emissions of sulfur dioxide during the calendar year 1980. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) identify each such plant which emitted sulfur dioxide during calendar year 1980 at an annual average rate equal to or exceeding three pounds per million Btu; (2) within two months after enactment of this Act, publish a list of the 50 plants which have the largest total emissions; (3) notify the owner or operator of each of the 50 plants listed; and (4) within four months after such enactment, and after notice and opportunity for comment, publish a final list of the 50 plants with the largest total emissions. Requires the owner or operator of each plant on the final list to submit to the Administrator, by January 1, 1985, a compliance schedule, including increments of progress. Directs the Administrator to approve or disapprove such schedule, within one year after submission, and after notice and opportunity for hearing. Directs the Administrator, if such schedule is not submitted by the deadline or is not approved, to promulgate a compliance schedule for such plant on January 1, 1986. Provides for modification and publication of such schedules. Requires that each compliance schedule provide that: (1) a technological system of continuous emission reduction be used for each steam generating unit in the fossil fuel fired electric utility generating plant concerned; and (2) sulfur dioxide emissions from such plant for the calendar year 1990 and each calendar year thereafter shall not exceed 1.2 pounds per million Btu heat input and ten percent of the total annual sulfur dioxide emissions during calendar year 1980 (90 percent reduction) or 0.6 pounds per million Btu and 30 percent of the total annual sulfur dioxide emissions during the calendar year 1980 (70 percent reduction). Sets forth procedures for determining plant compliance with such emission limitation. Requires that: (1) contracts be entered into for the purchase and installation of the technological systems of continuous emission reduction by January 1, 1988; (2) such systems be installed and in operation by January 1, 1990; and (3) the emission limitation be achieved for each calendar year after 1989. Directs the Administrator, from the Acid Deposition Control Fund established under this Act, to pay for 90 percent of the costs of construction and installation of the technological system of continuous emission reduction necessary for each such plant to comply with the emission limitation. Directs the Administrator, after consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, to promulgate regulations under which such payments: (1) may be made to utilities only if they will be used entirely to reduce those electric rate increases which would otherwise result from such construction and installation; and (2) shall be made at such times as will minimize rate increases. Sets forth requirements for State plans for additional emission reductions of sulfur dioxide. Directs the Administrator, within four months after the enactment of this Act, to compute a State share, for each of the 48 contiguous States, of a 10,000,000 ton reduction in annual emissions of sulfur dioxide by 1993 below that of 1980. Sets forth a formula for computation of State shares. Permits the Governors of two or more States to reallot State shares among agreeing States, if there is an equal or greater total reduction in annual emissions of sulfur dioxide through such reallotment. Sets deadlines and procedures for submission and approval of State plans for such State shares. Directs the Administrator to promulgate a State plan on January 1, 1988, if no State plan has been: (1) submitted by June 1, 1985; or (2) approved by January 1, 1988. Requires State plans for State shares to provide for emission limitations applicable to any stationary sources in the State for which the actual annual sulfur dioxide emission rates have been calculated by the Administrator for the calendar year 1980, other than a source which is one of the listed 50 electric utility plants subject to direct federally mandated emission reductions. Requires that the emission limitations for each stationary source subject to the State plan establish an allowable average annual sulfur dioxide rate at a level such that the total reduction would equal the State share, with specified credits for States in which any of the 50 listed plants are located. Permits State plans for State shares to provide for compliance with emission limitations through use of technological systems of continuous emission reduction or any other appropriate requirements. Directs the Administrator, from the Acid Deposition Control Fund (established within this Act), to pay for 90 percent of the costs of the construction and installation at an electric utility generating plant of any technological system of continuous emission reduction necessary to comply with requirements under a State plan for a State share of sulfur dioxide emission reductions. Subjects such payments to regulations relating to reduction of increases in utility rates. Establishes a trust fund in the Treasury of the United States to be known as the Acid Deposition Control Fund, consisting of amounts generated by fees imposed under this Act. Directs the Administrator to make payments from the fund first to facilities covered by direct federally mandated emission reductions and then to facilities covered by State share plan requirements. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to be the trustee of the Fund and to report to the Congress for each fiscal year ending on or after September 30, 1984, on its financial condition and the results of its operation during such fiscal year and on its expected condition and operations during the next five fiscal years. Sets forth Fund investment duties of the Secretary. Imposes, under regulations promulgated by the Administrator, a fee of one mill for each kilowatt hour of electric energy: (1) generated in the contiguous 48 States by an electric utility; and (2) imported into the contiguous 48 States. Exempts from such fee electric energy: (1) used at the electric generating facility concerned; or (2) generated by a nuclear generating facility. Makes such fee effective with respect to electric energy generated, or imported, after December 31, 1984. Makes the fee cease to apply on the earlier of: (1) December 31, 1995; or (2) the date on which all payments required under this Act have been made. Authorizes the Administrator to terminate the fee at an earlier date upon estimation that sufficient funds have been collected to fund all such required payments. Directs the Administrator to promulgate within six months after enactment of this Act regulations setting forth the time and manner required for payment of such fee and related reporting requirements. Establishes civil penalties for: (1) electric utilities (or importers of electric energy) which fail or refuse to pay such fees or to file required reports; and (2) any person who makes false or misleading statements in such required documents. Directs the Administrator to bring civil actions in such cases. Establishes additional criminal penalties for electric utilities (or importers of electric energy) which knowingly commit such violations. Makes conforming amendments. Title II: Control of Nitrogen Oxide Emissions - Directs the Administrator to revise standards of performance for new stationary sources for emissions of nitrogen oxides from electric utility steam generating units which burn bituminous or subbituminous coal and which commence construction after the enactment of this Act. Prohibits the emission of nitrogen oxides from such units at a rate which exceeds: (1) 0.30 pounds per million Btu, in the case of subbituminous coal; and (2) 0.40 pounds per million Btu, in the case of bituminous coal. Adds to provisions relating to emissions from mobile sources to set the following nitrogen oxide emission standards for model year 1986 and after truck and truck engines: (1) gross vehicle weight of 6,000 pounds or less - 1.2 grams per vehicle mile; (2) 6,000 to 8,500 pounds - 1.7 grams per vehicle mile; and (3) more than 8,500 pounds - 4.0 grams per brake horsepower-hour.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 1983
Amends the Gun Control Act of 1968 to make it unlawful for any person to transfer or receive ownership of any handgun earlier than 30 days after the date on which the parties agree to make the transfer.
United States · United States Congress · 16 June 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a refundable income tax credit equal to 15 percent of the purchase price of a security device placed in a building or residence. Allows a maximum credit of $400. Includes as security devices eligible for such credit locks, fire, smoke, temperature, gas, anti-theft, anti-intrusion, and personal health emergency alarms. Excludes bars, screens and other physical barriers.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1983
National Narcotics Act of 1983 - Establishes a Cabinet-level Office of Director of National and International Drug Operations and Policy to plan and coordinate drug enforcement efforts of the Federal Government. Requires the Director to report to Congress on United States policy with respect to illegal drugs. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1984 through 1988.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the income tax deduction allowed for maintaining exchange students as members of the taxpayer's household to $100 per month up to a maximum of $1,000 per year.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1983
Government Printing Office Pay Reform Act of 1983 - Requires the pay of Government Printing Office employees to be administered under the prevailing rate system and the General Schedule. Provides that employees who, upon enactment of this Act, hold positions for which the pay rates are determined by conference with the Public Printer or by appeal to the Joint Committee on Printing, shall, with specified exceptions, continue to receive basic pay at a rate not below the rate in effect immediately before enactment of this Act, plus any increase payable under the prevailing rate system or the General Schedule. Repeals the limitation on the number of apprentices that the Public Printer may employ at one time.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1983
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) State regulatory commissions should carefully review requests for telephone rate increases; (2) the Federal Communications Commission should ascertain the impact on telephone rates of regulatory changes and judicial decisions and should furnish the House with an estimate of the number of people who would suffer an economic hardship or be forced to discontinue telephone service as a result of such changes and decisions; and (3) specified House committees should consider legislation that will assure affordable telephone service for all the people of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 2 June 1983
Authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay a specified sum to a named individual in full satisfaction of all claims against the United States for withheld disability retirement pay from service in the U.S. Coast Guard.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 1983
Credit Card Counterfeiting and Fraud Act of 1983 - Amends the Federal criminal code to make it an offense to knowingly and unlawfully produce, buy, sell, or transfer a credit card or account which is counterfeit, forged, lost, or stolen. Makes it a federal offense to possess with the intent to defraud five or more credit cards or fraudulent payment devices. Makes it unlawful to produce, buy, sell, transfer, or possess equipment used in the production of such fraudulent payment devices. Includes within the prohibition of the Act any individual who attempts or conspires to commit any of these offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 1 June 1983
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the continuing possibility that the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to withholding of tax from interest and dividends will be repealed is creating, for all payors, an undue hardship within the meaning of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, and that the Secretary of the Treasury should exercise his authority under such Act to delay the effective date of such provisions until December 31, 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1983
Hazardous Waste Reduction Act of 1983 - Title I - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (the Superfund Act) to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make grants to States to assist States in: (1) carrying out hazardous waste enforcement programs under the Solid Waste Disposal Act; (2) carrying out remedial actions and other response measures necessary with respect to the release, or substantial threat of release, of any pollutant or contaminant from a facility not on the 400 top priority known response targets list but which the State determines may present an imminent and substantial danger to the public health or welfare; and (3) providing technical assistance to companies engaged in the recycling of hazardous substances. Requires that at least $200,000,000 of the amounts appropriated to the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund shall be reserved to make such grants to States. Revises provisions for audits by each Inspector General of each department or agency delegated responsibility to obligate money in the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund. Directs each such Inspector General to report annually to the President and the Congress on such auditing of the Fund and to specifically identify any improper uses of the Fund. Provides for reimbursement to the Fund for any improper expenditures. Extends through FY 1995 the authorization of appropriations for the Fund. Increases the yearly amount of such authorization of appropriations for FY 1986 through 1995 (above the yearly amount currently authorized through FY 1985). Amends the hazardous waste management provision of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976) to establish a hazardous waste quantity assessment program. Directs the Administrator, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the States, to develop and implement methods to estimate the quantities of hazardous waste which are generated in each calendar year, on the basis of specified data. Directs the Administrator to report at least annually to the Congress, comparing the quantities of hazardous waste estimated to have been generated during the preceding calendar year and the quantities of waste on which the recycling incentive tax on disposal of hazardous wastes was paid. Title II - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to replace (effective October 1, 1985) the environmental taxes on petroleum and chemical feedstocks with a recycling incentive tax on disposal of hazardous wastes (effective for FY 1985 through 1995). Sets forth tables for determining the amount of such tax. Distinguishes between: (1) toxic and nontoxic hazardous waste; (2) waste disposal before and after the end of FY 1990; and (3) disposal of waste and storage of waste for more than one year. Imposes such tax on the person disposing of such waste. Sets forth requirements for records, statements, and returns relating to such tax. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe any such requirements, as necessary, for persons involved in the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes. Extends through FY 1995 the authority to collect taxes conferred by the Superfund Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1983
Renewable Energy Incentive Act of 1983 - Title I: Certain Renewable Energy Source Incentives - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend for five years from 1985 to 1990 the investment tax credit for: (1) solar, wind, or geothermal property; (2) ocean thermal property; (3) hydroelectric generating property; and (4) biomass property. Allows an investment tax credit for cogeneration energy property until 1990. Increases the energy percentage for solar, wind, or geothermal energy and ocean thermal property from 15 percent to 25 percent. Increases the energy percentage for hydroelectric generating property from 11 percent to 15 percent. Allows an energy percentage of ten percent for cogeneration property. Extends the residential energy income tax credit from 1985 to 1990. Allows the regular investment tax credit for energy property which is considered to be a structural component of a building and is used as air or water heating equipment for such building. Allows an investment tax credit until 1995 for affirmative commitments made for projects concerning: (1) solar, wind, or geothermal property; (2) ocean thermal property; (3) biomass property; and (4) cogeneration property. Extends for seven years from 1988 to 1995 the investment tax credit for affirmative commitments made for certain hydroelectric generating property. Increases from two to five the number of possible sites for ocean thermal property. Allows an investment tax credit for ocean thermal property which produces energy used in a possession of the United States. (Present law requires that such energy be used in the continental United States.) Title II: Biomass Incentive - Treates as biomass property methane-containing gas produced by anaerobic digestion from nonfossil waste materials. Title III: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1983
Expresses the support of the House of Representatives for Lebanon's and Israel's agreement on arrangements for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Calls upon other nations to work toward the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. Emphasizes the need of all nations to recognize the sovereignty of Lebanon. Urges Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization to agree to the arrangements for the withdrawal of their forces from Lebanon.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 1983
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal provisions requiring the purchase rather than the rental of durable medical equipment if it appears that purchasing such equipment would be less costly and more practical than renting.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 1983
Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) to declare that contributions, gifts, or payments by union members to a separate fund which is used by the union for political purposes must be voluntary and unrelated to moneys required as a condition of employment. Declares it to be unlawful to use moneys paid to an organization as a condition of employment for any type of election or campaign activities by such organization.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1983
Deauthorizes the Stonewall Jackson Reservoir project, West Fork River, West Virginia, on and after the enactment of this Act. Requires the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to undertake interim management and maintenance of works and lands related to such project pending the implementation of this Act. Directs the Secretary to offer for sale, and within one year of such offer to sell, at a price determined by a specified formula, the lands and minerals acquired for such project to the previous owners (or their heirs or assigns). Requires the Secretary to sell any such lands and minerals which are not sold to the previous owners, heirs, or assigns at public auction following reasonable public notice and advertising. Requires any lands sold under this Act to be deeded in fee simple. Sets forth requirements for the sale of any property offered under this Act which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Provides for the deeding of the Horner Game Preserve to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. Provides for the deeding of Conrad Park to the West Virginia Department of Highways. Provides for the settling of certain executory contracts between the United States and project land owners. Requires the termination of any project land condemnation proceedings at the request of the owner of such land. Directs the Secretary to make investigations and studies to determine a method to dispose of project lands not disposed of under prior sections of this Act. Requires the Secretary to report such findings to Congress. Directs the Secretary to make a study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of providing flood control by a series of small watershed dams or other alternatives to flood control in the vicinity of Weston, West Virginia. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1983
Church Audit Procedures Act of 1983 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to restrict the Secretary of the Treasury from investigating or auditing churches unless the Secretary possesses evidence causing him to believe that a church: (1) is carrying on an unrelated trade or business; or (2) should not be granted tax-exempt status. Restricts the Secretary from beginning any investigation unless he has first provided the church with written notice that an investigation is being commenced. Sets forth the requirements of such notice. Requires that the Secretary must first approve an application by the regional counsel of the internal revenue region for examination of church records and religious activities before beginning any such examination. Requires the Secretary, prior to the approval of any such application, to offer in writing an opportunity for a conference to discuss facts, evidence, and issues relevant to the investigation. Requires the Secretary to notify the church in writing of the approval of the application for examination at least 15 days prior to the commencement of such examination. Limits the examination of religious activities to that necessary to determine whether an organization is a church or convention or association of churches. Limits the examination of church records to that necessary to determine the amount of tax imposed. Allows an organization which claims that the Secretary has violated the provisions of this Act to bring a civil action for injunctive relief against the Secretary. Reduces the statute of limitations for collection after assessment of tax to three years in the case of any organization which is a church or convention or association of churches.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1983
Military Construction Authorization Act, 1984 - Title I: Army - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Permits the Secretary to improve existing military family housing units, earmarking certain funds for energy conservation projects only. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design in connection with military family housing construction and improvements. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out specified projects using unobligated funds from the previous year's authorization. Title II: Navy - Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire family housing units and acquire manufactured home facilities at specified installations. Authorizes expenditures to improve existing military family housing units, earmarking certain funds for energy conservation projects only. Increases the number of irrigable acres which may be leased for agricultural and grazing purposes at the Naval Air Station, Lemoore, California. Permits the Secretary to acquire land in San Diego, California, for future construction of military family housing. Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1982 to modify the authority for procuring a steam supply for the Charleston, South Carolina, Naval Station from the Macalloy Corporation. Title III: Air Force - Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Permits the Secretary to construct or acquire family housing units and acquire manufactured home facilities at specified installations. Authorizes improvements to existing military family housing units, earmarking certain funds for energy conservation projects only. Permits the Secretary to improve existing military family housing units as specified. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design in connection with military family housing construction. Title IV: Defense Agencies - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Permits the Secretary to construct or acquire family housing units and acquire manufactured home facilities at specified installations. Permits expenditures to improve existing units. Title V: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Infrastructure - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to make contributions for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Infrastructure program. Prohibits the expenditure of funds for prefinancing of projects to be paid for by such program until a precise schedule has been established for recoupment of existing U.S. prepayments on such projects and procedures have been established for recoupment of any future prefinancing payments. Directs the Secretary of Defense to report regularly to the appropriate committees of of Congress on progress in establishing such a schedule. Title VI: Authorization of Appropriations and Recurring Administrative Provisions - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after FY 1983 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Departments of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the defense agencies. Authorizes appropriations for the NATO Infrastructure program. Limits the total cost of all projects to the total amounts authorized to be appropriated for each military department concerned. States that such authorizations shall expire at the end of 1985 except as otherwise specified. Establishes maximum amounts on certain expenditures, including unspecified minor military construction projects and per unit improvement and rental costs for military family hosuing. Title VII: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after FY 1983 for the costs of acquisition, architectural and engineering services, and construction of facilities for the guard and reserve forces. Increases from $200,000 to $400,000 the ceiling on facility acquisitions which the Secretary of Defense may make without notifying the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees. Title VIII: General Provisions - Decreases from 2,500 to 2,000 the number of military, civilian, and contractor personnel assigned to an area as part of the establishment or expansion of a military installation that would make the area eligible for community planning assistance. Permits the Secretary of the military department concerned to enter into contracts for the lease ofhousing facilities on or near military installations in the United States, Puerto Rico, or Guam. Sets forth the terms, conditions, and limitations on such leasing. Requires such Secretary to give the appropriate committees of Congress 21 days notice of an agreement to lease. Authorizes the Secretaries of the military departments to enter into agreements to occupy privately or State or locally developed rental housing located near military installations that have a shortage of family housing. Sets forth the terms and conditions of such agreements. Increases the number of high cost leases which may be entered into. Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to exchange specified lands with the County of Orange, California. Requires the County of Orange to pay the difference to the United States if the fair market value of the land it receives exceeds the fair market value of the land it conveys. Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to convey specified land in the County of Ventura, California, to the Oxnard Harbor District, California. Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to convey specified land to the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, as a permanent site for the Alabama Space Science Exhibit. Reserves a reversionary interest for the United States should the land conveyed be used for other than the specified purpose. Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to exchange specified lands in the County of Franklin, Ohio, within the City of Columbus, Ohio. Requires the City of Columbus to pay the difference to the United States if the fair market value of the land it receives exceeds the fair market value of the land it conveys. Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to exchange specified lands with the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority in Orlando, Florida.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 1983
Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize a special verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity" for any defendant who at the time of the offense was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the conduct required for the offense or not to know the criminality of such conduct. Places the burden of proof of insanity on the defendant. Directs the court to commit such person found "not guilty by reason of insanity" if he is presently suffering from a mental condition whereby his release would create a substantial danger to himself or to the person or property of another. Allows for a verdict of "guilty but mentally ill," if the defendant was mentally ill at the time of the offense, but not so mentally ill as to constitute insanity. Allows for treatment for such individual, followed by completion of any remaining prison sentence.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 1983
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that regulations relating to title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (concerning sex discrimination in education) should not be amended or altered in any manner which will lessen the comprehensive coverage of such statute in eliminating gender discrimination throughout the American educational system.
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1983
Repeals the Act which created the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. Establishes within the Department of Transportation the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Administration, headed by an Administrator. Requires such Administrator to: (1) operate and maintain the United States portion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway; and (2) conduct plans and studies for improvements to such portion. Authorizes the Administrator to participate with the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada in the collection of tolls to be used for bridge and approach repair. Requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, to begin negotiations with the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada to reduce or eliminate all tolls on the Seaway. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after September 30, 1983. Transfers all property and functions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (the SLSDC) to the Department of Transportation to carry out the functions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Administration (the SLSDA). Requires the SLSDA to assume all functions of the SLSDC.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1983
National Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Act of 1983 - Establishes a National Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission to evaluate existing and potential public outdoor recreation policies, programs, and opportunities and to recommend outdoor recreation policies and activities which should be instituted at the Federal, State, and local levels and by the private sector in order to protect existing recreation resources and to meet future recreation needs. Requires the Commission to report its findings and recommendations to the President and Congress within 18 months after its establishment. Terminates the Commission six months after submission of its report. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1983
Correctional Facilities Act of 1983 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to authorize the Attorney General to make grants to State and local governments to construct, expand, repair, renovate, or modernize correctional facilities. Provides a distribution formula based on State population, criminal population, and corrections expenditures. Allows States to utilize the grants to fund 75 percent of their corrections construction expenditures. Provides grants for demonstration projects. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to authorize the Administrator of General Services to transfer or convey to State and local governments surplus property that the Attorney General recommends to be suitable for correctional facility use.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1983
Product Liability Act of 1983 - Sets forth uniform national standards for products liability cases. Preempts inconsistent Federal and State laws. Permits actions under this Act to be brought in State court or Federal court if the United States is a party or diversity jurisdiction exists. Prohibits recovery for other than commercial loss or damage to the product itself, except as otherwise provided in this Act. Sets forth basic standards of responsibility for manufacturers and product sellers other than manufacturers including wholesalers, distributors, retailers, lessors, packagers, and repairers. Establishes rules relating to proof in products liability cases with respect to Federal Government standards and contract specifications. Prohibits admission of postmanufacturing improvements except for the purpose of impeaching a witness for the product seller who denies the feasibility of such improvements. Allows a manufacturer to introduce certain precautionary measures. Provides that all product liability actions shall be governed by the principles of comparative responsibility. Specifies the manner in which damages are to be apportioned. Provides that comparative damages apply only to compensatory damages. Requires the reduction of any damage award by the amount of workers' compensation benefits which are paid. Makes a product seller who acted with flagrant indifference to consumer safety, where the act was an extreme departure from accepted practice, liable for punitive damages. Establishes a two-year statute of limitations and a ten-year statute of repose.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1983
Amends the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1970 to revise and increase the mandatory penalties for using or carrying a firearm during commission of a Federal felony. Extends the scope of such offense to include using or carrying any deadly or dangerous weapon (current law is limited to firearms). Redefines such offense as using such a weapon to commit a felony over which the district courts have exclusive jurisdiction or carrying a weapon during such a felony involving violence. Deletes the requirement that the firearm be carried "illegally". Revises the additional penalty imposed for such offense to one to five years' imprisonment for a first offense (currently, one to ten years), five to ten years for a second offense (currently, two to 25 years for a second or subsequent offense), and life imprisonment for a third offense. Extends to first offenders the requirement, currently applicable only to second offenders, that the court not suspend any sentence, grant probation, or impose concurrent sentences. Prohibits the granting of parole to any offender. Expresses the sense of Congress that the executive prosecute vigorously such offenses.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the standard mileage rate used in computing the charitable deduction for expenses incurred in the operation of a motor vehicle shall be the same as the standard mileage rate established by the Secretary of the Treasury for the business-related deduction.
![Official portrait of Rep. Porter, John Edward [R-IL-10]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/p000444_200.jpg)