United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Amends rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives to prohibit consideration of bills or resolutions making appropriations under the jurisdiction of more than one subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee for periods after November 30 of a fiscal year, unless three-fifths of the House votes to waive or suspend this provision.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1988
Chemical Warfare Control Act - Amends the Export Administration Act of 1979 to set forth as U.S. policy the use of export controls to curtail transfers of material and technology used in producing chemical weapons. Requires the President to prepare a list of materials and technology which would assist a country's chemical warfare capability. Prohibits the export of such materials and technology to Iran, Iraq, Libya, or Syria or, at the President's discretion and upon notification to the Congress, to additional countries. Authorizes the President to waive such prohibition upon determining that an export will not assist a country's chemical warfare capability. Authorizes the exclusion of any country from such prohibition beginning 30 days after the President submits the name of such country to the Congress. Requires the President, no later than 90 days after enactment of this Act and every 180 days thereafter, to submit to specified House and Senate members and committees a report on: (1) the efforts by Iran, Libya, and Syria to acquire the materials to produce chemical weapons; and (2) the present and future capability of such countries to produce such weapons. Requires the report to: (1) assess whether Communist-bloc countries have aided such countries in acquiring such materials; (2) list companies in non-Communist countries which have exported items on the President's list to such countries; and (3) provide credible information that any non-Communist country has aided such countries. Directs the President to apply sanctions to any foreign person who exports any item on the list to any such country. Requires that such sanctions prohibit: (1) contracting with and procuring products and services from a sanctioned person by the U.S. Government; and (2) importing products produced by such person into the United States. Declares that the President shall not apply sanctions in the case of procurement of defense articles and services if: (1) the articles and services are under existing contracts; (2) the President determines that the person to whom sanctions would apply is the sole supplier of essential defense articles or services; or (3) the President determines that such articles or services are essential to national security. Prohibits the application of sanctions to: (1) contracts entered into before the President notifies the Congress of the intention to impose sanctions; (2) spare parts; (3) component parts; (4) routine servicing and maintenance of products; or (5) information and technology.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1988
Condemns the Romanian Government's systematic violation of human rights. Protests the planned program of destruction of traditional settlements in violation of human rights, minority cultural rights, and property rights. Urges institutional reforms by the Romanian Government to comply with international agreements, including the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Urges continued presidential and Secretary of State action to bring about reforms. Urges the President not to consider providing any special benefit for Romania until a thorough human rights reform is instituted, including substantial actual improvement in the right of emigration, the rights of national minorities, and freedom of religion.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 1988
Resolves that the Congress should implement policies under which: (1) the Bell operating companies would be permitted to provide information services, conduct research, design and market software, and design, manufacture, and market telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment; and (2) statutory safeguards would ensure that these Bell activities would not harm telephone service customers or competition in the information services or manufacturing industries and would prevent cross subsidies between regulated and unregulated service offerings.
United States · United States Congress · 7 July 1988
Makes the legal defense of discretionary function provided under specified Federal law and the legal doctrine of foreseeability of damages inapplicable to any legal or administrative proceeding for damages arising out of U.S. violation of occupational safety or health standards or U.S. negligence at any workplace owned or operated by or under contract with the United States. Prohibits the foreseeability doctrine from being used to limit the amount or kind of damages otherwise available to the plaintiff. Establishes a National Registry of Government Litigants, within the U.S. Claims Court, to collect and maintain data regarding claims against the United States predicated (in whole or in part) upon U.S. violation of safety and health standards. Allows any person seeking damages from the United States on the basis (in whole or part) of harm resulting from U.S. violation of safety and health standards to file a notice of such fact with the U.S. Claims Court, within 30 days after commencement of such action (whether administrative or judicial in character). Directs the chief judge of the U.S. Claims Court to report annually to the Congress on the number of, and relevant facts and common characteristics underlying, such notices filed within the Registry.
United States · United States Congress · 7 July 1988
Amends the Great Lakes Shoreline Mapping Act of 1987 to authorize appropriations for FY 1989 instead of FY 1988 for preparing maps of the shoreline of the Great Lakes.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1988
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Government of Nicaragua should: (1) fulfill its pledge in the Esquipulas II agreement to grant a general amnesty to all political prisoners; (2) cease inhumane torture and holding prisoners incommunicado; (3) end random arrests for purposes of political intimidation; (4) allow human rights observers in all parts of prison facilities; (5) compensate former political prisoners; and (6) cease human rights violations.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1988
Emergency Agricultural Relief Act of 1988 - Provides assistance to program and nonprogram agricultural producers who have experienced at least 50 percent crop losses in 1988 due to drought or other natural disasters in areas designated by the Secretary of Agriculture. Limits producer assistance to $100,000. Requires payments to be made to eligible producers within 45 days of application.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1988
Expresses the grave concern of the Congress regarding the apparent discriminatory treatment of Federal Express by the Government of Japan. Urges Japan to honor its obligations under the 1985 Memorandum of Understanding and allow Federal Express to compete in the U.S.-Japan market with maximum flexibility.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1988
Title I: Establishment of Park and Preservation District - Establishes the Calumet National Historical Park, including the Quincy Mining National Historic Landmark, Michigan, and the Calumet and Hecla Mining National Historic Landmark, Michigan, as a unit of the National Park System. Establishes the Calumet Historic Preservation District in the village of Calumet, Michigan. Provides for the cooperation of Federal agencies whose activities affect the park or preservation district. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Role of the Secretary - Requires the Secretary of the Interior, not later than three years after funds are made available to carry out this Act, to establish and submit to the Congress a management plan for the park. Authorizes the Secretary to acquire historic properties within the park. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements with any owner of property with national historic or cultural significance within the park or preservation district to provide for interpretive exhibits or programs. Sets forth provisions relating to general administrative functions of the Secretary. Title III: Role of the Commission - Establishes the Calumet Historic Preservation Commission within the Department of the Interior to administer the preservation district and provide certain services within the park. Requires the Commission, within 18 months after it conducts its first meeting, to submit to the Secretary a park preservation plan which meets specified requirements. Prohibits the Secretary from making funds available to the Commission until such plan has been approved and submitted to the Congress. Sets forth the powers of the Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1988
Targeted Relief Disclosure Resolution of 1988 - Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each report accompanying each bill or joint resolution of a public character reported by the Committee on Ways and Means to identify: (1) each provision which is intended to provide special benefits with respect to five or fewer taxpayers, transactions, events, items of property, projects, or issuances of bonds; (2) each beneficiary of such provision; (3) the Member of Congress who sponsored the inclusion of each such beneficiary; and (4) an estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation of the loss in revenues resulting from such provision with respect to each such beneficiary for the fiscal year for which such loss in revenues first occurs and each of the five fiscal years thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1988
Nursing Shortage Reduction and Education Extension Act of 1988 - Title I: Initiatives to Reduce Nursing Shortages - Amends title VIII (Nursing Education) of the Public Health Service Act to create a new part on initiatives to reduce nursing shortages. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants for demonstrating innovative hospital nursing practice models which include restructuring the role of the nurse, testing innovative wage structures, and evaluating the effectiveness of various benefits. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts for evaluation of the models demonstrated and for dissemination of the information developed. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to nurse training entities: (1) to demonstrate innovative nursing practice models for services in the home and in long-term care facilities designed to increase recruitment and retention of nurses and improve nursing care; and (2) to develop projects to increase the exposure of nursing students to clinical practice in nursing home, home health, and gerontologic settings. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts for evaluation of the projects developed and for dissemination of the information developed. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for the identification of specific community nursing needs and the development and establishment of programs of educational outreach and nurse recruitment. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to nurse training schools for scholarships for nursing students in need. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Title II: Special Projects - Revises the description of nursing education special projects eligible for certain grants and contracts with regard to: (1) inclusion of the promotion of occupational health care as a purpose; (2) the priorities in training and education to upgrade the skills of paraprofessional nursing personnel; (3) development of curricula for certain nursing baccalaureate situations; (4) facilitation of the completion of advanced nurse education programs by certain specialists; and (5) provision of nursing education courses to rural areas through telecommunications via satellite. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for grants and contracts for advanced nurse education for FY 1989 through 1991. Revises the guidelines for programs for the education of nurse practitioners and nurse midwives to require that they have not less than six full-time equivalent students. (Current law requires that they have eight students.) Allows service commitments by nurse practitioner or nurse midwife traineeship recipients to include service in an Indian Health Service health center, a Native Hawaiian health center, a migrant health center, or a community health center in addition to the currently-allowed service in a health manpower shortage area or a public health care facility. Authorizes appropriations for certain nurse practitioner and nurse midwife programs for FY 1989 through 1991. Title III: Assistance to Nursing Students - Authorizes appropriations for traineeships for advanced education of professional nurses for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for traineeships for nurse anesthetists for FY 1989 through 1991. Title IV: General Provisions of Title VIII - Changes the composition of the National Advisory Council on Nurse Training to increase the number of members and require representation by practicing professional nurses and from associate degree schools of nursing. Title V: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective dates of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1988
Declares that the Congress recognizes the heroic acts of civilian construction workers who participated in the defense of Wake Island during its invasion by Japan between December 8 and December 23, 1941.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1988
Congressional and Judicial Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1988 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require that personnel actions affecting employees or applicants in the legislative and judicial branches of the Government be free from any discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, handicap, or age. Allows Members of Congress to take into consideration an individual's domicile and political affiliation. Establishes within the judicial branch an Employment Review Board. Provides that members of the board be appointed from the retired judges of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals. Authorizes an aggrieved individual to file a written complaint with the Board. Establishes procedures for the Board to investigate, settle, hear, and determine the claims alleged. Provides that if a violation is found an order for relief may compel the defendant to: (1) employ or reinstate such individual on such terms and conditions as may be appropriate, except that the Board may not compel any committee or Member of Congress to employ or reinstate, or modify the terms and conditions of employment of, any individual; (2) pay compensatory damages; and (3) pay fees and allowances of witnesses and reasonable attorneys' fees. Authorizes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review, enjoin, set aside, suspend, modify, or enforce orders of the Board. Requires members of the Board to submit written reports to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of the House of Representatives and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics describing complaints during the reporting period involved.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 1988
Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to include in the term "privately owned United States-flag vessels," as used in provisions relating to cargo preference, any U.S. flag vessel designated by the Secretary of Transportation as a great Lakes Exempt Vessel (GLEV) regardless of the number of years the vessel has been documented under U.S. laws. Authorizes the Secretary to designate each of six vessels as a GLEV to enable vessels documented less than three years to engage temporarily in trade within the Great Lakes. Prohibits any vessel engaged primarily in bulk trade from being designated as a GLEV. Prohibits any vessel from retaining its GLEV designation if it has repair, reconditioning, or maintenance work done other than in a U.S. shipyard, subject to waiver by the Secretary to enable a vessel to safely sail from a foreign port. Prohibits any GLEV from serving any other U.S. seaport than the Great Lakes, subject to exception. Prohibits the Secretary from designating a vessel as a GLEV unless it has been approved by the Secretary of Defense as suitable for national defense purposes. Terminates any GLEV designation on December 31, 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1988
Recycling Information Clearinghouse Act of 1988 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a clearinghouse for information about the recycling of municipal solid waste, to be administered by the Office of Solid Waste. Requires that the information collected and disseminated to the public by such clearinghouse include: (1) an annual estimate of the volume and rate of recycling of materials from the municipal solid waste stream; (2) an annual estimate of the balance of trade in recycled materials and products; (3) economic data comparing the costs and benefits of recycling various materials from the municipal solid waste stream; (4) a catalog of State and local laws that encourage or require the recycling of materials from the municipal solid waste stream; (5) a list of all purchases of recycled materials or products by the Federal Government, organized by agency and the type of recycled materials or products purchased; (6) a register announcing all solicitations by Federal agencies for the purchase of recycled materials or products; and (7) information about state-of-the-art recycling methods, programs, or technologies. Requires that a toll-free telephone hotline be established and made available to those seeking information from the clearinghouse. Provides that, to the extent feasible, such information should be computerized to facilitate its analysis and retrieval. Authorizes appropriations for such clearinghouse.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 1988
Michigan Public Lands Improvement Act of 1988 - Grants to the State of Michigan the surface estate in certain public uplands and islands in Michigan waters which were not subject to any claim on January 1, 1988. Allows the Secretary of the Interior to sell certain other lands which were subject to a claim as of that date to the claimants following resolution of conflicting claims. Deems title to public lands which, on the date of enactment of this Act, was subject to leases and patents conveyed to the State of Michigan under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act to have vested in the State and to be exempt from Department of the Interior regulations governing conveyances under such Act. Authorizes the Secretary to sell and issue a patent to a tract of public land located in Michigan where the Secretary determines that: (1) such tract is difficult and uneconomic to manage as part of the public lands and is not suitable for management by another Federal department or agency; and (2) such sale would not be inconsistent with land use plans developed in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Allows the Secretary, following adjudication of any conflicting claims, to convey such land at fair market value, less equities presented by an applicant for such conveyance (such as the amount paid for the land, longevity of the applicant's claim, and taxes paid on the land) and less the value of any improvements. Provides for description of tracts of such land conveyed on the approved Federal plat of survey. Authorizes the Secretary to convey title to a trustee, where a tract does not conform to an existing survey plat, to conform the legal description to such plat, or require the applicant to reimburse the United States for the cost of preparing a plat of survey. Prohibits the sale of such lands unless the Secretary, at least 30 days prior to such sale, publishes notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the tract is located. Makes all lands conveyed by this Act subject to the reservation to the United States of all minerals in the lands and the rights to prospect for, mine, and remove the minerals, with exceptions. Prohibits the conveyance or transfer of such lands by the State of Michigan to any person or entity other than a political subdivision of the State. Authorizes the use of such lands only for purposes of public recreation or protection of fish, wildlife, plants, or other natural resources and values. Directs the Secretary to take steps to notify Michigan residents of the uplands and islands to be conveyed. Requires the State of Michigan to notify the Secretary with regard to any conveyance of such lands by such State to a political subdivision. Requires such State to submit to the Secretary a report within five years of enactment of this Act, and every five years thereafter, as to the present ownership, management, and use of such lands conveyed. Sets forth enforcement procedures.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1988
Directs the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, in planning any water resources project to give consideration to the impact of the project to present and future recreational uses and commercial development in the area surrounding the project.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1988
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Death Penalty Act of 1988 - Amends the Federal criminal code to subject any person who is found guilty of the first degree murder of a Federal law enforcement officer, or certain other Federal officials or employees, to the penalty of death. Establishes procedures for the imposition of the death penalty in such cases. Provides that no person who was less than 18 years of age may be sentenced to death. Sets forth mitigating and aggravating factors to be considered by the jury in determining whether the death sentence will be imposed. Requires the Government to serve notice upon the defendant a reasonable time before trial or acceptance of a plea that it intends to seek the death penalty, as well as notice of the aggravating factors upon which it will rely. Provides that no presentence report shall be prepared in such cases. Requires a separate sentencing hearing before a jury or the court (upon motion by the defendant) when the defendant is convicted and the Government has filed notice that it intends to seek the death penalty. Allows the Government and the defendant to present any information relevant to a mitigating or aggravating factor without regard to the rules of evidence, but permits information to be excluded where its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of creating unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, or misleading the jury. Conditions imposition of the death penalty on a unanimous finding by the jury or, if there is no jury, the court, that: (1) the aggravating factors found to exist sufficiently outweigh any mitigating factor found to exist; or (2) in the absence of a mitigating factor, the aggravating factors alone are sufficient to justify a sentence of death. Requires the court to instruct the jury not to consider the race, color, national origin, creed, or sex of the defendant in its consideration of the death sentence. Directs the court to impose the death sentence upon a finding that such sentence is justified. Establishes procedures for appeal from a death sentence. Requires the court of appeals, upon consideration of the record and the information and procedures of the sentencing hearing, and any special finding, to affirm the decision if: (1) the sentence was not imposed under influence of passion, prejudice, or arbitrariness; and (2) the information supports the special finding of the existence of an aggravating factor. Requires the court to provide a written explanation of its determination. Establishes procedures for the implementation of the death sentence.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1988
Global Poverty Reduction Act - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct the President to develop a plan to ensure that U.S. development assistance contributes measurably toward eradicating the worst aspects of absolute poverty by the year 2000. Requires that such plan include target dates for reaching specific measurable goals whose attainment would contribute to direct improvements in the living standards of the poorest 40 percent of the population. Specifies that such goals shall include reducing the mortality rate of infants under age five, increasing the female literacy rate, and reducing the percentages of populations below the absolute poverty level by specified amounts by the year 2000. Directs that primary emphasis of development activities to restore the renewable natural resource base shall be on small-scale, affordable, low-risk local projects featuring close consultation with, and involvement of, local people at all stages of project design and implementation. Requires the President to submit the plan to the Congress by July 1, 1989. Requires all U.S. development assistance to be directed at attaining plan goals between October 1, 1989, and December 31, 2000. Requires the President to submit annual reports to the Congress detailing progress toward achieving plan goals. Directs the Comptroller General to review and comment on each report issued. Directs the President to host an international development conference for heads of governments of development assistance donor and recipient countries by October 16, 1989, to conclude an international agreement on eliminating the worst aspects of absolute poverty by the year 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 24 March 1988
Rail Line Preservation and Employee Protection Act - Amends Federal law regarding railroad industry acquisitions by noncarriers to direct the Interstate Commerce Commission to require as a condition of its approval or exemption procedure the payment of separation allowance to eligible employees. Prescribes employee eligibility criteria. Sets forth a separation allowance schedule. Establishes a maximum separation allowance of $30,000 adjusted annually for inflation. Cites circumstances under which the Commission is authorized to require a transferor carrier to pay separation allowances to employees dismissed as a consequence of a rail line transfer if such employees were performing services upon such lines. Outlines conditions under which the acquiring noncarrier must grant the right of first hire in seniority order to employees who had been performing services for the transferor rail carrier in connection with the transferred rail lines. States that the Commission's authority under this Act is plenary and exclusive.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1988
Repeals provisions of the Revenue Act of 1987 that imposed excise tax on wholesale sales of diesel and aviation fuels. Provides that the Internal Revenue Code be applied and administered as if such provisions had not been enacted.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1988
Amends title IV (National Research Institutes) of the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Center for Nursing Research to acquire, construct, improve, or repair laboratories and other research facilities to increase the capacity of institutions of higher education to conduct nursing research. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants and enter into contracts for such purposes. Requires the Director, from amounts appropriated under this Act, to reserve 15 percent to carry out such purposes through grants to, and contracts with, institutions that received less than an aggregate of a specified amount in Federal financial assistance for research and development in the preceding two fiscal years. Requires matching funds, in cash or in kind, from non-Federal sources. Directs the Secretary to require technical and scientific peer review of applications for grants and contracts. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1988
Calls for the reestablishment of the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America to study the nature of U.S. interests in the region and the threats now posed to those interests. Directs the Commission to provide advice to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Congress on a long-term U.S. policy and on a means of building a national consensus on a comprehensive U.S. policy for the region.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1988
Postal Reorganization Act of 1988 - Declares that the receipts and disbursements of the Postal Service Fund: (1) shall not be included in the totals of the Federal budget or the congressional budget; (2) shall be exempt from Federal budget limitations on expenditures and net lending; and (3) shall not be counted for purposes of calculating the Federal deficit. Repeals certain limitations on postal borrowing authority. Increases the limitations on postal borrowing authority.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1988
National Appliance Energy Conservation Amendments of 1988 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to include fluorescent lamp ballasts within the list of products covered by the Act. Directs the Secretary of Energy to prescribe by July 1, 1989, test procedures for such ballasts manufactured on or after January 1, 1990. Directs the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe labeling rules for such ballasts according to specified guidelines. Sets forth energy efficiency standards for such ballasts. Preempts State energy conservation standards for such ballasts unless such standards were prescribed or enacted before the date of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1988
Disapproves the President's certification for U.S. assistance to Peru under provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 relating to countries that fail to take adequate measures to prevent narcotic drugs and other controlled substances from being sold illegally within the jurisdiction of such country to U.S. Government personnel or from entering the United States unlawfully.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1988
Disapproves the President's certification (received by the Congress on March 1, 1988) of the narcotics cooperation of Peru under provisions of the Trade Act of 1974 regarding tariff treatment of products of uncooperative countries.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1988
Disapproves the President's certification (received by the Congress on March 1, 1988) of the narcotics cooperation of Bolivia under provisions of the Trade Act of 1974 regarding tariff treatment of products of uncooperative countries.
![Official portrait of Rep. Pursell, Carl D. [R-MI-2]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/p000574_200.jpg)