United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Repeals provisions of the Rural Development, Agriculture, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1991 to prohibit a specified rural development grant for the restoration of the birthplace of Lawrence Welk.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Requests: (1) the Soviet Union to release the prison records of Raoul Wallenberg and account for his whereabouts; and (2) the President to pursue such release and accounting through diplomatic actions with the Soviet Union.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act of 1991 - Title I: Punishing Domestic and International Terrorist Acts - Subtitle A: Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 1991 - Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal criminal code to: (1) make it a Federal offense, punishable by up to life imprisonment, to commit terrorist acts against U.S. nationals abroad; and (2) authorize the imposition of the death penalty where terrorist acts against U.S. nationals result in first degree murder. Sets forth procedures for the imposition of the death penalty, including provisions with respect to notice by the Government that it intends to seek the death penalty if the defendant is convicted, the conduct of the sentencing hearing, a list of mitigating and aggravating factors to be considered, proof of such factors, the return of findings, and procedures for appeal and review of a sentence of death. Prohibits sentencing to death individuals who were under age 18 at the time of the offense, or carrying out a death sentence upon: (1) a woman while she is pregnant; (2) a person who is mentally retarded; or (3) a person who, as a result of mental disability, cannot understand the nature of the pending proceedings, what such person was tried for, or the reason for or nature of the punishment or who lacks the capacity to recognize or understand facts which would make the punishment unjust or unlawful or the ability to convey such information to counsel or to the court. Sets forth provisions: (1) authorizing a U.S. marshal charged with supervising the implementation of a death sentence to use appropriate State or local facilities and employees to carry out such sentence and to pay costs in an amount approved by the Attorney General; and (2) prohibiting requiring any employee of a State department of corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, or an employee providing services to such department or bureau under contract, as a condition of such employment or contractual obligation, to be in attendance at, or to participate in, any execution carried out under this Act. Subtitle B: Terrorist Acts Committed in the United States - Authorizes the imposition of the death penalty for domestic terrorist acts that involve an individual acting as an agent of a foreign power and that result in first degree murder, and up to life imprisonment for acts that result in death that does not constitute first degree murder. Sets forth penalties for attempts or conspiracy to kill (up to life imprisonment) and for engaging in physical violence that results in serious bodily injury (up to ten years imprisonment, a fine, or both.) Specifies that, for purposes of this Act, a person possesses an intent to commit a terrorist act if such person intends to: (1) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (2) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (3) affect the conduct of a government by assassination, kidnapping, or other violent act. Subtitle C: Increasing Penalties for International Terrorist Acts - Increases the penalties for terrorist acts committed against U.S. nationals abroad. Title II: Authorizations to Expand Counter-Terrorist Operations - Authorizes appropriations for counter-terrorist operations and programs.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Drug Rehabilitation and Recovery Program for Prisons Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to create a new part, to be cited as the Drug Rehabilitation and Recovery Program for Prisons Act, directing the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, to establish a comprehensive drug treatment program in Federal prisons. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to award grants to States to establish drug treatment programs in State prisons and for juvenile criminal offenders. Requires a State, as a part of its application for such a grant, to submit plans for establishing such programs. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to enable plan preparation. Allows the Director to award a grant under these provisions to a State without an application and plan if the State has begun implementing a plan for demonstration prison or juvenile criminal offenders drug treatment programs under specified provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits the Attorney General and the appropriate State law enforcement official from permitting the early release of inmates convicted of drug offenses unless the inmates have successfully completed a program of treatment or after care under this Act. Sets forth early release requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
National Literacy Act of 1991 - Title I: Literacy: Strategic Planning, Research, and Coordination - Establishes an Interagency Task Force on Literacy. Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to direct the Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education to coordinate literacy-related programs. Establishes the National Institute for Literacy and the National Institute Board. Authorizes the Institute to award Literacy Leader Fellowships. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to authorize the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to make grants to establish a network of State or regional adult literacy resource centers. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Workforce Literacy - Establishes in the Department of Labor a National Workforce Literacy Assistance Collaborative. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to revise provisions for national workforce literacy strategies grants to business, industry, labor, and education partnerships for workplace literacy. Requires the Secretary of Education (the Secretary), in awarding grants for exemplary demonstration partnerships for workplace literacy, to: (1) give priority to partnerships which include small businesses; and (2) limit such grant awards to not more than three years. Directs the Secretary to reserve a specified amount, whenever appropriations for workforce literacy partnership grants exceed a certain level, to establish a program of grants for large-scale national workforce literacy strategies. Authorizes appropriations for AEA workforce literacy programs. Title III: Investment in Literacy - Extends through FY 1995 the authorization of appropriations for programs under the Adult Education Act (AEA). Revises the use of funds under the AEA basic State grants program. Requires that basic grants to States also be used for competitive two-year Gateway Grants to public housing authorities for literacy programs and related activities. Requires biennial evaluations and reports on such Gateway Grants. Revises AEA to give State advisory councils, plans, and evaluations literacy-related responsibilities. Requires States to report biennially to the Interagency Task Force on meeting literacy goals, coordinating workplace literacy services, and building a high quality delivery system for adult literacy programs. Provides for training educators to recognize and serve illiterate individuals more effectively. Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to revise targeted assistance programs under ESEA to include training programs to enhance the ability of teachers and school counselors to identify, particularly in the early grades, students with reading and related problems which place them at risk for adult illiteracy. Renames the Even Start program under ESEA as the Even Start Family Literacy Program. Revises the program to expand eligibility to include community-based organizations or other nonprofit organizations of demonstrated quality applying in collaboration with a local educational agency (LEA) (as well as LEAs and LEA consortia). Sets minimum grant amounts. Makes individual children eligible from birth through age seven (currently from age one through age seven). Provides for continuation of eligibility for certain participants until the parents become ineligible due to educational achievement or until all children in the family attain age eight. Gives priority to applicants demonstrating that the area to be served has a high percentage or a large number of children and adults in need of program services. Authorizes appropriations for the Even Start Family Literacy Program. Establishes a Family Literacy Public Broadcasting Program. Authorizes the Secretary of Education, subject to availability of appropriations, to contract with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for production and dissemination of family literacy programming and accompanying materials to assist parents in improving family literacy skills and languages development. Requires CPB to: (1) cooperate with local public broadcasting stations; (2) arrange for distribution of audio and video instructional media materials for use, and distribution on loan, to families at sites chosen from among State and local libraries with literacy programs and nonprofit entities serving hard-to-serve populations; and (3) report to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations for the Family Literacy Public Broadcasting Program. Title IV: Business Leadership for Employment Skills - Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to provide for education programs for commercial drivers. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make competitive matching grants for adult education programs which increase the literacy skills of eligible commercial drivers so that they may successfully complete the knowledge test requirements under the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986. Requires grantees to refer individuals identified as having literacy skill problems to appropriate adult education programs. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Books for Families - Revises the ESEA inexpensive book distribution program to require that priority be given in selection of additional local programs to those which serve children and students with special needs. Requires the program contractor (Reading is Fundamental) to report to the Secretary of Education annually on such additional programs. Amends the Library Services and Construction Act to direct the Secretary of Education, in awarding grants for library literacy programs and services, to give priority to those that: (1) will be delivered in areas of greatest need with highest concentrations of adults without secondary education or its equivalent, and which either have few community or financial resources or have low per capita income, unemployment, or underemployment; and (2) coordinate with literacy organizations and community-based organizations providing literacy services. Title VI: Students for Literacy - Amends HEA to authorize appropriations for Student Literacy Corps programs. Requires individual students in such programs, as a condition of course credit, to perform at least 60 hours of voluntary, uncompensated service as tutors in a public community agency's educational or literacy program. Title VII: Volunteers for Literacy - Amends the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to establish a Literacy Challenge Grants program. Authorizes the Director of the ACTION Agency to award such grants to eligible public and private entities to pay the Federal share of costs of establishing, operating, or expanding community or employee literacy programs that include the use of full- or part-time volunteers. Authorizes appropriations for Literacy Challenge Grants, but only if there are specified levels of funding for the VISTA Program and the VISTA Literacy Corps. Title VIII: Literacy for Incarcerated Individuals - Amends the Adult Education Act (AEA) to establish requirements for mandatory functional literacy programs for incarcerated adults in State correctional systems and local jails or detention centers. Requires such a program to be in effect in at least one major correctional facility, for each State correctional system and each local jail or detention center with an inmate population, within two years after enactment of this Act. Requires, if adequate funds are available, each State correctional system and each local jail or detention center with over 150 inmates to have such a program in effect within five years after enactment of this Act. Sets forth required components of such programs, including inmate mandatory participation any individual who is serving a life sentence without parole, or terminally ill, or under a sentence of death. Requires annual reports. Encourages: (1) parole agencies to make educational recommendations for those being released who do not have a marketable job skill or a high school diploma; and (2) jails with less than 150 inmates to develop such mandatory functional literacy programs.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Savings and Loan Bounty Hunter Act - Establishes the Savings and Loan Asset Recovery Board to provide for the establishment of partnerships to recover on a contingent fee basis assets of savings associations in Federal receivership. Sets forth operating guidelines. Outlines the terms of a cooperative agreement under which a partnership must operate with the Attorney General, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Oversight Board, and the Board of Directors of the Resolution Trust Corporation. Empowers a partnership to bring a civil action against the Attorney General, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the Resolution Trust Corporation to compel production of information necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. Subjects such action to judicial review.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to establish in the Treasury the Textile Machinery Modernization Fund. Appropriates to such fund revenues from customs duties imposed on textile machinery and parts imported into the United States in order to provide grants for research projects for the modernization of the U.S. textile machinery industry.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Recycling Information Clearinghouse Act of 1991 - 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; (7) information about state-of-the-art recycling methods, programs, or technologies; and (8) a register of all potential purchasers of recycled materials. 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. Makes a State ineligible for solid waste disposal assistance after December 31, 1992, unless the State maintains and publicizes a register of potential purchasers of recycled materials known to the State solid waste planning authorities. Requires such register to be periodically updated and submitted to the clearinghouse. Authorizes appropriations for such clearinghouse.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize a State to enforce laws collecting fees in connection with the treatment and disposal within such State of solid waste generated in another State. Permits a State to enforce laws regulating the treatment and disposal of solid waste within the State. Exempts specified types of waste from regulation under this Act. Grants congressional approval to agreements or compacts entered into by two or more States for cooperative efforts and mutual assistance for solid waste management. Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate regulations exempting waste types or recycling practices from the authority granted to States under this Act if such action promotes the development of an interstate market for recyclable materials or is necessary to promote environmentally sound waste disposal practices.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Emergency Oil Market Stability Act of 1991 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to direct the President to promulgate and transmit to the Congress a standby regulation providing for mandatory allocation of petroleum products. Specifies emergency circumstances in which the President may implement such regulation. Mandates that the regulation include an optional standby program for crude oil sharing among refiners. Declares that the President shall have no authority to: (1) impose any tax, tariff, or user fee; (2) prescribe minimum petroleum prices; (3) establish a program for the assignment of rights for end-user purchases gasoline or diesel fuel; or (4) restrict or allocate consumer petroleum inventories. Preempts State and local law about petroleum product pricing or allocation, except where exempted by the President. Permits a Governor to implement a State set aside program for residual fuel oil or any refined petroleum and, if the President approves it, also win exemption. Establishes a civil penalty for violation of the standby regulation. Directs the President to collect information on a State-by-State basis regarding petroleum products pricing, supply, and distribution. Terminates all authority under this Act on a specified date.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Kangaroo Protection Act - Provides that any administrative exception made under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 permitting the importation of kangaroos, their parts, and products shall not apply to kangaroos removed from the wild in accordance with an Australian management plan.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on certain indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. (Under current law, such a loan must be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Congressional Pay Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to specify that pay adjustments for Members of Congress shall become effective on March 1 following the beginning of the next Congress after the Congress during which such adjustment is approved. Amends the Federal Salary Act to require the President to transmit to the Congress, within a specified time period, recommendations for rates of pay of Members of Congress and legislative and judicial employees. (Currently such recommendations are included in the Federal budget.) Prohibits the House of Representatives and the Senate from considering any bill or joint resolution carrying an appropriation for compensation of Members of Congress for any fiscal year if it carries an appropriation, or a limitation of appropriations, for any other purpose. Requires a recorded vote on such bill or resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Environmental Infrastructure Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish infrastructure bonds as a category of tax-exempt bond. Includes within this new category any State or local bond issued as part of an issue 95 percent or more of whose proceeds are to be used to provide public sewage facilities, solid or hazardous waste disposal facilities, water supply systems, or other facilities acquired, constructed, or renovated to achieve compliance with Federal environmental law. Revises arbitrage rebate provisions. Classifies infrastructure facilities as seven-year property for purposes of the accelerated cost recovery system associated with the depreciation deduction. Designates a ten-year class life to such facilities under the alternative depreciation system. Exempts infrastructure facility property from restrictions relating to property leased to a tax-exempt entity.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to effect any rescission of budget authority the President proposes unless the Congress adopts a joint resolution disapproving all or part of the rescission within 45 days after the President's message containing the proposal. Repeals provisions that prohibit funds made available for obligation by congressional veto from inclusion in subsequent rescission proposals.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Declares that Saddam Hussein and Iraq should be held legally, morally, and financially accountable for all the costs resulting from the discharge of oil into the Persian Gulf. Urges the United Nations Security Council to hold Saddam Hussein and Iraq financially responsible for such costs in the form of post-war reparations or any other measure the Security Council finds to be effective and acceptable.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Condemns Iraq's eco-terrorism. Demands that Iraq immediately halt and refrain in the future from deliberately pumping oil into the Persian Gulf and other forms of environmental warfare. Holds Iraq fully responsible for all economic and environmental damages caused by the spill. Calls upon the President and the leaders of other allied nations to demand adequate compensation from Iraq for economic losses, environmental damages, and clean-up costs resulting from the spill.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1991
Authorizes the Secretary of Education to enter into a contract with the National Writing Project (a nonprofit educational organization) to support costs of programs of teacher training and classroom research to improve the teaching of writing and the quality of student writing and learning. Directs the Project to establish a National Advisory Board. Directs the Secretary, through the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, to make grants to individuals and higher education institutions for research on the teaching of writing. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 through 1995.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1991
Directs the U.S. Postal Service to ensure that: (1) any changes in the nature of postal service implemented on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis, beginning after July 27, 1990, and before the enactment of this Act, are rescinded; and (2) any practices, standards, or other related matters (including standards as to the maximum length of time for the delivery of classes or types of mail) which were modified or replaced as a result of those changes are restored.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1991
Directs the General Accounting Office to study and report to the Congress on ways to encourage the greater use of recycled paper by mailers of third-class mail matter along with recommendations for appropriate legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should establish a White House conference regarding solid waste disposal and reduction so that a national solid waste management program can be implemented.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Radiation Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to affirm State authority to regulate the disposal of certain low-level radioactive waste for which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not require disposal in a licensed facility.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the imposition of the death penalty for any individual who kills a U.S. national while such national is outside the United States, if the killing is a first degree murder. Increases penalties for killings other than first degree murders. Sets forth procedures for the imposition of the death penalty. Requires that a defendant be sentenced to death for a death-eligible offense if, after consideration of specified mitigating and aggravating factors, the defendant is found beyond a reasonable doubt, at a special hearing, to have: (1) intentionally killed the victim; (2) intentionally participated in an act, contemplating that the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used in connection with a person, other than one of the participants in the offense, and the victim died as a result of the act; or (3) acting with reckless disregard for human life, engaged or substantially participated in conduct which the defendant knew would create a grave risk of death to another person or persons and death resulted from such conduct. Sets forth provisions with respect to notice by the Government that it intends to seek the death penalty if the defendant is convicted, the conduct of a special hearing to determine whether a sentence of death is justified, mitigating and aggravating factors to be considered, proof of such factors, the return of findings, and procedures for appeal and review of a sentence of death. Requires the court, in a hearing held before a jury, to instruct the jury that, in considering whether a death sentence is justified, it shall not consider the race, color, religious beliefs, national origin, or sex of the defendant or any victim. Authorizes the use of State or local facilities and employees to carry out the death penalty. Prohibits requiring any employee of a State department of corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, or an employee providing services to such department or bureau under contract, as a condition of such employment or contractual obligation, to be in attendance at or to participate in any execution carried out under this title if such participation is contrary to the employee's moral or religious convictions. Specifies that where a sentence of death is not imposed, the court may impose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release or furlough. Prohibits carrying out a death sentence upon a person who: (1) was under age 18 at the time the crime was committed; (2) is mentally retarded; (3) as a result of mental disability, cannot understand the nature of the pending proceedings, what such person was tried for, or the reason for or nature of the punishment; or who lacks the capacity to recognize or understand facts which would make the punishment unjust or unlawful, or lacks the ability to convey such information to counsel or to the court; or (4) is a pregnant woman. Sets forth provisions with respect to the appointment of counsel for indigent defendants in Federal capital cases. Establishes standards for the competence of counsel. Specifies that the ineffectiveness or incompetence of counsel during habeas corpus proceedings in a capital case shall not be a ground for relief from the judgment or sentence in any proceeding (but does not preclude the appointment of different counsel at any stage of the proceedings). Sets forth additional provisions with respect to: (1) the appointment of counsel in State capital cases; (2) time limits for a collateral attack on a judgment imposing a sentence of death; and (3) stays of execution.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1991
Judicial Taxation Prohibition Act - Amends the Federal judicial code to deny to inferior Federal courts jurisdiction to issue any remedy, order, writ, or other judicial decree requiring the Federal Government or any State or local government to impose any new tax or to increase any existing tax or tax rate.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Authorizes the appointment of chiropractors as commissioned officers in the Army, Navy, or Air Force Medical Service Corps. Provides special pay to chiropractic officers on active duty for not less than one year. Increases such special pay with service. Authorizes the payment of additional special pay for any 12-month period during which such an officer is not undergoing chiropractic internship training, with appropriate increases for years of service. Requires such an officer, to receive such additional special pay, to execute a written agreement to remain on duty for no less than one year. Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to terminate the payment of such additional special pay at any time, with an appropriate refund required from the officer concerned for any period paid but unserved. Requires an officer who voluntarily terminates service for a period for which a special payment was made to refund the proper amount to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Motor Vehicle Fuel Conservation Act of 1991 - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to establish average fuel economy standards for passenger automobiles and automobiles other than passenger automobiles (light trucks) for model years 1996 and thereafter. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary), to modify such standards for model year 1996 and thereafter. Directs the Secretary, in response to petitions filed at least 12 months in advance of the model year, to conduct a rulemaking proceeding to determine whether to increase or decrease such standard to a level that is the maximum feasible average fuel economy for that model year, except that such standard shall not be reduced below a level equal to the average fuel economy achieved by the manufacturer of such vehicle for model year 1988, as multiplied by a specified percentage. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to report annually to specified congressional committees on a study which: (1) examines the accuracy of fuel economy testing of passenger automobiles and light trucks; and (2) assesses the extent to which fuel economy deteriorates during the lifetime of such vehicles. Directs the Secretary of Energy to distribute at least 100 explanatory booklets each year to every dealer and additional numbers if requested. Requires the Secretary to provide for a review and report to the Congress by the National Academy of Sciences of the current state of research and development in light truck fuel economy and passenger automobile fuel economy and an assessment of the potential for improving the fuel efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of passenger automobiles and light trucks. Requires the Secretary of Energy to study and report to the Congress on the future options for regulating the fuel efficiency of such vehicles beyond 2001. Provides for the judicial review of average fuel economy standards (including modifications) established under this Act. Doubles the civil penalty for repeated violations of the fuel economy standard. Requires such penalty to be adjusted for inflation.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require indexing, based on the Consumer Price Index, of the adjusted basis of capital assets that have been held for more than one year, for the purpose of determining capital gain or loss at the time of transfer.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the provisions permitting small issues of tax-exempt bonds to finance manufacturing facilities and farm property.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1991
Calls upon the United Nations to set up an international tribunal upon completion of the action to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 to try Saddam Hussein and his subordinates responsible for high crimes following the invasion of Kuwait.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Subjects to execution persons who, within the District of Columbia: (1) commit first degree murder; (2) murder a law enforcement officer while such officer is engaged in official duties or because of the status of an individual as an officer; or (3) engage in conduct during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise and thereby knowingly cause an individual's death. Directs the Government to notify the defendant a reasonable amount of time before trial or the court's acceptance of a guilty plea of its intent to seek the death penalty. Requires that, once a guilty verdict is rendered, a separate sentencing hearing be held at which there must be a unanimous finding, that, in addition to murder, specified aggravating factors, such as a previous murder conviction, commission of the murder for money, or torture of the victim, exist which outweigh specified mitigating factors and justify execution. Requires that the jury be notified that regardless of its findings it is never required to impose the death sentence and that it may not consider the race, color, religious beliefs, national origin or sex of the defendant or victim in passing sentence. Prohibits the execution of minors, the mentally retarded, or certain mentally disabled individuals. Authorizes a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a capital crime. Sets forth death sentence appeal rights. Affords indigent defendants charged with a capital crime the benefit of an experienced criminal attorney until the execution of judgment. Prohibits correctional employees from being forced to participate in an execution that is against their moral or religious convictions.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the Congress and the States shall have power to prohibit the act of desecration of the U.S. flag and to set criminal penalties for such act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Rape and Incest Victims' Choice Resolution - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Federal Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) funding should be available for the abortion of pregnancies resulting from rape or incest if such acts, considering the physical and mental state of the women involved, are reported promptly.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1991
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. Government should: (1) suspend all trade assistance and benefits for the Soviet Union (including commodities credits and export-import credits) until all Soviet troops have been removed from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia; and (2) reaffirm its recognition of such countries as sovereign nations and establish diplomatic relations with them.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
National Biological Diversity Conservation and Environmental Research Act - States that the conservation of biological diversity is a national priority. Requires Federal actions to be consistent with such goal. Directs the Council on Environmental Quality to: (1) issue regulations to require agencies to assess the impacts of Federal actions on biological diversity in preparing environmental impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; and (2) identify those biotic communities, species, and populations that appear to be in decline, in imminent danger of loss of viability, or otherwise of special concern. Requires Federal agencies to review their programs for consistency with the conservation of biological diversity pursuant to this Act and to report the results of such reviews to the President, the Council, and the Congress. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in reviewing environmental impact statements, to take into account the impacts of proposed actions on biological diversity. Establishes an Interagency Working Committee on Biological Diversity to be responsible for developing a coordinated Federal strategy for conservation of biological diversity. Dissolves the Committee after the submission to the Congress of the strategy. Sets forth the required contents of such strategy and reporting requirements. Establishes a National Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation Research within the Smithsonian Institution to: (1) set research priorities; and (2) coordinate the understanding and promotion of knowledge of the biota and make such knowledge accessible to the public. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Council to retain the National Academy of Sciences to: (1) provide scientific and technical advice and counsel in the preparation of the Federal strategy; and (2) provide a general reference and scientific and technical advisory source for the Nation in matters relating to the conservation of biological diversity.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Amends Federal law (commonly known as the National Park Service Concessions Policy Act) with respect to preferential rights to provide new or additional accommodations, facilities, or services to concessioners in areas administered by the National Park Service. Repeals certain provisions of such Act with regard to: (1) right of preference for contract renewal; and (2) possessory interest of such concessioner. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop and implement a system for: (1) the renewal and extension of existing contracts and permits; (2) the granting of new contracts and permits on a competitive basis; (3) provision of new or additional services through concessioners in areas of the National Park System; and (4) the limiting of contracts to U.S. persons only. Authorizes the Secretary to terminate any foreign-owned or controlled concessions in the National Park System. Requires the Secretary to review all existing contracts (including the Circle Line Statue of Liberty Inc. contract) to determine if: (1) any of them were awarded outside of the normal procedures of such Act; and (2) any of them can be legally terminated on that basis. Directs the Secretary to review the concession serving the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island to determine if there is sufficient access for the public and if the cost of the ferry service to Ellis Island and Liberty Island is justified. Requires the Secretary to consider providing additional ferry service from additional points of embarkation in New Jersey and New York City to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or allow for the construction of a permanent bridge, open to the public for pedestrian use, connecting Liberty State Park and Ellis Island. Allows construction of a facility at a National Park System unit for concession purposes only if: (1) such facility is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the enactment of this Act; and (2) funds are appropriated for such construction.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Overseas Teachers Act - Amends the Defense Department Overseas Teachers Pay and Personnel Practices Act with respect to teacher recruitment, leave, compensation, conditions of employment, and entry into competitive service.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee the following qualified employer-provided transportation benefits: (1) the value of transportation in a commuter highway vehicle between the employee's residence and workplace; and (2) up to $60 per month of the value of any transit pass entitling the employee to transportation on mass transit facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the targeted jobs credit permanently. Increases the maximum age requirement for economically disadvantaged youth from 23 to 25.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the Congress and the States shall have power to prohibit the act of physical desecration of the U.S. flag and to set criminal penalties for such act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Proclaims the English language to be the official language of the United States. Prohibits the United States or any State from requiring the use of any other language. Declares that this article shall not prohibit educational instruction in a language other than English for the purpose of making students proficient in English. Authorizes the Congress and the States to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1991
Declares that the House of Representatives commends the U.S. maritime industry and maritime community for their commitment to and cooperation with U.S. military forces in Operation Desert Shield.