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United States · Official source
1,931 records where Rep. Ravenel, Arthur, Jr. [R-SC-1] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1987
Designates the building on Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina, known as the Courthouse and Post Office Building as the Ernest Frederick Hollings Charleston Judicial Building.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1987
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Act - Amends title IV (National Research Institutes) of the Public Health Service Act to establish the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (Institute) as an agency of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Removes communicative disorders from the title and purpose of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke. Requires the Director of the Institute, with the advice of the Institute's advisory council, to establish a National Deafness and Other Communications Disorders Program (Program). Requires the Director to prepare and transmit to the Director of NIH a plan to initiate, expand, intensify, and coordinate activities of the Institute respecting disorders of hearing, balance, voice, speech, taste, and smell. Requires activities under the Program to be coordinated with other national research institutes and describes the minimum activities of the Program. Requires the Director to establish a National Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Data System for the collection, storage, analysis, retrieval, and dissemination of data and a National Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Information Clearinghouse. Requires the Director, after consultation with the advisory council, to provide for the development, modernization, and operation of new and existing centers for studies of disorders of hearing and other communication processes. Sets forth requirements for the centers, including conducting research, training programs and information and continuing education programs for health professionals, and public information programs. Authorizes centers to provide stipends for health professionals in their training programs. Describes other programs the centers may undertake. Requires the Director to provide for an equitable geographical distribution of centers and to give appropriate consideration to the need for centers for the elderly and for children. Limits support of a center to seven years, with one or more additional periods of not more than five years, if recommended by a peer review group established by the Director, with the advice of the advisory council. Authorizes appropriations. Sets forth transitional and savings provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1987
Hazardous Materials Transportation Amendments of 1987 - Amends the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation to enter into an agreement with a private entity regarding the establishment of a real-time computerized central reporting system and data center for the shipment of hazardous materials. Prescribes the contents of such system. Requires the private entity to provide: (1) access at all times to data in the system at no cost to law enforcement and firefighting personnel; and (2) technical information at no cost for meeting emergencies related to hazardous materials transportation. States that the United States shall not contribute to the cost of such system, except for the transmittal of a manifest regarding a hazardous materials shipment, and for certain data retrieval by the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to require every hazardous materials generator to prepare an accurate manifest capable of transmission by telecommunication equipment and transmit it to the data center established by this Act. Mandates the establishment of an electronic central data system to receive such generator's information regarding hazardous materials transportation. Requires the Secretary to impose a $12 fee for each hazardous materials manifest entered into the data center (payable either by the hazardous materials generator or by the private entity providing the data service). Directs the Secretary to make grants in FY 1988 through 1992 to assist governmental entities in the training of emergency response personnel and the purchasing of loading equipment. Requires the Secretary to publish guidelines regarding emergency response training programs, including guidelines for the loading and handling of explosives and hazardous materials. Requires the Secretary to produce a hazardous materials flow study. Prescribes the contents of such study, and requires the Secretary to report periodically to the Congress on the study results.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1987
Crimes Against Older Americans Information and Coordination Act of 1987 - Directs the Attorney General to modify the uniform crime reporting program in the Federal Bureau of Investigation to include data on the age, sex, ethnicity, living arrangements, and other characteristics of the victim and the perpetrator, including any relationship between them, for crimes against the elderly. Directs the Attorney General to establish and maintain within the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs a National Reference Center on Crimes Against Older Americans which shall: (1) publish an annual report of research conducted on crimes against the elderly; (2) develop and maintain an information reference service on all private and public initiatives for the prevention and identification of such crimes; (3) study the national incidence of such crimes, comparing rural and urban areas; (4) serve as a liaison with the various Federal agencies that carry out programs for the elderly; and (5) provide technical assistance to individuals and to private and public organizations to reduce and prevent crimes against the elderly.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1987
Nursing Shortage Relief Act of 1987 - Amends title VIII (Nurse Training) of the Public Health Service Act to add a new part on initiatives to reduce nursing shortages. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to establish a special advisory committee to develop a comprehensive plan regarding long-term solutions to problems in recruiting and retaining nurses. Requires nurses to be included on the committee. Directs the Secretary to determine whether a nonprofit private entity with a record in supporting innovative health initiatives has completed or is completing a project to demonstrate and evaluate innovative hospital nursing practice models. Requires models to include initiatives to: (1) restructure the role of the hospital nurse, through changes in the composition of hospital staff and through innovative approaches for interaction between hospital administration and nursing personnel; (2) test innovative wage structures for nurses; and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of providing benefits such as pensions, sabbaticals, and payment of educational expenses for nurses. Directs the Secretary, if the Secretary so determines, to make a grant to the nonprofit private entity for dissemination of information describing the results of such project. Directs the Secretary, if no such project has been or is being completed, to make grants for carrying out such projects and disseminating the results. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Directs the Secretary to make grants to or enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private entities accredited for the training of nurses for projects to: (1) demonstrate and evaluate innovative nursing practice models regarding long-term health care services in the home or in long-term care facilities; and (2) develop collaborative clinical practice setting alternatives for nursing students. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Directs the Secretary to make grants to and enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private entities to develop, establish, and operate at least one and not more than five regional model professional nurse recruitment centers to recruit individuals to enter into programs to train nurses. Directs the Secretary, in making grants, to ensure inclusion of not less than one center in a rural area. Sets forth requirements for centers. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Directs the Secretary to make grants to develop and establish local educational outreach and nurse recruitment programs. Directs the Secretary, in making grants, to give priority to applicants carrying out associated degree programs in nursing education that train not more than 20 nursing students per year and have arrangements with baccalaureate degree nursing programs. Requires grant funds to be used for identifying a local area's long-term nursing needs, designing local recruitment programs, and providing for the modification and expansion of existing nursing programs. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1987
Prohibits most-favored-nation treatment for Iranian products.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1987
Designates October 1, 1988, as National Quality First Day.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1987
Declares that the Congress: (1) expresses its solidarity with the citizens of Iran and extends its wish that the people of Iran will soon enjoy an end to the Iran-Iraq war and to internal repression; (2) supports an official U. S. policy of completely halting the shipment of arms to the Government of Iran; (3) urges the President to cooperate with the United Nations to bring about an end to government-sponsored torture in Iranian prisons and to pressure Iran to permit inspection of Iranian prisons by an international delegation; and (4) expresses support for all efforts made through the U.N. Security Council to pressure the Khomeini Government to end the Iran-Iraq war.
United States · United States Congress · 22 September 1987
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 a 60 percent majority of the House votes to waive or suspend this provision.
United States · United States Congress · 21 September 1987
Condemns the Soviet Union for: (1) its attack on American servicemen near Neuruppin, East Germany, on September 17, 1987; (2) its continuing refusal to accept responsibility for the death of Major Arthur D. Nicholson, Jr.; and (3) actions inconsistent with the 1947 Military Liaison Missions Agreement.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1987
Designates October 1988 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
United States · United States Congress · 10 September 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the corporate income tax exclusion of contributions to the capital of the taxpayer. Includes as a qualifying contribution any amount of money or property received by a regulated public utility (a utility required to provide electric energy, gas, water, or sewage disposal services) that: (1) is a contribution in aid of construction (as defined by regulations to be promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury); (2) meets certain expenditure requirements; and (3) is not included in the taxpayer's rate base. Excludes amounts paid as customer connection fees.
United States · United States Congress · 7 August 1987
AFDC Employment and Training Reorganization Act of 1987 - Title I: Two-Tier System under AFDC program - Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act to establish a two-tier system under which a family applying for or receiving AFDC benefits is assigned to the first tier if it is not a two-parent family and includes a child under six months of age and to the second tier if the family does not qualify for tier-one. Exempts first tier families from this Act's registration, employment, and training requirements. Exempts caretaker relatives, and authorizes the exemption of adolescents, in tier-two families who do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent from such requirements if they participate in a program providing a high-school education or its equivalent. Requires a State plan to deny assistance to an individual under age 18 who is not and has never been married and who is responsible for the care of a dependent child (or is pregnant), unless such individual lives with a parent. Makes such requirement inapplicable if: (1) such individual has no parent who is living and whose whereabouts are known; (2) the health and safety of the child or individual would be jeopardized if such individual lived with the parent; or (3) such individual has not lived at home for at least one year prior to the child's birth or making a claim for AFDC payments. Title II: Comprehensive Employment and Training Program - Requires AFDC applicants and recipients to register with a State agency for employment counseling, training, and assignment. Authorizes AFDC recipients to refuse employment which results in a net loss in their income. Directs each State to: (1) establish a single intake and registration process for AFDC applicants and recipients; and (2) arrange for the participation of AFDC recipients in one or more of the work-related programs established under title IV of the Act or other Federal law, while coordinating such programs to enhance the availability and efficiency of services provided. Authorizes each State to: (1) make an assessment as to whether immediate employment is a realistic possibility or whether training or education is needed to prepare registered applicants and recipients for employment; (2) provide applicants and recipients with counseling regarding their prospects and needs; (3) require AFDC applicants to undertake an immediate program of job search; and (4) develop an employment plan for each AFDC recipient. Requires States to provide AFDC recipients who are assigned to employment, training, or education programs, and applicants who are required to participate in job search, with child care and transportation services, otherwise such applicants and recipients need not participate in such programs. Sets the Federal share of AFDC employment, training, and education costs in excess of FY 1987 costs at 50 percent. Establishes participation standards which require State AFDC employment, training, and education programs to include a specified annual percentage (increasing from 15 percent in FY 1988 to 70 percent in FY 1996 and thereafter) of a State's mandatory AFDC population. Requires 80 percent of such population within the ages of 16 and 18 to be attending school on a full-time basis by FY 1990. Reduces Federal funding for States which fall short of such participation standards. Authorizes appropriations for AFDC employment, training, and education programs. Expresses the congressional intent that such funding be increased after FY 1988 if and to the extent such programs prove successful in reducing welfare dependency. Ensures that each State receive at least as much funds for such programs in FY 1988 and 1989 as it did in FY 1987. Provides that after FY 1989 50 percent of such funds shall be allotted on the basis of a State's share of the total participating AFDC population and 50 percent on the basis of the relative success of each State in placing high-priority AFDC applicants and recipients (high school dropouts, unwed mothers with children under age three, and AFDC recipients under age 22) in school or jobs for six months or more. Requires Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam to each implement a coordinated program of activities affording individuals the opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency through employment. Authorizes appropriations for such programs for each fiscal year after 1987. Makes this Act's registration, employment, and training requirements inapplicable to such territories. Establishes, in the Office of Family Assistance, an Office of Work Programs headed by a Director responsible for overseeing the operation and effectiveness of this Act's employment and training programs. Sets forth recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Authorizes States to add the cash value of food stamps to AFDC payments which are divided by the greater of the Federal or State minimum wage in determining the number of hours a community work experience program participant who is a recipient of such benefits may be required to work. Title III: Certificate System for Child Care - Authorizes States to establish a program providing certificates for child care to families: (1) whose income is less than 150 percent of the Federal poverty level; (2) which have received AFDC benefits within the past three months, but are no longer eligible for such aid because of increased earnings; and (3) which are paying for from ten to 90 percent of the cost of such child care. Limits the applicability of such certificates to the child care necessary to permit their recipients' employment or search for employment. Provides for Federal reimbursement of program costs as though they were costs incurred in providing child care to individuals assigned to an AFDC employment, training, and education program. Requires providers participating in the child care certificate program to be licensed or certified by the State, but certain providers shall be given two years to comply with State licensing or certification requirements. Requires States to disseminate information regarding child care and the certificate program to parents, the public, and child care providers. Limits the certification program's administrative expenses to eight percent of the program costs which are subject to Federal reimbursement. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to withhold Federal payments for certificate program costs upon a State's substantial failure to comply with program requirements. Sets forth reporting requirements. Title IV: Child Support Enforcement Amendments - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act to direct States to establish binding guidelines for child support award amounts. (Currently, such guidelines need not be binding). Creates a rebuttable presumption that the child support award resulting from the application of such guidelines in a judicial or administrative child support proceeding is correct. Requires States to review and update all child support orders at least once every two years to ensure that they continue to comply with child support award guidelines. Amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Act to authorize up to ten States to carry out demonstration projects which require absent parents who owe child support, but whose income is insufficient to pay such support to participate in an employment or training program. Amends part D of title IV of the Act to require that the names and social security numbers of the father and mother of every child born in a State be recorded on such child's birth certificate. Requires States to adopt certain procedures with regard to paternity determinations and the standard of proof in paternity cases. Takes a State's paternity determinations into account in computing the State child support collection incentive payment. Requires each State to adopt procedures: (1) requiring employers to disclose certain information to the State child support enforcement agency regarding any employee who is under court order to pay child support; and (2) making certain legislation regarding the interstate enforcement of child support effective in the State. Provides that when the State in which the custodial parent resides requests the State in which the absent parent resides to modify a support order, the latter State shall not have jurisdiction to modify any other aspect of the order. Requires that by October 1992 every State have in effect an operational child support management information system. Reduces the Federal share of the costs for such systems. Requires the withholding of child support payments from the non-custodial parent's wages upon the issuance or modification of a child support order unless both parents agree in writing to an alternative arrangement or the parent paying child support posts a bond equal to six months of child support. Requires that the Parent Locator Service and the State agency administering the State child and spousal support plan be given access to all employment security information which is in the possession or control of any Federal or interstate telecommunications network or is available through any other data exchange method, and is to be used for child support enforcement purposes. Directs the Secretary to develop and publish standards within one year of this Act's enactment for the amount of time a State may take to complete each of several actions in child support cases. Penalizes States which fail to comply with such standards. Makes this title's amendments effective one year after this Act's enactment. Directs the Comptroller General to evaluate State implementation of this title's amendments and report to the President and the Congress regarding such evaluation within four years of this Act's enactment. Title V: State Demonstration Programs - Requires States that wish to conduct demonstration programs which include Federal, federally-assisted, or non-Federal public programs designed to alleviate poverty to submit filings regarding such demonstrations to an Interagency Low-Income Opportunity Board which shall select and approve those demonstrations judged worthy of implementation. Sets forth policy goals to be considered by the Board in selecting and evaluating such demonstrations. Directs that special consideration be given to demonstration programs designed to: (1) improve methods of helping welfare recipients achieve economic independence; (2) coordinate employment and training programs currently supported by Federal or State funds; (3) establish paternity and obtain child support orders in AFDC cases for which paternity was not established when the case was opened; (4) facilitate efforts by nongovernmental organizations to help welfare clients achieve economic independence. Requires a Governor or his designee to submit a filing which describes in detail the demonstration program to be conducted, including: (1) employment-related activities required of individuals receiving assistance under the demonstration and the circumstances in which they will not be required to participate in such activities; (2) procedures for determining the initial and continuing eligibility of, and benefits for, individuals and families; (3) a budget setting forth the amounts and sources of funding for the demonstration. Requires each Federal department or agency with responsibility for a program which is included in the demonstration program to make an estimate of Funding which, but for the demonstration, would be available for such programs so that the Chairman may compare State budgetary assumptions with such estimate. Provides that when the amount of Federal funds necessary to carry out the demonstration is less than the amount contained in the budget by reason of the effectiveness of the demonstration in achieving the objectives of this title, the State may use excess Federal funds to improve the demonstration or otherwise benefit individuals and families included in the demonstration. Provides that those within a class eligible to participate in a demonstration shall only be eligible for benefits under a program included in such demonstration. Requires the Board to conduct interim evaluations of, and have States submit annual reports on, demonstrations. Authorizes the submittal of demonstration changes for congressional approval if such changes improve the likelihood of accomplishing this title's objectives and participant benefits are not thereby reduced. Authorizes State Governors or the Chairman of the Board to terminate the demonstration (upon giving the Chairman or Governor at least three months advance notice) if the interests of the Federal Government, the State, or the participating individuals would be better served by returning to the separate conduct of the included programs. Requires a Governor, within six months of the completion of a demonstration, to submit a final report on such demonstration to the Board. Directs the Chairman to report annually to the Congress on demonstrations. Directs the Board, after selecting and approving demonstration programs in accordance with criteria it establishes, to prepare a single demonstration proposal containing all information pertinent to the programs selected. Provides that the proposal shall be submitted to the Congress and become effective unless the Congress passes legislation modifying or rejecting the proposal within 60 days after its submission by the Board. Title VI: Evaluation of Employment and Training Programs and State Demonstration Programs - Directs the Secretary to convene an Interagency Panel within three months of this Act's enactment which shall design, implement, and monitor a series of studies assessing the methods and effects of the programs initiated under titles II and V of this Act. Requires the Panel to select an advisory board of not more than 12 members, within six months of this Act's enactment, to provide the Panel with advice and counsel on all aspects of its operation. Requires the Panel to ensure that a study of child care during the welfare-to-work transition period is conducted during the first three years of its operation. Sets forth Panel reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations for the Panel. Title VII: Miscellaneous and Related Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary to approve a five-year demonstration project testing Washington State's Family Independence Program as an alternative to the AFDC program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 August 1987
Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Energy for FY 1988 and subsequent fiscal years for the Superconducting Super Collider Program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 August 1987
Provides that when any bill or joint resolution making continuing appropriations is agreed to by both Houses of the Congress in the same form, the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall enroll the provisions in such bill or joint resolution as separate bills or joint resolutions (for item veto purposes). Requires the enrollment as part of one separate bill or joint resolution of: (1) all the provisions within the jurisdiction of a subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations; (2) all the provisions within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Appropriations; (3) all the provisions within the jurisdiction of any other House committee; and (4) all the provisions for which jurisdiction cannot be determined.
United States · United States Congress · 7 August 1987
Designates September 27, 1987, as Gold Star Mothers Day.
United States · United States Congress · 7 August 1987
Designates the week of April 10 through April 16, 1988, as National Telecommunicators' Week.
United States · United States Congress · 7 August 1987
Designates October 31, 1987, as National Child Identification and Safety Information Day.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1987
Federal Pay Reform Act of 1987 - Title I: Alternative Compensation Programs - Establishes a Federal Compensation Board to design and implement Federal employee compensation programs utilizing the alternative systems set forth in this Act and to carry out oversight functions with respect to such programs. Describes the types of alternative systems as follows: (1) a system under which annual pay adjustments are made so that total pay and benefits are comparable to those of private enterprise for the same level of work; (2) a system under which annual pay adjustments are made so that rates of basic pay are consistent with those for the same level of work in private enterprise within the same geographic region; (3) a system under which conditions of employment shall be subject to collective bargaining; (4) a system which identifies separate career categories, adjusts pay based on specified factors, provides pay differentials, and authorizes special awards and performance recognition; and (5) any combination of the aforementioned. Establishes a Commission on Federal Pay Management to evaluate each alternative system as implemented, and to make similar evaluations with respect to the current system. Requires a report to the President and the Congress at the end of the five-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act. Terminates the Commission after submission of the report. Title II: Amendments Relating to Pay Comparability System - Requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the President's pay agent to use the 1985 methodology for the pay comparability adjustment for each year. Requires the enactment of a joint resolution of approval before any alternative pay plan becomes effective. Provides that if the resolution is not approved then the pay rates shall be adjusted in accordance with the recommendations of the pay agent. Requires that any alternative plan be at least equal to the Employment Cost Index (private industry wages and salaries for white-collar workers, excluding sales) as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the quarter ending June 30 of each year. Title III: Higher Minimum Rates of Pay, Miscellaneous Allowances and Other Matters - Grants to agency heads the authority to establish higher minimum rates of basic pay for certain occupations with recruitment problems. (Currently such authority is granted to the President.) Specifies the circumstances under which agency heads may exercise such authority to include: (1) pay rates for positions under a statutory pay system which are generally less than the rates payable for similar positions held by individuals outside the Federal Government; (2) the remoteness of the area or location involved; (3) undesirable working conditions, including exposure to toxic substances and other occupational hazards; and (4) any other circumstance identified by the agency head. Requires agency heads to notify the Office of Personnel Management before exercising such authority. Provides that any decision of the Office that such action is unwarranted shall be accompanied by a statement of the reasons for such decision. States that employees holding a position for which the rate of basic pay is increased may not be paid at a rate lower than the rate which would otherwise be payable if this Act had not been enacted. Declares that the expiration of any authority under this Act shall not result in a decrease in the rate of pay for any individual whose pay rate was established under such Act. Makes such employees eligible for comparability increases. Declares that increases in basic pay are not equivalent to step increases. Preserves step increases for employees whose service is interrupted by military duty or other public service. Provides, with respect to special pay employees, for bonus pay and advance pay. Eliminates the GS-11 grade requirement for paying new employees above the minimum rate of the appropriate grade (thus allowing agencies to hire employees for positions below GS-11 at a step higher than step one of the appropriate grade). Provides for agencies to determine the allowance paid to employees at remote worksites. Authorizes appropriations to each agency annually as necessary to cover the cost of uniforms. Declares that wage schedules and rates for prevailing rate employees may not be decreased as a result of any wage survey. Authorizes an agency to pay the travel and transportation expenses of any individual who: (1) is leaving a place to which such individual was transferred in the interest of the Government; (2) is separating from Government service; and (3) satisfies age and service requirements for retirement purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1987
Designates the month of October 1987 as Lupus Awareness Month.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow rural telephone and electric cooperatives to exclude allocations in the nature of patronage dividends when determining net book income for purposes of the minimum tax.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the President should direct the appropriate agencies to establish a systematic method for encouraging, screening, and processing Soviet defectors and prisoners of war in Afghanistan; (2) Soviet defectors and prisoners of war who request political asylum should be granted such asylum and transported to the United States; (3) the President should seek to establish a framework under which Soviet defectors would be helped in adapting to American life; and (4) the President should direct the appropriate agencies to broadcast into the Soviet Union and Afghanistan information concerning the Soviet Union's actions in Afghanistan and the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1987
Protection for Institutionalized Disabled Individuals Amendments Act of 1987 - Amends the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act to establish a role for State "protection and advocacy systems" (protection and advocacy supported with allotments under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act or the Protection and Advocacy for Mentally Ill Individuals Act) in actions taken by the Attorney General under such Act with respect to institutions for the mentally ill, disabled, retarded, handicapped, or chronically ill.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1987
Marine Science, Technology and Policy Development Act of 1987 - Amends the National Sea Grant College Program Act to declare the need for a national ocean strategy and to revise definitions under such Act. Expands coverage of the Act to include Great Lakes resources. (Current law covers ocean and coastal resources.) Authorizes the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to make grants and enter into contracts to carry out a sea grant strategic research plan. Requires the Under Secretary to develop and publish the plan every three years. Requires the plan to identify and describe a limited number of priority areas for strategic marine research. Requires consultation with Federal agencies, representatives of sea grant colleges, programs, and consortia, and other public and private interested parties. Requires the plan to be submitted to specified congressional committees. Describes the priority areas on which the plan is required to concentrate, including: (1) critical resource and environmental areas of national, international, or global scope where adequate funding is otherwise precluded under other provisions of the National Sea Grant College Program Act; and (2) areas where sustained programmatic research and technology transfer can be utilized. Describes graduate, post-graduate, Federal, congressional, and postdoctoral fellowships which the Under Secretary is required or permitted to support. Adds to the duties of the sea grant review panel the responsibility of giving advice with respect to applications, proposals, performance, grants, and contracts awarded under the sea grant strategic research plan. Makes changes regarding membership and terms of the panel. Authorizes the Under Secretary to provide annual grants to certain sea grant colleges, sea grant regional consortiums, or institutions of higher education having a sea grant program to improve and support curriculum offerings at the graduate level, support graduate students through scholarships and fellowships, and increase multidisciplinary research, all with regard to marine resource management. Limits the amount of any grant to any such institution in any year. Requires each institution receiving a grant to report annually and upon termination of the grant to the Under Secretary regarding the results of the activities to which the institution applied the grant. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Amends provisions of the Sea Grant Program Improvement Act of 1976 relating to the purposes of the Sea Grant International program to authorize grants and contracts to enhance international research, promote marine activities with foreign universities, encourage technology transfer, promote foreign data exchanges, or enhance regional collaboration regarding marine research between foreign nations and the United States. Permits the following organizations to apply for and receive financial assistance under this provision: (1) any sea grant college, sea grant program, and sea grant regional consortium; and (2) any institution of higher education, laboratory, or institution which is located within a State. Requires the Under Secretary, before approving an application under this provision, to consult with the Secretary of State.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 1987
Elephant Protection Act - Directs the President to propose to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species that all trade in elephant products be suspended until accurate data demonstrate the stability of healthy elephant populations. Prohibits the knowing import, export, or sale of such products by any person subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer this Act. Authorizes exceptions for scientific or survival purposes. Establishes civil and criminal penalties for violations of this Act. Grants enforcement authority to the Secretary, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Coast Guard. Subjects to forfeiture items possessed, sold, shipped, received, imported, exported, or carried in violation of this Act and vehicles used to aid such activities. Authorizes the charging of permit fees. Authorizes citizen suits to enforce this Act. Preempts State law.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 1987
Tropical Forest Protection Act of 1987 - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a review of the appropriate literature to determine which tropical forests and wetlands are likely to be unsuitable for agriculture and could, with assistance from multilateral development banks and public and private donors, be established as reserves for scientific research, tourism, indigenous people, and nonconsumptive uses and to analyze the likelihood that conserving tropical forests and wetlands can be achieved without such assistance. Authorizes the Secretary to consult with other U.S. officials, agencies, and appropriate nongovernmental organizations in conducting such review and analysis. Requires the Secretary to make determinations concerning the maximizing of in-country support for protection and management of tropical forests and wetlands. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress concerning such review, analysis, and determinations. Requires the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) to initiate discussions and make proposals to the executive directors and management of the World Bank. Specifies that such proposals shall include: (1) a three-year pilot environmental structural adjustment lending program; and (2) a three year pilot exchange program whereby any country with outstanding debts held by the Bank may establish long-term conservation easements to protect tropical forests and wetlands in exchange for the World Bank suspending or rescheduling such debts. Requires the U.S. Executive Director to prepare annual reports while such three-year pilot programs are in effect and a final report describing the results of the programs. Requires the dissemination of such results to all multilateral development banks and all private lending institutions with outstanding loans to tropical nations in order to provide such banks with information about exchanges of debt for conservation easements as an alternative to forgiveness of any such debt. Requires the Secretary to conduct an analysis of the programs and policies of the International Monetary Fund to assess the potential for adapting the pilot programs of the World Bank to the operation of the Fund. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress concerning such study and analysis.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit a partnership, S corporation, or personal service corporation, unless it is part of a tiered structure, to elect to have a taxable year other than the required one, but generally only if the deferral period of the taxable year elected is three months or less. (Current law requires partnerships, S corporations, and personal service corporations, in most cases, to conform their taxable years to the calendar years used by their owners.) Subjects the principals of a partnership or S corporation electing to change taxable years to additional estimated tax requirements to offset any tax deferral resulting from such election. Imposes deduction limitations on a personal service corporation that changes taxable years. Provides that an election with respect to taxable year shall be made by the partnership, S corporation, or personal service corporation and shall be binding on all partners and shareholders. Sets forth the formula for determining the additional tax requirement when a taxpayer: (1) is a partner or shareholder in at least one such entity during any applicable election years of the entity that end within the taxpayer's taxable year; and (2) has an aggregate deferred tax exceeding $200 with respect to the entity. Describes payment procedures. Requires the inclusion of specified information on returns filed by partnerships and S corporations that elect to use a non-required taxable year. Limits the tax deduction permitted to a personal service corporation for amounts paid or incurred with respect to employee-owners when such a corporation: (1) elects to have a taxable year other than the required one; and (2) fails to meet certain minimum distribution requirements regarding non-dividend amounts paid to owners.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Designates January 8, 1988, as National Skiing Day.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Designates October 15, 1987, as National Safety Belt Use Day. Authorizes and requests the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people to wear safety belts and have their children use child safety seats, and encouraging public safety and law enforcement agencies to promote these devices.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Designates the week beginning April 3, 1988, as National School Psychologist Week.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1987
Prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from purchasing any product manufactured or assembled by Toshiba America, Incorporated, or Toshiba Corporation for the purpose of resale of such product in a military exchange store or in any other resale activity operated by DOD.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1987
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel should not be increased as a means of reducing the Federal deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 1987
Amends the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) to include otherwise eligible persons who are also entitled to Medicare benefits. Provides for payment under the CHAMPUS program of health care expenses to the extent that such expenses are not payable under Medicare or any other insurance or health plan. Requires a person claiming a benefit under this Act to certify the costs of all charges.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 1987
Designates the week of September 13 through September 19, 1987, as National Reye's Syndrome Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1987
Urges the administration to continue to reject efforts by Canadian negotiators to: (1) have the U.S. cabotage trades, including the transport of energy resources, opened to Canadian vessels; and (2) eliminate the ad valorem duty on vessel repairs performed in Canadian shipyards.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 1987
Designates October 1987 as National Cosmetology Month.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 1987
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to transfer specified monkeys used in research at the Institute for Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Marylands, to Primarily Primates, Inc., an animal sanctuary in San Antonio, Texas.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 1987
Designates October 2, 1988, as a national day of recognition for Mohandas K. Gandhi.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the administration should oppose the implementation of the European Community directive which will limit U.S. access to such Community's agricultural markets; (2) if the European Community denies U.S. meat imports based on unsubstantiated standards or standards not applied to all Community members, the administration should adopt countermeasures; and (3) the administration should communicate to the Community that the United States views the directive as inconsistent with such Community's obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1987
Telecommunications Employees' Protection Act of 1987 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to establish certain reemployment rights for employees who have lost employment as a consequence of the divestiture of the Bell system. Requires, to the extent that the dominant long distance common carrier (AT&T), the regional common carriers, the Bell operating companies, or their respective subsidiaries and affiliates (all of which shall be called the "telecommunications companies") continue to need the work of eligible protected positions performed, that such work be performed by employees of such companies. Requires the telecommunications companies (after any appropriate seniority, layoff and recall, or force adjustment provisions in applicable collective bargaining agreements have been satisfied) to afford to eligible protected employees the first right of hire for any eligible protected positions for which they are qualified by training and experience over any persons who have not theretofore been employees of such companies. Defines eligible protected employee as one who on December 31, 1983, was serving in an eligible position as an employee of one of the telecommunications companies, and who has been or is laid off or terminated for other than cause. Requires the telecommunications companies to credit eligible protected employees as possessing the training and experience they would normally have acquired in their former position had they not been laid off or terminated since December 31, 1983. Makes service credit the basis of selection if training and experience are substantially equal. Provides that, upon rehire, an eligible protected employee shall be subject to any seniority, layoff and recall, or force adjustment provisions contained in any applicable collective bargaining agreements. Requires the monthly listing of eligible protected positions in an available and accessible manner. Requires the telecommunications company which laid off or terminated them to pay moving expenses and certain reimbursement payments to eligible protected employees who must relocate in order to fill eligible protected positions. Provides for a certain base wage upon rehiring of an eligible protected employee. Provides for civil enforcement of this Act in a U.S. district court.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1987
Small Business Retirement and Benefit Extension Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to cease, as of 1988, the application of special rules for employee benefit plans that are top-heavy. (A top-heavy plan is one in which the value of plan benefits for specified ("key") employees exceeds 60 percent of those for all employees under the plan.) Establishes, as a component of the general business credit against income tax, a credit for the administrative costs incurred by an employer having 100 of fewer employees in maintaining a qualified employee pension plan. Limits such credit to a maximum of $3,000 ($4,500 in the case of a defined benefit plan). Reduces the amount of the credit when the average number of employees during a relevant period exceeds 50. Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and the IRC to: (1) apply nondiscrimination rules for coverage and benefits to certain employee benefit plans as of 1991 (currently 1988); (2) extend from 1987 to 1989 the effective date of amendments relating to the definition of "compensation" with respect to pension, profit-sharing, and stock bonus plans; (3) render nontaxable any annuities purchased for employees by a nongovernmental tax-exempt entity; (4) repeal certain restrictions on distributions of contributions under salary reduction arrangements; (5) delay the effective date for the application of nondiscrimination requirements to tax-sheltered annuities; and (6) repeal the 15 percent tax imposed on excess distributions from qualified retirement plans. Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide the administrator of an employee benefit plan having fewer than 100 participants simplified reporting requirements with respect to supplying plan descriptions and annual reports to plan participants and beneficiaries. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the required Government forms currently in use with respect to qualified retirement plans are not designed so that a person with no experience in the area of employee benefits could complete them. Directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and of Labor to: (1) redesign such forms as they pertain to plans having fewer than 100 participants; and (2) report to the Congress on their actions in this regard. Amends the IRC to provide that if an employer does not operate an on-premises eating facility for employees, 50 percent of the employer's share of an off-premises meal furnished to an employee shall be treated as a de minimis fringe benefit (not includible in the employee's income) provided that: (1) the employer pays no more than one-third of the cost of the meal; (2) a maximum of one meal per working day is provided; and (3) the meal is furnished during normal business hours.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1987
Declares that the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam should: (1) immediately release all political prisoners; (2) fulfill its commitment to negotiate their humane resettlement abroad or to rejoin family members outside of Vietnam; and (3) immediately resume processing of family reunification cases under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Orderly Departure Program.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1987
Amends rule XXI of Rules of the House of Representatives to prohibit any appropriation from being reported in any joint resolution continuing appropriations, or from being in order as an amendment thereto, for any expenditure not previously authorized by law, except to continue appropriations for public works and objects which are already in progress. Prohibits any provision which changes existing laws from being reported in any joint resolution continuing appropriations except germane provisions which retrench expenditures by the reduction of money covered by the bill, which may include those recommended to the Committee on Appropriations by direction of any legislative committee having jurisdiction over the subject matter. Prohibits an amendment to a joint resolution continuing appropriations from being in order if changing existing law. Declares that, except as provided by this Act, no amendment shall be in order during consideration of a joint resolution continuing appropriations proposing a limitation not specifically contained or authorized in existing law for the period of the limitation. Sets forth floor procedure for consideration of an acceptable joint resolution continuing appropriations. Prohibits the House from considering any joint resolution continuing appropriations, or amendments thereto, which covers a period of more than 90 calendar days. Prohibits any item of appropriation set forth in any joint resolution continuing appropriations from exceeding the lesser of the amount set forth for such item in the House-passed or Senate-passed general appropriation bill for the fiscal year. Declares that if there is no House-passed or Senate-passed bill containing such item, then such item shall be at the rate at which it would have been assuming the continuation of current law. Prohibits the waiver of any provision of this resolution except by two-thirds vote of the Members present and voting. Declares this resolution applicable with respect to joint resolutions continuing appropriations for FY 1989 or any subsequent fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1987
Declares that the Congress joins with the President in challenging Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev to open the Brandenburg Gate and tear down the Berlin Wall.
United States · United States Congress · 17 June 1987
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress and the President, prior to each fiscal year, to agree, by enactment of a joint resolution, on an estimate of total receipts for that fiscal year. Prohibits outlays for that year from exceeding such estimated receipts unless the Congress, by a three-fifths rollcall vote of each House, provides for a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires the Congress, whenever actual outlays exceed actual receipts for any fiscal year, to provide by law for the repayment of such excess in the ensuing fiscal year. Requires a three-fifths rollcall vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit to the Congress a proposed budget for each fiscal year in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts. Requires the approval by a majority of the total membership of each House by rollcall vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Waives this article for any fiscal year in which a declaration of war is in effect. Declares that total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States, except those derived from borrowing, and total outlays shall include all outlays of the United States, except those for repayment of debt principal.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1987
Acid Deposition Control Act of 1987 - Title I: Stationary Sources - Amends the Clean Air Act to require each Governor to submit to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for approval a two-phased plan establishing emission limitations and compliance schedules for sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions from fossil fuel fired electric utility steam generating units in the State. Requires reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions by 1993 and reductions in oxides of nitrogen and further reductions in sulfur dioxide by 1997. Directs each Governor to submit to the Administrator for approval an emissions limitations plan for such units, other than electric utilities' units, requiring both sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions reductions by 1997. Requires the Administrator to conduct and update an inventory of such emissions from stationary sources, identifying the total statewide potential reductions in such emissions and transmitting such information to the State by the close of 1990. Requires each Governor to submit to the Administrator by June 1, 1994, a plan for establishing emission limitations from stationary sources of industrial process emissions to achieve such State's potential reductions by 1997. Directs the Administrator to promulgate guidelines for State plans which shall ensure that emissions reductions do not have an unnecessarily disproportionate effect on electric utility ratepayers. Requires the Administrator to study and report to the Congress by June 30, 1993, on the reductions achieved during phase I, granting the Congress an opportunity to legislate by the start of 1994 against the implementation of phase II. Grants States an opportunity to modify disapproved plans. Establishes emissions standards and Administrator-promulgated plans for States without an approved plan. Directs the Administrator to impose a fee on the generation and importation of electric energy if any electric utility is eligible for a sulfur dioxide emissions reduction subsidy. Sets fees in such a way as to raise sufficient subsidy revenue and protect low income residential electric consumers. Establishes civil penalties for violations of fee-related requirements. Establishes in the Treasury the Acid Deposition Control Fund to make subsidy payments to electric utilities to cover a portion of rate increases attributable to emission reduction compliance. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to the Congress on such Fund. Requires a State to assure that rate increases so attributable are substantially equivalent for ratepayers throughout the State and substantially levelized over the period of their application in order to be eligible for the subsidy. Requires the Administrator to determine subsidy eligibility, based in part on the reasonableness of a utility's compliance costs. Authorizes the Administrator to provide financial assistance to owners and operators of stationary sources to promote innovative emissions technologies which are cost-effective. Requires State plans which include the use of such technologies to meet its emission limitation reductions to include contingent limitations and compliance schedules for stationary sources. Requires such contingent limitations to be at least equivalent to the reductions the innovative technology failed to achieve. Permits States to later modify their plans to include innovative technology. Authorizes the Administrator to impose fees on the generation of electricity in a State at its request to promote the use of innovative technologies. Requires the Administrator to report on the status of such technologies before 1994. Directs the Administrator to revise performance standards for emissions of nitrogen oxides from electric utility steam generating units which burn bituminous or subbituminous coal. Requires the Administrator to promulgate performance standards for oxides of nitrogen emissions from certain fossil-fuel-fired steam generating units. Requires all primary nonferrous smelters to be in compliance with the applicable emission limitation or standard for sulfur oxides by January 2, 1988. Title II: Control of Emissions From Mobile Sources - Amends the Clean Air Act to establish emissions standards for oxides of nitrogen for motor vehicles during and after model year 1989. Establishes hydrocarbon standards for trucks during and after model year 1990. Limits the sulfur content of motor vehicle diesel fuel after January 1, 1989. Requires the Administrator to require either onboard hydrocarbon control technology or the use of gasoline vapor recovery of hydrocarbon emissions emanating from the fueling of motor vehicles.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1987
Designates the month of August 1987 as National Child Support Enforcement Month.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 1987
Designates the two week period of July 13 through July 26, 1987, as United States Olympic Festival-1987 Celebration. Designates July 17, 1987, as United States Olympic Festival-1987 Day.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 1992 the period during which qualified mortgage bonds may be issued. (Under current law, authority to issue these bonds expires as of 1989.)
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1987
Amends Federal law to prohibit documentation of a vessel which was previously registered under the laws of a foreign country without the prior approval of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense.