United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the executive branch should release appropriations for the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1985
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the administration should comply with the automatic appropriation and earmarking provisions of the Wallop/Breaux Sport Fish Restoration Trust Fund. States that funds owed to the States from such Fund should not be withheld or delayed.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1985
McIntyre House Reform Amendments - Title I - Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each standing committee, not later than March 1 in the first session of a Congress, to adopt its oversight plans in a meeting open to the public. Requires the committees to submit such plans to the Committee on Government Operations, which shall, not later than March 15 in the first session of a Congress, report such plans to the House with recommendations. Authorizes the Speaker of the House to appoint special ad hoc oversight committees to review specific matters within the jurisdiction of two or more committees. Amends rule XI to require each committee to include in its biennial report to the House a separate section summarizing its legislative and oversight activities during that Congress. Directs the Speaker of the House to initially refer each bill, resolution, or other matter to one committee of principal jurisdiction. Eliminates the Speaker's authority to refer any such matter initially to two or more committees for concurrent consideration. Requires standing committees to be elected by the House not later than five legislative days after the convening of each Congress. Requires each committee to hold its organizational meeting not later than eight legislative days after the commencement of a Congress. Requires the membership of each committee, select committee, and conference committee (and each subcommittee, task force, or subunit thereof) to reflect the ratio of majority to minority Members. Provides that such ratio be reflected for standing committees at the beginning of each Congress, and for select and conference committees at the time of appointment. Prohibits any standing committee from establishing more than six subcommittees, and any Member serving at any one time on more than four subcommittees. Defines subcommittee as any subunit of a standing committee established for a period of more than six months. Requires that motions to recess or adjourn be approved by the majority of committee members present. Prohibits the vote by any member of any committee or subcommittee from being cast by proxy. Provides that a majority of members of each committee or subcommittee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business. Requires committee documents (other than reports on bills and resolutions) prepared for public distribution to: (1) be approved by such committee and an opportunity afforded for the inclusion of supplemental, minority, or additional views; or (2) contain a disclaimer in bold face type on its cover and not include the names of committee members. Exempts from such requirement committee documents that do not contain opinions, views, findings, or recommendations. Requires a committee chairman to consult with the ranking minority committee member and the appropriate subcommittee chairman before filing committee reports. Prohibits the issuance of subpoenas if the House is in recess or has adjourned. Requires the Committee on Rules, when reporting measures waiving a House rule, to include: (1) an explanation of and justification for such waiver; and (2) a summary of comments received from the Committee on the Budget regarding any proposed waiver of any provision of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Prohibits the House from considering any primary expense resolution until the Committee on House Administration has reported and the House has adopted a resolution establishing committee staff personnel ceilings for the year. Requires such committee to specify in any primary or supplemental expense resolution the number of staff positions authorized therein, of which not less than one-third shall be selected by minority party members. Authorizes the House to consider any supplemental expense resolution in excess of such ceiling by a vote of two-thirds of the Members present. Prohibits, in the second session of the 99th Congress, the overall ceiling for majority or minority committee staff from exceeding 90 percent of such staff employed at the end of the 98th Congress. Prohibits a standing committee from engaging a consultant or appointing a temporary staff except by majority vote, a quorum being present. Amends rule XXI to remove provisions relating to the retrenchment of expenditures in appropriation bill amendments. Amends rule XXVII to prohibit the suspension of rules to consider any matter except by the direction of the committee of jurisdiction, or at the written request of the appropriate chairman or ranking minority member. Prohibits the suspension of rules to consider: (1) any matter which would authorize budget or spending authority in excess of $50,000,000; or (2) any joint resolution proposing to amend the Constitution. Requires notice in the Congressional Record of any matter under a suspension of rules at least one day before its scheduled consideration. Requires the Clerk of the House to maintain for public inspection a copy of a discharge motion, after 100 Members have signed such motion. Amends rule XXXIV to require official reporters of the House, including committee stenographers, to take down verbatim accounts of words spoken in the House and committees. Requires that such accounts be printed in the Congressional Record or the committee transcript with only typographical, technical, or grammatical corrections authorized by the Member delivering such remarks. Prohibits substantive alteration of such accounts and provides for the extension of remarks and extraneous material in the Record. Establishes rule LI to provide for television and radio coverage of House proceedings. Establishes the House Broadcast System to provide complete and unedited audio and visual broadcast coverage of chamber proceedings while the House is in session. Prohibits the restriction of broadcast coverage except as directed in an adopted resolution or when rule XXIX (secret session) is invoked. Vests in the Speaker of the House the responsibility for implementing rule LI. Establishes a Broadcast Advisory Board, consisting of majority and minority party Members, to assist the Speaker. Vests the daily operation and supervision of the broadcast system in the Executive Committee of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries. Authorizes appropriations to carry out rule LI. Declares such rule inapplicable to joint congressional sessions. Provides access to the live coverage of House proceedings to: (1) accredited television and broadcast stations, networks, services, systems (including cable systems), and radio and television correspondents; (2) Member and committee offices; and (3) such other places as the Speaker deems appropriate. Prohibits commercial sponsorship as part of the broadcast coverage, the use of such coverage in commercial advertisements, and the use of such coverage as partisan campaign material. Requires the Archivist of the United States to arrange for the recording, permanent maintenance, and viewing of such coverage for reference and research purposes. Establishes rule LII to require any task force of the Committee on House Administration that is responsible for the investigation of a disputed election to be bipartisan. Establishes rule LIII to require that one-third of committee office space be assigned to minority party committee members. Title II: Additional Reform Proposals - Directs the Committee on Rules to investigate rules X and XI with respect to revising committee operations, oversight, rules and procedures, reducing staff, subcommittees, and Member subcommittee assignments. Requires a report, by resolution, not later than the end of the first session of the 99th Congress. Directs the Speaker of the House to study and implement a scheduling system of full workweeks with regular periods for committee meetings, hearings, and House sessions for the consideration of legislation. Directs the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards to study the current operation of the franking privilege with a view to identifying abuses and achieving a cost savings.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1985
States that the Congress joins with the Agency for International Development (AID) in expressing outrage at the forced evacuation of the Ibnet feeding camp in Ethiopia and urges other nations to join in the condemnation of the actions of the local Administrator of the Gondar Region. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Ethiopian Government, the United Nations, and AID take specified actions with respect to the famine victims.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Congress joins with the Agency for International Development (AID) in expressing its outrage and urges other nations to join in condemning the forced evacuation of famine victims in Ethiopia; (2) the Ethiopian Government should take steps to ensure that such evacuation and destruction of refugee facilities never happens again and to assist those victims; and (3) the United Nations and AID should take specified actions with respect to such victims.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1985
States that the Congress joins with the Agency for International Development (AID) in expressing outrage at the forced evacuation of the Ibnet feeding camp in Ethiopia and urges other nations to join in the condemnation of the Ethiopian Government. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Ethiopian Government, the United Nations, and AID take specified measures with respect to the famine victims. Urges the President to convey U.S. concerns regarding Ethiopia's actions toward those victims.
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1985
Korean War Memorial Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to erect and maintain a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia or its environs to honor members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Korean War. Subjects the selected site, design, and plans for the construction of such memorial to the approval of the National Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1985
Prohibits any agency of the government from obligating or appropriating funds for the production of lethal chemical weapons. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the President should intensify efforts to achieve agreement with the Soviet Union and other countries to stop the production, proliferation, and stockpiling of lethal chemical weapons; (2) the Department of Defense should protect the armed forces against the use of lethal chemical weapons in attacks; (3) an agreement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must be concluded on the prepositioning of any new chemical weapons; and (4) funding of new lethal chemical weapons is unwarranted in light of the Federal budget deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1985
Amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to make technical corrections and other revisions related to the Retirement Equity Act of 1984 (REA). Sets forth amendments related to REA modifications of minimum participation and vesting standards for employee benefit plans. Requires class-year plans, in general, to provide that a participant's rights to benefits derived from employer contributions for any plan year are nonforfeitable not later than when such participant has performed services for the employer as of the close of each of five plan years (whether or not consecutive after the plan year for which the contributions were made), but allows for such plans to provide for forfeiture of such rights if the participant has not performed such services as of the close of each of any five consecutive plan years after such plan year (i.e. a five-year break in service). Requires, for purposes of determining whether any distribution which becomes payable to the recipient on account of the employee's separation from service is a lump sum distribution, that the balance to the credit of the employee be determined without regard to any increase in vesting which may occur if the employee is reemployed by the employer. Provides for recapture of such reduction in tax, in certain cases. Provides, under repayment requirements relating to withdrawals of mandatory contributions, that a defined contribution plan may provide that such a repayment must be made before a participant has a period of five consecutive one-year breaks in service (currently any one-year break in service). Reduces from 25 years to 21 years the age which plan participants may be required to attain for purposes of simplified employment pensions. Sets forth amendments related to REA requirements of joint and survivor annuity and preretirement survivor annuity. Provides that qualified preretirement survivor annuity rules apply in the case of death before the annuity starting date. Provides that qualified joint and survivor annuity rules apply in the case of death on or after the annuity starting date. Provides that the transferee plan rule applies only with respect to: (1) transfers made after December 31, 1984; and (2) the transferred assets if the plan separately accounts for assets and any income therefrom. Requires spousal consent for: (1) using plan assets as security for loans; and (2) changes in designations. Provides that, in the case of a participant hired after age 35, the period for giving notice to the participant of the right to waive a qualified preretirement survivor annuity is a reasonable period after the date of hire. Makes certain clerical amendments. Sets forth amendments related to special rules for assignments in divorce, etc., proceedings (which REA added to IRC and ERISA). Provides that such special rules for determining the taxability of benefits subject to a qualified domestic relations order apply only to distributions made to an alternate payee who is the spouse or the former spouse of the participant. Specifies that the 18-month period during which benefits may be deferred begins with the date on which the first payment would be required to be made under the domestic relations order if there were no deferral. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations to coordinate specified requirements (and regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor thereunder) affecting qualified domestic relations orders with the overall qualification requirements. Waives certain distribution requirements (which prohibit payment of benefits before termination of employment) if a plan makes payments which are worth $3,500 or less to any alternate payee pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order. Sets forth amendments related to the requirement under IRC, as amended by REA, that a written explanation be given to recipients of distributions eligible for rollover. Defines "eligible rollover distribution" for purposes of such requirement. Sets forth amendments related to provisions, under ERISA as amended by REA, for the treatment of certain plan amendments as reducing benefits. Sets forth amendments related to the REA transitional rule for requirement of joint and survivor annuity and preretirement survivor annuity. Sets forth amendments related to REA provisions for treatment of certain participants who perform services on or after January 1, 1976.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1985
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish an applicable test rate of nine percent for determining whether there is imputed interest in the case of seller-financed property. Permits a lower test interest rate of 80 percent of the Federal Treasury rate where such rates are lower than the nine percent test rate. Provides for a blended test rate for instances where the loan amount exceeds $4,000,000. Provides that in determining whether wraparound financing meets such testing rate, the test shall be applied to the net rate of interest on the seller's equity in the financing after deducting the existing third party financing. Authorizes the imputation of interest in seller-financed property sales of $4,000,000 or less of ten percent or 90 percent of the Federal Treasury rates, whichever is less, where the test interest rates have not been met. Allows for a blended imputed interest rate where the debt amount exceeds $4,000,000. Requires that all loan amounts from a single transaction or series of related transactions be aggregated for purposes of determining the loan amount. Provides that the imputed interest rules will not apply to assumptions of loans unless the terms and conditions of such debt obligations are modified in connection with the assumption. Repeals the provisions of the Code limiting the amount of interest expense a purchaser of personal use property may deduct for tax purposes. Excepts debt instruments arising from the sale or exchange of a residence from the imputed interest provisions where the obligor of the instrument uses the property as his other residence. Provides that the imputed interest rules shall not apply in the case of sales or exchanges of property where the borrowed amount does not exceed $4,000,000. Requires the interest on the obligation issued in connection with such sales or exchanges to be taken into account by both the buyer and the seller on the cash receipts and disbursement method of accounting unless both buyer and seller agree to use the accrual receipts and disbursement method of accounting.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1985
Food Assistance and Africa Agriculture Act of 1985 - Title I: Authorization of Appropriations - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize appropriations for: (1) the International Fund for Agricultural Development; and (2) the International Fund for Agricultural Development for its Special Program for Sub-Saharan Countries Affected by Drought and Desertification for each of FY 1986 through 1989. Title II: Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1986 - Makes appropriations for FY 1986 for: (1) expenses for agricultural commodities supplied in connection with dispositions abroad pursuant to the famine relief provisions of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954; and (2) the U.S. contribution to the International Fund for Agricultural Development and for the Fund's Special Program for Sub-Saharan Countries Affected by Drought and Desertification.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the benefit disparity between those born before 1916 and those born after 1916 which was effected by the enactment of the Social Security Amendments of 1977. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to recompute the primary insurance amount so as to take into account the amendments made by this Act and to pay to any individual so entitled any additional lump sum amount to which such individual is entitled by reason of this Act. Prohibits the recomputation from reducing any individual's benefit.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
Amends the Federal Reserve Act to authorize the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to regulate the activities and operations of Government securities dealers. Directs the Board to prescribe necessary regulations to take effect within one year after the enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to limit participation in the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (WIC) to States in which State or local sales taxes are not collected on purchases of food under such program.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
Westway Landfill Funding Prohibition and Hudson River Habitat Protection Act of 1985 - Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation from expending funds for the Westway landfill in New York City, New York.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1985
World War I Veterans' Service Pension Act - Directs the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to pay a monthly pension of $150 to each veteran of World War I who meets specified service requirements. Requires such veteran, if receiving another pension administered by the Veterans Administration (VA), to elect which pension he will receive. Provides for the payment of a monthly pension of $100 to surviving spouses of World War I veterans who meet certain marriage requirements. Requires such surviving spouses to choose between pensions if they are currently receiving another pension through the VA.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 1985
Youth Employment Opportunity Wage Act of 1985 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to authorize employers to pay employees under 20 years of age 75 percent of the minimum wage rate between May and September of each year. Exempts such employees from special certificate requirements. Restricts such authorization to: (1) hours worked by eligible employees in compliance with applicable child labor laws; and (2) youth employed after May 1 of each year. Prohibits the removal of employees ineligible for the subminimum wage rate in order to replace them with employees who are eligible. Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Job Training Partnership Act. Directs the Secretary of Labor to monitor the implementation of this Act and to report to the Congress concerning the employment effects of this Act. Terminates such minimum wage rate exception after September 30, 1987, and repeals, as of that date, the amendments made by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 1985
Prohibits interstate and foreign commerce in any article of fur derived from an animal trapped in a steel jaw leghold trap. Establishes criminal penalties for violations of this Act. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to reward nongovernment informers for information leading to a conviction under this Act. Makes the Secretary, with the assistance of appropriate Federal or State personnel, responsible for enforcing this Act. Empowers enforcement officials to detain, search, and seize suspected merchandise or documents and to make arrests with and without warrants. Subjects seized merchandise to forfeiture.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1985
National Infrastructure Act - Establishes in the Treasury the National Infrastructure Fund. Authorizes appropriations for each of FY 1986 through 1995. Directs amounts in the Fund to be made available to the Secretary of the Treasury to make interest-free repayable grants to States. Establishes within the Fund a separate account to be known as the Sinking Fund Account for deposits by States of grant obligations. Requires the Secretary to invest amounts in the Account in interest-bearing obligations of the United States. Requires the Secretary to maintain separate records of funds in the Account with respect to each grant made under this Act. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress each year from FY 1987 through 2016 on the financial conditions of the Account. Entitles each State to repayable grants, according to a specified population ratio, for FY 1986 through 1995. Specifies terms for payments to States by the Secretary and repayments by States to the Secretary of such grants. Allows the Secretary to adjust the amount of any payment if deemed necessary. Allows States 20 years for repayment of grants, with adjustments made to the Account for each State at such time. Sets forth qualifications for States receiving such grants, including: (1) a contractual agreement by the State that it will establish an infrastructure revolving fund in its treasury to deposit and maintain records of grants received and make interest-free loans to various departments and agencies within the State; (2) terms and length of repayment; (3) specified uses to which grant funds may be applied; and (4) specified prohibited uses of grant funds. Requires a State to make available to the Secretary and the Comptroller General for inspection such records as either may require. Requires annual independent financial audits of grant-participating States to determine compliance with this Act. Allows States to waive such audit requirement in specified circumstances. Allows the Secretary to waive such audit requirement in certain cases. Requires any audits done to be made available to the public within 30 days after being received by the Secretary. Directs the Comptroller General to review the activities of the Secretary and the States to determine compliance under this Act. Requires a State making an interest-free loan under this Act to hold at least one public hearing on the proposed loan, with adequate notice to the public. Requires the Secretary, before June 2 of each year ending before January 1, 1997, to report to the Congress on: (1) the status and operation of the Fund during the prior fiscal year; (2) the amounts made available for each such purpose during the prior fiscal year; and (3) the administration of this Act. Requires, at the end of each fiscal year for which repayable grants are made under this Act, each State government receiving such a grant to submit a report to the Secretary on the amount, purposes, and uses of such grant. Requires the Secretary to determine population (used as a statistic in awarding grants) on the same basis that the Secretary of Commerce determines resident population for general statistical purposes. Requires the Secretary to use population estimates provided by the Secretary of Commerce to determine amounts of repayable grants for each fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1985
Creates the American Boxing Corporation (the Corporation) to oversee professional boxing. Defines the number, term, qualifications, and responsibilities of the Corporation's board of directors, who shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Defines the objectives of the Corporation, which include: (1) establishing model State boxing commission standards; (2) assisting States in complying with such standards; (3) sanctioning boxing matches in States which are implementing such standards; and (4) establishing U.S. boxing championships. Directs the Corporation to make grants and provide technical assistance to States which adopt plans to establish a State boxing commission which meets the model standards. Establishes procedures for applying for such grants and assistance. Directs the Corporation to develop model State boxing commission standards. Empowers the Corporation to sanction any boxing match held in a State whose boxing commission meets the model State boxing commission standards. Directs the Corporation to withdraw its sanction where: (1) the match may be affected by violations of fair labor standards, bribery, collusion, intentional losing, racketeering, extortion, or threats; (2) such match, or a boxer in such a match, is not registered in the State; or (3) any contract or agreement does not conform to Corporation standards. Directs the Corporation to prescribe standards for: (1) fair labor practices; (2) the registration of professional boxers and boxing matches; and (3) contracts. Requires the Corporation to make annual reports to the Congress regarding the status of boxing in each State, and describe participation by the States in implementing model standards in a report to be presented three years after enactment of this Act. Directs the Corporation to establish national boxing championships. Prohibits the distribution of the income or assets of the Corporation to any member, officer, or director. States that the Corporation may not make loans to its officers, directors, or employees. Declares that the Corporation shall be nonpolitical. Requires the Corporation to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1985
Amends rule XXII of the House of Representatives to prohibit the consideration of any bill or resolution which provides for the designation of any commemorative day or period.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1985
Amends rule VIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require a recorded vote on final passage of legislation that adjusts the pay of Members, affects limitations on outside earned income, or provides tax credits or deductions for Members of Congress as a separate or distinct class. Makes it out of order in the House to consider any bill or resolution subject to such amended rule unless: (1) it is comprised solely of the items affecting the pay or benefits of Members; and (2) it takes effect at the beginning of the subsequent Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1985
Textile and Apparel Trade Enforcement Act of 1985 - Limits the total quantity of 1985 imports of textiles and textile products from a major exporting country to the lesser of an amount equal to 101 percent: (1) of the total quantity of textile products imported from such country if the total had increased by six percent annually (one percent annually for wool products) during 1981 through 1984; or (2) if the United States has an agreement with such country providing for an annual growth rate of less than six percent, of the total quantity of such products from such country imported during 1984. Limits the total quantity of 1985 imports of textiles and textile products from an exporting country to an amount equal to the total quantity of such products imported from such country during 1984 plus: (1) 15 percent of such quantity in the case of a category that is not an import sensitive category; or (2) one percent in the case of an import sensitive category. Provides for changing the classification of a country, except for a Caribbean country, from an exporting country to a major exporting country if the total textile imports from such country equals or exceeds one and one-quarter percent of all textiles imported into the United States. Sets forth a formula for adjusting the growth of textile imports annually. Sets forth certain minimum quantities of textile imports that all countries shall be allowed to export to the United States. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to enforce this Act. Directs the Secretary, within six months of enactment of this Act, to establish an import licensing system under which an importer of textiles will be required to present an import permit as a condition of entry of such textiles. Directs the President to report to the Congress annually on the administration of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1985
Age Discrimination in Employment Act Public Safety Officers Amendments of 1985 - Amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to exclude State and local law enforcement officers and firefighters from coverage under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1985
Tobacco Deregulation Act of 1985 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to repeal tobacco price support provisions. Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to repeal tobacco acreage allotment and marketing quota provisions. Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965 to repeal tobacco allotment transfer provisions. Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (P.L. 480) to exclude tobacco from specified concessional export provisions. Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to prohibit the Commodity Credit Corporation from assisting tobacco production. Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as reenacted with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, to prohibit the issuance of tobacco marketing orders. Repeals the Tobacco Control Act. Withdraws congressional consent from any interstate compact regulating tobacco production and commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1985
Administrative Law Judge Corps Act - Amends Federal law to establish, in Washington, D.C., an Administrative Law Judge Corps (the Corps) comprised of all current administrative law judges. States that the chief administrative law judge shall be the chief administrative officer of the Corps as well as its presiding judge. Specifies the qualifications for chief judge. States that such judge shall be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Directs the chief judge to submit a written report to the President and the Congress. Establishes divisions (to number between four and ten) within the Corps, with each division headed by a division chief judge appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. Identifies initial divisions and their respective areas of jurisdiction. Specifies qualifications required for division chief judges. States that the Corps' policymaking body shall be the Council of the Corps (the Council), comprised of the chief judge and the division chief judges. Authorizes the Council to approve or disapprove: (1) the assignment of judges to divisions; (2) creation, abolition, or reorganization of divisions; and (3) re-assignments of division chief judges. Authorizes the Council to determine matters of general Corps policy, including: (1) the issuance of regulations for Corps proceedings; (2) creation or abolition of divisions or regional offices; (3) contractual transactions; and (4) delegation of functions to division chief judges. Establishes a Judicial Nomination Commission (the Commission) to submit a list of qualified nominees for positions of chief judge and division chief judges. Specifies officials who shall appoint a member to the Commission. Sets the terms of initial Corps appointments and the procedure for filling vacancies. Prescribes a procedure for recommending appointments to the President. Directs the Corps to appoint new judges from a register maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. Confers jurisdiction upon members of the Corps to adjudicate cases under specified sections of the Administrative Procedure Act. Requires cases arising under such sections to be referred to the Corps. Directs the Council to issue regulations for assigning such cases. Provides guidelines for the removal and discipline of administrative law judges. Establishes a Complaints Resolution Board within the Corps to recommend action upon complaints against the official conduct of judges. Details the membership of such Board and the procedures to be followed. Declares Board proceedings and the contents of complaints to be privileged and confidential. Exempts documents and reports considered by the Board from the disclosure and publication requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. Exempts the Board from compliance with the public meeting requirements of specified Federal law. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1985
Amends the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 to extend permanently the increase in the excise tax on cigarettes. (Present law terminates such increase as of October 1, 1985.)
United States · United States Congress · 21 February 1985
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the President should express to the Soviet Union U.S. opposition with respect to the harassment and arrests of Hebrew teachers and Jewish activists in the Soviet Union; and (2) the Soviet Union should comply with its commitments under specified international human rights agreements and cease its persecution of individuals on the basis of their Jewish faith.