United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
Judicial Disciplinary Proceedings Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal judicial code to direct that proceedings on complaints filed with respect to the conduct of a judge or magistrate judge be held by a circuit other than the circuit within which the judge serves. Directs the Judicial Conference to prescribe rules, consistent with this Act, establishing: (1) procedures for the filing of complaints regarding the conduct of any judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, or the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and for the investigation and resolution of such complaints; and (2) a system for referring complaints filed regarding the conduct of a judge of any such court to any of the first 11 judicial circuits or to another court for investigation and resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 1997
Senior Citizens' Tax Fairness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the phaseout and repeal of the tax increase on social security benefits made under the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Commemorative Coins Title II: Circulating Coins Thomas Alva Edison Sesquicentennial Commemorative Coin Act - Title I: Commemorative Coins - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint one-dollar silver coins emblematic of the inventions of Thomas Alva Edison in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of his birth. Directs the Secretary to conduct an open design competition for the design of the obverse and reverse of the coins. Terminates the authority to mint such coins after December 31, 1997. Requires that certain surcharges received from coin sales be distributed to specified entities. Title II: Circulating Coins - Amends Federal law to declare that half-dollar coins minted between specified dates shall have the same design as the commemorative coins minted under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
ISTEA Integrity Restoration Act - Authorizes appropriations out of the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) for the: (1) National Highway System (NHS); (2) Surface Transportation Program (STP); and (3) Federal Lands Highway Program, including Indian reservation roads, public lands highways, and parkways and park highways. (Sec. 4) Defines "highway funds" as funds apportioned and allocations authorized under this Act for the fiscal year and funds allocated to a State for the preceding fiscal year for Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction. Revises the apportionment of NHS funds to allocate 0.4 percent (previously, one percent) to U.S. territories and possessions, and the remaining 99.6 among the States according to a formula based on population density. Includes bridge construction and related activities among eligible NHS projects. (Sec. 5) Repeals provisions regarding: (1) apportionments for resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, and reconstructing the Interstate System (IS); and (2) the transfer of interstate construction apportionments, the transfer of funds for STP projects, and limits on new capacity. (Sec. 6) Includes bridge construction and related activities as an eligible activity within the streamlined STP. Makes eligible under the STP an area of a State that is a nonattainment area for ozone or carbon monoxide, or for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than or equal to ten micrometers resulting from transportation activities, or for any combination thereof, for congestion mitigation and air quality improvement projects without regard to any Department of Transportation limitation relating to the type of ambient air quality standard addressed by such project. Revises: (1) State certification procedures; and (2) procedures for payments to States for eligible STP activities. (Sec. 7) Directs that, for purposes of STP and IS provisions, population shall be determined based on the most recent estimate prepared by the Secretary of Commerce. (Sec. 8) Repeals provisions regarding: (1) the highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program; and (2) the congestion mitigation and air quality improvement program. (Sec. 10) Replaces provisions regarding minimum allocations to States with an apportionment adjustment program under which the Secretary shall apportion among the States amounts sufficient to ensure that the ratio of the highway funds of a State to highway funds of all States for the fiscal year is not less than the adjustment percentage specified for that State under this Act. Requires each State to receive additional apportionments so that its percentage of highway funds is not less than 95 percent of the percentage of estimated tax payments attributable to highway users in the State paid into the Highway Trust Fund. Repeals: (1) existing apportionment adjustment programs; and (2) set-asides for interstate discretionary projects. (Sec. 12) Reduces from 3.75 to 2.35 the percentage of program funds authorized to be set aside for administrative costs. (Sec. 13) Sets forth provisions regarding permissible transfers of unobligated balances of funds apportioned to a State for: (1) congestion mitigation and air quality improvement; (2) interstate construction and maintenance; (3) bridge replacement and rehabilitation; and (4) the STP.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the unified credit against the estate tax and the gift tax. Requires an estate tax return in cases where the gross estate exceeds $1.2 million (currently $600,000). Revises the formula for the phaseout of graduated rates and the unified credit.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Prohibition of Incentives for Relocation Act of 1997 - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 and the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to prohibit the use of specified grant and loan assistance for employment relocation activities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Amends the Clean Air Act to delete from the glycol ether category in the list of hazardous air pollutants ethylene glycol monobutyl ether as used or emitted by metal or composite can manufacturing. Amends the toxic chemical release forms provisions of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to delete from the lists of toxic chemicals and extremely hazardous substances employed under such Act any substance that has been deleted or removed from the hazardous air pollutants list unless the Administrator demonstrates on the basis of convincing evidence significant human health or environmental threats posed by the substance's storage, use, or release.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
National Cheese Exchange Oversight and Improvement Act of 1997 - Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to direct the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate a concentrated cash market (as defined by this Act), including the National Cheese Exchange in Green Bay, Wisconsin, until the Commission determines that the market is not functioning as a reference price for off-market transactions of the commodity being traded on such market.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
Milk Price Discovery Improvement Act of 1997 - Amends the Agricultural Market Transition Act to prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture rom directly or indirectly using a price established on the National Cheese Exchange to determine the basic formula price for milk. Amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary to develop a dairy price discovery and reporting system, which shall include: (1) collection and dissemination of weekly cheese prices; (2) technical assistance to organize a cash market alternative to the National Cheese Exchange; and (3) studies of improved volume in dairy futures trading and on creation of an electronic dairy exchange. Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act, reenacted with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, to provide for oversight of cash markets affecting Federal milk marketing orders.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Patient Right to Know Act - Prohibits any contract or agreement, or the operation of any contract or agreement, between an entity operating a health plan (including any partnership, association, or other organization that enters into or administers such a contract or agreement) and a health care provider (or group of health care providers) from prohibiting or restricting the provider from engaging in medical communications with his or her patient. Requires that each State shall enforce this Act with respect to health insurance issuers that sell, renew, or offer health plans in the State. Provides for enforcement of this Act by the Secretary of Health and Human Services if the Secretary, after consultation with the chief executive officer of a State and the insurance commissioner or chief insurance regulatory official of the State, determines that the State has failed to substantially enforce the requirements. Mandates a civil money penalty. Allows State requirements equal to or more protective of medical communications than the requirements of this Act. Defines "medical communication" as a communication between a provider and a patient (or the patient's guardian or legal representative) regarding the patient's health status, medical care, or treatment options.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Declaration of Official Language Act of 1997 - Declares English to be the official language of the U.S. Government. States that English is the preferred language of communication among U.S. citizens. Requires the U.S. Government to promote and support the use of English for communications among U.S. citizens. Requires communications by officers and employees of the U.S. Government with U.S. citizens to be in English. Directs the Immigration and Naturalization Service to: (1) enforce the established English language proficiency standard for all applicants for U.S. citizenship; and (2) conduct all naturalization ceremonies entirely in English. Allows anyone injured by a violation of such provisions to obtain appropriate relief in a civil action. Authorizes the court in any such action to allow a prevailing party, other than the U.S. Government, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of costs. Repeals the Bilingual Education Act (title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965). Amends the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to repeal bilingual voting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the credit for alcohol used as fuel; (2) tax fuel alcohol to the same extent as gasoline and diesel fuel; and (3) repeal specified incentives for alcohol fuels.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Peremptory Challenge Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal judicial code to require: (1) reassignment of a civil or criminal case to be tried in a Federal district court, the United States Court of Federal Claims, or a bankruptcy court if all parties on one side file an application within a specified period requesting reassignment; and (2) the chief judge of the court of appeals for the circuit in which the case is to be tried, or another judge of such court designated by the chief judge, to determine any question arising as to which parties should be grouped together as a side for such purpose.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Criminal Welfare Prevention Act, Part II - Amends the Social Security Act (SSA) to require the Commissioner of Social Security to enter into an agreement with a State or local jail or correctional facility under which the facility shall report monthly the name and social security number of any inmate who has received a benefit check under SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) despite being prohibited under other existing SSA law because of confinement in a correctional institution. Requires the Commissioner to pay any complying institution: (1) $400 if it furnishes the information within 30 days; or (2) $200 if it does so within 90 days.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
Illegal Alien Employment Disincentive Act of 1997 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to not count work experience as an unauthorized alien for purposes of admission as an employment-based immigrant or an H-1B nonimmigrant.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
Freedom of Passport Information Act of 1997 - Directs the Secretary of State to provide to the public free of charge a U.S. passport information telephone inquiry service.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
Requires the establishment of a budget reserve account to provide for funding in the event of natural disasters and national security emergencies. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to include such funding in the budget process. Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to repeal provisions relating to emergency appropriations. Requires annual reports to the Congress on expenditures from such account.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
Telemarketing Fraud Prevention Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide for civil and criminal forfeiture of the proceeds of telemarketing fraud. Directs that any property forfeited, or the proceeds of such property, be used to the extent needed, as determined by the Attorney General, for the national information hotline established under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and other telemarketing fraud enforcement. Grants the payment of mandatory restitution for telemarketing fraud priority over the payment of restitution in connection with the commission of a Federal health care offense. Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines to increase: (1) by two levels the vulnerable victim adjustment; and (2) the offense level for any fraud offense by two levels if the defendant conducted activities to further the fraud from a foreign country in order to impede prosecution for the offense. Requires any presentence report required under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to include information about the age of each victim of each fraud offense for which a defendant is convicted.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Patent and Trademark Office Modernization Subtitle A: United States Patent and Trademark Office Subtitle B: Effective Date; Technical Amendments Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions Title II: Examining Procedure Improvements: Publication with Provisional Royalties; Term Extensions; Further Examination Title III: Protection for Prior Domestic Users of Patented Technologies Title IV: Enhanced Protection of Inventors' Rights Title V: Improved Reexamination Procedures Title VI: Miscellaneous Improvements 21st Century Patent System Improvement Act - Title I: Patent and Trademark Office Modernization - Patent and Trademark Office Modernization Act - Subtitle A: United States Patent and Trademark Office - Reestablishes the Patent and Trademark Office as a wholly owned Government corporation under the policy direction of the Secretary of Commerce, except as otherwise provided in this title. Requires the Office to maintain its principal office in the District of Columbia metropolitan area. Makes the Office responsible, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, for authorizing the transfer of not to exceed $100,000 in any year to the Department of State to make special payments to international intergovernmental organizations for studies and programs for advancing international cooperation concerning patents, trademarks, and related matters. Authorizes the Office to retain and use all of its revenues and receipts, subject to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. (Sec. 113) Requires Office management to be vested in a Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. (Currently, such management is vested in a Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.) Requires the Director to appoint a Commissioner for Patents and a Commissioner for Trademarks. Exempts the Office from any administratively or statutorily imposed limitations on positions or personnel. Subjects Office employees to provisions governing Federal employees and requires the Office to adopt all existing labor agreements. (Sec. 114) Requires the Office to have a Management Advisory Board to review and report annually to the President and specified congressional committees on the Office's policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees and to advise the Director. (Sec. 115) Repeals provisions subjecting the Director's performance (including regulations governing agents and attorneys representing the Office) to the direction or approval of the Secretary of Commerce. (Sec. 116) Revises the composition of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to include the Director, the Commissioner for Patents, the Commissioner for Trademarks, and appointed members. (Sec. 117) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) revised membership of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences; (2) suits by, and against, the Office; (3) annual report disclosure of the purposes for which receipts were spent; (4) the Director's discretion to designate Office attorneys to conduct hearings relating to the suspension or exclusion from practice of certain individuals; (5) Office receipts, expenditures, and borrowing authority; and (6) the transfer to the Office of Department of Commerce functions, powers, duties, funds, and property related to the authority and functions vested in the Office by this title. Subtitle B: Effective Date; Technical Amendments - Makes this title effective four months after its enactment. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Makes existing appropriations and funds for the performance of functions, programs, and activities terminated pursuant to this title available for their duration for necessary expenses in connection with such action. Title II: Examining Procedure Improvements: Publication With Provisional Royalties; Term Extensions; Further Examination - Examining Procedure Improvements Act - Amends Federal patent law to require each application for a patent, other than certain design patents, to be published promptly after the expiration of 18 months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought. Allows an earlier application publication at the request of the applicant. Prohibits information concerning published patent applications from being made available to the public, except as the Director determines, such decision being final and nonreviewable. Provides publication requirement exceptions. Authorizes the Director to establish appropriate procedures to ensure that this title does not create new opportunities for pre-issuance opposition. (Sec. 203) Entitles a patent applicant to claim the benefit of an earlier filing date in a foreign country if a claim (identifying the original foreign application by its application number, country, and date of filing) is filed in the Office at any such time during the pendency of the application as required by the Director. Allows the Director to: (1) consider the failure by the applicant to file a timely claim for priority as a waiver of such claim; (2) require the payment of a surcharge as a condition of accepting an untimely claim during such pendency; and (3) require a certified copy of the original foreign application and related information, as necessary. (Sec. 204) Specifies that a patent shall include the right to obtain a reasonable royalty from any person who, between the date of publication of the application and the date the patent is issued: (1) makes, uses, or sells in or imports into the United States the claimed invention; or (2) if the invention is a process, uses, offers for sale, or sells in or imports into the United States products made by that process; and (3) had actual notice of the published application or a translation of the international application. Bases the right to such royalty on substantially identical inventions only and only when brought within six years after patent issuance. Specifies the commencement date of the period for obtaining a royalty based upon the publication of an international application designating the United States. (Sec. 205) Provides that a person shall not be entitled to a patent if the invention was described in a published application by another filed in the United States, or in a published international application, before the invention thereof by the applicant. (Sec. 206) Requires the Director to recover the cost of an early publication by adjusting the filing, issue, and maintenance fees, by charging a separate publication fee, or by any combination of such fees. (Sec. 208) Provides for the extension of the term of a patent the issue of which is delayed due to an unusual Office administrative delay. Limits to ten years the total duration of extensions which result from administrative or judicial review, Office administrative delay, or both. Reduces the extension period by the time in which the applicant failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution of the application. (Sec. 209) Requires the Director to prescribe regulations for the further limited reexamination of patent applications. (Sec. 210) Extends to the next business day the last day of pendency of a provisional application when such day will normally fall on a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday. (Sec. 211) Requires the Director, beginning in 2001, to report annually to the Congress regarding the impact of patent applications filed by an applicant who has been accorded the status of independent inventor. Title III: Protection for Prior Domestic Users of Patented Technologies - Protection for Prior Domestic Commercial Users of Patented Technologies Act - Amends Federal patent law to create a defense to patent infringement with respect to any subject matter that would otherwise infringe one or more claims in the patent being asserted, if a person had, acting in good faith, commercially used the subject matter before the effective filing date of such patent. Specifies that the sale or other disposition of the subject matter of a patent by a person entitled to assert the defense shall exhaust the patent owner's rights to the extent they would have been exhausted had such disposition been made by the patent owner. Subjects the defense to specified limitations and qualifications, including those regarding: (1) burden of proof; (2) abandonment of use; (3) who may assert the defense (it is a personal defense); (4) unsuccessful assertion of the defense; and (5) invalidity of a patent. Title IV: Enhanced Protection of Inventors' Rights - Enhanced Protection of Inventors' Rights Act - Requires that every contract for invention development services be in writing and that a copy of the signed written contract be given to the customer at the time the customer enters into the contract. Outlines information required to be included in the contract by the invention developer. Allows a customer to terminate such a contract by sending a written letter to the invention developer stating the intent to cancel. Prescribes language and information required to be included in a cover notice on every such contract. Requires the invention developer to deliver to the customer quarterly progress reports. Outlines mandatory terms for invention development services contracts. Makes voidable by the customer any such contract which does not comply with provisions of this title or which is entered into in reliance upon any material false, fraudulent, or misleading information, representation, notice, or advertisement of the invention developer. Provides appropriate remedies through civil actions, including damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees. Requires the Director to make publicly available all complaints received by the Office involving invention developers. Provides penalties for fraudulent representations by invention developers. Title V: Improved Reexamination Procedures - Improved Reexamination Procedures Act - Amends Federal patent law concerning patent reexamination request authority to authorize the filing of such requests by any person on the basis of patent specification requirements, except for the best mode requirements. (Current law permits reexamination requests only on the basis of prior art.) Establishes procedures for reexamination proceedings based upon third- party (persons other than the patent owner) requests. Requires documents filed in such proceedings to be served upon all parties. Grants third-party requesters: (1) one opportunity to file written comments; and (2) the right to appeal final reexamination decisions. Requires all appealable claims to be brought up during an original reexamination procedure or be thereafter barred. Requires the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences to review adverse decisions of examiners in reexamination proceedings and authorizes appeals to the Board by patent owners and third-party requesters with respect to reexamination decisions. Permits appeals of Board decisions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Title VI: Miscellaneous Improvements - Revises provisions regarding abandonment of original applications to allow, notwithstanding the absence of a claim, a provisional application to be treated as a patent application, under specified conditions. Grants, under specified conditions, benefits of an earlier filing date to an invention patent application filed in this country that has previously and regularly been filed for the same invention in a foreign country which affords similar privileges in the case of applications filed in a World Trade Organization country. (Sec. 603) Allows a patent to be issued for a tuber propagated plant, with the same protections against reproduction, sale, or import into the United States. (Sec. 604) Allows the use of an electronic medium to file papers in the Office. (Sec. 605) Provides that, in the case in which patent issue restriction is required on the ground that two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in one application, the applicant shall be entitled to submit an examination fee and request examination for each independent and distinct invention. Allows an examination fee refund to an applicant who requests reconsideration of a restriction requirement when such requirement is determined to be improper.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Amends the Federal criminal code to increase mandatory minimum sentences for possessing a firearm during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to authorize the transfer to State and local governments of surplus real and related personal property needed for use by the transferee or grantee for a law enforcement or public safety purpose. Applies the law to prior transfers and conveyances.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Prohibits expenditures by the United States in a fiscal year for land or water acquisition for the National Wildlife Refuge System if the Secretary of the Interior has not made all payments required for the preceding fiscal year to appropriate counties in which any fee area is situated. Makes conforming amendments to the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act. Makes this Act inapplicable to any acquisition the Secretary is obligated to carry out under a contract entered into by the Secretary on or before the enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Uniformed Services Medicare Subvention Program Act - Directs the Secretaries of Defense and of Health and Human Services (HHS) to jointly establish a subvention program to provide the Department of Defense (DOD) with reimbursement from the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act for health services provided to Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries who agree to receive such services through the managed care option of the TRICARE program (a DOD-managed health care program). Makes program enrollment voluntary. Requires the Secretary of Defense to waive the TRICARE enrollment fee for program participants for whom Medicare reimbursement may be made. Directs the HHS Secretary to make monthly payments to DOD from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund representing appropriate reimbursement amounts. Provides for the determination of such amounts. Directs the Secretary of Defense to: (1) maintain DOD health care efforts for Medicare-eligible covered military beneficiaries; (2) estimate, for the first fiscal year of the subvention program, the amount expended by DOD for FY 1997 for providing health care items and services to such beneficiaries; and (3) establish monthly targets of the number of such beneficiaries for whom reimbursement will not be provided to DOD. Requires the Comptroller General, for each program year, to report to the Secretaries and the Congress on the extent to which costs under the TRICARE program and the Medicare program have increased as a result of the subvention program. Requires the Secretaries to take necessary steps to offset any excess costs and prevent future excess costs, including: (1) suspension or termination of the subvention program; (2) adjustment of the payment rate; or (3) adjustment of DOD maintenance of effort requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Rescinds congressional consent to the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (entered into by Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Subsidy Termination for Overdue Payments Act of 1997 - Prohibits a Federal agency or instrumentality from providing financial assistance, with specified exceptions, without certification that the applicant is: (1) not more than 60 days delinquent in the payment of a child support payment order; or (2) in compliance, if so delinquent, with an agreement regarding support collection with the person to whom payment is to be made or a State providing collection services to that person.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a corporation to be a shareholder of a subchapter S corporation (small business) if each shareholder of such corporation is permitted to be a shareholder of an S corporation. Allows certain additional trusts to be shareholders of such corporations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Retirement Savings Incentives Subtitle A: Restoration of IRA Deduction Subtitle B: Nondeductible Tax-Free IRAs Title II: Penalty-Free Distributions Savings and Investment Incentive Act of 1997 - Title I: Retirement Savings Incentives - Subtitle A: Restoration of IRA Deduction - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the deduction for individual retirement accounts (IRAs), to increase the income limits applicable to active participants. Removes limitations on a spouse's participation. (Sec. 102) Provides an inflation adjustment for the deductible amount. (Sec. 103) Revises provisions concerning the allowance of certain coins and bullion as IRA investments. Subtitle B: Nondeductible Tax-Free IRAs - Permits individuals to establish IRA Plus accounts which shall be treated similarly to an IRA plan. Prohibits deductions for contributions to such accounts. Sets forth distribution rules (including the exclusion of qualified distributions from gross income). Title II: Penalty-Free Distributions - Permits distributions without penalty for qualified: (1) first home purchases; (2) higher education expenses; and (3) unemployed individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Intellectual Property Antitrust Protection Act of 1997 - Provides that in any action in which the conduct of an owner, licensor, licensee, or other holder of an intellectual property right is alleged to be in violation of the antitrust laws in connection with the marketing or distribution of a protected product or service, such right shall not be presumed to define a market, to establish market power, or to establish monopoly power.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Constitutional Amendment - States that no person born in the United States shall be a U.S. citizen unless a parent is a U.S. citizen, is lawfully in the United States, or has lawful immigration status at the time of the birth.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Protection from Sexual Predators Act of 1997 - Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should: (1) more seriously consider the relatively high recidivism rate of sexual offenders when deciding whether to plea bargain with or grant parole to sexual offenders; and (2) review treatment and parole supervision programs for sexual offenders to assure that such programs are fulfilling their goals. Amends the Federal criminal code to provide that whoever violates provisions regarding aggravated sexual abuse (or engages in conduct that would violate such provisions if the conduct had occurred in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States under specified circumstances) after previously having been convicted of another State or Federal sexual abuse offense (or conduct which would have been such an offense if the offense had occurred in such jurisdiction) shall be imprisoned for life. Amends the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to require a State, to be eligible for a truth in sentencing incentive grant, to provide assurances to the Attorney General that such State has in effect laws which allow the court to impose a sentence of life in prison without parole on a defendant in a criminal case who is convicted of a State offense for conduct which is a sexual abuse or aggravated sexual abuse offense under the Federal criminal code (or which would have been an offense under such provisions if the offense had occurred in U.S. jurisdiction) after having previously been convicted of another State or Federal sexual abuse or aggravated sexual abuse offense. Requires the National Institute of Justice to carry out a study of persistent sexual predators and to report to the Congress and the President.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Homeowners Relief Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude gain from the sale or exchange of a principal residence by an individual from gross income if, during the seven-year period ending before the sale or exchange, such residence has been owned and used by the taxpayer as the taxpayer's principal residence for periods aggregating five years or more. (Currently, the exclusion has a dollar limitation, is applicable to only one sale, and is available only to an individual who has attained the age of 55 and has used the property as a principal residence for three of the five years preceding the sale.)
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Immigration Moratorium Act of 1997 - Restricts U.S. immigration levels to specified numbers of family-sponsored immigrants, employment-based immigrants, and refugees.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
No Frills Prison Act - Amends the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to require a State, to be eligible for truth in sentencing incentive grants, to demonstrate that it: (1) provides living conditions and opportunities within its prisons that are not more luxurious than those that the average prisoner would have experienced if not incarcerated; (2) does not provide to any such prisoner specified benefits or privileges, including earned good time credits, less than 40 hours a week of work that either offsets or reduces the expenses of keeping the prisoner or provides resources toward restitution of victims, unmonitored phone calls (with exceptions), in-cell television viewing, possession of pornographic materials, instruction or training equipment for any martial art or bodybuilding or weightlifting equipment, or dress or hygiene other than as is uniform or standard in the prison; and (3) in the case of a prisoner serving a sentence for a crime of violence which resulted in serious bodily injury to another, does not provide housing other than in separate cell blocks intended for violent prisoners, less than nine hours a day of physical labor (with exceptions), any release from the prison for any purpose unless under physical or mechanical restraint, any viewing of television, any inter-prison travel for competitive sports, more than one hour a day spent in sports or exercise, or possession of personal property exceeding 75 pounds in total weight or that cannot be stowed in a standard size U.S. military issue duffel bag. Directs the Attorney General to establish similar conditions in the Federal prison system.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Permits certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow penalty-free (and exclude from income if repaid) distributions from an individual retirement account (IRA) for first home purchases, higher education expenses, qualified long-term care expenses, and qualified unemployment distributions. Increases deductible IRA contribution amounts, and provides for inflation indexing. Eliminates the phase-out for individuals who are not active participants in defined contribution plans, and increases applicable dollar amounts for taxpayers other than those married filing separately. Increases 401(k) plan contribution limits. Establishes an alternative method for satisfying nondiscrimination requirements. Excludes inherited IRAs and certain 401(k) plans from a decedent's gross estate. Allows a designated beneficiary of an inherited IRA to hold such IRA free of immediate distribution provisions. Allows inherited 401(k) amounts as nondeductible contributions to a beneficiary's IRA, and excludes such amounts from income if so contributed.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Taxpayer Bond Fairness Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) treat recreational fitness services provided by tax-exempt hospitals to non-staff or in non-therapy circumstances as an unrelated trade or business; and (2) deny tax-exempt bond financing for issues used to provide facilities for such services.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
American Farm and Ranch Protection Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross estate, if elected by the executor, the value of land subject to a qualified conservation easement, except for any debt-financed portion. Provides for the treatment of any retained development right. Adds references to such property to provisions controlling the basis of property acquired from a decedent. Prohibits treating the transfer by gift of land subject to a qualified conservation easement as a transfer of property by gift for purposes of provisions relating to gift taxes. Amends provisions relating to the valuation of certain farm and other real property to prohibit a qualified conservation contribution (as defined in provisions relating to charitable contributions) from being deemed a disposition unless it is subject to a conservation easement. Declares that, if property is otherwise qualified real property, being subject to a conservation easement does not disqualify it. Allows a contribution to be treated as exclusively for conservation purposes if the surface estate and mineral interests have been and remain separated (currently, if the surface estate and mineral interests were separated before June 13, 1976, and remain separated) and if the probability of surface mining is so remote as to be negligible.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit contributions or expenditures by a foreign national in connection with the election of candidates for Federal political office. Redefines foreign national to include any individual who is not a U.S. citizen, whether in the U.S. lawfully or unlawfully.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Capital Gains Tax Reduction Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the maximum capital gains tax rates for both individuals and corporations. Provides for the indexing of assets for determining gain or loss.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: General Provisions Title II: Public Housing Subtitle A: Block Grants Subtitle B: Admissions and Occupancy Requirements Subtitle C: Management Subtitle D: Homeownership Subtitle E: Disposition, Demolition, and Revitalization of Developments Subtitle F: General Provisions Title III: Choice-Based Rental Housing and Homeownership Assistance for Low-Income Families Subtitle A: Allocation Subtitle B: Choice-Based Housing Assistance for Eligible Families Subtitle C: Payment of Housing Assistance on Behalf of Assisted Families Subtitle D: General and Miscellaneous Provisions Title IV: Home Rule Flexible Grant Option Title V: Accountability and Oversight of Public Housing Agencies Subtitle A: Study of Alternative Methods for Evaluating Public Housing Agencies Subtitle B: Housing Evaluation and Accreditation Board Subtitle C: Interim Applicability of Public Housing Management Assessment Program Subtitle D: Accountability and Oversight Standards and Procedures Title VI: Repeals and Related Amendments Subtitle A: Repeals, Effective Date, and Savings Provisions Subtitle B: Other Provisions Relating to Public Housing and Rental Assistance Programs Subtitle C: Limitations Relating to Occupancy in Federally Assisted Housing Title VII: Affordable Housing and Miscellaneous Provisions Housing Opportunity and Responsibility Act of 1997 - Title I: General Provisions - Declares the purpose of this Act to be to provide affordable low-income housing through such means as deregulation of public housing agencies (PHAs) and increased Federal housing assistance flexibility. Defines specified terms for purposes of this Act. (Sec. 105) Requires each PHA and assisted tenant family to enter into a community work and family self-sufficiency agreement. (Sec. 106) Requires PHAs to submit to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Secretary): (1) five-year and annual management plans; and (2) performance and evaluation reports. (Sec. 111) Authorizes the Secretary to retain specified appropriations as a special use or emergency housing reserve fund. (Sec. 115) Makes the provisions of this Act inapplicable to Indian housing unless specifically provided otherwise. Title II: Public Housing - Subtitle A: Block Grants - Directs the Secretary to enter into block grant contracts with PHAs to establish capital and operating funds. Requires: (1) public housing developments to be State and locally tax-exempt; and (2) PHAs to identify distressed nonviable housing and convert public housing assistance for such units to rental housing assistance. Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) eligible activities; (2) permanent and interim grant allocations; and (3) improper grant use sanctions. Subtitle B: Admissions and Occupancy Requirements - Limits public housing occupancy to families who at the time of initial occupancy qualify as low-income. Authorizes: (1) mixed income developments; (2) waiver of eligibility requirements for police and security officers; and (3) occupancy preferences. (Sec. 225) Permits families to choose either a flat or an income-based rent. (Sec. 227) Authorizes housing designated only for elderly families, disabled families, or elderly and disabled families. Subtitle C: Management - Authorizes public housing residents to establish resident councils and resident management corporations. (Sec. 235) Authorizes PHA-resident management corporation housing management contracts. (Sec. 236) Authorizes the Secretary to transfer management from a troubled PHA to an independent manager upon resident request. (Sec. 237) Provides for a resident (management) opportunity program. Obligates program funding. Subtitle D: Homeownership - Authorizes PHA low-income resident homeownership programs. Subtitle E: Disposition, Demolition, and Revitalization of Developments - Authorizes, and sets forth requirements for, PHA demolition and disposition of nonviable or nonmarketable housing. Gives resident organizations and management corporations right of first refusal. (Sec. 262) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to PHAs for: (1) site revitalization; (2) density reduction (demolition); (3) replacement housing; and (4) choice-based assistance for replacement housing and displaced tenant aid. Authorizes appropriations. Terminates such program after September 30, 2000. (Sec. 263) Authorizes PHAs to convert a public housing development to a choice-based rental housing assistance system. Subtitle F: General Provisions - Authorizes block grant (capital and operating funds) appropriations. (Sec. 273) Obligates specified funds for: (1) the Operation Safe Home program; and (2) relocation of domestic violence victims. Title III: Choice-Based Rental Housing and Homeownership Assistance for Low-Income Families - Subtitle A: Allocation - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into one-year contracts with PHAs to provide low-income housing assistance under this title. Sets forth allocation provisions. (Sec. 306) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) general assistance; and (2) assistance for disabled families. (Sec. 307) Provides for the conversion of unobligated section 8 assistance (United States Housing Act of 1937) for use under this title. Subtitle B: Choice-Based Housing Assistance for Eligible Families - Sets forth income eligibility (low-income) and income targeting provisions. Provides for: (1) assistance portability; (2) monthly family rent contributions (with hardship exceptions); (3) owner and dwelling eligibility; (4) homeownership option; and (5) manufactured home eligibility. Subtitle C: Payment of Housing Assistance on Behalf of Assisted Families - Authorizes participating PHAs to enter into payment contracts with owners of existing units as provided for by this subtitle. Subtitle D: General and Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes PHAs to retain specified amounts of rental fraud recoveries. (Sec. 373) Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of assisted-family geographic concentration in the areas served by the Cook County (Illinois) and Chicago Housing Authorities. Title IV: Home Rule Flexible Grant Option - Directs the Secretary to carry out a flexible one-to-five year grant program under which jurisdictions shall enter into contracts to: (1) provide low-income housing; (2) reduce homelessness; and (3) increase low-income homeownership. Title V: Accountability and Oversight of Public Housing Agencies - Subtitle A: Study of Alternative Methods for Evaluating Public Housing Agencies - Directs the Secretary to provide for a study of alternative PHA performance evaluations. Obligates specified funds for such study. Subtitle B: Housing Evaluation and Accreditation Board - Establishes the Housing Foundation and Accreditation Board which shall establish PHA performance benchmarks and an accreditation procedure. Subjects the Board to General Accounting Office audit authority. Subtitle C: Interim Applicability for Public Housing Management Assessment Program - Directs the Secretary to develop and publish interim management assessment indicators for PHAs and other public housing managing entities. (Sec. 533) Directs the Secretary to establish procedures for designation of troubled PHAs and related on-site inspections. Subtitle D: Accountability and Oversight Standards and Procedures - Sets forth: (1) audit provisions; (2) performance agreement requirements for at-risk and troubled PHAs; and (3) conditions for removal of ineffective PHAs and mandatory takeover of chronically troubled PHAs. Makes such provisions applicable to resident management corporations. Title VI: Repeals and Related Amendments - Subtitle A: Repeals, Effective Date, and Savings Provisions - Repeals the United States Housing Act of 1937, with exceptions, effective six months after enactment of this Act. (Sec. 602) Repeals specified provisions of the following Acts: (1) the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (assisted housing allocation special projects for elderly or handicapped families); (2) Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (public housing rent waivers for police, excessive rent data, Indian housing childhood development, one-stop perinatal services, energy efficiency demonstration, mixed-income new communities demonstration, youth sports programs); (3) Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 (certificate and voucher holders, comprehensive transition demonstration); (4) Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (opportunity for fair housing, Omaha homeownership demonstration); (5) Housing Act of 1954; (6) Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1981 (development managers' payment); (7) Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1991; (8) Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983 (childhood development); (9) Department of Housing and Urban Development-Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1988; and (10) Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 (public housing conversion). Subtitle B: Other Provisions Relating to Public Housing and Rental Assistance Programs - Amends the Housing Act of 1959 to require elderly housing assistance allocations to provide for the supportive needs of frail elderly residents. (Sec. 622) Amends the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983 to extend pet ownership provisions to federally assisted rental housing (currently limited to elderly or handicapped housing). (Sec. 623) Directs the Secretary to: (1) review specified PHA drug elimination program contracts to determine contractor compliance with hiring antidiscrimination and related requirements; and (2) either terminate or bring into compliance violating contracts. (Sec. 624) Community Partnership Against Crime Act of 1997 - Amends the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 to revise the public housing drug elimination pilot program. Authorizes appropriations and sets forth allocation requirements. Subtitle C: Limitations Relating to Occupancy in Federally Assisted Housing - Makes any household or member evicted from federally assisted housing ineligible for federally assisted housing for specified time periods depending upon the nature of the eviction. Prohibits public housing admission (and permits eviction) for illegal drug and alcohol users, with consideration given for successful rehabilitation. Authorizes housing admission denial for criminal offenders and access to criminal records for screening and eviction purposes. Title VII: Affordable Housing and Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to make the city of Altus, Oklahoma, eligible for rural housing assistance for a specified period of time. (Sec. 702) Prohibits the Secretary from establishing a national occupancy standards. (Sec. 703) Directs the Secretary to implement the Ida Barbour Revitalization Plan for Portsmouth, Virginia, within a specified period of time. (Sec. 705) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to prohibit the use of community development block grants for employment relocation activities. (Sec. 706) Expresses the sense of the Congress that funds under this Act should be used to purchase American-make products. (Sec. 709) Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to authorize the transfer of surplus Federal property to self-help housing programs.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Balanced Budget Requirement Act of 1996 (sic) - Amends specified Federal law to require that each President's budget submission to Congress include a detailed plan to achieve a balanced Federal budget for that fiscal year and each of the following four fiscal years (beginning with the budget submission for FY 1998, which shall include a detailed plan to achieve a balanced budget by FY 2002, and then for any budget submission for any fiscal year after FY 2002). Suspends such requirement for any fiscal year covered by a joint resolution declaring war or a national economic or national security emergency. Requires the Director of the Congressional Budget Office to certify whether such balanced budget plan does achieve a balanced budget. Authorizes the President to submit a revised detailed plan if the original plan is not certified as achieving a balanced budget. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) to provide that: (1) beginning with FY 1998, it shall not be in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any concurrent resolution on the budget that does not achieve a balanced budget by FY 2002; and (2) beginning with FY 2002 it shall not be in order to consider any concurrent resolution on the budget that does not maintain a balanced budget for that fiscal year and for each of the following four fiscal years. Suspends such requirement when there is a joint resolution declaring war or a national economic or national security emergency. Amends CBA to make it in order, in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, to consider any amendment to a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year reflecting, without substantive change, the budget submitted by the President for that fiscal year and, if different, a separate amendment reflecting the detailed plan to achieve a balanced budget submitted by the President.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Privatization of Art Act - Amends the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Council on the Arts (NCA). Renames such Act the National Foundation on the Humanities Act of 1965. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to provide for the termination of the affairs of the NEA and the NCA.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Bill Emerson English Language Empowerment Act of 1997 - Amends Federal law to declare English to be the official language of the U.S. Government. States that representatives of the Federal Government have an affirmative obligation to preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government. Requires such representatives to conduct official business in English. Prohibits anyone from being denied Government services because he or she communicates in English. Requires that all officials conduct all naturalization ceremonies entirely in English. Directs that nothing in this Act construed to limit the preservation or use of Native Alaskan or Native American languages. Sets forth definitions for purposes of this Act.
![Official portrait of Rep. Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [R-WI-5]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/s000244_200.jpg)