United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1985
Amends the Federal criminal code to provide that evidence obtained by a search or seizure shall not be excluded in a Federal proceeding if the seizure was undertaken in a reasonable, good faith belief in its conformity with the fourth amendment to the Constitution. Provides that evidence obtained in accordance with a warrant is prima facie evidence of good faith, absent intentional and material misrepresentation.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1985
Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each standing committee to review, on a continuing basis and when considering public bills or resolutions, those portions of the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (Grace Commission report) pertaining to such committee's jurisdiction. Amends rule XI to require each committee report on a public bill or resolution to contain: (1) an identification of each recommendation of the Survey to be implemented and the resulting estimated program cost savings or revenue enhancement; and (2) a statement setting forth the disposition of each recommendation pertaining to such bill or resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1985
Amends the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 to revise restrictions on certain imported vehicles that do not conform to Federal standards. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to exempt certain motor vehicles or equipment from such restrictions for purposes of research, investigation, study, demonstration, training, national security, competitive racing events, or completion in the United States of an incomplete foreign-built vehicle or equipment item. Authorizes the Secretaries of Transportation and of the Treasury to promulgate joint regulations which authorize the importation of non-conforming vehicles or equipment if an individual has never imported such a vehicle before and seeks to do so for personal use to meet unforeseen cases of extreme hardship or extraordinary circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1985
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the use of law enforcement, fire protection, and emergency medical vehicles by government employees shall be treated as a nontaxable fringe benefit.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) ensure that U.S. officials carry out the pledge to resolve the issue of the Americans still missing and unaccounted for in Indochina; (2) work for the immediate release of any Americans still held captive and the return of the remains of those who died in Southeast Asia; and (3) make every effort to secure the further cooperation of Laos and Vietnam in resolving this issue.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1985
Repeals the requirement added by the Tax Reform Act of 1984 relating to the maintenance of contemporaneous records with respect to: (1) business travel expenses, including automobile expenses; (2) business entertainment expenses; and (3) expenses for gifts.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1985
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Act of 1985 - Amends title IV (National Research Institutes) of the Public Health Service Act to establish a National Institute (Institute) of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Redesignates the existing National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases as the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. States that the Institute shall conduct research and related activities concerning arthritis, musculoskeletal diseases and skin diseases. Requires the Director of the Institute, with the advice of the National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Advisory Council, to establish a national plan to coordinate such activities. Establishes within the Institute: (1) the National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Data System; and (2) the National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Information Clearinghouse. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1988. Establishes within the Institue: (1) an Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Interagency Coordinating Committee; and (2) a Skin Diseases Interagency Coordinating Committee. Requires annual reports to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and to the Director of NIH. Establishes within the Institute a National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Advisory Council. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1988 for arthritis and musculoskeletal demonstration projects and multipurpose disease centers. Requires the Institute to submit a biennial report. Transfers arthritis-related functions (including data system, advisory functions, coordinating functions, demonstration project, and multipurpose center), funds, personnel, and assets to the Institute from the existing National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Requires the secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees and to the Comptroller General within 60 days regarding such transfers. Requires the Comptroller General to report to the appropriate congressional committees within 80 days regarding such transfers. Terminates the National Arthritis Advisory Board. Makes conforming amendments. Requires the Secretary, through NIH, to conduct a study of the existing combinations of disease research programs within the institutes and of the standards to be followed in establishing new or realigning existing institutes. Requires a report to the appropriate congressional committees within 18 months. Prohibits the establishment of any new institutes within six months of such report's submission. Directs the Secretary to conduct and complete within 60 days a review of the disease research programs of the National Institute of diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (as redesignated by this Act) to determine if any of these programs could be more effectively managed by other national research institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
National Observance Advisory Act - Establishes the President's Advisory Commission on National Observances to establish criteria for recommending to the President that a proposed national observance be approved or disapproved.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Davis-Bacon Reform Act of 1985 - Amends the Davis-Bacon Act to increase from $2,000 to $1,000,000 the threshold dollar amount subjecting certain contracts to such Act and requiring them to specify the minimum wages to be paid to laborers and mechanics. Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish as the prevailing wage for a class of laborers or mechanics the entire range of wages being paid to a corresponding class of such workers in the particular urban or rural subdivision of the State in which the work is to be performed. Excludes from the computation of wages the basic hourly rates of pay for workers on local Federal projects. Establishes a separate classification for helpers of laborers or mechanics. Amends the Copeland Anti-Kickback Act to require certain contractors or subcontractors to furnish compliance statements concerning weekly wages at the beginning and conclusion of the period covered by the contract, instead of every week as the wages are paid.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that tax-exempt interest on securities held by the taxpayer before the date of the enactment of the Social Security Amendments of 1983 shall not be taken into account in determining the amount of social security benefits subject to tax.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to eliminate all provisions authorizing union security agreements (agreements which require union membership as a condition of employment).
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to prohibit the Export-Import Bank from guaranteeing, insuring, extending credit, or participating in extensions of credit to: (1) communist countries or agencies, instrumentalities, or nationals of communist countries; or (2) any other foreign country, agency, instrumentality, or national if the transaction is to be made with respect to a product or service which is for use in or sale or lease to a communist country. Repeals specified provisions of such Act which permit such transactions. Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to prohibit nonmarket economy countries from participating in any U.S. program or U.S. supported program which extends credits, credit guarantees, or investment guarantees, or makes grants. Repeals the President's authority to waive the freedom of emigration requirements which must be met in order to permit trade with nonmarket economy countries. Terminates any existing credits, guarantees, or grants. Repeals the procedure for waiving the President's authority.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that one-half of the cost of insurance paid by a self-employed taxpayer for medical care during the taxable year will be allowed as a business deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress, prior to each fiscal year, to adopt a statement of receipts and outlays for that year in which total outlays are not greater than total receipts. Permits the Congress in such statement to provide for a specific excess of outlays over receipts by a three-fifths vote directed solely to that subject. Requires the President and the Congress to ensure that actual outlays do not exceed the outlays set forth in such statement. Prohibits total receipts for any fiscal year set forth in such statement from increasing by a rate greater than the rate of increase in national income in the last calendar year ending before such fiscal year, unless the Congress passes by a three-fifths vote a bill directed solely to approving specific additional receipts and such bill has become law. Requires the President, prior to each fiscal year, to transmit to the Congress a proposed statement of receipts and outlays for that year consistent with the provisions of this article. Permits the Congress to waive the provisions of this Act with respect to any fiscal year in which a declaration of war is in effect. Declares that total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States, except those derived from borrowing and total outlays shall include all outlays of the United States except those for repayment of debt principal.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Establishes the Joint Committee on Intelligence. Declares that such committee has exclusive legislative jurisdiction with respect to any intelligence activity of the Federal Government and authorizations for appropriations for specified agencies and intelligence-related activities. Directs the joint committee to classify its information and records and to establish guidelines for their maintenance, use, and availability. Sets forth procedures for the disclosure of such information. Directs the joint committee to establish and carry out rules and procedures necessary to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of information. Makes conforming amendments to the Rules of the House of Representatives, including abolishing the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the National Security Act of 1947.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1985
Requires each House of Representatives committee (except the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct) and subcommittee to be constituted in a ratio proportionate to the membership of the two political parties in the House. Requires, where practicable, the committee staffs to reflect such ratio.
![Official portrait of Rep. Slaughter, D. French, Jr. [R-VA-7]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/s000479_200.jpg)