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United States · Official source
1,338 records where Rep. Smith, Robert [R-OR-2] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 1992
Authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to extend for a specified maximum period the time required for the construction of a certain hydroelectric project in the State of Oregon.
United States · United States Congress · 12 August 1992
Amends the Klamath River Basin Fishery Resources Restoration Act to require that one member of the Klamath River Basin Fisheries Task Force be appointed by the Commissioners of Klamath County, Oregon.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1992
Designates October 8, 1992, as National Firefighters Day.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 1992
Urban Entrepreneurial Opportunities Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for equity contributions made by a corporation to an urban entrepreneurial opportunity financing subsidiary of such corporation. Requires the subsidiary to use such contribution in making qualified enterprise zone business loans to qualified small business concerns. Establishes an overall program limitation among the contributing corporations to be allocated by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1992
Action Now Health Care Reform Act of 1992 - Title I: Improved Access to Affordable Health Care Coverage - Subtitle A: Increased Affordability and Availability for Employees - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) to request the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (the NAIC) to develop model regulations requiring each carrier that makes available in a State any small employer health benefit plan to make available to each small employer in the State a MedAccess basic plan and a MedAccess standard. Directs the Secretary to develop such regulations, if the NAIC does not. Defines MedAccess plan as a health benefits plan that: (1) provides benefits typical of the benefits offered in the small employer health coverage market or provides only benefits for essential preventive and medical services and has an average actuarial value not exceeding 60 percent of the average actuarial value of the typical benefits offered in the small employer health coverage market; (2) accepts every small employer in the State applying for coverage and accepts for enrollment every eligible individual (defined as an individual who is a full-time employee and, if family coverage is offered, covers the employee's spouse and dependents under age 19 or under age 25 for students); and (3) meets consumer protection standards established by this Act relating to limitation of pre-existing condition clauses, continuity of coverage, renewability, and premium limitations. Prohibits the imposition, by a carrier, of a limitation of benefits based on the fact a condition pre-existed the effectiveness of the policy if: (1) the condition relates to a condition not diagnosed within three months before coverage under the plan; (2) the limitation extends beyond six months after coverage under the plan; (3) the limitation applies to an individual who, as of date of birth, was covered under the plan; and (4) the limitation relates to pregnancy. Requires continuous coverage. Prohibits cancellation of a plan or denial of coverage unless there is: (1) nonpayment of premiums; (2) fraud; (3) noncompliance with plan provisions; (4) failure to maintain the required number of enrollees; (5) misuse of a provider network provision; or (6) a cessation by the carrier of the provision of any plan in a State. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax which shall be paid by the carrier on the failure of a carrier or an employer health benefit plan to comply with the provisions of the Act. Directs the Secretary to request the NAIC to develop models for reinsurance or allocation of risk mechanisms for individuals and small employers who are enrolled under a small employer health benefit plan that meets the consumer protection standards and for whom a carrier is at risk of incurring high costs under the plan. Requires each State to establish and fund one or more reinsurance or allocation or allocation of risk mechanisms that are consistent with a model. Directs the Secretary to develop models, if the NAIC does not. Permits a State, in order to insure the financial solvency of the mechanism, to impose charges on any entity providing employee-related health benefits, so long as such charges do not discriminate with respect to entities that would not be subject to such charges. Directs the Secretary to establish a reinsurance or allocation of risk mechanism, if a State does not. Imposes an excise tax which shall be paid by the carrier on the providing of any health benefit plan which covers any employee in a Federal reinsurance State. Permits either a State or the Secretary (in a Federal reinsurance State) to require each employer health benefit plan to: (1) be registered; and (2) provide such information as is necessary for the reinsurance or allocation of risk mechanisms. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish an Office of Private Health Coverage to be headed by a Director appointed by the Secretary; and (2) provide for the appointment of an advisory committee to advise the Director. Permits the Director to research the impact of this subtitle and conduct related demonstration projects. Requires the Director to develop: (1) methods of measuring, in terms of the expected costs of providing benefits under small employer health benefit plans and, in particular, MedAccess plans, the relative health risks of eligible individuals; and (2) a model for equitably distributing health risks among carriers in the small employer health care coverage market. Authorizes appropriations for the purposes of this paragraph. Subtitle B: Improved Small Employer Purchasing Power of Affordable Health Insurance - Preempts from insurance mandates a qualified small employer purchasing group, if the group consists of employers with not more than 100 employees, the group consists of not fewer than 100 employers, and the health benefit plans with respect to the employer members are in compliance with applicable State laws relating to health benefit plans. Subtitle C: Health Deduction Fairness - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent and increase from 25 to 100 percent the health insurance tax deduction for the self-employed. Subtitle D: Improved Access to Community Health Services - Directs the Secretary to provide for a program of grants to migrant and community health centers receiving grants or contracts under provisions of the Public Health Service Act in order to promote the provision of primary health care services for underserved individuals. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Public Health Service Act to deem as an employee of the Public Health Service, for purposes of civil actions against commissioned officers or employees, any officer, employee, or contractor who is a physician or other licensed health care practitioner while performing functions for an entity receiving Federal funds under provisions of the Public Health Service Act. Requires an entity, in order to receive a grant under such provisions, to implement certain policies to assure against malpractice. Requires: (1) the Attorney General to estimate the amount of all claims expected, during each year, to arise against such an entity from acts of officers or employees; (2) the Secretary to withhold from grants to such entities the amount estimated; and (3) the withheld amount to be transferred to the Treasury to pay judgments against the United States arising from such claims. Directs the Secretary to make grants to public and nonprofit private entities to carry out demonstration projects for the purpose of increasing access to outpatient primary health services in geographic areas with a: (1) population of not more than 500,000 individuals; (2) shortage of personal health services; and (3) significant number of low-income or underinsured individuals. Sets forth requirements for receiving such grants. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Improved Access to Rural Health Services - Retitles title XII of the Public Health Service Act "Emergency Medical Services" (formerly, "Trauma Care") and directs the Secretary to establish the Office of Emergency Medical Services which shall, with respect to emergency medical services (including trauma care): (1) conduct research; (2) sponsor workshops; (3) assist States; and (4) coordinate activities. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for the purposes of improving the availability and quality of emergency medical services through the operation of State offices of emergency medical services. Sets forth matching fund requirements. Provides for demonstration projects to establish telecommunications between rural medical facilities and other medical facilities that have equipment that can be utilized through telecommunications. Authorizes appropriations for purposes of the programs of this paragraph. Directs the Secretary to make grants to States to assist in the creation or enhancement of air medical transport systems that provide victims of medical emergencies in rural areas access to treatments for the injuries or other conditions arising from such emergencies. Sets forth requirements for grant applications. Authorizes appropriations. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend for one year special treatment rules for Medicare-dependent small rural hospitals. Title II: Health Care Cost Containment and Quality Enhancement - Subtitle A: Medical Malpractice Liability Reform - Prohibits bringing a medical malpractice claim: (1) more than two years after the alleged injury should reasonably have been discovered and in no event more than four years after the alleged injury occurred; and (2) in any State court unless there has been an initial resolution through a certified alternative dispute resolution system (ADR). Requires the use of ADR in a Federal medical malpractice liability claim. Requires a pre-trial settlement conference in any medical malpractice liability action. Sets limits on: (1) noneconomic damages; (2) punitive damages; and (3) attorney's fees. Requires offsets for damages paid by a collateral source. Requires liability in a medical malpractice action to be several and not joint. Provides a complete defense to any allegation of negligence in a medical malpractice liability action to any defendant who followed the appropriate practice guideline. Prohibits finding a defendant guilty in a medical malpractice liability action relating to services provided during labor or delivery of a baby if the defendant did not previously treat the plaintiff during the pregnancy, unless the malpractice is proven by clear and convincing evidence. Directs the Secretary to determine whether a States' ADR meets ADR system requirements established by this Act. Establishes such requirements. Amends title XI (General Provisions and Professional Standards Review) of the Social Security Act to earmark funds for sanctioning practice guidelines for purposes of an affirmative defense in medical malpractice liability actions. Permits a State agency responsible for the conduct of disciplinary actions for a type of health care practitioner to enter into agreements with State or county professional societies for such type of health care practitioner to permit such societies to participate in the licensing of such health care practitioner and to review health care malpractice allegations. Requires each State to require each health care professional and provider to participate in a risk management program to prevent and provide early warning of practices which may result in injuries to patients or which otherwise endanger patient safety. Directs the Secretary to make grants for the conduct of basic research in the prevention of and compensation for injuries resulting from health care professional or health care provider malpractice, and research of the outcomes of health care procedures. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to study the factors discouraging physicians from volunteering to provide health care services in medically underserved areas. Subtitle B: Administrative Cost Savings - Directs the Secretary to adopt standards relating to each of the following: (1) data elements for use in claims processing under health benefits plans; (2) uniform claim forms; and (3) uniform electronic transmission of the data elements. Authorizes the Secretary to require providers to submit claims to health benefit plans in accordance with such standards. Provides for periodic review of the standards. States that the term "health benefit plan," in this subtitle, includes the Medicare and Medicaid programs (titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act). Requires the Secretary to promulgate standards for hospitals concerning electronic medical data. Permits the Secretary to promulgate standards concerning electronic medical data for providers that are not hospitals. Requires hospitals, in order to participate in Medicare, to: (1) maintain clinical data in a set of comprehensive data elements in electronic form on all patients; and (2) upon the Secretary's request, transmit electronically the data set and any data from such set. Provides for electronic transmission to Federal agencies. Prohibits a health benefit plan, if standards with respect to data elements are promulgated with respect to a class of provider, from requiring for the purpose of utilization review or as a condition of providing benefits under the plan that a provider in the class: (1) provide any data element not in the set of comprehensive data elements; or (2) transmit or present any such data element in a manner inconsistent with applicable standards. Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory commission of hospital executive and data base managers, physicians, health services researchers, and technical experts in the collection and use of data and operation of data systems. Authorizes appropriations for such commission. Requires the Secretary, in order to assure the availability of comparative value information to purchasers of health care in each State, to determine whether each State is developing and implementing a health care value information program that meets stated criteria. Permits grants to a State for the development of its health care value information program. Authorizes appropriations for such grants. Requires the head of each Federal agency with responsibility for the provision of health insurance or health care services to individuals to promptly develop health care value information relating to each program that such head administers. Directs the Secretary to develop model systems to facilitate: (1) the gathering of data on health care cost, quality, and outcome; and (2) analyzing such data to permit the valid comparison of such data. Authorizes appropriations for the development of such model systems. Directs the Secretary to adopt standards relating to the design and use of magnetized Medicare identification cards for the purpose of assisting health care providers in determining eligibility and billing. Authorizes appropriations. Nullifies any State law requiring that medical or health insurance records be maintained in written rather than electronic form. Requires each health benefit plan: (1) for each of its beneficiaries that has a social security number, to use that number as an identification number for claims processing; and (2) for each provider that has a unique identifier for Medicare purposes, to use that identifier for claims processing. Requires the Secretary to determine whether problems relating to the rules for determining liability when benefits are payable under two or more plans or the availability of information among such plans causes significant administrative problems, and if so, directs the Secretary to promulgate standards concerning liability and the transfer of information among plans. Directs the Secretary to provide grants to qualified entities to demonstrate the application of comprehensive information systems in continuously monitoring patient care and in improving patient care. Authorizes appropriations from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. Subtitle C: Medical Savings Accounts (Medisave) - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee any amount contributed by the employer to a medical savings account pursuant to a qualified medical savings account plan. Sets contribution limits. Defines a "medical savings account" as a trust created exclusively for purpose of paying an individual's medical expenses. Permits expenses from such account only to the extent such amounts are not compensated for by insurance. Subjects the employee to taxation as owner of the account. Subtitle D: Medicaid Program Flexibility - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to modify Medicaid contracting requirements for coordinated care services. Authorizes the Secretary to waive specified Medicaid requirements with respect to nursing facilities located in a State if the State provides assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the waiver of such requirements will not adversely affect the quality of life of the residents in such facilities. Subtitle E: Limitations on Physician Self-Referrals - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend physician self-referral limitations to all payors as well as to certain additional services. Revises exceptions. Requires the Secretary to conduct a study in order to estimate the changes in aggregate costs for designated health services, under the Medicare program and other health plans, which will result from the implementation of the amendments made by this subtitle. Subtitle F: Removing Restrictions on Managed Care - Preempts managed care restrictions under State law. Requires the Comptroller General to conduct a study of the benefits and cost effectiveness of the use of managed care in the delivery of health services. Subtitle G: Medicare Payment Changes - Amends the Medicare program to make revisions in the methodology for determining updates to Medicare hospital payments. Provides for a reduction in Medicare payment for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests. Subtitle H: Modification of the Operation of the Antitrust Laws to Hospitals - Permits two or more hospitals, without violating the antitrust laws, to share expensive medical services or high technology equipment. Directs the Secretary to grant waivers to exempt hospitals from the antitrust laws in order to carry out agreements permitting such sharing. Sets forth reporting requirements. Subtitle I: Encouraging Enforcement Activities of Medical Self-Regulatory Entities - Prohibits damages, interest on damages, costs, or attorney's fees from being recovered under the Clayton Act or any similar State law from any medical self-regulatory entity as a result of engaging in standard setting or enforcement activities designed to promote the quality of health care provided to patients.
United States · United States Congress · 28 May 1992
Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1992 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to allow, on order of a veterinarian: (1) a new animal drug approved for one use to be used for a different purpose, provided the use does not result in residues in food in violation of established safe levels for the drug; and (2) a new drug approved for human use to be used in non-food producing animals.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Rural Electrification Administration Improvement Act of 1992 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to provide that if a borrower of a loan made or guaranteed by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) applies for an electric or telephone service loan from a private lender, REA shall grant the private lender a lien accommodation on the total assets securing the unpaid balance on an equal and pro rata basis with the Government lien, except if such private loan will adversely affect the borrower's ability to repay the Government. Subordinates the REA lien to a lien made by a private lender on a non-electric or non-telephone rural development loan if the borrower's revenues will be sufficient to meet all loan obligations. Revises discounted loan prepayment provisions to permit prepayment or sale of a loan that was advanced before a certain date or has been fully advanced for not less than two years. Limits future loan eligibility for prepaying borrowers. Repeals provisions regarding: (1) borrower net worth; and (2) the prepayment privatization demonstration program.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Northern Spotted Owl Preservation and Northwest Economic Stabilization Act of 1992 - States that it is the purpose of this Act to set forth a plan to preserve the northern spotted owl (owl) while minimizing to the greatest extent possible the related loss of jobs and revenues. Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior to: (1) adopt amendments to land and resource management plans to implement such purpose; (2) conduct timber sales and harvesting, prior to such amendments' completion, in accordance with a certain northern spotted owl preservation plan; and (3) amend such plans with regard to certain National Forest timber harvest rotations, silviculture systems, and land withdrawals. Establishes owl protection zones of between ten and 100 acres around each nesting tree. Authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement the Northern Spotted Owl Preservation Plan-Draft, not withstanding any other provision of law. Directs the Secretaries to manage certain lands under their respective jurisdictions in Washington, Oregon, and California in accordance with such Plan. Subjects any person who hunts, injures, or collects an owl to specified civil and criminal penalties under the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Sets forth congressional reporting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Designates February 21 through 27, 1993, as American Wine Appreciation Week. Commends the winegrape and fruit growers and vintners of the United States for the production of high quality agricultural products.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Directs the Postmaster General to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of American POWs/MIAs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1992
National Triad Program Act - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Justice to conduct a national assessment of: (1) the nature and extent of crimes against the elderly; (2) the needs of law enforcement, health, and social service organziations, in working to prevent, identify, investigate, and provide assistance to victims of such crimes; and (3) promising strategies to respond effectively to those challenges. Specifies that such assessment shall address: (1) the analysis and synthesis of data from a range of sources; (2) the problems of elderly who are living alone or in high crime areas and who are abused and neglected, and the fear of victimization; (3) the identification of strategies and techniques tht have been shown to be effective or which show promise; (4) the analysis of the factors that enhance or inhibit development of a coordinated response by law enforcement, health care, and social service providers; and (5) the research agenda needed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problems of crimes against the elderly. Requires the Director to disseminate the results of such assessment. Authorizes the Director to make awards to coalitions of local law enforcement agencies, victim service providers, and organizations representing the elderly for pilot programs and field tests of promising strategies and models for forging partnerships for crime prevention and service provision. Specifies that pilot programs funded under this Act may include existing general service coalitions of law enforcement, victim service, and elder advocate organizations that wish to use additional funds to work at a particular problem in their community or to target a particular geographic area in need of intensive services. Authorizes the Director to make awards to: (1) coalitions of national law enforcement, victim service, and elder advocate organizations for training and technical assistance in implementing pilot programs; (2) research organizations to investigate the types of elder victimization shown by the assessment to present particularly critical problems or to be emerging crimes about which little is known, to evaluate the effectiveness of selected pilot programs, and to conduct research and development identified as being critical; and (3) public service advertising coalitions to increase public awareness of, and promote ideas or programs to prevent, crimes against the elderly. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1992
Authorizes and instructs the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the majority leader of the Senate, and the appropriate agents of the Congress to cooperate fully with the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Manpower Data Center in their efforts to match Government employee names and Social Security numbers with computerized bad debt records, among other ways by providing computer tapes for Members of Congress and their staff for use in such computer matches as part of the debt collection effort. Directs the Congress to comply voluntarily with the provisions of the Federal Debt Collection Act of 1982, so that the law applies to Members of Congress and their staff as it applies to executive branch and judicial branch employees.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1992
Civil War Battlefield Commemorative Coin Act of 1992 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a specified number of five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Civil War battlefield preservation. Sets forth certain features of such coins and provides for their design, issuance, and sale. Requires that all sales include a surcharge of $35 per coin for the five-dollar coins, $7 per coin for the one-dollar coins, and $1 per coin for the half-dollar coins. Requires that all surcharges be paid to the Civil War Battlefield Foundation for the preservation of historically significant Civil War battlefields.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1992
Environment and Economic Stability Act of 1992 - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require an analysis of the economic costs and benefits of determining that a species is endangered or threatened before including it on either of such lists. States that such analysis shall be separate from any determination of a species' endangered or threatened status. Prohibits the regulatory taking of private property under such Act unless the Attorney General has certified that the issuing agency is in compliance with a specified executive order or a similar procedure regarding such assessments. Transfers authority of the Endangered Species Committee (Committee) to grant Federal agency exemptions to the appropriate Secretaries (Interior, Commerce, or Agriculture). Establishes a right of appeal to the Committee for the denial of an exemption permit. Revises provisions regarding: (1) prohibitions with respect to endangered species; and (2) status determinations, including data collection, peer review, and species estimation. Requires the Secretary to make certain determinations before a subspecies or distinct population segment of a species may be considered endangered or threatened. Transfers authority to develop and implement species recovery plans from the Secretary to the appropriate Secretaries (Interior, Commerce, or Agriculture). Provides for the consideration of alternatives and public participation in the development of such plans. Provides, with regard to experimental populations, for: (1) release in National Park or National Wildlife Refuge lands whenever possible; and (2) efforts to protect public and domestic animal safety and welfare in cases of release outside such lands.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1992
Designates November 13, 1992, as Vietnam Veterans Memorial 10th Anniversary Day.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1992
Sets forth the rule for the consideration of H.J. Res. 290 (constitutional amendment on budget process).
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1992
Sets forth the rule for the consideration of H.J. Res. 290 (constitutional amendment on budget process).
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1992
Designates September 18, 1992, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Requires the POW/MIA flag to be flown on a flagstaff of the White House, the Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service Commission, each national cemetery, and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial on such day. Requires the flag to be flown on a flagstaff of each national cemetery and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial on May 30, 1992 (Memorial Day), and on November 11, 1992 (Veterans Day). States that the flag shall be displayed as a symbol of national concern and commitment to resolving the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing, and unaccounted for.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1992
Designates October 4 through 10, 1992, as Mental Illness Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Revises title XX (Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Projects) of the Public Health Service Act. Mandates grants for demonstration projects to help communities provide care or prevention services (or both) in easily accessible locations using such methods as will strengthen the capacity of families to deal with the sexual behavior, pregnancy, or parenthood of adolescents and to make use of support systems such as other family members, friends, and organizations. Lists permitted uses of grant funds, including coordinating among providers, providing supplemental services as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and planning. Prohibits using grant funds for the provision of family planning services other than counseling and referral unless such services are not otherwise available in the community. Requires, in applying a fee schedule, consideration of the income of the family of an unemancipated minor, unless the parents or guardians refuse to pay. Requires parental notification and permission, except if: (1) an adolescent is solely requesting pregnancy testing or treatment of venereal disease; (2) there is incest involving a parent; (3) certain blood relatives certify that notification would result in physical injury to the minor; and (4) with regard to permission, the parents are attempting to compel an abortion. Directs the Secretary to coordinate Federal policies and programs providing services relating to the prevention of adolescent sexual relations and initial and recurrent adolescent pregnancies and providing care services for pregnant adolescents. Authorizes grants and contracts for certain research and dissemination activities, including descriptive or explanatory surveys, longitudinal studies, or limited demonstration projects. Requires scientific peer review and approval of grant and contract applications. Authorizes appropriations to carry out this Act. Allows grants or payments to be made only to programs that do not: (1) provide abortions or abortion counseling or referral; (2) subcontract with any person who provides abortions or abortion counseling or referral; or (3) advocate, promote, or encourage abortion.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1992
Designates September 16, 1992, as National Occupational Therapy Day.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1992
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a first-time homebuyer who purchases a principal residence a tax credit of ten percent of the purchase price of such residence. Limits the credit to $5,000. Requires married individuals filing jointly to both be first-time homebuyers. Allows the use of 50 percent of the credit in the first taxable year in which the residence is purchased and the remaining 50 percent in the succeeding taxable year. Makes this credit applicable to residences acquired after February 1, 1992, and before January 1, 1993, or for which a binding contract is entered into during such period.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1992
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should extend for one year the 90-day moratorium on new unnecessary Federal regulations ordered in the President's Memorandum on Reducing the Burden of Government Regulations, dated January 28, 1992.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 1992
Minor Crop Protection Assistance Act of 1992 - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to define "minor use" as the use of a pesticide on a commercial agricultural crop or site where: (1) the total U.S. acreage for the crop is less than 300,000 acres; (2) the acreage expected to be treated as a result of that use is less than 300,000 acres annually or the agricultural crop represents production from less than 300,000 acres annually; (3) the use does not provide sufficient economic incentive to support initial or continuing registration; and (4) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not determined that the use presents an unreasonable adverse environmental effect. Permits the Administrator, in handling the registration of a pesticide for a minor use, to waive applicable data requirements if it is determined that the absence of data will not prevent the Administrator from determining the incremental risk presented by the minor use and that such risk would have an unreasonable adverse environmental effect. Prohibits data that relates solely to a minor use, without the permission of the original data submitter, from being considered by the Administrator to support a minor use application by another person for ten years following the submission of the data. Terminates the exclusive use of such data if the registration is voluntarily cancelled, or if the data are used to support a nonminor use. Provides for expedited review (within six months of submission) of applications to support minor use pesticide registrations. Grants registrants who make good faith requests for minor use waivers regarding required data, and whose requests are denied, a full time period for providing such data. Requires the Administrator, upon the request of a registrant, to extend the deadline for the production of data required solely to support a minor use pesticide up to four years if the registrant provides data to support other uses of the pesticide and a schedule to assure that the data production will be completed before the expiration of the extension. Applies the same extension conditions to data for reregistrations. Requires the Administrator to conditionally amend a registration to permit additional minor uses even if data is insufficient if the applicant has submitted satisfactory data pertaining to the proposed minor use and amending such registration would not increase environmental risks. Prohibits amendments if the pesticide meets or exceeds risk criteria associated with human dietary exposure and other specified conditions. Provides for extensions of minor use registration and data submission deadlines in cases where a registrant is not providing data to support a minor use but is providing data in a timely fashion to support other uses. Requires the Administrator, when a minor use registration application is filed no later than two years after another registrant voluntarily cancels registration for a similar use, to evaluate such application as if the voluntary cancellation had not yet taken place for purposes of data use, subject to environmental risk considerations. Directs EPA to assure coordination of minor use issues through the establishment of a minor use program within the Office of Pesticide Programs. Establishes and authorizes funding for a Department of Agriculture matching fund minor use program. Requires the program to be utilized to ensure the continued availability of minor use crop protection chemicals, including the data to support minor use pesticide registrations.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1992
Designates the week beginning October 25, 1992, as World Population Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 1992
Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992 - Provides that except for assassination material or particular information in assassination material the disclosure of which is postponed, all assassination materials shall be transferred to the National Archives and made available for inspection by the general public. Requires the Archivist to charge fees for copying and grant waivers of such fees pursuant to the standards established by the Freedom of Information Act. Authorizes the Archivist to provide copies of assassination materials of broad public interest to the Government Printing Office (GPO), which shall print copies for sale to the public. Requires assassination materials printed by GPO to be placed in Government depository libraries. Establishes as an independent agency the Assassination Materials Review Board. Requires the division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit charged with appointment of independent counsels to appoint five distinguished and impartial private citizens outside of the Government who have had no prior involvement with inquiries into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to serve as members of the Review Board. Allows the Review Board to appoint an Executive Director. Requires the Review Board to consider and render decisions on referrals by the Executive Director and appeals for a determination whether a: (1) record constitutes assassination material subject to this Act; and (2) record or particular information in a record qualifies for postponement of disclosure under this Act. Describes the circumstances under which the Review Board will terminate. States that disclosure to the general public of assassination material or particular information in assassination material may be postponed if its release would: (1) reveal an intelligence agent, an intelligence source or method currently utilized by the Government, or any other matter currently relating to military defense, intelligence operations, or the conduct of U.S. foreign relations which, if disclosed, would pose such a threat as to outweigh any public interest in its disclosure; (2) constitute an invasion of privacy of a living person, whether or not that person is identified in the material, that is so substantial as to outweigh any public interest in its disclosure; (3) constitute a substantial and unjustified violation of an understanding of confidentiality between a Government agent and a witness or a foreign government; or (4) disclose a security or protective procedure currently utilized by a Federal agency responsible for protecting Government officials, and that disclosure is so harmful that it outweighs any public interest in its disclosure. Requires each executive agency to make available to the Executive Director of the Review Board all assassination materials in its possession. Requires agencies that are uncertain as to whether or not a record is assassination material to make that record available to the Executive Director. Makes the Executive Director responsible for: (1) inquiring as to the existence of further records beyond those made available that may be assassination materials; (2) obtaining access to such records; (3) recommending that the Review Board subpoena such records in the event access is denied; and (4) reviewing all records that are made available by executive agencies. Requires the Executive Director to order release of any assassination material or particular information in the absence of clear and convincing evidence that it falls within the exemptions from disclosure. Requires the Executive Director, after review of each record, either to: (1) notify the originating body or bodies that the record is assassination material that is appropriate for release in its entirety; or (2) refer the record to the Review Board. Provides that in the former event, the Executive Director shall transmit the record to the Archivist of the United States who shall make the record available for public inspection, unless an originating body files an appeal with the Review Board. Requires the Review Board to review and apply the standards for release set forth in this Act to all records that are the subject of appeals and referred to the Review Board by the Executive Director. Provides that: (1) after review of each record, the Review Board shall determine whether such record is assassination material, and, if so, whether such assassination material, or particular information in the assassination material, qualifies for postponement of disclosure; (2) any reasonably segregable particular information in an assassination material shall be considered for release after deletion of information in that assassination material that qualifies for postponement of disclosure; (3) where an entire assassination material qualifies for postponement of disclosure, the Board may create and prepare for release a summary of the assassination material in order to provide for the fullest disclosure feasible; and (4) where the Board determines that a record is not assassination material, or that a record, or particular information in the record, qualifies for postponement of disclosure, the Board shall transmit to the originating body written notice of such determination, together with a copy of the record at issue, and, if the originating body is an executive agency, a copy of such notice and record shall be transmitted to appropriate congressional committees. Provides that in the case of records for which the Warren Commission or specified congressional committees are originating bodies, where the Review Board determines that a record is assassination material, and that a record, particular information in a record, a summary of a record, or a substitution for particular information in a record is appropriate for release pursuant to this Act, the Review Board shall transmit the record, particular information, summary, or substitution to the Archivist in order for it to be made public. States that the Review Board's decision to release shall not be subject to review by the President or any other entity of the Government and shall not be subject to judicial review. Provides that in the case of records for which the originating body is an executive agency, excluding the Warren Commission, where the Review Board determines that a record, particular information in a record, a summary of a record, or a substitution for particular information in a record is appropriate for release pursuant to this Act, the Review Board shall transmit to the originating body written notice of its determination. Provides that in such event, the Review Board shall transmit the record, particular information, summary, or substitute to the Archivist in order for such material to be made public, unless the President has certified to the Review Board and the Archivist that the material qualifies for postponement of disclosure, in which case release of the material shall be postponed, and this decision shall not be subject to judicial review. Prohibits the President from delegating this authority to any other official or entity. Provides that whenever the President makes such a certification, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a written statement setting forth the reasons for superseding the Board's determination and a copy of the material at issue. Requires the Review Board to periodically make available for public inspection a notice of all postponements of assassination materials. Provides that in any case in which a determination of the Review Board to release assassination material is superseded by the President, the President shall publish in the Federal Register notice of such action. Sets forth special rules for the marking and review of materials the disclosure of which is postponed. Authorizes the Review Board to request the Department of Justice to petition any court to release any information relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy that has been sealed. Authorizes the Review Board to request the Attorney General to petition any U.S. court to release any such information that is held under injunction of secrecy of a grand jury. Requires the Review Board to seek access to the autopsy photographs and x-rays donated to the National Archives by the Kennedy family and submit to appropriate congressional committees a report on the status of these materials and on access to these materials by individuals consistent with the deed of gift. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Attorney General should assist the Review Board in good faith to unseal any records that the Board determines to be relevant and held under seal by a court or under the injunction of secrecy of a grand jury; (2) the Secretary of State should contact the government of the Republic of Russia and any other foreign government that may hold relevant information and seek the disclosure of all such information; and (3) all executive agencies should cooperate in full with the Review Board to seek the disclosure of all information relevant to the Kennedy assassination consistent with the public interest. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1992
National Child Protection Act of 1992 - Establishes a national criminal background check system (system) to which a designated agency in each State is required to report child abuse crime information, or index such information in the system, for purposes of background checks of child care providers. Directs the Attorney General to establish: (1) guidelines for the reporting of such information; and (2) timetables for each State to report such information to the System (with a three-year deadline for all States to be reporting at a specified level of currency). Requires State agencies to maintain close liaison for the exchange of technical assistance in cases of child abuse with the National Center: (1) on Child Abuse and Neglect; (2) for Missing and Exploited Children; and (3) for the Prosecution of Child Abuse. Directs the Attorney General to publish annually: (1) a statistical summary of the child abuse crime information reported under this Act; and (2) a summary of each State's progress in reporting child abuse crime information to the system. Requires the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to conduct a study to determine various factors relating to potential child abuse crimes and offenders, based on a statistically significant sample of convicted child abuse offenders and other relevant information. Requires a report on such study to be submitted to specified congressional committee officials. Authorizes a State to have in effect procedures to permit a qualified entity (i.e., a business or organization that provides child care or child care placement services, or that certifies others to provide such care or services) to contact a State agency to request a nationwide background check to determine if a child care provider is under indictment for, or has been convicted of, a background check crime. Directs the Attorney General to establish: (1) guidelines for State background check procedures, but permits the Attorney General to certify that a State procedure is equivalent to that under this Act under specified circumstances; and (2) criteria for such certifications. Authorizes the Attorney General to: (1) prescribe such other measures as may be required to carry out the purposes of this Act; and (2) encourage the use of the best technology available in conducting background checks. Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Omnibus Act) to provide for the use of drug control and system improvement grants for the improvement of State record systems and the sharing of records of child abuse crime information to implement this Act. Directs the Attorney General, subject to appropriations and with preference to States that have the lowest percent currency of case dispositions in computerized criminal history files, to make additional grants to each State to be used, for purposes of this Act: (1) for the computerization of criminal history files; (2) for the improvement of existing computerized criminal history files; (3) to improve accessibility to the system; and (4) to assist the State in the transmittal of criminal records to, or the indexing of criminal history records in, the system. Authorizes: (1) appropriations; and (2) the withholding of a portion of the allocation for a fiscal year under the Omnibus Act to a State that is not in compliance with the timetable established under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1992
Nuclear Reactor Licensing Act of 1992 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to prescribe guidelines for: (1) issuance by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of nuclear reactor combined construction and operating licenses; and (2) post-construction hearings on such licenses. Provides for judicial review of final Commission orders affecting such licenses.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1992
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal provisions providing reduced Medicare reimbursements for new physicians.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1992
Designates June 1992 as National Scleroderma Awareness Month.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1992
Commends the New York Stock Exchange on the occasion of its bicentennial on May 17, 1992.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1992
Authorizes the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to publicly disclose the name and pertinent account information of any Member or former Member who it finds, pursuant to H. Res. 236, has abused banking privileges between July 1, 1988, to October 3, 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1992
Federal Prison Industries Condor Project Act of 1992 - Directs Federal Prison Industries (FPI) to conduct pilot programs to test the feasibility of providing increased employment for Federal prisoners by producing items for the private market that would otherwise be produced by foreign labor. Permits FPI to enter into agreements with private industry to carry out this Act. Exempts: (1) items produced in such programs from legal restrictions on the sale of items produced by prison labor; (2) decisions in such programs from restrictions under the Federal criminal code on FPI decisions to produce new products or significantly expand the production of existing products; and (3) the business operations of such programs from application of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984. Directs the board of directors of FPI to include in its annual report to the Congress its findings on the results of such programs and recommendations as to whether to expand this concept within the Federal prison system.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1992
Freedom from Government Competition Act of 1992 - Requires Federal agencies to obtain all goods and services necessary for or beneficial to the accomplishment of their authorized functions by procurement from private sources unless: (1) the goods or services are required by law to be produced or performed, respectively, by the agency; (2) or the head of the agency determines and certifies to the Congress that Government production, manufacture, or provision of a good or service is necessary for national defense, that a good or service is so inherently governmental in nature that it is in the public interest to require production or performance by a Government employee, or that there is no private source capable of providing the good or service. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to study and report to the Congress on: (1) agency activities which are inconsistent with such requirements; and (2) a schedule for transferring such activities to the private sector.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1992
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire specified private lands (Pope and Talbot Offered Lands) for inclusion in the Willamette National Forest, Oregon. Directs the Secretary, in preparing the forest plan amendment pursuant to the acquisition, to consider the land's timber sale potential in connection with maintaining spotted owl conservation. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes specified actions to help offset adverse economic effects suffered by the communities of Oakridge and Sweet Home, Oregon, as a result of northern spotted owl protective measures.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1992
Designates April 2, 1992, as Chuck Taylor Day.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1992
Small Business Innovation Development Amendment Act of 1992 - Amends the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 to extend the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program from October 1, 1993, to October 1, 2000. Amends the Small Business Act regarding small business eligiblity for Federal agency research and development awards to include in the three-phase evaluation process determining the technological feasibility of ideas those ideas which appear to have commercial potential. Prescribes minimum SBIR expenditure amounts for FY 1992 through 1997 and after. Requires each Federal agency that is required to establish an SBIR program to: (1) determine unilaterally research topics within its SBIR solicitations, giving special consideration to topics which permit substantial applicant participation in research project formulation; and (2) make payments in full to SBIR funding agreement recipients, subject to specified audit deadlines. Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (the Administrator) to modify directives for the conduct of general SBIR policy to provide for: (1) rights to data; (2) continued use of agency property; (3) follow-on contracts; and (4) increased amounts of Phase 1 awards. Repeals the requirement for an annual report by the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Provides that if a Federal agency required to establish an SBIR program makes an SBIR solicitation award for which it receives only one proposal, it shall provide written justification of such award in its next annual report. Requires the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on specified aspects of SBIR program implementation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1992
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into challenge cost-share agreements with regard to National Forest System or Forest Service functions or responsibilities. Requires contribution funds to be deposited in the Trust Fund for Cooperative Work, Forest Service, or a successor account.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1992
Designates the week beginning April 19, 1992, as National Credit Education Week.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1992
Designates May 10, 1992, as Infant Mortality Awareness Day.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1992
Designates 1992 as Columbia River Bicentennial Year and May 11, 1992, as Captain Robert Gray Day.
United States · United States Congress · 19 February 1992
Directs the Postmaster of the House of Representatives to take necessary measures (including the termination of any existing contract or agreement) to provide that postal services and operations relating to the House be carried out by employees of the U.S. Postal Service.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1992
Establishes in the Treasury the BLM Salvage Timber Sale Fund to be made available without further appropriation to the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, for: (1) planning, preparing, and administering salvage timber sales; and (2) site preparation, reforestation, and other forest development activities required on sites where salvage timber harvesting was conducted. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1992
Designates January 16, 1993, as National Good Teen Day.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1992
Designates May 1992 as National Huntington's Disease Awareness Month.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1992
Designates the week beginning November 1, 1992, as National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1992
Federal Land Acquisition Impact Relief Act of 1992 - Requires the head of an agency to prepare an economic impact analysis prior to each acquisition of private land by the agency. Directs the head of an agency to pay annually to the unit of local government an amount equal to the real property taxes computed on the current market value of each parcel of private land acquired by it after October 1, 1992, other than by contemporaneous land exchange. States that if such payment is made to a State or local government with respect to a parcel of land under this Act, the payment shall be reduced in proportion to the payment in lieu of real property taxes, if any, which is made relating to the same parcel of land under any other Federal law. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991
Repeals the $2 copayment charged by the Department of Veterans Affairs for each 30-day supply of medication furnished on an outpatient basis to a veteran for the treatment of a non-service-connected disability or condition.
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991
Designates 1993 as the Year of American Craft: A Celebration of the Creative Work of the Hand.
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991
Commends: (1) the people of Guam for their patriotism, bravery, loyalty to the United States, and many sacrifices during World War II, particularly during the invasion and occupation of the Guam territory; (2) the members of the Navy Insular Force and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps for the efforts and sacrifices they made in defense of the U.S.; (3) the Hawaiians for their sacrifices and contributions to the U.S. war effort during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; and (4) the Hawaii Territorial Guard members, Varsity Victory Volunteers, the civilian workers at the Pearl Harbor Naval Ship Yard and other Hawaiian military installations, 100th Infantry Battalion, Military Intelligence Service, and 442nd Regimental Combat Team for their sacrifices and contributions to the U.S. war effort during such attack.