United States · United States Congress · 20 June 1990
Department of Veterans Affairs Codification Act - Revises provisions of Federal law which established the Department of Veterans Affairs as an executive department. Redesignates the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration as the Veterans Health Administration. Includes the Veterans' Canteen Service and the Board of Contract Appeals within the Department. Establishes within the Department an Under Secretary for Health, who shall be the head of the Veterans Health Administration. Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a commission to recommend individuals to the President whenever a vacancy occurs in the position of the Under Secretary. Redesignates the Chief Benefits Director of the Veterans Benefits Administration as the Under Secretary for Benefits Administration. Requires the Secretary to establish a commission to recommend individuals to the President whenever a vacancy occurs in the position of the Under Secretary. Revises and codifies provisions relating to the authority and various duties of the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe all rules and regulations necessary or appropriate to carry out the laws administered by the Department. Provides for judicial review of such rules and regulations. States that the Veterans Benefits Administration shall be operated by the Under Secretary for Benefits Administration and that the Administration shall be responsible for the following programs: compensation and pension; vocational rehabilitation and educational assistance; veterans' home loan; veterans' and service members' life insurance programs; and outreach and other veterans' services programs. Revises and reorganizes provisions relating to the organization and functions of the Veterans Health Administration. Directs the Under Secretary of the Administration to prescribe all regulations necessary for its administration. Provides specific experience criteria for several of the Assistant Under Secretaries appointed to the Administration. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish and conduct a comprehensive program to monitor and evaluate the quality of health care furnished by the Administration; and (2) delineate the responsibilities of the Under Secretary with respect to the quality-assurance program. Requires the Under Secretary to periodically evaluate the mortality and morbidity rates for surgical procedures performed by the Administration against prevailing national standards and to explain and report on any significant deviations. Provides that a person may not serve as Chief of Staff of a Department health-care facility if the person is not serving on a full-time basis. Makes technical and conforming amendments. Adds savings provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1990
Financial Crimes Prosecution and Recovery Act of 1990 - Title I: National Commission on Financial Crimes - Establishes the National Commission on Financial Crimes to investigate fraud and abuse in the financial services industry and to recommend procedures for improving interagency cooperation and tactics for law enforcement officers in the investigation and prosecution of financial crimes. Sets forth provisions with respect to the membership, powers, pay, reporting requirements, and termination of the Commission. Title II: Improvements in Administration of the Department of Justice - Directs the Attorney General to establish a financial crimes strike force in each Federal judicial district which is in the top quartile of such districts with respect to the total number of criminal referrals filed with the Attorney General by the appropriate Federal banking agencies relating to residents of, or persons located in, such district. Provides for local control of each such strike force, through the U.S. Attorney for such district, except as otherwise provided by the Attorney General. Sets forth provisions regarding pay for attorneys on financial crimes strike forces. Directs the Attorney General to: (1) establish a merit system to recognize and reward outstanding efforts of individuals engaged in the investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; (2) prohibit any U.S. attorney or any other attorney employed by the Department of Justice from taking into account the dollar amount of any loss incurred in connection with any financial crime in making a determination with respect to the investigation or prosecution of such crime; and (3) prescribe by regulation that the investigation of any referral from an appropriate Federal banking agency related to a financial crime involving an insured depository institution in default or in danger of default, or of any troubled institution, be given priority in case management. Amends the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 to make specified civil money penalties collected under such Act available to the Attorney General to carry out any provision of law. Amends the Federal criminal code to grant specified officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation administrative subpoena authority regarding specified financial crimes. Sets forth provisions: (1) with respect to standards governing production of items subpoenaed; and (2) granting persons complying in good faith with a summons or order issued under this Act and producing the materials sought immunity from civil liability to the consumer for such production or nondisclosure of such production. Title III: Improvements in the Administration of the FDIC and the RTC - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to grant subpoena authority to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) as a conservator or receiver or for carrying out authority with respect to an insured depository institution. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to grant the FDIC and the RTC access to Internal Revenue Service returns and return information upon written requests by the respective Board of Directors and upon certification by the Board that it has a substantial need for such returns or return information. Amends the FDIA to authorize Federal banking agencies, in conducting any investigation, examination, or enforcement action under such Act, to: (1) request the assistance of any foreign banking authority; (2) maintain an office outside the United States for such purposes; (3) provide assistance to a foreign banking authority, upon request, if the requesting authority is conducting an investigation involving a violation of laws or regulations relating to banking matters that the requesting authority administers or enforces; and (4) conduct such an investigation as is necessary to collect information and evidence pertinent to such a request without regard to whether the facts stated in the request also constitute a violation of U.S. law. Authorizes the FDIC and the RTC, as conservator or receiver of any insured depository institution, to request the assistance of any foreign banking authority and provide assistance to any such authority in accordance with this Act. Requires the FDIC and the RTC to each maintain a permanent office to coordinate foreign investigations or investigations on behalf of foreign banking authorities. Authorizes the Board of Directors of the FDIC to act in its own name and through its own attorneys in any action or proceeding in which the FDIC is an interested party, whether in its corporate capacity or as conservator or receiver for any insured depository institution. Grants priority to the FDIC over certain claims or actions filed or begun against an affiliated party of the insured depository institution by depositors, creditors, or shareholders of the institution after enactment of this Act. Authorizes the FDIC, as conservator or receiver for any insured depository institution, to avoid any transfer of interest of an institution-affiliated party or any transfer of interest or obligation of person determined to be a debtor of the institution that was made within five years of appointment of the FDIC as conservator or receiver, if such party made such transfer or incurred such liability with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the insured depository institution. Specifies circumstances under which the FDIC may recover the property transferred or the value of such property. Sets forth provisions regarding prejudgment attachments of assets where an institution-affiliated party may be required to provide restitution to the institution or where the party is a debtor of the institution, and where the assets will be dissipated or otherwise placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court or FDIC before any recovery may be completed unless a trustee is appointed. Establishes criminal penalties for knowingly concealing assets or property from the FDIC or the RTC as a conservator or receiver for any insured depository institution. Requires each Federal banking agency to require directors of depository institutions to complete an educational course on their duties as directors every three years. Authorizes a court or the Attorney General to direct disclosures of matters occurring before a grand jury during an investigation of a banking law violation to identified personnel of a financial institution regulatory agency upon a finding of substantial need, subject to specified conditions. Excludes the payment of restitution under specified Acts including the FDIA from discharge under bankruptcy provisions. Amends the Federal criminal code to subject to civil forfeiture property which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to mail fraud, or fraud by wire, radio, or television, affecting a financial institution. Amends the FDIA, the Federal Credit Union Act, the Revised Statutes, the Federal Reserve Act, the Bank Holding Company Acts of 1956 and 1970, and the Home Owners' Loan Act to permit the appropriate Federal banking agency, the FDIC, or, in the case of the latter statute, the Director, to apply to specified courts to recover from a depository institution administrative costs arising out of actions taken to recover a civil penalty. Title IV: Taxpayer Recovery Act - Taxpayer Recovery Act of 1990 - Makes an exception to a discharge in bankruptcy for: (1) restitution that the debtor has been ordered to pay by a State or Federal court in any criminal proceeding arising from an act that caused a loss to any bank, savings association, or credit union (bank); or (2) damages provided in any judgment, order, or consent decree entered in any State or Federal court, or in any settlement agreement entered into by the debtor, arising from any act involving fraud or reckless disregard for the law committed with respect to any such institution. Requires that any individual acting as a director, officer, or institution-affiliated party of a bank be considered to be acting in a fiduciary capacity with respect to such institution for purposes of a provision making an exception to a discharge from bankruptcy involving fraud or defalcation while acting in such capacity. Specifies that reliance by a creditor will not be required to establish an exception to discharge if the creditor is a financial regulatory agency that is a successor to a bank. Sets forth time limits for the filing of a complaint objecting to the discharge of a debt owed to: (1) a bank that is closed, is in receivership or conservatorship, or is sold to another bank in a transaction assisted by a financial regulatory agency; or (2) such an agency. Specifies that an individual debtor who has committed an act involving fraud or reckless disregard for the law or is subsequently adjudicated to have committed such an act during the pendency of his bankruptcy proceeding with respect to any bank that is in receivership or conservatorship or that is sold to another bank assisted by a financial regulatory agency shall not be exempt from: (1) more than $7,500 in value of the debtor's aggregate interest in any real property that the debtor uses as a residence: and (2) the debtor's interest in any insurance policy or annuity.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 1990
Housing and Memorial Affairs Amendments of 1990 - Makes eligible for various veterans' home loan benefits any individual not otherwise eligible for benefits who has completed a total of at least six years of service in the Selected Reserve and who was discharged honorably, placed on the retired list, or transferred to an element of the Ready Reserve other than the Selected Reserve. Defines the amount of loan fee to be paid by a veteran qualifying under the Selected Reserve eligibility provisions. Provides that, as of October 1, 1990: (1) the limitation on the number of homes purchased by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for which loan guaranty defaults occurred which may be financed by a loan made by the Secretary shall cease to have effect; and (2) the Secretary may sell any note evidencing such a loan with or without recourse if the amount received is not less than the unpaid balance of such loan. Prohibits the Secretary from selling any note evidencing a loan for which the Guaranty and Indemnity Fund is available. Extends such property management provisions through December 31, 1993. Makes permanent (current law expires on March 1, 1991) the authority of the Secretary for default procedures for loans made, guaranteed, or insured by the Department. Extends through FY 1993 (currently, FY 1990) the procedure for real estate appraisals to be followed by the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out an administrative reorganization that involves closing the loan guaranty division at the Togus Veteran Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center, Togus, Maine, and transferring such functions to the Manchester Veterans Affairs Regional Office, Manchester, New Hampshire. Provides that, in the making of a claim on a manufactured home on which a loan was made or guaranteed by the Department, the holder of the loan shall have the election of submitting a claim to the Secretary based on the value of the property securing the loan as determined by the Secretary, or on the actual proceeds from the liquidation sale of the property securing the loan. Allows payments of a claim on a guaranty to be made only after the filing of an accounting with the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to provide for flat grave markers in the section of the Florida National Cemetery in which replaced grave liners were installed before July 30, 1988. Directs the Secretary, at the request of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to certify whether an applicant for assistance under any law administered by HUD is a veteran. Provides that an applicant for a loan made, guaranteed, or insured by the Department shall not be subject to reporting requirements applicable to requests for, or receipts of, Federal contracts, grants, loans, or cooperative agreements except to the extent that such requirements are provided for in or by the Secretary pursuant to the veterans' housing loan guaranty program. Directs the Secretary to carry out a demonstration project, during FY 1991 and 1992 and in at least two but not more than ten regional offices, for guaranteeing loans in a manner similar to which the Secretary of HUD insures adjustable rate mortgages under applicable provisions of the National Housing Act. Requires a report from the Secretary to the Congress on the implementation of such project.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 1990
Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to set forth required contents of notices to be submitted to foreign governments and international governmental agencies upon the cancellation or suspension of a pesticide registration. Prohibits pesticides with cancelled or suspended registrations from being exported to a foreign country unless the exporter, prior to such exportation, has submitted an export notice to the person importing the pesticide, the regulatory office of the importing country, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Sets forth required contents of the export notice. Requires the Administrator, upon receiving a notice from another country or an international agency that prohibits importation of a pesticide with a cancelled or suspended registration and certifies that the pesticide shall not be used or produced in the country, to: (1) notify the public of such notice; and (2) ensure that U.S. exports comply with such notice. Directs the Administrator, upon petition of any person, to allow exports of a pesticide to a country if the country is not complying with its notice or certification. Requires the Administrator to provide technical assistance to foreign countries for developing pesticide regulatory programs. Directs the Administrator to conduct and publish a triennial survey of all countries that import U.S. pesticides or from which the United States imports agricultural commodities to ascertain what procedures are in place in each country for: (1) registration, labeling, and training to ensure safe handling, transportation, application, and disposal of pesticides; and (2) controlling residues on foods to meet tolerances under U.S. law.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 1990
Authorizes the States to waive application of the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 to vehicles used either for transporting farm supplies from retail dealers to or from a farm, or for custom harvesting, regardless of whether or not they are controlled or operated by a farmer.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1990
Increases from 30 to 40 years after a veteran last participated in radiation-risk activities the period during which the manifestation of leukemia shall be presumed to be service-connected for purposes of eligibility for veterans' disability compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1990
Designates June 25, 1990, as Korean War Remembrance Day. Authorizes and requests the President to urge that the American flag be flown at half staff on such day in honor of the Americans who died as a result of their service in the Korean War.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 1990
Amends Federal law to require the President to submit a budget which recommends a level of estimated expenditures that does not exceed estimated receipts for a fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1990
Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the requirement that nonparticipating physicians file Medicare claims on behalf of all of their patients who are Medicare beneficiaries.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1990
Declares that the Congress acknowledges and appreciates the commitment, devotion, and sacrifices of present and former military families. Designates November 19, 1990, as National Military Families Recognition Day.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1990
Designates the Federal building at 340 North Pleasant Valley Road, Winchester, Virginia, known as the Winchester Post Office, as the J. Kenneth Robinson Postal Building.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 1990
Judicial Taxation Prohibition Act - Amends the Federal judicial code to deny to inferior Federal courts jurisdiction to issue any remedy, order, writ, or other judicial decree requiring the Federal Government or any State or local government to impose any new tax or to increase any existing tax or tax rate.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1990
Provides that members of the Reserve or National Guard who participated in atmospheric nuclear detonation testing during active duty for training or inactive-duty training and who have contracted certain radiation-related diseases within specified periods following such testing shall be deemed to have contracted such diseases during active military services for purposes of eligibility for the following benefits administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs: (1) disability compensation; (2) dependency and indemnity compensation; (3) hospital, nursing home, domiciliary, and medical care; (4) burial, cemetery, and memorial benefits; and (5) survivors' and dependents' educational benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1990
Conservation Promotion Act of 1990 - Title I: Conservation Reserve Program - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to make eligible for the conservation reserve program (CRP): (1) environmentally sensitive lands, including sinkholes, filter strips, wetland, and other areas that involve groundwater protection; and (2) uncropped marginal lands that will be planted to trees after CRP enrollment. Extends CRP authority and CRP tree planting authority through 1995. Authorizes 1991 through 1995 enrollment at between 40,000,000 and 50,000,000 acres. Authorizes three to ten-year CRP contract extensions. Provides for farmwide CRP eligibility under specified conditions. Subjects land whose CRP contract has expired to loss of assistance for cropping on highly erodible land. Permits CRP participation of land whose ownership change during the preceding three-year period was due to foreclosure or bankruptcy. Provides for CRP contract extension or optional 15-year contracts for land devoted to hardwood trees, shelterbelts, or windbreaks. Authorizes up to 75 percent cost sharing assistance for hardwood plantings. Waives ownership requirements as necessary for such plantings. States that: (1) no tenant shall lose agricultural benefits eligibility because of another tenants' crop production on the same farm or any other farm; and (2) no person shall lose such eligibility as to any crop on a farm other than the farm on which the production on highly erodible land occurs. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to offer three-year cost-sharing soil restoration contracts under a Soil Restoration Program. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to count each acre devoted to surface water storage as an acre removed from production for purposes of calculating the acreage base under any acreage limitation or land diversion program. Title II: Wetlands - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary to establish a cost-sharing program of long-term and permanent easements to protect and restore wetlands. Limits fiscal year payments to any owner or operator to $50,000. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a cost sharing program to restore drained wetlands to their natural state and to enroll such land in the wetlands reserve. Exempts a producer from agricultural assistance ineligibility for crop production on wetland if the producer: (1) has a specified 1975-1985 cropping history on such land; or (2) agrees to acre-for-acre mitigation of previously converted wetland. Provides flexible penalties for certain inadvertent violations of the highly erodible land and wetland conservation programs. Title III: Water Quality Protection - Directs the Secretary to establish an Agricultural Water Quality Board to coordinate related Federal activities and ensure consistency with State water quality programs. Authorizes the Secretary to provide land managers with accelerated technical assistance in the development of water quality best management practices. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish the water management practices cost share program; (2) establish the water quality education and outreach program; (3) accelerate Federal water quality research; and (4) utilize data base information to evaluate water quality best management practices. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Integrated Crop Management - Directs the Secretary to establish the integrated crop management research program to conduct research related to economically and environmentally sound farming practices. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to develop integrated crop management technical guides. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Extension Service - Provides for Extension Service agent training in all aspects of integrated crop management, including specialist training and information dissemination. Title VI: Data Collection - Directs the Secretary to develop and disseminate information concerning the agricultural uses of pesticides and fertilizers. Title VII: Great Plains Conservation Program - Amends the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to: (1) extend the Great Plains conservation program through FY 2001; and (2) increase the program cost ceiling.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1990
Foreign Investment Analysis Act of 1990 - Amends the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act to direct the President to report to the Congress regarding the status of integrated business data acquired by the Bureau of Economic Analysis from the Bureau of the Census with respect to the range and scope of foreign business ownership interests in the United States. (Presently the two organizations may not share such data with one another.) Amends Federal census law to direct the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of the Census to exchange and use data regarding foreign business ownership in the United States ("statistical establishment list information"). Sets forth confidentiality guidelines for such a data exchange and establishes criminal penalties for violations of such guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
Authorizes and requests the President to designate May 26, 1990, to commemorate the bicentennial of "An Act for the government of the territory of the United States, south of the river Ohio" (from which Tennessee was formed).
United States · United States Congress · 19 April 1990
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Professionals Compensation and Labor-Relations Act of 1990 - Title I: Physicians and Dentists Special Pay - Revises provisions of Federal law relating to special pay for health-care professionals of the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration (HSRA) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (Department). Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in order to recruit and retain highly qualified physicians and dentists, to provide special pay upon the execution of a written agreement between the Secretary and the individual involved providing that the individual shall serve a required period of obligated service within the HSRA. Provides that such an individual is not entitled to such special pay during the first three years of such service, except at the discretion of the Secretary for full-time services. Prohibits the payment of special pay to those physician and dentist positions for which there is no significant recruitment and retention problem. Outlines requirements of a written agreement, including provisions providing for: (1) a covered period of one to four years; (2) refunding of special pay for unfulfilled service; (3) the waiver of such refund requirement due to circumstances beyond the control of the physician or dentist; and (4) submission to the Secretary of agreements where an individual is entering into a second or subsequent agreement for a specified amount of special pay. Authorizes the Secretary to adjust amounts of special pay to reflect changes in the status of a physician or dentist. Directs the Secretary to provide special pay to eligible full-time physicians based upon specified factors, including: (1) tenure within the HSRA; (2) service in a medical specialty for which it is extremely difficult to recruit and retain qualified professionals; (3) service in certain executive positions; (4) specialty or board certifications; and (5) service in a geographic location for which there are extraordinary difficulties in the recruitment or retention of qualified personnel. Requires the maximum amount of special pay to be paid to the Chief Medical Director (CMD) and the Deputy Chief Medical Director (DCMD). Directs the Secretary to provide special pay to part-time eligible physicians based upon similar factors. Requires the Secretary to pay each such physician an amount of special pay equal to the proportion of full-time service that a physician performs. Directs the Secretary to provide special pay to eligible full-time and part-time dentists based upon similar factors. Prohibits physicians and dentists provided special pay and serving in certain executive positions from being paid scarce specialty pay (another form of special pay that rewards scarce specialty areas of practice). Requires, with regard to the payment of special pay, determinations: (1) that there are extraordinary difficulties in recruitment or retention; (2) of the amount of special pay based upon the special pay factors for each individual; and (3) of whether there are extraordinary difficulties in a specific geographic location in the recruitment or retention of qualified physicians or dentists. Outlines considerations for determinations with respect to extraordinary recruitment and retention difficulties and the payment of scarce specialty pay for individual medical facilities of the Department. Outlines the manner in which special pay is to be considered for purposes of other benefits laws for Federal employees. States that it is the policy of the Congress to assure that total pay for HSRA physicians and dentists is comparable to total pay of other Government physicians and dentists and to the income of non-Federal physicians and dentists. Directs the Secretary: (1) in order to assist in implementing such policy, to obtain measures of income of such non-Department physicians and dentists and to define the bases for pay distinctions; (2) to report to the President quadrennially on appropriate amounts of special pay to HSRA physicians and dentists to carry out such policy; and (3) to report to specified congressional committees annually on the use of authorities under this title. Directs the Secretary to reimburse any full-time board-certified physician or dentist appointed in the HSRA for expenses incurred, up to $1,000 per year, for continuing professional education. Title II: Nurses Pay Grades and Pay Administration - Directs the Secretary to restructure the current nurse pay grades so as to provide four grade levels (entry, intermediate, senior, and director grade levels). Requires the Secretary to maintain the four new grade levels established for nurses employed in the Department. Provides GS-levels for each nurse grade, with appropriate step increments. Requires Department nurses serving as head nurses to receive basic pay at a rate two steps above the otherwise applicable rate. Authorizes the director of a medical center of the Department to provide step promotions or cash bonuses to nurses who have qualifications, experience, or achievements which the director determines exceed the standards for the nurse's current grade. Outlines factors to be considered by the director in making such determinations. Directs the Secretary to provide that the director of a medical center of the Department may appoint a nurse at a basic pay rate in excess of the minimum rate otherwise applicable if necessary to obtain the services of qualified nurses at that medical center. Requires the director to document and include the reasons for taking such action in his or her next budget submission. Repeals a current limitation on the hourly rate of overtime pay permissible for nurses within the Department. Title III: Labor-Management Relations - Revises Federal provisions concerning personnel administration and collective bargaining procedures within the Department. Includes all employees appointed in the HSRA under such provisions. Provides that the authority of the Secretary to prescribe regulations with regard to such employees is subject to the right of Federal employees to engage in the collective bargaining process with respect to conditions of employment. States that such collective bargaining may not cover, or have any applicability to, any matter or question arising out of professional conduct or competence. Provides that the issue of whether a matter concerns or arises out of professional conduct or competence shall be decided by the Secretary and is not subject to collective bargaining. Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe regulations establishing conditions under which employees of the HSRA who are nationally recognized in the area of medical research may be permitted to accept payment from non-Federal entities and individuals for travel and reasonable expenses for attending meetings, performing advisory services, and accepting awards. Requires any person who engages in such extra-professional activities to work a minimum 80-hour biweekly amount. Outlines activities and responsibilities that such a person may not engage in or take on while an employee of the Department. Provides that whenever the CMD brings charges against a Department employee based on conduct or performance and, as a result of those charges, an adverse (disciplinary) action is taken against the employee, the employee shall have the right to appeal the action, either through: (1) a Disciplinary Appeals Board; (2) Department procedures; or (3) grievance procedures provided through collective bargaining, depending on the type of action involved. Requires the Secretary to publish in the Federal Register any proposed regulations concerning the collective bargaining or adverse action procedures. States that Disciplinary Appeals Boards shall have exclusive jurisdiction to review any case: (1) which arises out of a question of professional conduct or competence of an employee of the Department employed on a full-time basis under a permanent appointment; and (2) in which a major adverse action was taken (suspension, transfer, reduction in grade or pay, or discharge). Gives employees involved in such a case the right to: (1) advance written notice of the charges and actions that could be taken if the charges are sustained; and (2) an opportunity to be heard both orally and in writing on such charges. Requires a decision on such case by a deciding official within 21 days after the employee's response to the charges. Allows for a delay in a proposed action for up to one year while an employee seeks counseling or treatment for a condition covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Allows the Secretary to require an employee to make a written or oral response to the charges within 30 days of receipt, with extension for good cause shown. Outlines further administrative action to be taken by the Board in a major adverse action appeals procedure, together with time limitations involved in each step. States that the Secretary's execution of the Board's decision shall be the final administrative action in the case, with the affected employee entitled to judicial review of the order or decision. Requires the Secretary to prescribe procedures for the consideration of grievances of Department employees arising from adverse actions in which each action taken either: (1) is not a major adverse action; or (2) does not arise out of a question of professional conduct or competence. States that Disciplinary Appeals Boards shall not have jurisdiction to review such matters. States that review of an adverse action shall be provided through either Department procedures or through grievance procedures provided through collective bargaining. Outlines the rights of employees under the Department procedures to: (1) a formal review by an impartial examiner within the Department; (2) a prompt report of findings; (3) a prompt review of the examiner's findings by a higher official; and (4) legal or other representation. Requires the Secretary to appoint Disciplinary Appeals Boards to hear appeals of major adverse actions taken against full-time Department employees based on professional conduct or performance. Authorizes the chairman of such a Board to authorize disclosure to the affected employee of records or information to be reviewed during an appeal procedure. Provides for the protection of the privacy of the individuals whose records are involved. Requires the Secretary to periodically designate Department employees qualified to serve on Disciplinary Appeals Boards and to announce that a list of such qualified employees is available to any person requesting such list. Requires the Secretary to provide training in the functions and duties of such Boards and grievance procedures for employees selected to be on the panel. Title IV: Miscellaneous - Exempts the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration, Medical Care Account from sequestration or reduction under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Authorizes the Secretary to carry out certain administrative reorganizations of regional and district offices as described in a prior communication to the Congress. Requires judges of the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals to receive the salary rate received by judges of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals. Makes licensed practical nurses, vocational nurses, and nurse assistants eligible for premium pay on the same basis as registered nurses.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to provide that the definition of "owner or operator" (for purposes of liability) does not include: (1) a designated lending institution which acquires control of a facility pursuant to the terms of a security interest held by the person in such facility or in connection with a lease subject to Federal or State banking authorities; (2) a corporate fiduciary which operates or has legal title to a facility pursuant to the terms of an estate or trust; (3) an individual or institution that serves as an indenture trustee and acquires control of a facility as the result of default on a financing document between the trustee and the issuing entity; and (4) an individual fiduciary who has legal title to a facility for purposes of administering an estate or trust.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prohibit the implementation of sanctions against a hospital for violating Medicare emergency medical condition screening and treatment requirements until a peer review organization makes a finding as to whether such a violation has occurred.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Rural Nursing Incentive Act of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide direct coverage under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program of nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist services furnished in rural areas. Sets the Medicare payment for such services at 80 percent of the lesser of the actual charge or the prevailing charge that would have been recognized had the services been performed by a physician. Requires that such payments be made on an assignment-related basis.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Medicare Physician Regulation Relief Amendments of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require carriers and peer review organizations to release the medical review screen or the associated screening parameter to a physician before notifying such physician that payment for his or her service has been denied. Permits Medicare reimbursement of a patient's regular physician for services provided to such patient by another physician who occasionally covers for the regular physician. Requires Medicare carriers to provide physicians, upon request and without charge, with carrier-generated information which physicians need to submit a payment claim or respond to a carrier inquiry. Allows a medical society or other professional organization representing physicians to represent a group or class of physicians in Medicare payment determinations, reconsiderations, or appeals. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to appoint, based on nominations submitted by national medical organizations representing physicians, a Practicing Physicians Advisory Council with which the Secretary must consult concerning changes in the Medicare program and proposed changes in regulations and carrier operation policies.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
State Offices of Rural Health Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of the Office of Rural Health Policy, to make grants to States to improve the availability, quality, and cost-effectiveness of rural health care. Requires State grant recipients to expend the grant for operation of an office of rural health. Directs the Secretary to: (1) annually convene a conference of representatives of the Office of Rural Health Policy and of the offices operated under this Act to discuss such improvements; and (2) request the attendance of representatives of such State offices without regard to whether a State is a grantee. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Rural Hospital Payment Equity Act of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to equalize average standardized Medicare payments for urban and rural hospitals. Requires the Security of Health and Human Services to collect data on compensation and paid hours of employment for hospital employees in various occupational categories and use such data to establish a professional and non-professional occupational component for each area wage index used in reimbursing hospitals for wage-related costs. Directs the Secretary to develop a legislative proposal allowing for the adjustment of a rural hospital's wage index by substituting the professional occupational component of the wage index used in the nearest metropolitan area for the professional occupational component that would otherwise apply to such rural hospital's area wage index.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Textile, Apparel, and Footwear Trade Act of 1990 - Limits the 1990 imports of textiles and textile products classified under a category to an amount equal to 101 percent of the total 1989 imports classified under such category. Limits the 1990 imports of nonrubber footwear classified under a nonrubber footwear category to an amount equal to: (1) the total 1989 imports of nonrubber footwear classified under such category; and (2) in the case of high priced nonrubber footwear, the total 1989 imports of high priced nonrubber footwear classified under such category. Provides for a one-percent annual growth in the amount of permitted imports of textiles and textile products after 1990. Exempts from the limitations imposed under this Act imports of textiles and textile products from U.S. possessions if such articles are exempt from duty under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and are manufactured by U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of such a possession. Limits the imports of certain sweaters made in Guam to a specified amount during FY 1990 and to such amount increased by one percent per year in subsequent years. Declares such limitations shall not apply to Canada or Israel. Sets forth limitations on the amount of textile and textile products, classified under certain import categories, which may be imported from beneficiary countries under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. Authorizes the President to: (1) enter into trade agreements to grant new concessions as compensation to the extent required under U.S. trade agreements for the import limits imposed by this Act; and (2) proclaim such modification or continuance of any existing duty on textiles and textile products and on nonrubber footwear as necessary to carry out such agreements. Prohibits the President from reducing any rate of duty by more than ten percent. Requires the President, before entering into such trade agreements, to consider whether a country has violated trade concessions of benefit to the United States and the violation has not been adequately offset. Sets forth requirements governing staged rate reductions in the tariffs of articles affected by this Act. Prohibits the President, except as authorized by this Act, from entering into trade negotiations with any country with respect to duties on textiles, textile products, and nonrubber footwear. Prohibits the President, except as provided in this Act, from decreasing or proposing a decrease in any such duty by any means, including an implementing bill or a proclamation. Requires the President to report annually to the Congress on the administration of this Act. Requires the Secretary of Commerce, ten years after enactment of this Act, to study and report to the Congress on its operation. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a pilot program for the issuance and sale to U.S. companies at public auction of import licenses applicable to categories of textiles. Terminates such licensing program on December 31, 1991, and requires a report to the Congress on its administration.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Commends the Runnin' Rebels of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas for winning the 1990 National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1990
Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (the Secretary), in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense, to make grants to qualifying medical schools to assist in the establishment of new medical research centers. Outlines qualifications for medical schools eligible for such grants, including: (1) being primarily State-supported; (2) having no established research center in the field for which application is made; (3) being located in proximity to a Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility which has an affiliation with a medical facility of the Department of Defense; and (4) having demonstrable potential for successful development of such a new research center. Requires the Secretary to ensure that centers for which grants are made are geographically dispersed within the United States. Requires the Secretary to establish an advisory committee to advise a medical school with respect to activities of the center for which a grant is made. Prohibits the Secretary from entering into an agreement to make a grant unless the Secretary finds that the school will maintain arrangements with the Department medical facility with which it is affiliated as to be mutually beneficial in carrying out the mission of the respective medical facilities and the school. Requires facilities of such research centers to be made available on a competitive basis. Requires the fact of Federal funding for such centers to be acknowledged in the activities and publications of the center. Requires that grants may only be provided from funds specifically appropriated for such grants. Requires matching appropriations to the Department of Defense for research, development, testing, and evaluation whenever an appropriation is made to the Department for such grants. Requires an agreement for such grants to include certain assurances with respect to the sufficiency of non-Federal funding for such research centers. Authorizes the Secretary to increase grant amounts due to cost increases, within specified limits. Sets forth application requirements from medical schools desiring to receive such grants. Requires the Secretary, in considering such applications, to give priority to applications which emphasize research in one or more of the following areas: (1) diabetes and metabolic diseases; (2) prosthetics and rehabilitation medicine; (3) mental health, behavioral medicine, and neurological disease; (4) acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and related diseases; (5) Alzheimer and dementia; (6) degenerative cardiopulmonary disease; (7) cancer; (8) technology assessment; and (9) toxicology. Requires the Secretary to use a merit review process in considering applications and awarding grants under this Act. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 through 1994. Entitles the Secretary to recover from grant recipients any amount not used for appropriate grant purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1990
Title I: Cotton - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 crops of upland cotton. Establishes the target price at $.729 per pound, with adjustment authority based on production cost increases. Provides for ten-month market-based loans, with an eight-month extension if average prices do not exceed specified levels. Provides for: (1) a marketing loan program based on adjusted world market prices, including a market certificate program; and (2) the imposition of a special limited global import quota when the U.S. upland cotton price exceeds the "Northern Europe" price. Provides for deficiency payments calculated on a calendar year basis. Provides for an acreage limitation program that will provide for specified carryover cotton stocks. Authorizes a uniform acreage reduction of up to 25 percent. Sets forth conservation use provisions. Authorizes disaster payments and reduced yield disaster payments under specified conditions. Provides for a paid land diversion program if projected carryovers exceed specified limits. States that cross-compliance shall not apply to such crops. Extends specified provisions of the extra long staple cotton program. Title II: Rice - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 rice crops. Establishes the target price at $10.71 per hundredweight, with adjustment authority based on production cost increases. Provides for nine-month market-based loans. Provides for a marketing loan program based on adjusted world market prices, including a market certificate program. Authorizes disaster payments and reduced yield disaster payments under specified conditions. Provides for an acreage limitation program that will provide for specified carryover rice stocks. Authorizes a uniform acreage reduction of up to 35 percent. Sets forth conservation use provisions. States that cross-compliance shall not apply to such crops. Title III: Sugar - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 sugar crops. Establishes loan rates at $.18 per pound for sugarcane. Bases sugar beet prices on sugarcane levels. Authorizes price support increases based upon production cost increases and other circumstances that may adversely affect domestic sugar production.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1990
World War II 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should recognize the 50th anniversary of World War II by minting and issuing commemorative coins. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue and mint such coins in five dollar, one dollar, and half dollar denominations. Mandates that surcharges received from the sale of such coins be deposited in a coinage profit fund and allocated, upon separate congressional authorization, to the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a World War II memorial. Directs the Secretary to report semiannually to the Congress regarding implementation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Organ Procurement Process Review Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act require that an organ procurement organization (OPO), in order to be eligible to receive certain grants, have a service area of sufficient size which will include not less than 50 potential organ donors each year. (Current law requires a service area of sufficient size such that the organization can reasonably expect to procure organs from not less than 50 donors each year.) Repeals provisions of the Health Omnibus Programs Extension of 1988 which delay the effective date of certain related amendments, with regard to an OPO designated under specified provisions of the Social Security Act, until two years after the initial designations of the organization. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the National Advisory Committee for Review of the Organ Procurement Process.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1990
Relieves a named individual of liability to the United States for erroneous payment of travel expenses incident to her attendance at an award ceremony conducted by the Department of the Air Force in November 1985.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1990
Family Choice and Child Care Improvement Act of 1990 - Title I: Expansion of Head Start - Amends the Head Start Act to authorize Head Start programs to provide developmentally appropriate child care services throughout the year as full-working-day services to meet the needs of parents each of whom is working, attending a job training or educational program, or seeking employment. Authorizes appropriations for specified services on certain conditions. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct a 20-year longitudinal research study on the effects of Head Start on children's development, with periodic reports to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations for such study. Title II: Small Business Involvement in Meeting Employee Child Care Needs - Directs the Secretary of HHS to establish a program of grants to eligible small businesses to: (1) pay start-up costs incurred to provide child care services needed by their employees; or (2) provide additional services. Defines small businesses as ones with fewer than 50 full-time employees. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Block Grant Child Care Provisions - Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act to set forth block grant payments to States for each fiscal year after FY 1990. Requires a specified portion of such grants to pay for child care services activities. Specifies certain administrative requirements, parental rights, and the rights of religious child care providers. Title IV: Tax Changes Relating to Child Care - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the amount of the advance refundable earned income tax credit, and to adjust such credit for family size for eligible individuals with one or more children. Provides a supplemental young child credit for taxpayers with a qualifying child under age six. Provides a supplemental infant credit for taxpayers with a qualifying child under age one. Bases advance payment on the number of qualifying children. Coordinates the earned income tax credit with means-tested programs by: (1) treating Federal means-tested transfer payments as support provided by the individual taxpayer, solely for purposes of determining such credit; and (2) disregarding such credit in determining benefits under means-tested programs involving Federal funds. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to the House Committee on Ways and Means whether the changes made by this Act to the advanced payment provisions of the Internal Revenue Code have resulted in an undue administrative or paperwork burden on taxpayers or the Internal Revenue Service. Phases out the dependent care credit and the exclusion for dependent care assistance for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income exceeds $70,000, by specified reductions for each $1,000 of such excess. Title V: Child Care Earnings Excluded from Excess Earnings Test - Amends the Social Security Act to exclude child care earnings from wages and from self-employment income, for purposes of the excess earnings test.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1990
Congratulates: (1) the people of Lithuania on their recent multiparty elections; (2) the new Government on its decision to restore Lithuanian independence; and (3) the new Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania. Urges the Soviet Government to enter into negotiations with the new Lithuanian Government on an equal basis and to refrain from acts of political and economic intimidation against Lithuania. Urges the President to: (1) strengthen and seek ways to demonstrate his commitment to an independent and democratic Lithuania; (2) take steps toward normalizing diplomatic relations with the Lithuanian Government; (3) seek effective political support among our allies as Lithuania attempts to negotiate credits in Western markets; and (4) seek ways to make appropriate technical assistance available to the Lithuanian people.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1990
United States and the United States of Mexico Air Quality Improvement Act - Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to negotiate with Mexican representatives to establish a program to monitor and improve air quality along the U.S.-Mexican border region. Requires the monitoring component of such program to identify sources of pollutants for which national ambient air quality standards and other air quality goals have been established. Authorizes the Administrator to negotiate with the appropriate Mexican representatives to develop remediation measures to reduce the level of pollutants to achieve air quality standards in the border region. Requires such program to identify control measures the implementation of which would be expedited by U.S. material and financial assistance. Directs the Administrator to utilize resources of Mexico to offset the costs to the United States in implementing joint remediation measures. Requires the U.S. Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on the air quality program, including ways to improve such program and whether such program should be continued or expanded to include Canada and other nations. Directs the Administrator to report annually to the Congress on the progress of the program in bringing the U.S.-Mexican border region into attainment with air quality standards. Requires the Administrator, in providing direct financial assistance to Mexico for the monitoring and remediation programs, to develop grant agreements with Mexico to assure the accuracy of monitoring data and the performance of remediation measures financed by the United States. Directs the Administrator, when approving State Implementation Plans, to take into account the impacts of the sources of pollutants coming from Mexico and the role of the United States in developing monitoring and remediation plans with Mexico to bring about attainment of air quality standards in regions along the border in the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1990
Medicaid State Share Protection Amendments of 1990 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to allow State Medicaid matching payments to include private funds donated by hospitals to the State and State taxes imposed with respect to the provision of Medicaid items and services.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1990
National Undesirable Plant Management Act of 1990 - Amends the Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974 to require each Federal agency to develop a program in cooperation with State agencies to control undesirable plants on Federal lands.
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1990
Designates the week of June 24 through June 30, 1990, as National Sheriffs' Week in honor of the 50th anniversary of the National Sheriffs' Association.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1990
Repeals the provision of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1989 which requires the withholding of income tax from wages paid for agricultural labor. Requires the Internal Revenue Code to be applied as though such provision had not been enacted.
![Official portrait of Rep. Stenholm, Charles W. [D-TX-17]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/s000851_200.jpg)