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United States · Official source
3,350 records where Rep. Stenholm, Charles W. [D-TX-17] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Farmers Home Loan Buy Back Act of 1987 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, in administering the sale of specified Farmers Home Administration rural development obligations as provided for under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986, to give the issuers the right of first refusal. Sets forth sale price provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Rural Development Reorganization Act of 1987 - Title I: Reorganization of the Department of Agriculture - Renames the Department of Agriculture the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish and maintain a revitalized nationwide rural development program as set forth in the Rural Development Act of 1972, the Rural Development Policy Act of 1980, and this Act. Establishes in such Department a Rural Development Administration headed by an Administrator appointed by the Secretary, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Directs the Secretary to transfer to the Rural Development Administration those agencies, offices, or entities in the Department performing rural development functions. Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to expand the number of designated assistance areas from 225 to 450. Establishes within the Rural Development Administration an Office of Advocacy for Rural Development, whose Chief Counsel shall be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Specifies the functions and duties of such Office. Directs the Comptroller General to investigate and report to the President and the Congress about services, functions, and missions of other Federal departments and agencies which could be transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. Directs the Secretary to report, by geographical areas of the United States, to the Congress: (1) within six months after enactment of this Act on the extent to which rural development offices and activities of the Federal Government were located or relocated to rural areas during FY 1981 through 1986; and (2) within six months after the end of each fiscal year beginning with FY 1987 on the extent to which Federal offices and activities were located or relocated to rural areas. Title II: State Cooperative Agreements and Plans - Authorizes the Administrator, Rural Development Administration, to enter into cooperative agreements with States: (1) to delegate to any State the authority to cooperate in carrying out the provisions of this Act; and (2) to assist States in the development and administration of Federal programs that provide educational opportunities, job training, health services, and other specified benefits to rural residents. Conditions any agreement or financial assistance under this Act upon a State's submission for approval of a comprehensive plan for a State rural development program. Permits the Secretary and other Federal agency heads to enter into agreements with State and local governments to provide educational training, job training, health services, and other benefits to rural residents. Directs the Administrator in cooperation with the Secretary to use the Cooperative State Extension Service to inform rural residents about such programs. Establishes in the National Agricultural Library the National Rural Assistance Information Clearinghouse, which shall distribute information and data about Federal, State, and local programs. Title III: Rural Technology Grants - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to direct the Secretary to make grants to nonprofit institutions to establish rural technology development centers to seek to improve rural economic conditions. Permits the Secretary to provide employment-related technical assistance to economically distressed rural areas. Title IV: Special Grants - Amends the Rural Development Act to direct the Secretary to make grants to programs assisting displaced farmers. Specifies the kinds of services to be provided. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Miscellaneous Amendments - Makes conforming amendments to the Community Economic Development Act of 1981 and other Federal law. Title VI: Administrative Provisions - Sets forth administrative provisions. Title VII: Block Grants - Subtitle A: Rural Development Assistance Grant - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to direct the Rural Development Administration to make grants to States: (1) to provide rural economic development technical assistance, rural community leadership development, and community and areawide rural economic development planning; or (2) for measures designed to facilitate development of private business enterprises. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Rural Infrastructure Block Grant Act - Directs the Secretary, for each fiscal year, to allocate to each State funds for rural infrastructure development according to a congressionally approved formula. Lists factors to be considered in devising such formula. Requires submission of a proposed formula to the agriculture committees of both Houses of Congress. Makes such proposed formula effective after 90 calendar days unless a joint resolution is enacted either disapproving the formula or substituting another formula. Authorizes appropriations. Title VIII: Special Assistant to the President for Rural Policy - Directs the President, within 90 days after enactment of this Act, to appoint a Special Assistant to the President for Rural Policy who shall: (1) systematically review Federal programs affecting rural areas; and (2) assist in the preparation of a comprehensive rural development strategy designed to maximize the effectiveness and increase the responsiveness of Federal programs to rural areas. Requires the Secretary, within one year after enactment of this Act, to transmit the rural development strategy to the congressional agriculture committees and to report annually to such committees on any changes to such strategy. Requires the Special Assistant to use the Office of the President to maximize coordination of Federal programs affecting rural areas. Title IX: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Project ACCESS - Establishes a two-year demonstration program that will provide a wide array of services to secondary school students in rural sections of the country to encourage entry into and successful completion of postsecondary education programs, career planning, and return to the rural community. Authorizes the Secretary of Education, in accordance with specified provisions of the Higher Education Amendments of 1986, to support development of Project ACCESS Program capability in any or all of the nine Educational Research Laboratories. Sets forth application requirements and services to be incorporated as part of the programming under Project Access. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 and 1989 to supplement the contracts now held by the nine regional educational laboratories administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) for purposes of this program. Subjects this program to ratable reductions. Requires regional educational laboratories wishing to develop and operate a demonstration Project ACCESS Program to request a modification of their existing OERI contracts. Sets forth required contents of such proposed contract modifications. Requires OERI to prepare and submit a report to the Congress on the impact of this demonstration program, including recommendations of the regional laboratories, by November 30, 1988.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Amends the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act to require the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to provide leadership and coordination with respect to policies affecting procurement programs for rural areas. Directs the Administrator to: (1) coordinate with and advise State and local officials with regard to Federal efforts to encourage procurement in rural areas with the aim of fostering economic development in such areas; (2) establish specific rural area procurement targets for executive agencies consistent with awards or contracts for small business concerns; and (3) encourage the use of set asides or other appropriate methods for meeting procurement targets for rural areas. Requires executive agencies to cooperate with the Administrator's responsibilities for rural area programs.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to permit Rural Electrification Administration borrowers to prepay Federal Financing Bank loans without penalties if: (1) private capital is used to replace such loans; and (2) any savings will be used to avoid future rate increases, passed on to customers, or used to improve the borrower's financial strength.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Designates September 1987 as Southern Gospel Music Month.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1987
Congratulates Ducks Unlimited, Incorporated, for its accomplishments in 50 years of protection and enhancement of wetlands waterfowl habitat.
United States · United States Congress · 8 April 1987
Designates the month of November in 1987 and 1988 as National Hospice Month.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1987
Encourages State and local governments and local educational agencies to provide quality daily physical education programs for all children from kindergarten through grade 12.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1987
Makes permanent the income tax credit for qualified research expenditures by repealing the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that would terminate such credit for expenses incurred or paid after 1988.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1987
Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987 - Expresses the findings of the Congress that the Fairness Doctrine: (1) fairly reflects the statutory obligations of broadcasters; (2) received statutory approval from the Congress in 1959; and (3) reasonably balances first amendment rights. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require broadcast licensees to provide a reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance. Requires enforcement and application of such requirement to be consistent with the rules and policies of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on January 1, 1987.
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1987
Small Business Export Innovation Act - Amends the Small Business Act to establish within the Small Business Administration the Small Business Export Innovation Office. Requires the Office to administer a Small Business Export Innovation Program under which the Office shall make competitive awards to small businesses to develop export trade strategies and knowledge of foreign markets. Requires the first phase of awards to involve matching awards of $25,000 to fund the export trade objectives described in export increase proposals submitted by selected applicants. Requires the second phase to involve additional $10,000 awards to those recipients who best developed export trade strategies and knowledge of foreign markets. Provides that a small business must have been in operation for at least two years to be eligible to apply for such an award. Requires the Office to ensure that at least one small business from each State receives an award. Requires the Office to: (1) make an annual public announcement of the Program specifics; (2) make direct mail solicitations to small businesses and intermediary service firms which could help publicize the Program; (3) report to the Congress annually on the awards made and the success of recipients in attaining award objectives; and (4) issue rules specifying a simplified, standardized funding process for such Program. Requires each recipient to report to the Office on its use of funds under the Program and its success in meeting export trade objectives. Makes one percent of the amounts appropriated for FY 1989 through 1993 for program and financing, loan investment, and the bond guarantee revolving fund under the Small Business Act available to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Satellite Television Fair Marketing Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the encrypting of satellite programming from the Public Broadcasting Service and the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. Requires anyone who encrypts satellite delivered programming for private viewing to: (1) make it available for private viewing by home satellite antenna users; (2) establish reasonable character and financial criteria for distributors of satellite delivered programming and not discriminate in prices, terms, or conditions among distributors offering similar distribution services; and (3) conduct such encryption according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - approved standards designed to comply with specified criteria. Requires the FCC-approved standards to provide the public interest benefits of a universal encryption system permitting decryption by cable television subscribers and home satellite users. Authorizes aggrieved persons to commence civil actions to enforce this Act. Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct a study of pricing and distribution terms of satellite television programming to determine whether the programming market is developing competitively. Authorizes the FTC to establish remedies necessary to produce adequate competition. Requires the FCC to begin a rulemaking proceeding on improving access to network signals for rural Americans.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Imported Products and Commodities Safety Act of 1987 - Title I: Imported Meat and Poultry Products - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to submit a report to the Congress about the Department of Agriculture's resources for sampling and enforcement methods regarding pesticide and drug residues in imported meat and poultry products. Title II: Imported Raw Agricultural Commodities - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to prepare a plan specifying the Food and Drug Administration's resources for sampling and enforcement methods (including district data sharing) regarding pesticide residues in imported raw agricultural commodities. Requires the Secretary to: (1) prepare a fiscal year commodity import monitoring summary; and (2) submit an annual enforcement report to the appropriate congressional committees.
United States · United States Congress · 31 March 1987
Civil Rights Act of 1987 - Amends title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide that the phrase "program or activity" shall, as applied to educational institutions receiving Federal financial assistance, mean the educational institution (notwithstanding the decisions of the Supreme Court in Grove City College v. Bell and North Haven Board of Education v. Bell). Amends title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to state that such Act's prohibition of sex discrimination shall be inapplicable to educational institutions which are controlled by, or closely associated with the tenants of, a particular religious organization if the application of such prohibition would be inconsistent with the organization's religious intent. (Current law provides that such prohibitions are inapplicable where the educational institutions are controlled by religious organizations.) States that nothing in such Act shall be construed to grant or deny any right relating to abortion.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1987
Telephone Decency Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit any obscene or indecent telephone communication, in foreign or interstate communication or in the District of Columbia, for commercial purposes to any person. (Current law prohibits such communication to any person without his or her consent or to any person under 18 years of age.)
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1987
Grants a Federal charter to the 82nd Airborne Division Association, Incorporated.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1987
Acknowledges the magnanimity of the Marshall plan and the efforts of the Marshall Foundation in Lexington, Virginia, to continue the values for which George C. Marshall stood, and asks all Americans to rededicate themselves to the ideals which George C. Marshall represented. Welcomes the publication on June 5, 1987, of the fourth volume of the official biography of George C. Marshall. Designates the month of June 1987 as George C. Marshall Month.
United States · United States Congress · 25 March 1987
Recognizes the Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the International Association of Fire Fighters National Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1987
President's Pro-Life Bill of 1987 - Prohibits the use of Federal funds for abortions, except when continuing the pregnancy would endanger the mother's life. Prohibits the granting of funds relating to certain population research and voluntary family programs under the Public Health Service Act to organizations providing abortions or abortion referrals, unless the life of the mother would be endangered by continuing the pregnancy.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1987
Establishes the Veterans Administration as an executive department redesignated as the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Makes technical and conforming changes, including the redesignation of the Administrator of Veterans Affairs as the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Small Business Prompt Payment Act Amendments of 1987 - Revises Federal law to deem the head of a Federal agency to have received an invoice on the later of: (1) the date on which the designated office or employee of an agency actually receives it; or (2) the fifth day after the date on which a property is actually delivered, or final performance of a service is actually completed, unless the contract specifies otherwise. Makes Federal prompt payment provisions applicable to the United States Postal Service. Makes the Postmaster General responsible for issuing procurement regulations, solicitation provisions, and contract clauses. Reduces the 15-day grace period for payment of interest penalties to eight days for solicitations (other than meat products and agricultural commodities) issued before October 1, 1990. Eliminates such grace period for procurement solicitations issued on or after October 1, 1990. Requires an agency to pay a double interest penalty if: (1) the agency owes the interest penalty; (2) the interest penalty is not paid to the business concern on or after the date the penalty is due; (3) the agency does not pay the penalty within ten days after such payment is made; and (4) a written demand is made within 40 days after such payment is made. Requires regulations on interest penalties, in the case of construction contracts, to provide for the payment of interest on: (1) progress payments due for more than seven days, or a longer period if the prevailing practice in private construction contracts is to provide such longer period; and (2) amounts retained during the performance of a contract, if such amounts are not paid by the required payment date. Requires regulations on interest penalties to provide for periodic payments in the case of supply or service contracts upon: (1) the submission of an invoice for supplies delivered or services performed; and (2) acceptance of supplies or services by an authorized employee or certification of performance by such an employee. Requires Government construction contractors to include a payment provision in their agreements with their subcontractors which provides for payment in accordance with prevailing industry standards. Requires the contractor to pay a late payment interest penalty to the subcontractor at the rate applicable between the prime contractor and the Government. Specifies the calculation of time for interest penalties on discount payments. Revises agency reporting requirements on interest penalty payments to include: (1) a description of agency payment practices; and (2) an analysis by the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization for each of the various Federal agencies on the impact of such payments on small and disadvantaged businesses. Requires the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration to report to the congressional committees on Small Business on current Government compliance with the payment of interest penalties and the impact on small business. Requires the Chief Counsel to monitor the compliance of all agencies and of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget with interest penalty payments. Requires the modification of the Federal acquisition regulation to implement Federal prompt payment provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to increase the per diem rates paid to States for the provision of domiciliary and nursing home care to veterans in State homes. Grants the Administrator of Veterans Affairs authority, after July 1, 1987, to award transition-year grants to States for construction of facilities furnishing domiciliary or nursing home care to veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1987 - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to ban the importation of shrimp and shrimp products from any country whose commercial fishing activities may result in the incidental taking of threatened or endangered species and whose enforcement of restrictions on such incidental taking is not equivalent to that of the United States. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to evaluate each nation exporting shrimp to the United States for compliance.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Grants a Federal charter to the Montford Point Marine Association, Incorporated.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1987
Authorizes and requests the President to designate April 26 through May 2, 1987, as National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1987
Emergency Energy Act of 1987 - Title I: Amendments of Internal Revenue Code of 1954 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit against the income tax for crude oil producers equal to the excess of an oil well's operating costs allocable to a barrel of oil over the sales price of the barrel (but in no event for more than $5.00 per barrel). Provides for a carryback of unused excess credits for any year. Allows a credit for 15 percent of the costs of exploring for oil or natural gas in the United States. Provides for a carryback of unused excess exploration cost credits. Revises the minimum tax rules to allow a taxpayer to elect to carry over any portion of a percentage depletion deduction to the succeeding taxable year. Revises the definition of intangible drilling and development costs eligible for annual deduction as business expenses when paid or incurred to include geological, geophysical, and surface casing costs paid or incurred for the purpose of ascertaining the existence, location, extent, or quality of any domestic deposit of oil or gas. Repeals the tax preference cutback which currently requires integrated oil and gas producers to reduce (and thereby capitalize) the amount of intangible drilling and development costs eligible for a tax deduction by 30 percent. Repeals the rule that limits percentage depletion for oil or gas properties to 50 percent of a taxpayer's net income from the property. Revises the rule regarding an election to treat operating mineral interests as separate properties to allow such an election without regard to whether one or more of the operating mineral interests participated, under a voluntary or compulsory unitization or pooling agreement, in a single cooperative or unit plan of operation. Repeals specified rules which currently disqualify certain properties from: (1) the percentage depletion allowance deduction; and (2) the stripper well oil exemption from the windfall profit tax. Revises the special rules for the windfall profit tax to declare that a return shall not be treated as required if the amount of windfall profit tax withheld from the purchase payment to an oil producer equals or exceeds the amount required to be withheld as shown on the first purchaser's return. (The statute of limitations on assessments for windfall profit tax liability will thus begin to run concurrently with the statute of limitations on the taxpayer's income tax return.) Limits such rule revision to returns filed after February 29, 1980. Repeals the windfall profit tax. Title II: Removal of Wellhead Price Controls and Repeal of Natural Gas Act Jurisdiction Over Certain First Sales of Natural Gas - Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to: (1) remove wellhead price controls over natural gas prices; (2) repeal the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over natural gas exempt from wellhead price controls; (3) repeal the President's standby price control authority; and (4) repeal congressional review of natural gas price controls. Title III: Repeal of Certain Restrictions on the Use of Natural Gas and Petroleum - Amends the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 to: (1) repeal the prohibitions against the use by electric powerplants and major fuel-burning installations of petroleum and natural gas as primary energy sources: (2) remove the restrictions placed upon Federal major fuel-burning installations against the use of natural gas and petroleum as primary energy sources; and (3) repeal the guidelines for the emergency use of natural gas or petroleum as a primary energy source by any person operating a peakload powerplant or a major fuel-burning installation. Revokes the authority of the Secretary of Energy to require any major fuel-burning installation to furnish certain information regarding the use of primary energy sources of fuel. Title IV: Repeal of Incremental Pricing Requirements - Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to repeal the natural gas incremental pricing provisions. States that incremental pricing rules promulgated by FERC shall continue in effect only with respect to the flow-through of costs incurred before enactment of this section, including any surcharges based on such costs. Title V: Strategic Petroleum Reserve - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to direct the Secretary of Energy to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve only with crude oil produced in the United States. Title VI: Separability - Sets forth separability provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the one percent loan origination fee charged by the Veterans Administration (VA) to veterans obtaining a home loan guaranteed by the VA should not be increased.
United States · United States Congress · 16 March 1987
States that the Congress expresses: (1) its firm commitment to the Veterans Administration (VA) home loan program and to the veterans and service personnel it has served; (2) its appreciation to the thousands of VA employees serving the program; and (3) its recognition of the importance of the VA home loan program.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1987
Competition Savings Act of 1987 - Amends the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act to require the Federal Government to contract with the private sector for the performance of a commercial activity when the cost is lower than the cost of the performance of such activity by the Government. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to prescribe regulations for such cost comparisons. Requires the Director to publish a commercial activity inventory each fiscal year in the Federal Register. Provides that such inventory shall consist of a list of all commercial activities carried out by full-time Government employees, and the cost of such activities. Requires each executive agency to complete cost comparisons or award contracts for commercial activities which constitute 20 percent of the number of activities listed in the agency's inventory for each fiscal year, beginning with FY 1989. Specifies commercial activities which are exempt from cost comparisons and those eligible for expedited procedures. Sets forth performance deadlines after completion of cost comparisons. Requires the inclusion of cost comparison results in budget requests. Provides for judicial review of decisions resulting from cost comparisons. Makes greater reliance on private sector sources a part of Federal procurement policy.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require that certain information relating to fund raising must be included on tax returns made by tax-exempt organizations. Specifies the information required as: (1) the name and address of each person engaged in fund raising on behalf of the organization; (2) the gross amount raised by such person; (3) the amount of compensation received by such person; (4) a description of the activities performed by such person on behalf of the organization; and (5) a description of the other fund raising activities of the organization, the amount raised from such activities, and the expenses incurred for such activities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1987
Coal Pipeline Act of 1987 - Amends the Mineral Lands Leasing Act of 1920 to authorize a person who has secured specified water rights under applicable State law to apply to the Secretary of the Interior for certification that it is in the national interest to construct, operate, or extend a coal pipeline. Prescribes guidelines under which the Secretary will make such a certification, including the decision to grant rights-of-way across Federal lands upon such pipeline's request. Conditions such certification upon an applicant's reservation of a specified portion of total pipeline capacity for small, independent producers located in the geographic region served by such pipeline. Makes all Federal and State environmental laws applicable to the issuance or denial of such certification. Outlines the procedures for granting rights-of-way across Federal lands. Proscribes the granting of any right-of-way through lands: (1) designated as wilderness areas; (2) administered as part of the national park system; or (3) which are part of a historic site (unless there is no reasonable alternative and reasonable planning is made to minimize the harm of such site). Prohibits any person or entity (including the United States) from claiming any right or interest in water within any State for a coal pipeline unless such claim takes place under the law of the affected State. Delegates to the States all power regarding water rights for a coal pipeline in spite of any otherwise impermissible burden which may thereby be imposed upon interstate commerce. States that this Act does not: (1) impair the validity of any State law (or interstate compact) regarding any claim to water rights; (2) alter the rights of any State to its apportioned share of water under past or future allocation or interstate compact; (3) affect any Indian water rights; or (4) preempt or otherwise affect any State or Federal law or interstate compact regarding water quality or disposal. Prohibits any State acting under authority of this Act from restricting the movement through such State of water acquired in another State and within a coal pipeline. Authorizes certain persons who have received a certification from the Secretary that it is in the national interest to operate or extend a coal pipeline to acquire rights-of-way through private lands by the power of eminent domain. States this Act shall not be construed to permit any person (including the United States) to acquire any water rights through the power of eminent domain. Prohibits the acquisition of any right-of-way through the power of eminent domain if such right-of-way is upon land which is part of a historic site of national, State, or local significance, unless there is no prudent alternative and reasonable planning is made to minimize harm to such site. Provides for an antitrust review of applications for certification by the Attorney General. Sets forth certification guidelines under which the Secretary shall determine whether construction, operation, or extension of a coal pipeline is in the national interest. Requires each pipeline carrier for which a certification has been issued to provide service on reasonable request. Prohibits such carriers from unreasonably discriminating or refusing to enter into contracts with coal shippers under similar conditions in a contemporaneous period. Requires the Secretary to publish notice of coal pipeline certifications in the Federal Register. States that this Act shall not be construed to modify or preempt the ratemaking authority of any State utility regulatory agency. Requires the Secretary to establish uniform Federal standards for coal pipeline safety. Establishes penalties for failure to comply with such safety standards.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1987
Amends the Veterans' Job Training Act to extend the time periods for initial application and commencement of training for eligible veterans under such Act. Extends: (1) the authorization of appropriations under such Act through FY 1989; and (2) the availability of amounts appropriated under such Act through FY 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1987
Polygraph Reform Act of 1987 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to add a title relating to polygraph examinations. Prohibits, except under circumstances set out in this Act, an employer from: (1) requiring or suggesting that any present or prospective employee submit to a polygraph examination for any purpose; (2) using or referring to the results of a polygraph examination of any present or prospective employee for any purpose; (3) discharging, disciplining, or denying employment or promotion to any present or prospective employee who refuses to take a polygraph test; and (4) basing the discharge, discipline, or denial of employment or promotion solely on the analysis and opinions of a polygraph examiner authorized by this Act to conduct polygraph examinations. Directs the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to establish standards and qualifications for persons wishing to conduct polygraph examinations. Sets forth requirements that must be incorporated in such standards, including criteria relating to: (1) age and citizenship; (2) formal training and internship; (3) inquiries that may be pursued during a polygraph examination (prohibiting, for example, questions about religious, racial, or political beliefs and about sexual preferences); (4) notice to the examinee of legal rights and remedies; (5) the data recording instruments to be used during the examination; (6) limitations on the conclusions and opinions of the examiner; (7) recordkeeping; and (8) examiner bonding or professional liability insurance coverage. Limits disclosure of information obtained during a polygraph examination. Prohibits the waiver of rights and procedures provided by this Act. Directs the Secretary to issue appropriate rules and regulations and to cooperate with regional, State, and local agencies and with employers and labor unions to carry out this title. Empowers the Secretary to make investigations and to require recordkeeping in accordance with existing FLSA law. Makes applicable to this title the enforcement powers, remedies, and procedures of existing FLSA law, including statutes governing the civil liability of violator employers and injunction proceedings. Provides that amounts owing to a person as a result of a violation of this Act shall be deemed to be unpaid minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation for purposes of liability determination. Limits payment of liquidated damages to instances of willful violations. Grants to the court jurisdiction to provide any appropriate legal or equitable relief, including judgments that: (1) compel employment, reinstatement, or promotion; or (2) enforce liability. Directs the Secretary, before instituting an enforcement action, to attempt to eliminate the alleged offending practice and to effect voluntary compliance with this Act through informal conciliatory processes. Creates a civil cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction to any aggrieved person. Entitles a person to trial by jury in such actions. Terminates the right of any person to bring such an action on the commencement of an action by the Secretary to enforce such person's right. Prohibits the commencement of a civil action brought by an individual until 60 days after the filing of a charge alleging a violation. Sets forth time limitations applicable to the filing of such charges: (1) generally; and (2) in cases of violations in States having specified standards or an approved administrative plan regulating polygraph examinations. Directs the Secretary, upon receiving such a charge, to notify specified persons and to seek to eliminate any alleged violation by informal means. Applies specified provisions of the Portal-to-Portal Act to actions under this title (provisions permitting an employer defense based on a good faith reliance on certain written administrative regulations, as well as statute of limitations provisions). States that it is the express intent of the Congress to permit regulation of polygraph examinations in any manner consistent with this Act. Authorizes any State or local government wishing to develop and enforce standards for the use of polygraphs by employers to submit to the Secretary an administrative plan relating to such standards and containing information specified in this Act. Requires the Secretary to make a continual evaluation of each approved administrative plan and to withdraw approval of such plan upon the finding that it is not being administered in ways to assure substantial compliance with this Act's standards. Authorizes review by the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Secretary's decision to withdraw such a plan. States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to be applicable to: (1) the U.S. Government, its agencies, or its agents; (2) any State governmental agency or its agent; or (3) any law enforcement agency or its agent. Requires the Secretary to issue rules and regulations appropriate for carrying out this Act not later than 180 days after its enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1987
Designates April 4, 1987, as National Catfish Day.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1987
Designates March 20, 1987, as National Energy Education Day.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1987
Omnibus Family Decency Protection Act of 1987 - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide criminal penalties for the distribution of obscene matter. Subjects such obscene material, and any property derived from such material, to forfeiture. Provides criminal penalties for obscene television broadcasts. Requires any person who produces, distributes, or sells any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct to maintain records containing proof of ages of the persons depicted and consent forms from such persons. Provides criminal penalties for violations of such recordkeeping requirements. Provides criminal penalties for producing a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct using performers between the ages of 18 and 21. Provides criminal penalties for using a computer network to exchange information concerning visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to provide criminal penalties for making an obscene or indecent telephone communication for commercial purposes. (Current law provides such criminal penalties if made to a minor or to a person without his or her consent.) Amends the National Labor Relations Act to make the employment of any person to participate in a commercial sexual performance an unfair labor practice. Amends the Mann Act to make certain offenses gender neutral.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1987
Amends specified provisions of Federal law relating to the refinancing of veterans' home loans to remove the requirement that a veteran must actually occupy the home in order to qualify for such refinancing.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1987
Child Protection Act of 1987 - Amends the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Statute to extend its coverage to the sexual exploitation of children. Allows any person injured personally or in his business or property by such violations to bring a civil suit for treble damages. Amends the Federal criminal code to require a mandatory life sentence in kidnapping offenses involving the murder of a minor. Establishes mandatory minimum sentences for the sexual exploitation of minors. Provides that the period of any applicable limitation for the commencement of prosecution for certain offenses involving the sexual exploitation of children shall not begin until the child has reached the age of 18 years. Directs the Attorney General to submit a report to the Congress detailing possible changes in the Federal Rules of Evidence, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and other procedures which would facilitate the participation of child witnesses in cases involving child abuse and sexual exploitation. Directs the Attorney General to modify the classification system used by the National Crime Information System and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with respect to offenses involving the sexual exploitation of children by: (1) including the age of the victim and the relationship of the victim to the offender; and (2) using a uniform definition of a child.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1987
Amends part B (Peer Review) of title IX of the Social Security Act to give physicians 30 days to request a hearing, and an opportunity thereafter to exhaust administrative and judicial remedies, before the Secretary of Health and Human Services' decision to exclude the physician from Medicare (title XVIII of the Act) participation takes effect and the public receives notice of such exclusion.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1987
Consumer Rail Equity Act - Reaffirms the intent of the Congress that the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 and the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 be implemented in a manner which provides both greater competitive alternatives and adequate railroad revenues. Directs the Interstate Commerce Commission, when determining the existence or absence of effective competition, to consider only transportation competition for movement of the same commodity from the same point of origin to the same destination. States that a presumption of overall effective competition is not established by the fact that a railroad faces effective competition with respect to either a point of destination or a point of origin. Shifts the burden of proof regarding transportation rate reasonableness from the shipper to the rail carrier establishing the challenged rate. Declares that it is Federal policy to encourage and promote competitive transportation rates for domestically produced coal and other commodities in order to increase their competitive position in domestic and export markets. Directs the Commission to establish a rail cost adjustment factor which includes changes in railroad productivity, volume, and output mix. Directs the Commission to recompute and republish the Rail Cost Adjustment Factor according to prescribed guidelines. Provides that certain rail carrier rates shall be reduced to the extent of any subsequent decreases in rail cost adjustment factors. Confirms the Commission's authority to promulgate rates set forth in a specified adjudication. Includes within the standards used to determine railroad revenue adequacy: (1) identification of revenues, expenses, and investment base reasonably related to rail transportation service; (2) straight-line depreciation of assets reasonably related to rail transportation service, minus deferred tax reserves resulting from accelerated depreciation; and (3) actual cost of debt capital and reasonable estimates of the current cost of equity capital. Requires the Commission, when making revenue adequacy determinations, to consider specified indicators of a rail carrier's financial status. Requires the Commission to determine, on an annual basis, which rail carriers are earning adequate or inadequate revenues and to determine for each rail carrier the revenues required to achieve or maintain revenue adequacy. Allows (current law requires) the Commission to exempt persons from application of this Act when: (1) such application is not necessary to implement Federal transportation policy; and (2) the Commission finds there is no market dominance involved in the affected transaction. Mandates that the rates and practices application to such exempt persons shall not be considered a matter subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission. Requires any rail carrier providing service under certain line rates to participate in competitive joint rail rates through practicable interchange connections (or publish a competitive proportional rate) if requested to do so by a rail carrier (or shipper or receiver) who has an actual or practicable interchange connection. Directs the Commission, upon petition of any interested party, to require certain terminal facilities owned by a rail carrier in interstate or foreign commerce to be used by another rail carrier if the Commission finds: (1) it is in the public interest to do so; and (2) that the owner of such terminal facility will not suffer substantial impairment of its own business interests. Directs the Commission to require, upon petition by an interested party, that rail carriers enter into reciprocal switching agreements if such an agreement is in the public interest or necessary to provide alternative competitive rail service. Directs the Commission to establish reciprocal switching compensation at a level not to exceed the current percentage of the actual variable costs for such service (unless the carrier demonstrates that a higher level is reasonable and necessary). Revises railroad line abandonment procedures to provide that a rail carrier must wait one year before resubmitting a previously denied abandonment application, unless a substantial change in circumstances can be shown. Requires the Commission to hold hearings in communities affected by a proposed railroad line abandonment if requested to do so by community protestants. Requires the Commission to base its abandonment determination upon financial data regarding the facility proposed to be abandoned rather than upon financial data regarding industry-wide averages. Directs the Commission, when considering any application for a certificate of abandonment or discontinuance, to disregard the impact on traffic volume of any surcharge imposed under specified parts of this Act (unless the surcharge improves the financial performance of the line). Subjects to Commission review any State decision regarding intrastate rates, rules, and practices if a party to such State proceedings petitions for Commission review. Requires the Commission to take action on such petition within 120 days of its receipt. Authorizes the Commission to vacate a State decision found inconsistent with this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1987
Directs the Postal Service to restore the reduced rates applicable to mailings of fewer than 5,000 copies of publications to counties adjacent to the county of publication. Limits to 20,000 the number of copies of such publications which may be mailed under reduced rates within the county of publication.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1987
Designates the week beginning May 10, 1987, as National Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1987
Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to permit individuals to engage in industrial homework (including sewing, knitting, jewelry, or craftmaking) or perform any service in or about their place of residence as employees of any employer covered by such Act if the employer complies with minimum wage and maximum hours requirements under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1987
Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide that it shall not be in order for either House of Congress to consider any legislation which would impose any requirement on State or local governments which is likely to result in an annual cost to such governments of $50,000,000 or more for any particular program, project, or activity, except for legislation which complies with any sequestration order issued under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Requires the report of the Committee on the Budget of each House accompanying the concurrent resolution on the budget to identify changes in Federal aid programs for State and local governments on a program-by-program basis.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1987
Designates the month of May 1987 as National Home Remodeling Month.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1987
Grants a Federal charter to the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs, Incorporated.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1987
Suspends most-favored-nation treatment for Romania for six months. Permits the products of Romania to receive most-favored-nation treatment during any 180-day period following the initial six months only if: (1) the President submits to the House of Representatives and the Senate a document containing specified findings and assurances, including a finding that granting most-favored-nation treatment will promote improved freedom to emigrate from Romania and will promote an end to religious and political persecution in Romania; and (2) a joint resolution disapproving such action is not enacted. Provides for expedited consideration of such resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1987
Designates June 14, 1987, as Baltic Freedom Day. Expresses disapproval of the refusal of the U.S.S.R. to recognize the sovereignty of the Baltic Republics.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1987
Syndicated Television Music Copyright Reform Act of 1987 - Amends the copyright law to require that any conveyance of performance rights in an audiovisual work to nonnetwork commercial television include the right to perform in synchronization any accompanying copyrighted music. Entitles the music copyright holder to an interest in any compensation received for the audiovisual work performance rights.