United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to restore the link ended by the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 1995 between the rules relating to substantial gainful activity for blind individuals and the rules relating to excess earnings under the social security earnings test for individuals who have attained retirement age (thus allowing blind individuals, once again, to earn up to the social security excess earnings threshold without being regarded as having demonstrated an ability to engage in substantial gainful activity and without losing entitlement to OASDI benefits).
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the conducting of certain games of chance shall not be treated as an unrelated trade or business for purposes of the tax imposed on tax-exempt organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Requires the House of Representatives to participate in State and local government transit programs to encourage House employees to use public transportation. Directs the Committee on House Oversight to issue appropriate regulations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends rule XI (rules of procedures for committees) of the Rules of the House of Representatives to repeal provisions which require the written statement of proposed testimony required to be submitted by a witness appearing before a committee in a nongovernmental capacity to include a curriculum vitae and a disclosure of the amount and source of any Federal grant or contract received during the current fiscal year or either of the two previous fiscal years by such witness or by an entity represented by the witness.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Education Affordability Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exclude qualified scholarships and fellowships from income; (2) allow the deduction of interest on qualified educational loans; and (3) permit distributions from individual retirement accounts to be used for qualified educational expenses.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Medicare Hospice Benefit Amendments of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to hospice care to: (1) restructure the hospice care benefit period; (2) cover any other item or service which is specified in the plan and for which payment may otherwise be made under Medicare; (3) permit contracting with independent physicians or physician groups for hospice care services; (4) allow waiver of certain staffing requirements for hospice care programs in non-urbanized areas; (5) define coverage denial, with respect to the limitation on the liability of beneficiaries and providers, to mean a determination that an individual is not terminally ill; and (6) extend the period for physician certification of an individual's terminal illness.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Directs the Secretary of the Navy to provide for the award of the Navy Combat Ribbon with respect to participation in ground or surface combat during any period after July 4, 1943, and before March 1, 1961.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Airliner Cabin Air Quality Act of 1997 - Amends Federal transportation law to prohibit smoking on all scheduled airline flight segments (currently, just on certain airline flight segments) in interstate or intrastate air transportation. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to require all domestic and foreign air carriers to prohibit smoking on any scheduled airline flight within the United States or between a place in the United States and a place outside of it.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Quiet Communities Act of 1997- Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to reestablish an Office of Noise Abatement and Control, which shall be responsible for coordinating Federal noise abatement activities, updating or developing noise standards, providing technical assistance to local communities, and promoting research and education. Requires the Administrator, with funds provided for the Office, to conduct a study of airport noise, examining the Federal Aviation Administration's selection of noise measurement methodologies, health impact thresholds, and abatement program effectiveness. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act of 1997 - Amends the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 to revise length limitations on federally-assisted highways to prohibit States from allowing the operation on highways of the Interstate System and the National Highway System of any trailer, semi-trailer, container, or other cargo-carrying unit that is longer than 53 feet, with specified exceptions. Amends Federal highway law to terminate all current State (grandfathered) exceptions to Interstate vehicle weight limits, unless the vehicle or combination involved is on a list of vehicles and combinations which could be lawfully operated in the State on July 1, 1956. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations, in order to promote conformity with Interstate weight limits for the safety of all motorists, defining the term "vehicles and loads which cannot be easily dismantled or divided" (nondivisible loads), which shall apply to all loads operating on the National Highway System. Sets forth gross vehicle weight and axle loading limits on non-Interstate highways on the National Highway System.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the formulae for payments to health maintenance organizations and competitive medical plans. Provides for a metropolitan based system under which: (1) all portions of each metropolitan statistical area in a State are treated as a single Medicare payment area; and (2) all areas in that State that do not fall within a metropolitan statistical area are treated as a single Medicare payment area. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine the annual per capita rate of payment for each Medicare payment area by adjusting the adjusted capitation rate for: (1) individuals (not, as currently, a class of individuals) who are enrolled with an eligible organization which has entered into a risk-sharing contract and who are enrolled under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) only; and (2) such risk factors as age, disability status, gender, institutional status, and other appropriate factors so as to ensure actuarial equivalence. Requires the Secretary to establish a separate rate of payment to an eligible organization with respect to any individual determined to have end-stage renal disease and enrolled with the organization. Prescribes a general formula for the adjusted capitation rate of a Medicare payment area based on an area-specific adjusted capitation rate and an input-price-adjusted national adjusted capitation rate. Specifies area-specific and national percentages for contract years 1998 through 2001 and after. Requires the Secretary, upon written request of the Chief Executive Officer of a State for a contract year, to adjust the system under which Medicare payment areas in the State are otherwise determined to a system which: (1) has a single Statewide Medicare payment area; (2) is a metropolitan based system; or (3) consolidates into a single Medicare payment area noncontiguous counties (or equivalent areas) within the State.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1997
Expresses the sense of the Congress that cost-of-living adjustments for Federal retirees should be paid beginning in January of each year, as current law prescribes, and should not be delayed, whether as part of a budget agreement or otherwise.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
Downed Animal Protection Act - Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make it unlawful for any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer to buy, sell, give, receive, transfer, market, hold, or drag any nonambulatory livestock unless such livestock has been humanely euthanized. Imposes civil and criminal penalties for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1997
American Handgun Standards Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the manufacture, transfer, or possession of a junk gun that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce. Defines a "junk gun" as any handgun that does not meet specified criteria for authorization by the Secretary of the Treasury for importation into the United States. Makes such provision inapplicable to: (1) the possession or transfer of any junk gun otherwise lawfully possessed under Federal law on the date of this Act's enactment; (2) any firearm or replica of a firearm that has been rendered permanently inoperative; (3) the manufacture for, transfer to, or possession by the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State of a junk gun, or a transfer to or possession by a law enforcement officer employed by such an entity for law enforcement purposes (whether on or off duty); (4) the transfer to or possession by a rail police officer employed by a rail carrier and certified or commissioned as a police officer under the laws of a State of a junk gun for such purposes; or (5) the manufacture, transfer, or possession of a junk gun by a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer for the purposes of testing or experimentation authorized by the Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Patent and Trademark Office Modernization Subtitle A: United States Patent and Trademark Office Subtitle B: Effective Date; Technical Amendments Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions Title II: Examining Procedure Improvements: Publication with Provisional Royalties; Term Extensions; Further Examination Title III: Protection for Prior Domestic Users of Patented Technologies Title IV: Enhanced Protection of Inventors' Rights Title V: Improved Reexamination Procedures Title VI: Miscellaneous Improvements 21st Century Patent System Improvement Act - Title I: Patent and Trademark Office Modernization - Patent and Trademark Office Modernization Act - Subtitle A: United States Patent and Trademark Office - Reestablishes the Patent and Trademark Office as a wholly owned Government corporation under the policy direction of the Secretary of Commerce, except as otherwise provided in this title. Requires the Office to maintain its principal office in the District of Columbia metropolitan area. Makes the Office responsible, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, for authorizing the transfer of not to exceed $100,000 in any year to the Department of State to make special payments to international intergovernmental organizations for studies and programs for advancing international cooperation concerning patents, trademarks, and related matters. Authorizes the Office to retain and use all of its revenues and receipts, subject to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. (Sec. 113) Requires Office management to be vested in a Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. (Currently, such management is vested in a Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.) Requires the Director to appoint a Commissioner for Patents and a Commissioner for Trademarks. Exempts the Office from any administratively or statutorily imposed limitations on positions or personnel. Subjects Office employees to provisions governing Federal employees and requires the Office to adopt all existing labor agreements. (Sec. 114) Requires the Office to have a Management Advisory Board to review and report annually to the President and specified congressional committees on the Office's policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees and to advise the Director. (Sec. 115) Repeals provisions subjecting the Director's performance (including regulations governing agents and attorneys representing the Office) to the direction or approval of the Secretary of Commerce. (Sec. 116) Revises the composition of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to include the Director, the Commissioner for Patents, the Commissioner for Trademarks, and appointed members. (Sec. 117) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) revised membership of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences; (2) suits by, and against, the Office; (3) annual report disclosure of the purposes for which receipts were spent; (4) the Director's discretion to designate Office attorneys to conduct hearings relating to the suspension or exclusion from practice of certain individuals; (5) Office receipts, expenditures, and borrowing authority; and (6) the transfer to the Office of Department of Commerce functions, powers, duties, funds, and property related to the authority and functions vested in the Office by this title. Subtitle B: Effective Date; Technical Amendments - Makes this title effective four months after its enactment. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Makes existing appropriations and funds for the performance of functions, programs, and activities terminated pursuant to this title available for their duration for necessary expenses in connection with such action. Title II: Examining Procedure Improvements: Publication With Provisional Royalties; Term Extensions; Further Examination - Examining Procedure Improvements Act - Amends Federal patent law to require each application for a patent, other than certain design patents, to be published promptly after the expiration of 18 months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought. Allows an earlier application publication at the request of the applicant. Prohibits information concerning published patent applications from being made available to the public, except as the Director determines, such decision being final and nonreviewable. Provides publication requirement exceptions. Authorizes the Director to establish appropriate procedures to ensure that this title does not create new opportunities for pre-issuance opposition. (Sec. 203) Entitles a patent applicant to claim the benefit of an earlier filing date in a foreign country if a claim (identifying the original foreign application by its application number, country, and date of filing) is filed in the Office at any such time during the pendency of the application as required by the Director. Allows the Director to: (1) consider the failure by the applicant to file a timely claim for priority as a waiver of such claim; (2) require the payment of a surcharge as a condition of accepting an untimely claim during such pendency; and (3) require a certified copy of the original foreign application and related information, as necessary. (Sec. 204) Specifies that a patent shall include the right to obtain a reasonable royalty from any person who, between the date of publication of the application and the date the patent is issued: (1) makes, uses, or sells in or imports into the United States the claimed invention; or (2) if the invention is a process, uses, offers for sale, or sells in or imports into the United States products made by that process; and (3) had actual notice of the published application or a translation of the international application. Bases the right to such royalty on substantially identical inventions only and only when brought within six years after patent issuance. Specifies the commencement date of the period for obtaining a royalty based upon the publication of an international application designating the United States. (Sec. 205) Provides that a person shall not be entitled to a patent if the invention was described in a published application by another filed in the United States, or in a published international application, before the invention thereof by the applicant. (Sec. 206) Requires the Director to recover the cost of an early publication by adjusting the filing, issue, and maintenance fees, by charging a separate publication fee, or by any combination of such fees. (Sec. 208) Provides for the extension of the term of a patent the issue of which is delayed due to an unusual Office administrative delay. Limits to ten years the total duration of extensions which result from administrative or judicial review, Office administrative delay, or both. Reduces the extension period by the time in which the applicant failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution of the application. (Sec. 209) Requires the Director to prescribe regulations for the further limited reexamination of patent applications. (Sec. 210) Extends to the next business day the last day of pendency of a provisional application when such day will normally fall on a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday. (Sec. 211) Requires the Director, beginning in 2001, to report annually to the Congress regarding the impact of patent applications filed by an applicant who has been accorded the status of independent inventor. Title III: Protection for Prior Domestic Users of Patented Technologies - Protection for Prior Domestic Commercial Users of Patented Technologies Act - Amends Federal patent law to create a defense to patent infringement with respect to any subject matter that would otherwise infringe one or more claims in the patent being asserted, if a person had, acting in good faith, commercially used the subject matter before the effective filing date of such patent. Specifies that the sale or other disposition of the subject matter of a patent by a person entitled to assert the defense shall exhaust the patent owner's rights to the extent they would have been exhausted had such disposition been made by the patent owner. Subjects the defense to specified limitations and qualifications, including those regarding: (1) burden of proof; (2) abandonment of use; (3) who may assert the defense (it is a personal defense); (4) unsuccessful assertion of the defense; and (5) invalidity of a patent. Title IV: Enhanced Protection of Inventors' Rights - Enhanced Protection of Inventors' Rights Act - Requires that every contract for invention development services be in writing and that a copy of the signed written contract be given to the customer at the time the customer enters into the contract. Outlines information required to be included in the contract by the invention developer. Allows a customer to terminate such a contract by sending a written letter to the invention developer stating the intent to cancel. Prescribes language and information required to be included in a cover notice on every such contract. Requires the invention developer to deliver to the customer quarterly progress reports. Outlines mandatory terms for invention development services contracts. Makes voidable by the customer any such contract which does not comply with provisions of this title or which is entered into in reliance upon any material false, fraudulent, or misleading information, representation, notice, or advertisement of the invention developer. Provides appropriate remedies through civil actions, including damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees. Requires the Director to make publicly available all complaints received by the Office involving invention developers. Provides penalties for fraudulent representations by invention developers. Title V: Improved Reexamination Procedures - Improved Reexamination Procedures Act - Amends Federal patent law concerning patent reexamination request authority to authorize the filing of such requests by any person on the basis of patent specification requirements, except for the best mode requirements. (Current law permits reexamination requests only on the basis of prior art.) Establishes procedures for reexamination proceedings based upon third- party (persons other than the patent owner) requests. Requires documents filed in such proceedings to be served upon all parties. Grants third-party requesters: (1) one opportunity to file written comments; and (2) the right to appeal final reexamination decisions. Requires all appealable claims to be brought up during an original reexamination procedure or be thereafter barred. Requires the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences to review adverse decisions of examiners in reexamination proceedings and authorizes appeals to the Board by patent owners and third-party requesters with respect to reexamination decisions. Permits appeals of Board decisions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Title VI: Miscellaneous Improvements - Revises provisions regarding abandonment of original applications to allow, notwithstanding the absence of a claim, a provisional application to be treated as a patent application, under specified conditions. Grants, under specified conditions, benefits of an earlier filing date to an invention patent application filed in this country that has previously and regularly been filed for the same invention in a foreign country which affords similar privileges in the case of applications filed in a World Trade Organization country. (Sec. 603) Allows a patent to be issued for a tuber propagated plant, with the same protections against reproduction, sale, or import into the United States. (Sec. 604) Allows the use of an electronic medium to file papers in the Office. (Sec. 605) Provides that, in the case in which patent issue restriction is required on the ground that two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in one application, the applicant shall be entitled to submit an examination fee and request examination for each independent and distinct invention. Allows an examination fee refund to an applicant who requests reconsideration of a restriction requirement when such requirement is determined to be improper.
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Rescinds congressional consent to the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (entered into by Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1997
Requires the House of Representatives, when the legislatures of an additional three States ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, to take any legislative action necessary to verify the ratification of the Amendment as a part of the Constitution.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act of 1997 - Waives the English language naturalization requirement for certain aliens (or their spouses or widows) who served with special guerilla units in Laos. Provides for naturalization under the Immigration and Nationality Act through such service.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance Act of 1997 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to prohibit a group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group coverage from discriminating on the basis: (1) of genetic information; or (2) that the participant or beneficiary has requested or received genetic services. Regulates genetic information collection and disclosure by plans and issuers. Provides for compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages. Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a group health plan, a health insurance issuer offering group coverage, or a health issuer in the individual market from so discriminating. Regulates genetic information collection and disclosure by plans and issuers. Provides for compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prohibit an issuer of a Medicare supplemental policy from so discriminating. Provides for compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit a group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group coverage from so discriminating. Regulates genetic information collection and disclosure by plans and issuers.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Aircraft Repair Station Safety Act of 1997 - Terminates the effectiveness of certain November 22, 1988, amendments to the foreign repair station rules of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Declares that certain standards issued by the FAA for domestic repair stations shall apply in the same manner to foreign repair stations. Amends Federal aviation safety law to require the FAA Administrator to issue an order revoking a repair station certificate if the Administrator finds that the station knowingly used an uncertified or substandard airframe, engine, propeller, appliance, or any other part in the repair or overhaul of an aircraft.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Financial Services Holding Company Act Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: Securities Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies Subtitle C: Insurance and Real Estate Development Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies Subtitle D: Redomestication of Mutual Life Insurers Title II: Conforming Amendments to Other Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies Title III: Functional Regulation Amendments to Securities Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies Subtitle A: Broker Dealer Provisions Subtitle B: Investment Company Provisions Title IV: Wholesale Financial Institutions Owned By Financial Services Holding Companies Title V: Merger of Bank and Thrift Charters, Regulators, and Insurance Funds Subtitle A: Conversion of Thrift Charters Subtitle B: Elimination of Office of Thrift Supervision Subtitle C: Merger of BIF and SAIF Title VI: National Market Funded Lending Institutions Title VII: Effective Date Depository Institution Affiliation and Thrift Charter Conversion Act - Includes among the purposes of this Act: (1) establishment of an alternative legislative framework for the creation and regulation of financial services holding companies; (2) elimination of prohibitions on common ownership and affiliation within a financial services holding company; (3) elimination of the thrift charter, and mandatory conversion of thrifts into banks; (4) merger of the bank and thrift insurance funds; and (5) creation of new State and Federal charters for uninsured wholesale financial institutions. Title I: Financial Services Holding Company Act - Financial Services Holding Company Act - SuBtitle A: General Provisions - Requires any financial services holding company (FSHC) seeking to acquire control of an insured bank, an insured institution, a bank holding company, or another financial services holding company to comply with certain requirements of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA). (Sec. 104) Subjects FSHCs and certain foreign bank operations to the same restrictions on affiliate transactions that are imposed upon Federal Reserve member banks. Authorizes the appropriate Federal regulatory agency (the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Board, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), or the Federal Home Loan Bank Board) to adopt rules and regulations to prevent an insured depository institution that is controlled by an FSHC from engaging in unsafe or unsound practices. Authorizes the appropriate Federal banking agency, with the concurrence of the national Financial Services Committee, to exempt any FSHC-controlled depository institution from any Federal Reserve Act requirement. Requires an FSHC-controlled depository institution (except certain foreign-controlled banks) to obtain the authorization of the National Financial Services Committee before entering into certain credit, indemnity, guarantee, or insurance activities on behalf of any affiliate that is neither a financial services institution nor primarily engaged in financial activities. (Sec. 105) Requires that each insured depository institution that is controlled by an FSHC be well capitalized. Requires any FSHC controlling a undercapitalized insured depository institution to: (1) enter into an agreement with the appropriate Federal regulatory agency to return the institution to being well capitalized; or (2) divest control of such bank or institution. Prohibits the appropriate Federal banking agency from imposing any requirements pertaining to the capitalization of an FSHC. (Sec. 106) Subjects interstate acquisitions of an insured bank by an FSHC to the same restrictions as are applicable to bank holding companies under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. (Sec. 107) Prohibits Federal and State regulatory agencies from enacting laws that discriminate against FSHCs or their affiliates. Preempts any Federal or State provision inconsistent with the purposes of this Act (including any provision impeding any insurance company or its affiliate from becoming an FSHC, or from acquiring control of a depository institution). (Sec. 108) Subjects FSHCs to the insider lending prohibitions of the Federal Reserve Act. (Sec. 109) Sets forth reporting, examination and enforcement guidelines, including guidelines for divestiture and criminal penalties in the event the appropriate Federal banking agency determines that a depository institution has engaged in a continuing course of conduct involving its FSHC which may affect the safety and soundness of such institution. (Sec. 110) Provides for administrative (including divestiture), criminal, and civil penalties for specified violations of this Act, as well as judicial review of adverse administrative orders. Prohibits such agency from requiring any FSHC to serve as a "source of strength" to any of its depository institution affiliates. (Sec. 114) Establishes a National Financial Services Committee to: (1) establish uniform principles and standards for the examination and supervision of financial services institutions and FSHCs; and (2) recommend to the Congress uniformity in other supervisory matters, as well as additional measures to strengthen the separation of insured banks and institutions controlled by FSHCs from the activities of their affiliates. Prescribes notice procedure guidelines for determining new financial services institutions and new financial activities. Subtitle B: Securities Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies - Prescribes guidelines under which an FSHC with a securities affiliate may not permit a depository institution under its control to engage in underwriting securities (except those expressly authorized by Federal law as permissible for a national bank). (Sec. 122) Prohibits a depository institution with a securities affiliate, except in certain circumstances, from extending credit to the affiliate (or purchasing its financial assets), to enhance the marketability of securities underwritten by the securities affiliate. Prohibits an FSHC, with certain exceptions, from extending or arranging for the extension of credit secured by or for the purpose of purchasing a security (or making payments on principal) that is the subject of a distribution in which an affiliate of the FSHC participates as underwriter or member of a selling group. Prohibits an FSHC with a securities affiliate, with certain exceptions, from extending credit to an issuer of securities underwritten by such securities affiliate for the purpose of making payments on those securities. Requires the appropriate Federal banking agency to prescribe circumstances under which directors and senior executive officers of a securities affiliate may serve simultaneously as directors or senior executive officers of an affiliated depository institution. Exempts small FSHCs (total assets under $500 million) and certain foreign affiliates from such regulations. Prescribes public disclosure requirements for securities affiliates and insured depository institutions. Prohibits a securities affiliate from underwriting securities secured by or representing an interest in mortgages or other obligations originated or purchased by an affiliated depository institution, unless one of four specified requirements is met. Proscribes certain reciprocal arrangements between FSHCs. Allocates Federal oversight responsibilities among the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the appropriate Federal banking agencies. Prescribes circumstances in which a branch, agency, or commercial lending company that is operated by a foreign bank that is a financial services holding company is not subject to specified limitations placed upon securities activities of depository institutions with securities affiliates. Exempts a wholesale financial institution and transactions between it and its securities affiliates, from the requirements of this section, except those providing for additional safeguards and certain compliance programs. Applies this same exemption to a national market lending institution controlled by an FSHC. States that Federal prescriptions governing the FSHCs are subject to the approval of the National Financial Services Committee (NFSC). (Sec. 123) States that the NFSC shall prescribe standards applicable to any FSHC affiliated-depository institution that is not an SEC-registered broker, but effects retail securities transactions. Outlines the scope of such standards. Subtitle C: Insurance and Real Estate Development Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies - Prohibits FSHC-affiliated depository institutions from directly engaging in insurance underwriting, or real estate investment or development. (Sec. 132) Prohibits FSHC entry into new insurance agency activities, unless they are conducted through an existing insurance agency acquired by the FSHC (or through any successor agency) which was actively engaged in insurance activities during the two years before acquisition. Subtitle D: Redomestication of Mutual Life Insurers - Sets forth parameters within which a mutual life insurer may transfer its domicile from one State to a transferee domicile (in another State) as a step in a reorganization in which the mutual life insurer becomes a stock life insurer, whether as a direct or indirect subsidiary of a mutual holding company or otherwise ("redomestication"). Preempts State laws restricting redomestication. Title II: Conforming Amendments to Other Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies - Makes conforming amendments to affected banking laws to exclude FSHCs from their purview, including: (1) the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956; (2) the Banking Act of 1933; (3) the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA); (4) the Federal Power Act; and (5) the International Banking Act. Amends the FDIA and the Revised Statutes of the United States to preclude their authorization of an examination of al affiliate od either an insured depository institution or a national bank if such institution or bank is an affiliate of an FSHC. Title III: Functional Regulation Amendments to Securities Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies - Subtitle A: Broker Dealer Provisions - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to define specified banks as "brokers" and "dealers." (Current law excludes banks from such definition). (Sec. 303) Authorizes the SEC to exempt any person from the definition of "broker" or "dealer" consistent with the public interest and the purposes of this Act. (Sec. 304) Exempts loans made by a member bank (or any other person that has entered into a certain kind of agreement with the Federal Reserve Board) to a broker or dealer from Board-prescribed margin requirements if the loan proceeds are to be used in the ordinary course of business (other than for the purpose of funding securities purchases for the account of such broker or dealer). Subtitle B: Investment Company Provisions - Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to permit: (1) custody of investment company assets by an affiliated bank (or an affiliated person of such bank); and (2) a unit investment trust to designate an affiliated Bank as trustee (currently a prohibited practice). (Sec. 311) Permits the SEC to bring a civil action for breach of fiduciary duty involving personal misconduct against an FSHC- affiliated custodian of a registered investment company. (Sec. 312) States that an affiliate of an investment company for a bank must comply with SEC rules when lending money to an investment company. (Sec. 313) Modifies the definition of "interested person" with respect to an investment company to include any FSHC-affiliated person that, during the preceding six months, has executed one or more transactions of a specified kind. Prohibits a registered investment company from having a majority of its board of directors consisting of personnel or senior officers of any one FSHC-affiliated bank, or of any single FSHC (and its affiliates and subsidiaries). (Sec. 314) Modifies the guidelines pertaining to unlawful misrepresentation of guarantees and the deceptive use of names. (Sec. 315) Modifies the definition of "broker" to state that it does not include any person solely because such person is an underwriter for one or more investment companies. (Sec. 316) Modifies the definition of "dealer" to exclude an insurance or an investment company. (Sec. 317) Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to modify the definitions of investment adviser to remove the exclusion from such definition of an investment adviser for banks that advise investment companies. Revises the definitions of broker and dealer. (Sec. 320) Mandates interagency consultation between the appropriate Federal banking agency and the SEC regarding examination results and other information pertaining to the investment advisory activities of any registered bank holding company and its departments or divisions. (Sec. 321) Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to revise the exclusion from their purview of certain bank common trust funds to specify the exclusion of any interest or participation in any common trust fund or similar fund that is excluded from the definition of "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to revise such exclusion guidelines for certain bank common trust funds. (Sec. 322) Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to prescribe circumstances under which an investment adviser holding shares of an investment company in a fiduciary capacity must transfer the power to vote such shares to the beneficial owners or to another fiduciary who is not an affiliate of such adviser. Title IV: Wholesale Financial Institutions Owned by Financial Services Holding Companies - Amends: (1) the Revised Statutes of the United States to prescribe procedural guidelines on obtaining a Federal charter from the Comptroller of the Currency to organize as a national wholesale financial institution; and (2) the Federal Reserve Act to prescribe procedural guidelines for membership in the Federal Reserve System as a national wholesale financial institution. (Sec. 403) Amends the FDIA to prescribe a procedure by which an insured State-chartered bank or a national bank may voluntarily terminate its status as an insured depository institution. Requires any such terminated bank to become a wholesale financial institution in order to accept any deposits. Title V: Merger of Bank and Thrift Charters, Regulators, and Insurance Funds - Subtitle A: Conversion of Thrift Charters - Thrift Charter Conversion Act of 1997 - Prescribes procedural guidelines for the termination of Federal savings association charters and their conversion into national bank charters (by operation of law) or State depository institution charters. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to treat State Savings Associations as banks for purposes of Federal banking law. Includes as State banks any cooperative bank or other unincorporated bank whose deposits were insured by the FDIC on the day before enactment of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 but excludes from State bank treatment any such banks whose deposits were not FDIC-insured before such date. (Sec. 502) Requires the FDIC to review State supervision of depository institutions in order to ensure that State savings associations are regulated as rigorously as State banks. (Sec. 503) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to permit continuation of grandfathered bank holding company activities and affiliations, including requalification as a qualified thrift lender in the event of failure to meet requirements for grandfathered status. Prohibits certain insured depository institutions from identifying themselves as national banks, but shields them from any liability for fraudulent misrepresentation for not representing themselves as a national bank. (Sec. 504) Sets forth transition provisions for: (1) activities of savings associations and mutual savings associations which have converted into or become treated as banks; and (2) registration of bank holding companies resulting from conversions of savings associations to banks, or treatment of savings associations as banks. Places qualified bank holding companies under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board). (Sec. 506) Amends the National Bank Act to prescribe procedural guidelines under which the Comptroller of the Currency is authorized to charter national mutual or State mutual banks. Amends the BHCA to prescribe procedural guidelines under which a national mutual bank may reorganize to become a holding company. Cites permissible activities. Provides for the conversion of mutual savings associations to mutual national banks by operation of law. Transfers regulatory jurisdiction over a mutual holding company to the Board. Subjects a Federal mutual holding company in existence on the date of enactment of this Act to certain BHCA provisions. (Sec. 509) Repeals the Home Owners' Loan Act. Subtitle B: Elimination of Office of the Thrift Supervision - Abolishes the Office of Thrift Supervision and the position of Director of such Office. Transfers its functions, personnel, and property to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, or the Board. Sets forth the rights of such transferred personnel. (Sec. 514) Requires that any cost of funds index based upon certain characteristics of Federal home loan banks be calculated using data only from insured depository institutions which were bank members and whose data was previously included in such index. Subtitle C: Merger of BIF and SAIF - Amends the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 to advance the effective date for the merger of the Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund from January 1, 1999, to the date of enactment of this Act. Title VI: National Market Funding Lending Institutions - Amends the Revised Statutes to prescribe guidelines under which a company (or five or more natural persons) may petition the Comptroller of the Currency for permission to organize a federally chartered national market funded lending institution. (Sec. 601) Prescribes requirements for such institution. Vests exclusive oversight authority for it in the Comptroller (including examination, enforcement, charter revocation and appointment of a conservator). Provides for conversions of depository institutions into national market funded lending institutions upon approval of the Comptroller. Title VII: Effective Date - Makes January 1, 1998, the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
ATM Fee Reform Act of 1997 - Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to mandate fee disclosures at the time of service by any host electronic terminal operator which imposes a fee for providing host transfer services to a consumer. Mandates disclosure at the time the consumer contracts for electronic fund transfer services that fees may be imposed for initiating electronic fund transfers from an electronic terminal which is not operated by the issuer of the consumer's access card. Requires the Comptroller General to study the feasibility of requiring specified fee disclosures before the consumer is irrevocably committed to completing any electronic fund transfer by means of an electronic terminal.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act - Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to extend coverage to employees at worksites where the employer employs at least 25 (currently 50) employees at the worksite and within 75 miles of that worksite. Allows employees covered by such Act to take up to four hours during any 30-day period, and up to 24 hours during any 12-month period, of parental involvement leave to participate in or attend their children's educational and extracurricular activities. Amends Federal civil service law to apply the same parental involvement leave allowance to Federal employees. Provides that leave under such Act may be taken to meet: (1) routine family medical needs, including transportation of children for medical and dental appointments for annual checkups and vaccinations; and (2) the routine medical care needs of elderly relatives of the eligible employee, including visits to nursing homes and group homes.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish rules barring the use of horns, sirens, or other customary public safety or traffic sounds from audio broadcasts as necessary to prevent such sound effects from adversely affecting the public safety of motor vehicle operators, passengers, or pedestrians.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Public Pension Parity Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exclude from gross income any amount received by an individual as a qualified governmental pension which does not exceed the maximum excludable social security benefits of the taxpayer for such year reduced by the social security benefits received during such year which were excluded from gross income; and (2) prohibit applying clause (1) to any qualified governmental pension received during the taxable year unless the taxpayer (or the spouse or former spouse of the taxpayer) performed the service giving rise to such pension. Defines the term "maximum excludable social security benefits."
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Livable Wage Act - Prohibits Federal executive agencies from entering into any contract which does not require that the wages and benefits paid under that Federal contract (and its subcontracts) be greater than the poverty line for a family of four in the local area. Makes such wage requirement inapplicable to: (1) bona fide job training or apprenticeship programs; or (2) contracts with businesses with 50 or fewer employees.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Medicare Preventive Benefit Improvement Act of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for expanded coverage of preventive benefits under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program. Makes all women over age 49 eligible for annual screening mammography benefit coverage. Waives the deductible co-payment on such benefit. Makes women of childbearing age (if they have not had a negative result in such a test in each of the preceding three years), or at high risk of developing cervical cancer, eligible for yearly pap smears, by suspending in their cases a specified three-year frequency limitation on benefit coverage for screening pap smears. Makes such women eligible also for yearly screening pelvic exams, including a clinical breast exam. Makes other women eligible for triennial screening pelvic exams. Waives the deductible co-payment for such exams. Adds coverage of screening procedures, with specified payment and frequency limitations, for early detection of colorectal cancer, including fecal occult blood test, flexible sigmoidoscopy, and colonoscopy for high risk individuals, as well as a barium enema if the Secretary of Health and Human Services finds that to be an appropriate alternative to a sigmoidoscopy or a colonoscopy. Directs the Secretary to make a decision within two years about covering screening barium enemas as such an alternative. Adds biennial coverage of certain prostate cancer screening procedures for men over 50 years of age, including a digital rectal examination and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. Adds coverage of the following diabetes screening benefits: (1) diabetes outpatient self-management training services; and (2) blood-testing strips (with payment based on inexpensive, routinely purchased durable medical equipment). Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish outcome measures to evaluate improvement of the health of Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes mellitus; and (2) submit recommendations to the Congress regarding modifications to the Medicare coverage of services for such beneficiaries.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Amends Federal highway safety law pertaining to alcohol-impaired driving countermeasure grants to include among the basic grant eligibility requirements establishment of a vehicle forfeiture system for persons operating a motor vehicle with a license suspended or revoked as a result of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Stop Sweatshops Act of 1997 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for the civil liability of manufacturers for sweatshop conditions maintained by their contractors in the garment industry. Sets forth civil penalties for violation of recordkeeping and payroll accounting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 1997 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group health insurance coverage, with regard to hospital stays in connection with breast cancer treatment, from: (1) covering less than 48 hours after mastectomies or less than 24 hours after lymph node dissections; or (2) requiring plan or issuer authorization for prescribing any length of stay. Prohibits: (1) denying eligibility, enrollment, or renewal to avoid these requirements; (2) providing payments or rebates to women; or (3) penalizing or providing incentives to providers. Applies the same requirements to issuers in the individual market.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Voting Rights of Homeless Citizens Act of 1997 - Prohibits the imposition or application by any State or political subdivision of any standard, practice, procedure, voting qualification, or prerequisite to voting to deny or abridge the right of any U.S. citizen to vote because that citizen resides at or in a non-traditional abode. Authorizes the Attorney General to commence a civil action or an aggrieved citizen to institute a proceeding under this Act for injunctive relief against a violation of such prohibition.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Twelve is Enough Anti-Gunrunning Act - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit any licensed firearms dealer: (1) during any 30-day period, from selling two or more handguns to an unlicensed individual; or (2) from selling a handgun to an unlicensed individual who purchased a handgun during the 30-day period ending on the date of the sale. Provides that such prohibitions do not apply to an exchange of one handgun for another. Prohibits an unlicensed individual from purchasing two or more handguns during any 30-day period. Provides for imprisonment for up to five years (currently, one year) for a licensed dealer, importer, manufacturer, or collector who knowingly makes any false statement in connection with required firearms records. Extends the deadline for the destruction of records relating to handgun transfers subject to the waiting period from 20 business days to 35 calendar days after the date the transferee made the statement on the basis of which notice of the transaction was provided to the chief law enforcement officer of the place of residence of the transferee. Requires the national instant criminal background check system, if receipt of a firearm would not violate Federal or State law, to destroy records relating to the person or the transfer within 35 calendar days after the date the system provides the licensee with the unique identification number to the transfer. Revises the definition of "engaged in the business" as applied to a dealer in firearms to include any person who transfers more than one handgun in any 30-day period to a person who is not a licensed dealer.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Medicare Diabetes Education and Supplies Amendments of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for Medicare coverage of diabetes outpatient self-management training services and blood-testing strips for individuals with diabetes.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Consumer Internet Privacy Protection Act of 1997 - Prohibits an interactive computer service from disclosing to a third party any personally identifiable information provided by a subscriber without the subscriber's informed written consent. Permits the subscriber to revoke such consent at any time and requires the service to cease disclosing such information. Prohibits such service or its employee from knowingly disclosing to a third party any personally identifiable information provided by a subscriber that such service has knowingly falsified. Requires, at a subscriber's request, such service to: (1) provide such individual with his or her personally identifiable information maintained by the service; (2) permit the subscriber to verify and to correct such information; and (3) provide to the subscriber the identity of the third party recipients of such information. Prohibits the service from charging a fee to the subscriber for making such information available. Grants the Federal Trade Commission the authority to: (1) investigate whether a service has been or is engaged in any act or practice prohibited by this Act; and (2) if so, issue a cease and desist order as if such service were in violation of specified provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Allows a subscriber aggrieved by a violation of this Act to obtain appropriate relief in a civil action.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Amends Federal law to exclude the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund from the Federal and congressional budgets, and exempt it from any general budget limitation imposed by statute on U.S. budget outlays and from certain orders issued under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Social Security Benefits Fairness Act of 1997 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to provide that a monthly OASDI benefit shall be paid for the month in which the recipient dies, subject to a reduction of 50 percent if the recipient dies during the first 15 days of such month.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Social Security Notch Act of 1997 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act with respect to the benefit computation formula for individuals who reached age 65 in or after 1982 and to whom applies the period of transition to the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977. Sets forth a schedule of additional benefit increases for such beneficiaries (and related beneficiaries), with percentages declining from 70 percent to 35 percent keyed to the year an individual became eligible for such benefits between 1979 and 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Employee Educational Assistance Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) permanently extend the exclusion from gross income of employer-provided educational assistance; and (2) restore the exclusion for such assistance on the graduate level.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1997
Declares that the United States is fully committed to the goals enunciated in the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and associated annexes negotiated in Dayton, Ohio, and signed in Paris, France (Agreement), and to the unified state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Commends the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) for its work in establishing peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Encourages the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), other institutions, and non-governmental organizations to promote further rebuilding of democratic institutions and civic society in Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighboring countries. Opposes admission to international organizations and fora of, and the receipt of certain loans and financial or technical assistance from international financial institutions by, the parties to the Agreement until such states have complied with their obligations under the Agreement and United Nations Security Council Resolutions to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal. Urges: (1) the United States and the international community to oppose secession by any entity from the unified state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to actively support the work of the parties to establish democratic institutions and the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to increase support for the efforts of the Tribunal, and to support the request of the Tribunal President for the High Representative to impose sanction on those who have not complied with their obligations to cooperate fully with the Tribunal; (2) the signatories to the Agreement and those nations and organizations participating in its implementation to ensure full implementation of the arms control and confidence-building agreements reached as part of the Agreement; (3) IFOR, the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR), the International Police Task Force, and other designated missions to make it an urgent priority to detain and bring to justice persons indicted by the Tribunal; (4) IFOR and SFOR to take an active role in ensuring respect by the parties to the Agreement for freedom of movement throughout the country; and (5) the United States, OSCE, and the international community to press the Serbian Government to recognize the results of recent elections, facilitate installation of duly elected opposition candidates, undertake a dialogue with democratic forces working for reform, and act immediately to improve respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 1996
Stop Sweatshops Act of 1996 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for the civil liability of manufacturers for sweatshop conditions in the garment industry. Sets forth civil penalties for violation of recordkeeping and payroll accounting requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Financial Services Holding Company Act Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: Securities Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies Subtitle C: Insurance and Real Estate Development Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies Title II: Conforming Amendments to other Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies Title III: Functional Regulation Amendments to Securities Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies Subtitle A: Broker Dealer Provisions Subtitle B: Investment Company Provisions Title IV: Wholesale Financial Institutions Owned by Financial Services Holding Companies Title V: Merger of Bank and Thrift Charters, Regulators, and Insurance Funds Subtitle A: Conversion of Thrift Charters Subtitle B: Elimination of Office of Thrift Supervision Subtitle C: Merger of BIF and SAIF Title VI: National Market Funded Lending Institutions Title VII: Effective Date Depository Institution Affiliation and Thrift Charter Conversion Act - Includes among the purposes of this Act: (1) establishment of an alternative legislative framework for the creation and regulation of financial services holding companies; (2) elimination of prohibitions on common ownership and affiliation within a financial services holding company; (3) elimination of the thrift charter, and mandatory conversion of thrifts into banks; (4) merger of the bank and thrift insurance funds; and (5) creation of new State and Federal charters for uninsured wholesale financial institutions. Title I: Financial Services Holding Company Act - Financial Services Holding Company Act - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Requires any financial services holding company (FSHC) seeking to acquire control of an insured bank, an insured institution, a bank holding company, or another financial services holding company to comply with certain requirements of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA). (Sec. 104) Subjects FSHCs and certain foreign bank operations to the same restrictions on affiliate transactions that are imposed upon Federal Reserve member banks. Authorizes the appropriate Federal regulatory agency (the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Board, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), or the Federal Home Loan Bank Board) to adopt rules and regulations to prevent an insured depository institution that is controlled by an FSHC from engaging in unsafe or unsound practices. Authorizes the appropriate Federal banking agency, with the concurrence of the national Financial Services Committee, to exempt any FSHC-controlled depository institution from any Federal Reserve Act requirement. Requires an FSHC-controlled depository institution (except certain foreign-controlled banks) to obtain the authorization of the National Financial Services Committee before entering into certain credit, indemnity, guarantee, or insurance activities on behalf of any affiliate that is neither a financial services institution nor primarily engaged in financial activities. (Sec. 105) Requires that each insured depository institution that is controlled by an FSHC be well capitalized. Requires any FSHC controlling an undercapitalized insured depository institution to: (1) enter into an agreement with the appropriate Federal regulatory agency to return the institution to being well capitalized; or (2) divest control of such bank or institution. Prohibits the appropriate Federal banking agency from imposing any requirements pertaining to the capitalization of an FSHC. (Sec. 106) Subjects interstate acquisitions of an insured bank by an FSHC to the same restrictions as are applicable to bank holding companies under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. (Sec. 107) Prohibits Federal and State regulatory agencies from enacting laws that discriminate against FSHCs or their affiliates. Preempts any Federal or State provision inconsistent with the purposes of this Act. (Sec. 108) Subjects FSHCs to the tying provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970 and to the insider lending prohibitions of the Federal Reserve Act. Subjects an FSHC and its nonbanking subsidiaries to certain limitations on tie-in arrangements imposed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board upon bank holding companies and their nonbanking subsidiaries with respect to extending credit, leasing or selling property, providing any service, or fixing or varying the consideration for any such transaction. (Sec. 109) Sets forth reporting, examination and enforcement guidelines, including guidelines for divestiture and criminal penalties in the event the appropriate Federal banking agency determines that a depository institution has engaged in a continuing course of conduct involving its FSHC which may affect the safety and soundness of such institution. (Sec. 110) Provides for administrative (including divestiture), criminal, and civil penalties for specified violations of this Act, as well as judicial review of adverse administrative orders. (Sec. 114) Establishes a National Financial Services Committee to: (1) establish uniform principles and standards for the examination and supervision of financial services institutions and FSHCs; and (2) to recommend to the Congress uniformity in other supervisory matters, as well as additional measures to strengthen the separation of insured banks and institutions controlled by FSHCs from the activities of their affiliates. Prescribes notice procedure guidelines for determining new financial services institutions and new financial activities. Subtitle B: Securities Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies - Prescribes guidelines under which an FSHC with a securities affiliate may not permit a depository institution under its control to engage in underwriting securities (except those expressly authorized by Federal law as permissible for a national bank). (Sec. 122) Prohibits a depository institution with a securities affiliate, except in certain circumstances, from extending credit to the affiliate (or purchasing its financial assets), to enhance the marketability of securities underwritten by the securities affiliate. Prohibits an FSHC, with certain exceptions, from extending or arranging for the extension of credit secured by or for the purpose of purchasing a security (or making payments on principal) that is the subject of a distribution in which an affiliate of the FSHC participates as underwriter or member of a selling group. Prohibits an FSHC with a securities affiliate, with certain exceptions, from extending credit to an issuer of securities underwritten by such securities affiliate for the purpose of making payments on those securities. Requires the appropriate Federal banking agency to prescribe circumstances under which directors and senior executive officers of a securities affiliate may serve simultaneously as directors or senior executive officers of an affiliated depository institution. Exempts small FSHCs (with total assets under $500 million) and certain foreign affiliates from such regulations. Prescribes public disclosure requirements for securities affiliates and insured depository institutions. Prohibits a securities affiliate from underwriting securities secured by or representing an interest in mortgages or other obligations originated or purchased by an affiliated depository institution, unless one of four specified requirements is met. Proscribes certain reciprocal arrangements between FSHCs. Allocates Federal oversight responsibilities among the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the appropriate Federal banking agencies. Prescribes circumstances in which a branch, agency, or commercial lending company that is operated by a foreign bank that is a financial services holding company is not subject to specified limitations placed upon securities activities of depository institutions with securities affiliates. Exempts a wholesale financial institution and transactions between it and its securities affiliates, from the requirements of this section, except those providing for additional safeguards and certain compliance programs. Applies this same exemption to a national market lending institution controlled by an FSHC. States that Federal prescriptions governing the FSHCs are subject to the approval of the National Financial Services Committee (NFSC). (Sec. 123) States that the NFSC shall prescribe standards applicable to any FSHC affiliated-depository institution that is not an SEC-registered broker, but effects retail securities transactions. Outlines the scope of such standards. Subtitle C: Insurance and Real Estate Development Activities of Financial Services Holding Companies - Prohibits FSHC-affiliated depository institutions from directly engaging in insurance underwriting, or real estate investment or development. (Sec. 132) Prohibits FSHC entry into new insurance agency activities, unless they are conducted through an existing insurance agency acquired by the FSHC (or through any successor agency) which was actively engaged in insurance activities during the two years before acquisition. Title II: Conforming Amendments to Other Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies - Makes conforming amendments to affected banking laws to exclude FSHCs from their purview, including: (1) the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956; (2) the Banking Act of 1933; (3) the Federal Deposit Insurance Act; (4) the Federal Power Act; and (5) the International Banking Act. Title III: Functional Regulation Amendments to Securities Laws for Financial Services Holding Companies - Subtitle A: Broker Dealer Provisions - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to define specified banks as "brokers" and "dealers" (current law excludes banks from such definition). (Sec. 303) Authorizes the SEC to exempt any person from the definition of "broker" or "dealer" consistent with the public interest and the purposes of this Act. (Sec. 304) Exempts loans made by a member bank (or any other person that has entered into a certain kind of agreement with the Federal Reserve Board) to a broker or dealer from Board-prescribed margin requirements if the loan proceeds are to be used in the ordinary course of business (other than for the purpose of funding securities purchases for the account of such broker or dealer). Subtitle B: Investment Company Provisions - Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to permit: (1) custody of investment company assets by an affiliated bank (or an affiliated person of such bank); and (2) a unit investment trust to designate an affiliated bank as trustee (currently a prohibited practice). (Sec. 311) Permits the SEC to bring a civil action for breach of fiduciary duty involving personal misconduct against an FSHC- affiliated custodian of a registered investment company. (Sec. 312) States that an affiliate of an investment company for a bank must comply with SEC rules when lending money to an investment company. (Sec. 313) Modifies the definition of "interested person" with respect to an investment company to include any FSHC-affiliated person that, during the preceding six months, has executed one or more transactions of a specified kind. Prohibits a registered investment company from having a majority of its board of directors consisting of personnel or senior officers of any one FSHC-affiliated bank, or of any single FSHC (and its affiliates and subsidiaries). (Sec. 314) Modifies the guidelines pertaining to unlawful misrepresentation of guarantees and the deceptive use of names. (Sec. 315) Modifies the definition of "broker" to state that it does not include any person solely by reason of the fact that such person is an underwriter for one or more investment companies. (Sec. 316) Modifies the definition of "dealer" to exclude an insurance or an investment company. (Sec. 317) Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to modify the definitions of investment adviser to remove the exclusion from such definition of an investment adviser for banks that advise investment companies. Revises the definitions of broker and dealer. (Sec. 320) Mandates interagency consultation between the appropriate Federal banking agency and the SEC regarding examination results and other information pertaining to the investment advisory activities of any registered bank holding company and its departments or divisions. (Sec. 321) Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to revise the exclusion from their purview of certain bank common trust funds to specify the exclusion of any interest or participation in any common trust fund or similar fund that is excluded from the definition of "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to revise such exclusion guidelines for certain bank common trust funds. (Sec. 322) Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to prescribe circumstances under which an investment adviser holding shares of an investment company in a fiduciary capacity must transfer the power to vote such shares to the beneficial owners or to another fiduciary who is not an affiliate of such adviser. Title IV: Wholesale Financial Institutions Owned by Financial Services Holding Companies - Amends: (1) the Revised Statutes of the United States to prescribe procedural guidelines on obtaining a Federal charter from the Comptroller of the Currency to organize as a national wholesale financial institution; and (2) the Federal Reserve Act to prescribe procedural guidelines for membership in the Federal Reserve System as a national wholesale financial institution. (Sec. 403) Amends the FDIA to prescribe a procedure by which an insured State-chartered bank or a national bank may voluntarily terminate its status as an insured depository institution. Requires any such terminated bank to become a wholesale financial institution in order to accept any deposits. Title V: Merger of Bank and Thrift Charters, Regulators, and Insurance Funds - Subtitle A: Conversion of Thrift Charters - Thrift Charter Conversion Act of 1996 - Prescribes procedural guidelines for the termination of Federal savings association charters and their conversion into national bank charters or State depository institution charters. Prohibits the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision from granting any charter for a Federal savings association. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to treat State Savings Associations as banks for purposes of Federal banking law. Includes as State banks any cooperative bank or other unincorporated bank whose deposits were insured by the FDIC on the day before enactment of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 but excludes from State bank treatment any such banks whose deposits were not FDIC-insured before such date. (Sec. 502) Requires the FDIC to review State supervision of depository institutions in order to ensure that State savings associations are regulated as rigorously as State banks. (Sec. 503) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to permit continuation of grandfathered bank holding company activities and affiliations. Prohibits certain insured depository institutions from identifying themselves as national banks, but shields them from any liability for fraudulent misrepresentation for not representing themselves as a national bank. (Sec. 504) Sets forth transition provisions for: (1) activities of savings associations and mutual savings associations which have converted into or become treated as banks; and (2) registration of bank holding companies resulting from conversions of savings associations to banks, or treatment of savings associations as banks. Places qualified bank holding companies under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board). (Sec. 506) Amends the National Bank Act to prescribe procedural guidelines under which the Comptroller of the Currency is authorized to charter national mutual or State mutual banks. Amends the BHCA to prescribe procedural guidelines under which a national mutual bank may reorganize to become a holding company. Cites permissible activities. Provides for the conversion of mutual savings associations to mutual national banks by operation of law. Transfers regulatory jurisdiction over a mutual holding company to the Board. Subjects a Federal mutual holding company in existence on the date of enactment of this Act to certain BHCA provisions. (Sec. 509) Repeals the Home Owners' Loan Act. Subtitle B: Elimination of Office of the Thrift Supervision - Abolishes the Office of Thrift Supervision and the position of Director of such Office. Transfers its functions, personnel, and property to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, or the Board. Sets forth the rights of such transferred personnel. (Sec. 514) Requires that any cost of funds index based upon certain characteristics of Federal home loan banks be calculated using data only from insured depository institutions which were bank members and whose data was previously included in such index. Subtitle C: Merger of BIF and SAIF - Amends the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 to advance the effective date for the merger of the Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund from January 1, 1999, to January 1, 1997. Title VI: National Market Funding Lending Institutions - Amends the Revised Statutes to prescribe guidelines under which a company (or five or more natural persons) may petition the Comptroller of the Currency for permission to organize a federally chartered national market funded lending institution. (Sec. 601) Prescribes requirements for such institution. Vests exclusive oversight authority for it in the Comptroller (including examination, enforcement, charter revocation and appointment of a conservator). Provides for conversions of depository institutions into national market funded lending institutions upon approval of the Comptroller. Title VII: Effective Date - Declares the effective date for this Act is January 1, 1997.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1996
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the conducting of certain games of chance shall not be treated as an unrelated trade or business for purposes of the tax imposed on tax-exempt organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Child Labor Free Labeling Standards Title II: Child Labor Free Commission Title III: Recognition of Exemplary Corporate Efforts Title IV: Definitions Child Labor Free Consumer Information Act of 1996 - Title I: Child Labor Free Labeling Standards - Directs the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations to ensure that a label using any term or symbol denying the use of child labor does not make a false statement or suggestion that the article or section of wearing apparel or sporting good was not made with child labor. Requires such standards to encourage the use of an easily identifiable symbol or term indicating that the article or section of wearing apparel or sporting good was not made with child labor. (Sec. 101) Requires a producer, importer, exporter, distributor, or other person intending to use any such label to notify the Child Labor Free Commission (CLFC, established under title II of this Act) within 60 days after the product bearing that label becomes available to the public for purchase. Requires the Commission to review the notification. Authorizes the Secretary to charge a fee to cover the expenses of the CLFC in reviewing a notification. Makes it a violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) for any producer, importer, exporter, distributor, or seller of any article of wearing apparel (or section of an article of wearing apparel) or sporting good that is exported from or offered for sale in the United States to: (1) falsely indicate on the label or the packaging of that item that the item was not made with child labor; or (2) otherwise falsely claim or suggest that the item was not made with child labor. Amends FTCA to prescribe civil penalties for such violations. Establishes in the Treasury the Free the Children Fund for receipt of such penalties. Authorizes annual appropriations of such amounts in the Fund for specified educational and other programs to eliminate child labor. (Sec. 102) Directs the CLFC to assist the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by reviewing petitions alleging violations of the labeling standards under this Act. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of Commerce, upon discovering a violation of this Act in the course of an investigation, to report it to the Secretary of Labor, who will review such report and, as appropriate, refer the violation to the FTC for enforcement under FTCA. Title II: Child Labor Free Commission - Establishes the Child Labor Free Commission (CLFC). (Sec. 202) Directs the CLFC to: (1) assist the Secretary of Labor in developing child free labor labeling standards, and in developing and implementing a compliance system; and (2) commence developing an easily identifiable labeling standard that the Secretary of Labor shall issue to encourage the use of voluntary labels assuring consumers that an article of wearing apparel or sporting good was made without the use of sweatshop or exploited adult labor. Title III: Recognition of Exemplary Corporate Efforts - Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) issue annual reports concerning companies making exemplary progress in ensuring that products they make, sell, or distribute are not made with abusive and exploitative child labor; and (2) develop and implement, with the CLFC, other methods of recognizing such exemplary company programs. Title IV: Definitions - Defines child as an individual who has not attained the age of: (1) 15 years, as measured by the Julian calendar; or (2) 14 such years, for a resident of a country that, by law, so defines a child.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 1996
Consumer Internet Privacy Protection Act of 1996 - Prohibits an interactive computer service from disclosing to a third party any personally identifiable information provided by a subscriber without the subscriber's informed written consent. Permits the subscriber to revoke such consent at any time and requires the service to cease disclosing such information. Prohibits such service or its employee from knowingly disclosing to a third party any personally identifiable information provided by a subscriber that such service has knowingly falsified. Requires, at a subscriber's request, such service to: (1) provide such individual with his or her personally identifiable information maintained by the service; (2) permit the subscriber to verify and to correct such information; and (3) provide to the subscriber the identity of the third party recipients of such information. Prohibits the service from charging a fee to the subscriber for making such information available. Grants the Federal Trade Commission the authority: (1) to investigate whether a service has been or is engaged in any act or practice prohibited by this Act; and (2) if so, to issue a cease and desist order as if such service were in violation of specified provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Allows a subscriber aggrieved by a violation of this Act to obtain appropriate relief in a civil action.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1996
Commends the organizers, coordinators, and volunteers of NetDay96 throughout the Nation. Calls for: (1) NetDay96's success in California to be used as a model in other States; (2) NetDay96 to be expanded nationwide to assist students, parents, and schools to obtain the full benefits of computer equipment and networks, strengthen their educations, and begin careers with more skills and opportunities in order to help them compete more successfully in the global economy; and (3) businesses, students, parents, educators, and unions throughout the country to consider organizing NetDay96 activities in their communities. Affirms support of NetDay96's commitment to have U.S. classrooms fitted with the needed technological infrastructure for the 21st century.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Restores Federal armed forces provisions relating to the status of missing persons as in effect before amendments made by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1996
Requires each Member and employing authority of the House of Representatives to comply with the Office Recycling Program of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC). Directs the AOC to: (1) ensure that all House employees with custodial duties are adequately trained in Program implementation; and (2) require any House contractor carrying out the Program to ensure that all personnel are trained in Program implementation; and (3) report semiannually to the Committee on House Oversight on Program compliance.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1996
Requires any Bureau of Reclamation contract entered into by the Secretary of the Interior with a district after the enactment of this Act for the delivery of irrigation water for a period in excess of one year for a new project (or new unit of an existing project) to provide for the delivery of such water at full cost to the district (as defined under the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982). Excepts from such requirements those project units: (1) for which water delivery has commenced prior to July 25, 1996; and (2) which have entered into a repayment contract or long-term water service contract for the delivery of water from such unit.
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