United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Modification of Passive Loss Rules Title II: Provisions Relating to Real Estate Investments By Pension Funds Title III: Discharge of Indebtedness Real Estate Stability and Recovery Amendments Act of 1993 - Title I: Modification of Passive Loss Rules - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude certain rental real estate development activities from treatment as a passive activity for purposes of determining passive activity losses and credits. Title II: Provisions Relating to Real Estate Investments by Pension Funds - Modifies exceptions to the exclusion of real property acquired by a qualified organization from the meaning of acquisition indebtedness. Makes certain exceptions inapplicable to sales out of foreclosure by a financial institution. Applies the meaning of acquisition indebtedness to investments in certain large partnerships where the principal purpose of partnership allocation is not tax avoidance. Repeals the special rule for publicly traded partnerships with respect to the treatment of unrelated business taxable income. Permits a tax-exempt title-holding company to receive unrelated business taxable income of up to ten percent of its gross income, if the income is incidentally derived from the holding of real property. Excludes from unrelated business taxable income: (1) gains from the sale, exchange, or other disposition of real property acquired from financial institutions that are in conservatorship or receivership; (2) amounts received or accrued as consideration for entering into agreements to make loans; and (3) all gains on the lapse or termination of options, written by an organization in connection with its investment activities, to buy or sell real property. Provides for the tax treatment of pension fund investments in real estate investment trusts. Title III: Discharge of Indebtedness - Excludes from gross income, the income from the discharge of qualified real property business indebtedness. Applies the excluded amount to reduce the basis of the depreciable real property. Limits such amount to the amount of outstanding indebtedness over the fair market value of the property, reduced by any other qualified real estate business indebtedness. Excludes qualified farm indebtedness from the definition of "qualified real property business indebtedness."
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1993
United States Mint Bicentennial Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Mint. Prescribes the designs for the ensuing five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar silver coins. Restricts issuance of such coins to 1993. Mandates that all surcharges received from the sale of such coins be paid to the Smithsonian Institution for the National Numismatic Collection. Requires the Executive Director of the National Numismatic Collection to establish specified funds with the surcharge proceeds. Prescribes financial assurances.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1993
Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Reserve Act to require the Federal Open Market Committee to consult with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers prior to the President's submission of the budget. Directs the President to appoint the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board). Mandates that any change in the intermediate targets for monetary policy adopted by the Federal Open Market Committee shall be publicly disclosed on the date of its adoption. Prohibits the Comptroller General from auditing written communications among members of the Board, including Federal Reserve System personnel, with respect to transactions with a foreign central bank, foreign government, or nonprivate international financing organization. Mandates that the estimated receipts and proposed expenditures of the Board and all Federal Reserve Banks be transmitted by the President (without change) with the budget submitted to the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1993
Monetary Policy Reform Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Reserve Act to establish the Federal Open Market Advisory Committee to advise the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on the conduct of open-market operations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1993
Prisoner-of-War Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a specified number of one-dollar coins emblematic of the experience of American prisoners of war. Requires that all sales of such coins include a surcharge of $5 per coin. Requires specified proceeds from such surcharges to be paid to the: (1) Secretary of the Interior for construction of the Andersonville Prisoner-of-War Museum in Andersonville, Georgia; (2) endowment fund established by this Act for the maintenance of such Museum; and (3) Secretary of Veterans Affairs to maintain national cemeteries.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1993
Makes eligible for the award of the Purple Heart those persons wounded in action on or after December 7, 1941, by weapon fire while engaged in armed conflict, regardless of the origin of the weapon fire.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1993
Amends the National School Lunch Act to remove the requirement that schools participating in the school lunch program offer students specified types of fluid milk (while retaining the requirement that they offer fluid milk).
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1993
Federal Employees Political Activities Act of 1993 - Prohibits an employee from using or attempting to use official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of any election. Prohibits the use of official authority to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or influence: (1) any individual for the purpose of interfering with the right to vote or not to vote for any candidate or measure in any election; (2) any person to give or withhold any political contribution; or (3) any person to engage, or not to engage, in any form of political activity. Prohibits an employee from: (1) giving or offering to give a political contribution to any individual either to vote or to refrain from voting; (2) soliciting, accepting, or receiving a political contribution to vote or refrain from voting; or (3) giving or handing over a political contribution to a superior. Prohibits an employee from soliciting, accepting, or receiving a political contribution: (1) from another employee (or a member of another employee's immediate family) with respect to whom the employee is a superior; or (2) in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by a Federal employee, official, or contractor. Prohibits an employee from getting involved with political contributions with any person who: (1) has, or is seeking to obtain, contractual or other business relations with the employing agency; (2) conducts operations regulated by that agency; or (3) has interests which may be substantially affected by the performance of the employee's official duties. Prohibits an employee from engaging in political activity: (1) while on duty; (2) in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by a Federal employee or official; (3) while wearing a uniform or official insignia identifying the office or position of the employee; or (4) while using any vehicle owned or leased by the Government. Exempts certain high level political appointees from such prohibitions if the costs associated with the political activity are not paid for by money derived from the Treasury. Authorizes leave without pay or accrued annual leave to an employee who is a candidate, upon request, to allow such employee to engage in activities relating to that candidacy. Applies this Act to postal employees and employees of the Postal Rate Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1993
Amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to prohibit permanent replacement of strikers. Amends the National Labor Relations Act to make it an unfair labor practice for an employer to promise, threaten, or take other action to hire a permanent replacement for an employee who: (1) at the beginning of a labor dispute was in a bargaining unit in which a labor organization either was the certified or recognized exclusive representative or had filed, at least 30 days before such dispute began, a petition for a representational election on the basis of written authorizations by a majority of unit employees and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has not completed the representation proceeding; and (2) in connection with that dispute has engaged in concerted activities for collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection through that labor organization. Makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to withhold or deny any other employment right or privilege to such an employee as described above who is working for or has unconditionally offered to return to work for the employer, out of preference for any other individual based on that individual's performing, having performed, or having indicated a willingness to perform bargaining unit work for the employer during the dispute. Amends the Railway Labor Act to prohibit any carrier or its officer or agent from offering or granting: (1) permanent replacement employee status in a craft or class during a labor dispute; or (2) any employment preference to an individual who worked or indicated a willingness to work in a craft or class during a labor dispute over an employee who exercised specified rights during such dispute and who is working for, or has unconditionally offered to return to work for, the carrier.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1993
Radio Free Asia Act of 1993 - Amends the Board for International Broadcasting Act of 1973 to grant authority to the Board for International Broadcasting to operate a Radio Free Asia broadcasting service for the peoples of Asia. Revises the composition of the Board to add two additional members to be selected by the President. Allows funds made available to Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty to be used by Radio Free Asia. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Board to report to the Congress on the desirability of the geographic expansion of funded broadcasts, particularly to Africa and the Middle East.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1993
Hunger Emergency Assistance and Relief Trust Act of 1993 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals to designate on their income tax returns a contribution of all or part of their tax refund to the Hunger Emergency Assistance and Relief Trust. Establishes in the Treasury the Hunger Emergency Assistance and Relief Trust (trust fund) to distribute hunger relief funds to qualified nonprofit hunger relief services organizations. Describes standards and procedures for the distribution of trust fund monies. Specifies a number of restrictions with respect to the activities of recipient organizations, including limitations on administrative expenses. Requires the Hunger Commission to submit to specified congressional committees an annual report detailing trust fund expenditures. Establishes a Hunger Commission to administer the distribution of funds to qualified hunger relief services organizations on a matching grant basis. Permits a maximum award of $100,000 to any single qualified organization in any fiscal year. Requires that: (1) at least 50 percent of amounts received into the trust fund in any year be paid to qualified organizations; and (2) monies in the trust fund be distributed within 180 days of their receipt. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1992
American Jobs Retention Act of 1992 - Prohibits the use of funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to finance: (1) the establishment of an export processing zone in a foreign country in which the tariff, commercial, tax, labor, environmental, and safety laws of such country do not apply to such zone; (2) any activity carried on by any foreign business within the United States to encourage U.S. businesses to locate or relocate outside of the United States; or (3) activities of a foreign country that contribute to the violation of laws to protect internationally recognized worker rights, including activities within any export processing zone.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1992
Declares that it is U.S. policy to seek international agreements prohibiting the sale, transfer, or export, limiting the use, and terminating the production, possession, or deployment, of antipersonnel landmines. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should seek to negotiate an international agreement or a modification of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or To Have Indiscriminate Effects to prohibit the sale, transfer, or export of antipersonnel landmines. Prohibits, for a period of one year from this Act's enactment date: (1) sales, financing, transfers, and the issuance of licenses under the Arms Export Control with respect to antipersonnel landmines; and (2) assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 with respect to the provision of such landmines.
United States · United States Congress · 12 August 1992
Requires the Secretary of Commerce to notify specified congressional committees of changes in the methodology used to develop any numbers used in a formula for distributing funds to States or political subdivisions if that change causes an increase or decrease of $5 million in the funds allocated to any State. Prohibits a number affected by such change from being published or designated as an official number or being used by any Federal agency to distribute funds until 60 days after such notification.
United States · United States Congress · 12 August 1992
Prohibits the Department of Commerce or the Census Bureau from using appropriated funds to adjust any current data on population development to reflect estimates of persons deemed to be undercounted or overcounted in the decennial census.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 1992
Balanced Budget Enforcement Act of 1992 - Title I: Balancing the Budget - Part A: Purposes - Repeals provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) with respect to: (1) emergency powers to eliminate deficits in excess of the maximum deficit amount; (2) budgetary treatment of social security trust funds; and (3) miscellaneous and related provisions. Declares the purpose of this Act to balance the budget by FY 1998 and each year thereafter. Part B: The Deficit Elimination Act of 1992 - The Deficit Elimination Act of 1992 - Establishes deficit reduction targets for direct spending and receipts legislation for FY 1993 through 1998. Establishes discretionary funding limits in terms of new budget authority for FY 1994 through 1998. Requires, whenever appropriate, that adjustments to such limits be made to reflect: (1) changes in budget accounting concepts; (2) changes in inflation for each year and outyear (any of the four fiscal years that follow the budget year); (3) renewal/replacement multiyear subsidized housing contracts; (4) emergency requirements; (5) new limits for 1998 and thereafter; and (6) any law that raises excise taxes dedicated to a transportation trust fund. Provides that if at the start of the 1998 budget-year session the baseline assuming deficit reduction projects a deficit (or surplus) for that year, then the direct spending and receipts deficit reduction requirement for that year and the discretionary funding limit for that year shall each be changed by amounts that, when debt service effects are added, will produce a balanced budget. Requires these changes to be made through enactment of a spin-off law or, if a spin-off law is not enacted, an adjustment to the direct spending and receipts deficit reduction requirement by two-thirds of the required change (excluding debt service effects) and a one-third adjustment of the required change (excluding debt service effects) to the discretionary funding limit. Provides for preventing deficits starting with FY 1999. Provides for the enactment of a spin-off law through congressional budget procedures or other means to balance the budget in 1998 or prevent deficits after 1998. Establishes a scorecard for the recording of the estimated increase or decrease in deficit reduction for the current year, the budget year, and each fiscal year through 1998 due to enactment (after August 15, 1992) of any law, or the imposition of any sequestration, or the change in the baseline which relates to certain expiring provisions of law and to veterans' compensation, affecting the level of direct spending or the level of receipts. Requires the creation of a new scorecard for FY 1999 and thereafter for the estimated increase or decrease in the deficit or surplus for the budget year. Sets forth deficit reduction requirements for the scorecard. Provides for scoring any law that affects current-year direct spending or receipts. Divides the scorecard between changes in outlays for direct spending and changes in receipts. Excludes certain emergency legislation from the scorecard. Includes certain receipts resulting from an increase in an excise tax dedicated to a transportation fund. Establishes a scorecard for each fiscal year starting with 1994 for discretionary appropriations amounts due to: (1) the enactment of any law in the budget-year session; (2) the enactent of any law in any previous session of Congress; or (3) the imposition of any across-the-board reduction of discretionary programs. Sets forth the method of enforcing deficit reduction targets in direct spending programs through a targeted sequestration procedure. Requires enactment of a spin-off law to initiate such procedure. Establishes a comprehensive sequestration procedure if such spin-off bill is not enacted. Requires under such procedure a freeze of entitlement spending and some revenue provisions in the amount needed to meet deficit targets. Sets forth the method of sequestering discretionary programs through uniform across-the-board reductions, unless the excess of new budget authority is less than $250 million. Lists the budget accounts or activities exempted from sequestration. Authorizes the President to exempt some or all of the budgetary resources of any military personnel account from sequestration, pending notification of the Congress. Subjects Federal administrative expenses to sequestration orders, with specified exceptions. Provides for the permanent sequestration of direct spending and receipts and for determining applicable uniform percentages for reductions. Sets forth the method of making reductions for: (1) the non-JOBS and JOBS portion of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC) under the Social Security Act; (2) the child support enforcement program; (3) the Commodity Credit Corporation; (4) the conservation reserve program; (5) extended unemployment compensation; (6) the Federal Employees Health Benefits Fund; (7) the Federal Housing Finance Board; (8) Federal pay; (9) the guaranteed student loan program; (10) Federal insurance program; (11) the Medicaid program; (12) the Medicare program; (13) the Postal Service Fund; (14) the Department of Energy power marketing administration funds or the Tennessee Valley Authority fund; (15) the uranium enrichment program; and (16) veterans' housing loans. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the method of sequestration through tax changes. Requires an increase in the top marginal rates and modifies the indexing provision under a sequestration order. Imposes a tax surcharge on individuals and corporations. Sets forth the timetable for estimating assumptions and filing reports and orders by the President, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Board of Estimates (established by this Act). Requires the making of sequestration reports, sequestration preview reports, and low-growth reports by CBO and OMB. Establishes the administrative procedures relative to such reports. Sets forth assumptions to be used in calculating the baseline for the budget year and each outyear with respect to direct spending and receipts and discretionary programs. Declares that a baseline assuming deficit reduction refers to a projection of current policy baseline surpluses or deficits into the budget year and the outlays that is adjusted in aggregate by: (1) assuming compliance with basic deficit reduction targets; (2) assuming compliance with the discretionary funding limits; and (3) excluding amounts resulting from legislation designated as an emergency requirement. Establishes as a deposit fund in the Treasury a Stabilization Reserve Fund to accumulate balances during years of comparative prosperity, which may later be used to cover the loss of receipts and the increase in outlays that occur during comparative economic distress. Requires annual surpluses to be paid into the Fund. Requires starting with FY 1999 that an additional $10 billion be paid to the Fund. Requires in each year starting with 2000 that an additional $20 billion be paid to such Fund. Prohibits Fund balances from receiving interest. Requires the enactment of a law to transfer balances to the General Fund of the Treasury. Establishes congressional procedures in the event of a low-growth report or a declaration of war. Establishes a Board of Estimates to choose the applicable sequestration report from OMB or CBO to submit to the President. Provides judicial review procedures for provisions of this title. Title II: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Standing Rules of Senate, and specified other laws. Establishes the public debt limit.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1992
Supports the planting of 500 redwood trees from California on the northwest coast of Spain in commemoration of the quincentenary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World. Designates such trees as a gift to the people of Spain made in the name of the people of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1992
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prohibit reductions in payments to certain geographically reclassified hospitals for the operating costs of inpatient hospital services. Provides for application of a separate wage index with respect to certain hospitals in an urban area from which other hospitals have been reclassified. Makes changes with respect to criteria for geographic reclassification. Provides for the exclusion of certain payments in determining the eligibility of rural hospitals for urban reclassification. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 to permit certain hospitals to be treated as regional referral centers under the Medicare program.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1992
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Administration should expedite immediate declassification and release of all documents pertaining to reports or intelligence on U.S. military personnel and Americans involved in intelligence operations held against their will or listed as missing in action after the Vietnam War, Korean War, or World War II, unless such declassification would endanger national security or violate a commitment made to a missing individual or his or her family concerning the release of such information.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1992
National Commission on Arms Control Act - Establishes the National Commission on Arms Control to conduct a study of the factors which contribute to the global proliferation of strategic and conventional military weapons and related equipment and the technology necessary to produce such weapons and equipment. Directs the Commission to submit a report to the Congress which contains the conclusions of the study and recommendations to support and undertake initiatives to: (1) stop the proliferation of strategic and conventional military weapons and related equipment and technology; and (2) promote and implement the conversion of existing foreign and domestic defense industries to the production of non-military goods and services. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1992
World University Games Commemorative Coin Act - Authorizes the minting and issuance of five dollar gold coins and one dollar silver coins (at no net cost to the Government) to commemorate American participation in the World University Games. Requires that all surcharges from the sale of such coins be paid to the Greater Buffalo Athletic Corporation to support amateur athletic programs, erect facilities for the use of such athletes, and to underwrite the cost of sponsoring the World University Games.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1992
Comprehensive Community Bank Burden Reduction Act of 1992 - Title I: Purposes - Sets forth the purposes of this Act. Title II: Supervisory Reforms - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to extend from 18 months to twenty-four months the annual on-site examination cycle for certain small-sized insured depository institutions. Authorizes the appropriate Federal banking agency to exempt small-sized institutions within a depository institution holding company from statutory examination requirements if the agency is satisfied that adequate internal controls and examination procedures exist within the holding company structure. Modifies statutory auditing and reporting requirements in order to reduce the regulatory costs incurred by insured depository institutions, including Federal Credit Unions. Repeals regulatory standards for safety and soundness. Exempts from bank branch closure notice requirements specified branches and automated teller machines. Directs the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council to review risk-based capital rules and compliance requirements with respect to their cost burden upon community banks. Amends the Federal Reserve Act to modify the aggregate statutory limits on insider lending. Repeals the statutory mandate with respect to the regulation of interbank risks. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to modify the approval process with respect to the activities of insured state banks. Directs Federal banking regulatory agencies to coordinate their regulations and interpretation with one another to achieve uniformity. Amends the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 to: (1) authorize Federal financial institution regulatory agencies and the Resolution Trust Corporation to establish levels below which a certified or licensed appraiser shall not be required in connection with Federal real estate-related transactions; and (2) prohibit States from requiring State-certified or State-licensed appraisers for such transactions. Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to set forth self-certification guidelines for regulated financial institutions. Requires the appropriate Federal financial supervisory agency to investigate any allegation filed against a regulated financial institution regarding whether it is helping to meet the credit needs of its community. Modifies the regulatory guidelines for such institutions. Exempts from the jurisdictional purview of such Act certain wholesale financial institutions and credit card banks. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to modify the statutory standards for attachment of assets and other injunctive relief regarding depository institutions. Requires each appropriate Federal banking agency to conduct a paperwork reduction review with respect to the extent to which regulations require insured depository institutions to produce unnecessary internal written polices, and eliminate such requirements, if appropriate. Modifies the guidelines for the assessment base for deposit insurance premiums. Requires an appropriate Federal banking agency to include a detailed corroborating statement with its certification that a rule will not have a significant economic impact upon a substantial number of small depository institutions. Requires each appropriate Federal banking agency to establish a separate Office of Regulatory Quality to determine and monitor the quality of its regulatory activities. Title III: Non-Supervisory Reforms - Subtitle A: Expedited Funds Availability and Electronic Transfers - Amends the Expedited Funds Availability Act to modify the funds availability schedules for certain checks deposited at automated teller machines. Makes the availability schedule for new accounts applicable during the 90-day (currently 30-day) period beginning on the date the account is established. Authorizes the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) to establish rules regarding losses and liability among depository institutions and other entities participating in the payments system, including States and political subdivisions on which checks are drawn. Subtitle B: Amendments to the Truth in Lending Act - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to: (1) exempt from its purview credit transactions involving consumers whose income or net worth exceeds specified thresholds; and (2) declare that unintentional errors which do not materially understate the cost to the obligor of certain credit transactions will not negate the effective delivery of certain disclosure requirements concerning the debtor's right of rescission. Subtitle C: Truth-In-Savings Amendments - Establishes a temporary regulatory compliance moratorium for certain small-sized depository institutions. Requires the Board to conduct a cost benefit analysis and report to the Congress on the impact of regulatory compliance upon small-sized depository institutions and their customers. Subtitle D: Homeownership Amendments - Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to require lenders who finance the purchase of residential real estate to provide certain information booklets to borrowers within three business days after the application is received unless the lender denies application within such time period. Amends the Home Mortgage Disclosurer Act of 1974 to repeal the exemption granted certain small-sized depository institutions with respect to certain home mortgage disclosure requirements. Amends the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987 to apply the definition of "adjustable rate mortgage loan" to certain consumer loans. Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to repeal the notification requirement regarding the availability of homeownership counseling for eligible homeowners who fail to make timely payments.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1992
Directs the National World War II Memorial Fund, Inc., to construct a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia or its environs to: (1) honor members of the armed forces who served in World War II; and (2) commemorate U.S. participation in that conflict. Directs the fund to plan, design, and oversee the construction of the Memorial. Establishes the World War II Memorial Advisory Board to: (1) promote and encourage the donation of private funds for the construction of the Memorial; and (2) recommend the site for and assist in the selection of the design of the Memorial. Terminates the Board within 30 days after completion of the Memorial or on the lapse of the authority provided by this Act. Authorizes the Fund to solicit and accept private contributions for construction of the Memorial. States that the requirements and authority of this Act shall lapse if: (1) construction of the Memorial is not commenced within seven years of its enactment; or (2) before such construction, the Secretary of the Interior certifies that funds are not available in an amount sufficient to ensure its completion.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1992
Great Lakes Wildlife Tissue Bank Act - Provides for the storage, preparation, examination, and archiving of tissues from Great Lakes wildlife, to be known as the Great Lakes Wildlife Tissue Bank. Mandates: (1) a central data base to track and assess data on Great Lakes wildlife, including Bank data; and (2) criteria for tissue access by scientific researchers. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1992
Great Lakes Regional Marine Center Act - Amends the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 to include the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes in the definition of "marine and coastal waters." Adds the Great Lakes region, comprised of such Great Lakes waters, to the list of regions for which a Regional Marine Research Board must be established. Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to modify the required contents of an annual report to the Congress on Great Lakes water quality. Requires the Great Lakes Research Council (currently, the Great Lakes National Program Office and the Great Lakes Research Office jointly) to prepare a research plan for all Federal Great Lakes environmental research activities. Removes provisions establishing the Great Lakes Research Office.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1992
Permits a specified daily diversion of water from Lake Michigan to the town of Lowell, Indiana. Allows such diversion to remain in effect after January 1, 2000, only if, by such date, such town has: (1) initiated a plan to return from the town to the Great Lakes basin an amount of water which equals or exceeds the amount diverted up to such date; and (2) developed and made available for public inspection a water conservation plan for the town.
United States · United States Congress · 2 June 1992
Removes the annual and total limits on the number of Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units that may be maintained at public and private secondary educational institutions. Includes, as a condition to establishing a JROTC unit at such institution, that the institution agrees to such establishment and maintenance for no less than five academic years.
United States · United States Congress · 28 May 1992
Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to exclude construction and fire equipment from the definition of "excess defense articles" for purposes of restricting the transfer of such equipment to foreign countries.
United States · United States Congress · 28 May 1992
Prohibits, unless a certification under this Act is in effect: (1) U.S. economic assistance to the Government of Russia; and (2) the U.S. Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from consenting to an increase in the U.S. quota in the IMF. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury, unless such certification is in effect, to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of the IMF and other international financial institution to oppose any loan to the Government of Russia. Describes such certification as a certification by the President to the Congress that: (1) progress has been achieved toward removal of Russian armed forces from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; (2) additional Russian armed forces have not been brought into such countries for any purpose without their permission; (3) artillery exercises or training operations are not being conducted by Russian armed forces on the territory of such countries without their permission; (4) Russian military installations in such countries are open to inspection by the governments of such countries; (5) Russian air and naval forces are not interfering with traffic in the air space or territorial waters of such countries; and (6) the Russian Government is keeping such governments informed regarding the number and location of Russian armed forces in such countries. Makes such certifications effective for six months and authorizes the President to make recertifications for additional six-month periods. Terminates the restrictions under this Act if the President certifies that all Russian armed forces have been withdrawn from such countries.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1992
Balanced Budget Enforcement Act of 1992 - Title I: Balancing the Budget - Part A: Purpose - Repeals provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) with respect to: (1) emergency powers to eliminate deficits in excess of the maximum deficit amount; (2) budgetary treatment of social security trust funds; and (3) miscellaneous and related provisions. Declares the purpose of this Act to balance the budget by FY 1997 and each year thereafter. Part B: The Deficit Elimination Act of 1992 - Deficit Elimination Act of 1992 - Establishes the amounts by which the deficits in the deficit reduction base shall be reduced by changes in law for FY 1993 through 1997. Declares that changes in law do not include the resulting debt service changes or any incidental changes in intragovernmental receipts of Federal trust funds. Increases the basic deficit reduction requirements for FY 1996 and 1997 if the baseline assuming deficit reduction projects a deficit for either fiscal year. Provides for preventing deficits starting with FY 1998, if the current policy baseline projects a deficit for the budget year after excluding any amounts resulting from the prior enactment of specific excesses. Declares the shortfall in deficit reduction to be the amount by which the deficit reduction required for that year exceeds the deficit reduction achieved for that year. States that the amount to be sequestered for any budget year is the amount of the shortfall in deficit reduction for that year (general sequestration). Requires: (1) one-half of the amount to be sequestered to be derived by the imposition of a surtax; (2) one-quarter to be derived from reductions in direct spending programs; and (3) one-quarter to be derived from reductions in discretionary programs. Requires additional sequestration based on outyear shortfall (any of the four fiscal years that follow the budget year). Allows the enactment of a spin-off law, through the congressional budget process or any other means, for any budget year that separately specifies the proportions of deficit reduction required for that year (categorical sequestration) that is to be achieved from: (1) changes in direct spending law; (2) changes in receipts law; and (3) changes in outlays for discretionary programs. Requires such law to specify a cap on the amount of discretionary new budget authority that may be appropriated for the budget year. Sets forth formulae for determining amounts of sequestration in each category. Requires additional sequestration based on outyear shortfall. Sets forth the method of sequestering direct spending programs. Provides that such sequestration will occur only if direct spending in the current policy baseline exceeds $250 million. Provides for sequestration of revenues through a tax surcharge to reduce the deficit. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose such tax surcharge on individuals and corporations. Sets forth the method of sequestering discretionary programs. Provides that such sequestration will occur only if discretionary new budget authority in the current policy baseline exceeds $250 million. Requires within-session sequestration if any law is enacted containing provisions that would: (1) cause there to be a greater amount of direct spending or lower total receipts that allowed in the spin-off law, or a breach in the cap on discretionary new budget authority under the spin-off law; or (2) cause a shortfall in deficit reduction if no spin-off law has been enacted. Lists the budget accounts or activities exempted from sequestration. Subjects Federal administrative expenses to sequestration orders, with specified exceptions. Grants the President the option to exempt military and civilian personnel. Declares that automatic spending increases are increases in outlays due to changes in indexes in the National Wool Act and the special milk program. Exempts all amounts under such programs from any sequestration order other than the automatic spending increases. Sets forth the method of making reductions for: (1) the guaranteed student loan program; (2) foster care and adoption assistance programs; (3) low-income entitlements; (4) Federal retirement and veteran programs; (5) the Medicare program; (6) Federal pay; (7) the child support enforcement program; (8) extended unemployment compensation; (9) the Commodity Credit Corporation; (10) the JOBS portion of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC) under the Social Security Act; and (11) the Postal Service Fund. Requires budgetary resources sequestered from any account other than an entitlement trust, special, or revolving fund account to revert to the Treasury and be permanently canceled. Requires the same percentage sequestration to apply to all programs, projects, and activities within a budget account. Requires administrative regulations or similar actions implementing a sequestration to be made within 120 days of the order. Requires that obligations in sequestered direct spending accounts be reduced in the fiscal year in which a sequestration occurs and in all succeeding fiscal years. Provides that if an automatic spending increase is sequestered, the increase that was disregarded shall not be taken into account in any subsequent fiscal year. Requires sequestration in accounts for which obligations are indefinite to be taken in a manner to ensure that obligations in the fiscal year of a sequestration and succeeding fiscal years are reduced from the level that would actually have occurred, by the applicable sequestration percentage. Establishes a scorecard for the recording of the estimated increase or decrease in deficit reduction for the current year, the budget year, and each fiscal year through 1997 due to enactment (after May 15, 1992) of any law, or the imposition of any sequestration, affecting the level of direct spending or the level of receipts. Treats deficit reduction as a positive and deficit increase as a negative on such scorecard. Divides the scorecard between changes in outlays for direct spending and changes in receipts. Provides for scoring deficit reduction achieved in prior sessions. Provides for determining deficit reduction achieved in the current session and for calculating savings in discretionary programs. Sets forth assumptions to be used in calculating the baseline for the budget year and each outyear with respect to direct spending and receipts and discretionary programs. Requires the deficit reduction base to be a current policy baseline for FY 1992 through 1997. Provides for determining direct spending and receipts for such base and sets forth the level of outlays for discretionary appropriations. Requires adjustments to the discretionary deficit reduction base for each budget year and each outyear through 1997 to reflect changes in budget accounting concepts, changes in inflation, and specific excesses. Declares that a baseline assuming deficit reduction shall be a projection of current policy baseline deficits that is adjusted in aggregate by assuming compliance with basic deficit reduction requirements and excluding amounts designated as specific excess. Sets forth the timetable for estimating assumptions and filing reports and orders by the President, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Board of Estimates (established by this Act). Requires the making of sequestration preview reports, sequestration update reports, within-session sequestration reports, and low-growth reports by CBO and OMB. Establishes the administrative procedures relative to such reports. Establishes a Board of Estimates to choose the applicable report from OMB or CBO to submit to the President. Establishes a deposit fund in the Treasury a Stabilization Reserve Fund to accumulate balances during years of comparative prosperity, which may later be used to cover the loss of receipts and the increase in outlays that occur during comparative economic distress. Requires annual surpluses to be paid into the Fund. Requires starting with FY 1997 that an additional $2 bilion be paid to the Fund. Prohibits Fund balances from receiving interest. Requires the enactment of a law to transfer balances to the General Fund of the Treasury. Establishes congressional procedures in the event of a low-growth report or a declaration of war. Provides judicial review procedures for provisions of this title. Title II: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Standing Rules of the Senate, and specified other laws.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Rural Electrification Administration Improvement Act of 1992 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to provide that if a borrower of a loan made or guaranteed by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) applies for an electric or telephone service loan from a private lender, REA shall grant the private lender a lien accommodation on the total assets securing the unpaid balance on an equal and pro rata basis with the Government lien, except if such private loan will adversely affect the borrower's ability to repay the Government. Subordinates the REA lien to a lien made by a private lender on a non-electric or non-telephone rural development loan if the borrower's revenues will be sufficient to meet all loan obligations. Revises discounted loan prepayment provisions to permit prepayment or sale of a loan that was advanced before a certain date or has been fully advanced for not less than two years. Limits future loan eligibility for prepaying borrowers. Repeals provisions regarding: (1) borrower net worth; and (2) the prepayment privatization demonstration program.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1992
Designates February 21 through 27, 1993, as American Wine Appreciation Week. Commends the winegrape and fruit growers and vintners of the United States for the production of high quality agricultural products.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1992
Designates the Federal building and U.S. courthouse located at 204 South Main Street in South Bend, Indiana, as the Robert A. Grant Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1992
Civil War Battlefield Commemorative Coin Act of 1992 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a specified number of five-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Civil War battlefield preservation. Sets forth certain features of such coins and provides for their design, issuance, and sale. Requires that all sales include a surcharge of $35 per coin for the five-dollar coins, $7 per coin for the one-dollar coins, and $1 per coin for the half-dollar coins. Requires that all surcharges be paid to the Civil War Battlefield Foundation for the preservation of historically significant Civil War battlefields.
![Official portrait of Rep. Visclosky, Peter J. [D-IN-1]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/v000108_200.jpg)