United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1989
Freedom of Choice Act of 1989 - Provides that a State may not restrict the right of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy: (1) before fetal viability; or (2) at any time, if such termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman. Allows a State to impose requirements medically necessary to protect the life or health of such women.
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1989
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Act of 1989 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to provide financial assistance to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (a private nonprofit organization) for research and development relating to teacher assessment and certification procedures. Requires the Board to: (1) establish a Research and Development Advisory Committee; and (2) consult with the Secretary and other specified entities in appointing the ten Committee members (with the Secretary selecting two of those). Requires funds under this Act to be used only for research and development of teacher assessment and certification procedures for elementary and secondary school teachers. Requires that priority be given to activities relating to teaching: (1) the subject areas of mathematics, the sciences, foreign languages, and literacy (including reading, writing, and analytical ability); and (2) special educational populations, including limited English proficient children, gifted and talented children, handicapped children, and economically and educationally disadvantaged children. Sets the Federal share of the cost of such Board activities at 50 percent. Requires the Board to report annually to the appropriate committees of the Congress. Requires the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the National Research Council to review and comment on the Board's report and to report to such committees on the Board's compliance with this Act. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1992.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1989
Directs the Secretary of Education to make a grant to Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, to establish the Margaret Walker Alexander National African-American Research Center on its campus in recognition of, and to commemorate, the literary contributions of Margaret Walker Alexander. Requires the application for the grant to contain provisions to ensure that the Center will serve as a national center for the study, research, and teaching of African-American literature and history and as a repository for papers and memorabilia relating to the lives of individuals noted for their work in African-American literature and history. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1989
Disadvantaged Minority Health Improvement Act of 1989 - Title I: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for Minorities - Subtitle A: Programs for Minorities Generally - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to provide for the establishment of an Office of Minority Health. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants and contracts for research, training, education, epidemiological studies, and data collection with respect to the prevention and control among minority groups of diseases or other adverse health conditions. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to administer provisions of the PHSA in cooperation with specified types of individuals, agencies, and organizations. Directs the Secretary to make grants or contracts for new and innovative programs in health information and health promotion, preventive health services, and education in the appropriate use of health care, specifically targeted at improving the health status of disadvantaged minorities. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Programs for American Samoa - Directs the Secretary to make grants or contracts for health promotion and disease prevention services for American Samoans living in the continental United States and the State of Hawaii. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Disadvantaged Minorities in Health Professions - Subtitle A: Health Professions Generally - Requires that the Federal capital contribution and the school contribution to a student loan fund under existing provisions be used only for making loans to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to health professions schools for scholarships to full-time students who are members of underrepresented minority groups and are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a loan repayment program to assure an adequate supply of health professionals who are members of underrepresented minority groups and from disadvantaged backgrounds. Requires that loan recipients agree to accept a full-time faculty appointment at certain schools for at least two years. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Nursing - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to schools of nursing for scholarships for full-time students who are members of underrepresented minority groups and from disadvantaged backgrounds. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a loan repayment program for full-time students in their final year of study who are members of underrepresented minority groups and from disadvantaged backgrounds. Requires that loan recipients agree to accept a full-time faculty appointment at certain schools for at least two years. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Coordination of Federal Expenditures for Health Programs of Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands - Directs the Secretary to establish the Pacific Basin Health Services Council to monitor the need for health services and health professions development in the Pacific Basin and to establish priorities for the expenditure of public health funds in the Pacific Basin. Defines Pacific Basin to mean the federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Requires the Council to give first priority in expending funds to continuing a specified medical officer training program. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1989
Veterans Agent Orange Exposure and Vietnam Service Benefits Act of 1989 - Provides that the disease of chloracne in Vietnam veterans shall be considered to have been service-connected if such disease became manifest to a ten percent or more degree of disability within one year after the last date on which the veteran performed such service in Vietnam. Presumes the following diseases to be service-connected for veterans who performed active service in Vietnam during the Vietnam era, notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such disease during the period of such service: (1) non-Hodgkins lymphoma; (2) soft-tissue sarcoma; and (3) melanoma and basal cell carcinoma. Provides a presumption of service-connection in the case of a Vietnam veteran suffering from a disease associated with effects of exposure to certain dioxins or other herbicide agents during such service in Vietnam. Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations listing a positive association between any disease and the biological effects of exposure to an herbicide agent in Vietnam. Requires the Secretary to update such list continually. Requires the Secretary, in prescribing and revising such list, to obtain by contract the determinations and estimates of a contract scientific organization. Requires such organization to: (1) determine which diseases have any degree of association with the biological effects of exposure to an herbicide agent; and (2) estimate the extent of association between each such disease and each such biological effects. Requires the organization to determine such association specifically with respect to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, each soft-tissue sarcoma, lung cancer, and each other cancer. Outlines contract provisions required in such agreements between the Secretary and the scientific organization, including surveys, evaluations, and periodic determinations. Requires such scientific organization to provide reports to the Secretary and the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committees regarding its determinations and evaluations. Requires such organization to determine, in the effect of a positive association, whether there is a reasonable basis for concluding that a Vietnam veteran with the highest level of exposure to that herbicide agent in Vietnam was exposed to such agent under the circumstances necessary for such biological effects. Requires a report from the organization to the Secretary and the veterans' committees when there is no such reasonable basis found. Requires the Secretary to make certain determinations and follow-up reports after receiving such reports from the contract scientific organization, including the issuance of a report to the veterans' committees and the promulgation of positive association regulations, if necessary. Requires benefits to be continued even though a disease is removed from the regulations listing diseases having positive associations. Terminates such contracting authority ten years after the first day of the fiscal year in which a scientific organization transmits its first report to the Secretary. Provides special effective dates. Directs the Secretary to compile and analyze all clinical data that: (1) is obtained by the Department in connection with examinations and treatment of veterans for disabilities related to exposure to certain herbicides or to service in Vietnam; and (2) is likely to be scientifically useful in determining the association, if any, between the disabilities of such veterans and their exposure to such herbicides and other toxic substances. Requires the Secretary to submit an annual report to the veterans' committees concerning such analysis and its results. Directs the Secretary to consult with the Director of the National Institutes of Health Research and Grants Division (NIH) before compiling and analyzing such information. Requires the Director of NIH to review each annual report submitted by the Secretary and transmit to the Secretary an evaluation of the contents of each report. Directs the Secretary to establish and maintain a system for the collection and storage of voluntarily contributed samples of blood and tissue of veterans who performed active service in Vietnam during the Vietnam era. Outlines provisions concerning the security and authorized uses of such specimens, as well as limitations on the acceptance of such samples. Requires the Secretary to consult with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to the extent that an agreement has been reached with the NAS serving as the contract scientific organization for the Secretary. Requires the Secretary to consult with the Director of the Medical Follow-up Agency in the event of no agreement with NAS. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide for the conduct of studies of the feasibility of conducting additional scientific research on health hazards resulting from: (1) exposure to dioxin; (2) exposure to other toxic agents in herbicides used in support of U.S. and allied military operations in Vietnam during the Vietnam era; and (3) active military, naval, or air service there. Requires the Secretary to report to the veterans' committees on the results of such studies. Requires the Secretary to consult with the NAS before undertaking such studies and requires the NAS, to review such studies and report recommendations to the Secretary and the veterans' committees, to the extent provided under any agreement between the Secretary and NAS. Amends the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 1988 to require the Secretary to annually furnish updated information to veterans listed in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Agent Orange Registry on health risks resulting from exposure to dioxin or other toxic agents in herbicides as a result of service in Vietnam during the Vietnam era. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to the veterans' committees on the research being conducted to develop treatments for psychological absorption of dioxin and other toxic agents used in herbicides by the United States in Vietnam, including research relating to exposure to dioxin and other toxic agents outside Vietnam. Extends through December 31, 2000, the eligibility for hospital and nursing home care for veterans exposed to toxic substances in Vietnam. Amends the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 1988 to authorize direct consultation between the Ranch Hand Advisory Committee and Department of the Air Force scientists conducting the Ranch Hand Study (a study of the long-term health effects of exposure to phenoxy herbicides and contaminants). Requires the preparation and submission of annual reports and a final report in connection with such study.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1989
Hazardous Materials Transportation Act Amendments of 1989 - Amends the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (the Act) to require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations requiring any generator of a shipment of hazardous materials to transmit a manifest of its contents and the license plate or other identifying number of the carrier to the central reporting system and data center. Requires the Secretary to enter into a contract under which a private entity shall establish a central reporting system and data center to provide law enforcement and firefighting personnel with information and advice on dealing with emergencies connected with the transportation of hazardous materials (currently the Secretary is required to establish and maintain such a system and data center). Prohibits the appropriation of Federal funds for such system and data center. Permits the private entity to impose a fee for manifesting such a shipment if the generator is a Federal agency. Directs the Secretary to study the flow of hazardous materials in the United States. Requires the Secretary, in collaboration with the private entity, to report the results of such study to the Congress. Increases both civil and criminal penalties for violations under the Act. Sets forth specified terms and conditions with respect to the private entity's establishment and maintenance of the reporting system and data center.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1989
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow farmers' cooperatives to elect to treat as ordinary income or loss certain capital gains and losses from the disposition of assets used in conducting business with or for patrons.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1989
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1989 - Title I: General Prohibition Against Discrimination - Declares that it shall be discriminatory, on the basis of disability, to deny opportunities or to afford them unequally, to provide opportunities less effectively (or differently or separately, unless necessary for effectiveness), to assist an organization or individual that discriminates, or to otherwise limit opportunities enjoyed by others. Prohibits the use of standards, criteria, or administrative methods that have the purpose or effect of discrimination or perpetuate discrimination. Declares it discriminatory to deny equal opportunities because of the relationship or association of an individual with another individual with a disability. Allows as a defense to a charge of discrimination that an application of standards or criteria has been demonstrated to be both necessary and substantially related to the ability of an individual to take advantage of the essential components of the opportunity, and that the taking advantage cannot be accomplished by reasonable accommodations, modifications, or the provision of auxiliary aids or services. Title II: Employment - Prohibits discrimination by any employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee against any qualified individual with a disability in job application procedures, hiring or discharge, compensation, advancement, training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Lists types of actions construed to be discrimination. Makes the remedies set forth in specified provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other specified Federal law available to any individual who believes that he or she is being or is about to be subjected to discrimination in violation of this Act. Title III: Public Services - Declares that no qualified individual with a disability shall be excluded from the participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination by a State, or by an agency, political subdivision, or other instrumentality of a State. Lists types of actions deemed, for purposes of this Act and specified provisions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to be discrimination with regard to public transportation. Makes the remedies and rights set forth in specified provisions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 available to any individual who believes that he or she is being or is about to be subjected to discrimination in violation of this Act. Title IV: Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities - Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the enjoyment of any place of public accommodation. Lists types of actions construed to be discrimination. Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public transportation services provided by a private entity that is primarily engaged in transporting people, but that is not in the principal business of air transportation. Lists types of actions construed to be discrimination. Makes specified provisions of the Fair Housing Act relating to enforcement available, subject to exception, to any aggrieved individual. Title V: Telecommunications Relay Services - Defines "telecommunications relay services" to mean services that enable simultaneous communication between individuals who use telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs) or other nonvoice terminal devices and individuals who do not use such devices. Declares it discriminatory for any common carrier that offers telephone services to the public to fail to provide interstate or intrastate telecommunication relay services that are equal to those provided to their customers who are able to use voice services, except in any State in which services are provided through an entity designated by the State. Declares it discrimination by a State that makes such a designation if the State fails to provide interstate or intrastate relay services that are equal to those provided to their voice customers. Makes specified provisions of the Fair Housing Act relating to enforcement available, subject to exception, to any aggrieved individual. Requires the Federal Communications Commission to enforce this title. Makes specified provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 apply with respect to the enforcement of this title. Provides for cease and desist orders by the Commission and for monetary penalties. Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - Prohibits retaliatory discrimination against any individual because of actions related to this Act. Declares that a State shall not be immune under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution from an action in Federal court for a violation of this Act. Requires the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board to issue minimum guidelines to supplement the existing Minimum Guidelines and Requirements for Accessible Design. Allows the awarding of reasonable attorney's fees, in certain circumstances, in any action or proceeding under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 13 April 1989
United States Peace Tax Fund Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury the United States Peace Tax Fund (Fund) to receive payments designated on the tax returns of qualified individuals to be used for nonmilitary purposes. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to the Congress on amounts transferred into the Fund. Requires the information to be printed in the Congressional Record. Permits conscientious objectors to designate on their income tax returns that any tax liability be paid into the Fund. Makes this designation procedure available to any individual who has demonstrated himself or herself, by reason of religious training and belief, to be opposed to participation in war in any form. Requires that each publication of general instructions accompanying income tax returns include specified information about the Fund, including the purposes of the Fund and the criteria governing one's eligibility to designate tax payments for it. Requires every taxpayer who makes such a designation for any taxable year to file a questionnaire return for the purpose of determining whether the taxpayer is an eligible individual. Permits the setting aside of criminal or civil penalties imposed upon a taxpayer for nonpayment of tax prior to 1990 if the taxpayer pays the tax due (with interest) and establishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that the nonpayment was due to religious beliefs. Authorizes corresponding procedures in connection with estate and gift tax payments, under conditions prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Directs the Comptroller General to determine the percentage of actual appropriations made by the United States from the Federal budget during the preceding year for military purposes. Requires publication of this information in the Congressional Record. Establishes a United States Peace Tax Fund Board of Trustees to distribute funds for eligible nonmilitary activities and research. Directs the Board to publish regulations to govern applications for funds. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1989
Eliminates post-1968 service in the National Guard as a prerequisite to civil service retirement credit for former National Guard technicians. Amends the National Guard Technicians Act of 1968 to eliminate post-1968 service as a prerequisite for National Guard technicians for receipt of credit in the determination of length of Federal civil service for purposes of leave, Federal employees' death and disability compensation, group life and health insurance, severance pay, tenure, and status. Sets forth rules for applying provisions of this Act to affected individuals.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1989
Family Planning Reauthorization Act of 1989 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations for FY 1990 through 1993 for projects, training, and information and materials related to family planning.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1989
Civil Rights Amendments Act of 1989 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of affectional or sexual orientation. Provides that this Act shall not be construed to permit a finding of discrimination based on statistical differences or the fashioning of any remedy requiring a quota.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1989
Amends Federal law to require the reverse side of the first coin redesigned to commemorate the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution for a two-year period. Provides that the design on the obverse side of U.S. coins shall contain the likenesses of those displayed on current coins and shall be considered for redesign. Requires any such obverse redesigns to conform to the inscription requirements of current law. Requires U.S. coins to be redesigned, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, over the next six years. Requires the Secretary, in selecting new designs, to consider specified constitutional concepts. Requires the designs to be selected by the Secretary upon consultation with the United States Commission of Fine Arts. Requires that any profits from the sale of uncirculated and proof sets of U.S. coins be deposited in the Treasury and used solely to reduce the national debt.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1989
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act - Makes it unlawful for any licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer to sell, deliver, or transfer a handgun to an unlicensed individual unless: (1) the transferor has notified the chief law enforcement officer for the individual's place of residence about the proposed transfer and either has received a response indicating that such transfer is not prohibited by law or has not received a response indicating otherwise within seven days; (2) the individual has presented to the transferor a statement from the officer indicating that the individual requires a handgun because of a threat to him or his family; or (3) the individual has a State handgun permit that is less than a year old which satisfies the same requirements. Requires any transferor who subsequently receives a report from such officer that receipt or possession of the handgun by the individual violates the law to: (1) furnish information about the transfer and the individual to the chief law enforcement officer of the transferor's place of business and the individual's place of residence; and (2) keep confidential any information received which is not otherwise available to the public, with exceptions. Requires a transferor to retain a copy of the individual's sworn statement for at least a year. Requires the law enforcement officer to destroy any copy of the individual's sworn statement and any record containing information derived from such statement within 30 days, unless such officer determines that the transaction would violate Federal, State, or local law. Provides that this Act shall not apply in any State that requires: (1) a seven-day waiting period for the transfer of a handgun to an unlicensed individual; or (2) a State law enforcement officer to verify an unlicensed individual's eligibility to receive a handgun. Sets penalties for violations of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1989
Relinquishes all U.S. interests under a conservation easement in specified lands in Wood County, Texas, whenever a water resource project that will affect such land is started on or by January 1, 2000.