United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1997
Patient Safety Act of 1997 - Requires providers under the Medicare program, as a condition for continued participation in the program, to make publicly available certain minimum information, in addition to information specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes. Requires the following to be made public along with its source and currency status: (1) data regarding complaints filed with the State agency with oversight over health care services, the Health Care Financing Administration, or a provider accrediting agency; (2) compliance with the standards deemed to demonstrate compliance with conditions of Medicare participation; and (3) data regarding investigations and findings as a result of those complaints and the findings of scheduled inspection visits. Allows the Secretary to waive or reduce reporting requirements in the case of a small provider for whom their imposition would be unduly burdensome. Prohibits Medicare providers from terminating or taking any other adverse action against any employee or groups of employees for certain actions, including those taken for the purpose of notifying the provider of conditions potentially dangerous or injurious to patients receiving services from the provider or to employees of the provider. Requires provider termination from participation in Medicare for taking such an adverse action. Requires any provider under Medicare that files with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission notification of a transaction required to be reported under the Clayton Act to provide to the Secretary a report that includes: (1) the overall impact of such transaction on the health services available and readily accessible to the community; and (2) the impact of such transaction on each of various specified subjects, including the availability and accessibility of services to the poor, the uninsured, ethnic minorities, women, the disabled, and the lesbian and gay communities. Requires public availability of such reports, public hearings on their elements and any other factors related to the health, safety, and welfare of patients and the community involved, secretarial review of each such proposed transaction based on the report, hearing testimony, and any other relevant factors. Deems any provider that executes a transaction found to have a negative impact on health and safety (or that fails to file a required report) not to be in compliance with the conditions of Medicare participation. Mandates the provider's immediate suspension from program participation if it completes a transaction that poses immediate jeopardy or irreparable harm to patient health, safety, or welfare.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Pension Access and Coverage Subtitle A: Improved Access to Individual Retirement Savings Subtitle B: Improved Fairness in Retirement Plan Benefits Subtitle C: Improving Retirement Plan Coverage Subtitle D: Simplifying Plan Requirements Title II: Security Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: ERISA Enforcement Title III: Portability Title IV: Comprehensive Women's Pension Protection Subtitle A: Pension Reform Subtitle B: Protection of Rights of Former Spouses to Pension Benefits Under Certain Government and Government-Sponsored Retirement Programs Subtitle C: Modifications of Joint and Survivor Annuity Requirements Subtitle D: Spousal Consent Required for Distributions From Section 401(k) Plans Subtitle E: Women's Pension Toll-Free Phone Number Title V: Date for Adoption of Plan Amendments Retirement Security Act of 1997 - Title I: Pension Access and Coverage - Subtitle A: Improved Access to Individual Retirement Savings - Chapter 1: Contributions To Individual Retirement Plans Through Payroll Deductions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to require a private contractor with the Secretary of Labor to establish a system under which: (1) eligible employees, through employer payroll deductions, may make contributions to individual retirement plans; and (2) amounts in the individual retirement plans are invested according to certain requirements. (Sec. 103) Provides for: (1) contributions to individual retirement plans; (2) investment options; (3) accounting and information; (4) administrative costs; (5) fiduciary responsibilities, liability and penalties, bonding, and investigative authority; and (6) selection of contractor. (Sec. 108) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) the Secretary of Labor to design and award the contract for such system; and (2) the contractor to begin operations. Chapter 2: Nonrefundable Tax Credit for Contributions to Individual Retirement Accounts - Amends IRC to allow a nonrefundable tax credit for a portion of contributions to individual retirement plans, calculated according to a specified scale. Chapter 3: Expanded Individual Retirement Accounts to Increase Coverage and Portability - Subchapter A: IRA Deduction - Raises the income limitations for the individual retirement account (IRA) tax deduction, with a corresponding adjustment to the formula for the phaseout of such limitations. (Sec. 122) Prescribes an inflation adjustment for the IRA deductible amount and income limitations. Subchapter B: Distributions and Investments - Allows the use of distributions from individual retirement plans, without additional tax, to: (1) purchase first homes; (2) pay higher education expenses; or (3) pay financially devastating medical expenses. (Sec. 132) Allows the use without penalty of distributions from certain plans during periods of unemployment. (Sec. 133) Requires that contributions to individual retirement plans (other than special individual retirement accounts) be held for at least five years in certain cases before they may be distributed without specified tax consequences. Chapter 4: Periodic Pension Benefits Statements - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) with respect to periodic pension benefits statements in cases of defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, and multiemployer plans. Subtitle B: Improved Fairness in Retirement Plan Benefits - Amends IRC to require a specified minimum employer contribution to simple retirement accounts. Provides for an employer option to suspend contributions with 30-days' notice. Amends ERISA with respect to fiduciary duties in the case of such accounts. (Sec. 152) Amends IRC to set forth various nondiscrimination rules for qualified cash or deferred arrangements and matching contributions. (Sec. 153) Increases from $75,000 to $80,000 per year specified compensation criteria for a highly compensated employee. Excludes specified categories of employees with respect to age, short length of service, and part-time service from the meaning of highly compensated employee. Subtitle C: Improving Retirement Plan Coverage - Allows a tax credit for up to a maximum $500 of the qualified start-up costs of eligible small employers in establishing a qualified pension plan or qualified employer payroll deduction system. (Sec. 162) Limits annual benefits under governmental and multiemployer plans to $90,000, eliminating the alternative 100 percent of high three-year average compensation limitation. Exempts from the $7,500 or one third of includible compensation limit for annual benefits certain excess benefit arrangements under deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations. Prohibits such arrangements from being taken into account in determining whether any other plan is an eligible deferred compensation plan. (Sec. 163) Declares that compensation deferred under a mirror plan shall not be taken into account in applying certain limits (with respect to deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations) to compensation deferred under any other deferred compensation plan. (Sec. 164) Sets forth special rules to treat contributions by self-employed individuals as matching contributions. (Sec. 165) Amends specified Federal law relating to Federal employees to allow immediate participation in the Thrift Savings Plan for Federal employees by eliminating certain waiting periods. (Sec. 166) Amends the IRC to revise the limits on contributions excluded from the calculation of non-deductible contributions for purposes of the tax on non-deductible contributions to a qualified employer plan. (Sec. 167) Excludes from gross income any workers' compensation received by former police officers or fire fighters for heart disease or hypertension. Subtitle D: Simplifying Plan Requirements - Amends IRC and ERISA to set a full funding limitation for multiemployer plans. (Sec. 172) Eliminates IRC partial termination rules for multiemployer plans. (Sec. 173) Revises IRC nondiscrimination and minimum participation rules with respect to governmental plans. (Sec. 174) Eliminates specified ERISA requirements for plan descriptions and for filing of summary plan descriptions and descriptions of material modifications to a plan. (Sec. 175) Replaces the 150 percent of current liability factor in the calculation of the full-funding limit with an incremental scale from 155 percent in 1998 to 170 percent in 2001, followed by zero in 2002 and succeeding years. (Sec. 176) Directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and of Labor to expand their efforts to examine existing guidance regarding notice, recordkeeping, and operational requirements for retirement plans, in order to permit the use of new technologies by plan sponsors and administrators in ways which maintain the protection of the rights of participants and beneficiaries. Title II: Security - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Amends ERISA to provide investment protection for specified plans that include qualified cash or deferred arrangements under IRC ("401(k) plans") by setting limitations on investment in employer securities and employer real property by cash or deferred arrangements. Provides a transition rule for plans holding excess securities or property. (Sec. 202) Applies an ERISA requirement for annual, detailed investment reports to certain IRC 401(k) plans. Directs the Secretary of Labor, in prescribing regulations for required information in such reports, to consider including specified types of information. (Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary of Labor to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the extent to which pension plans invest in collectibles; and (2) whether such investments present a risk to the pension security of the participants and beneficiaries of such plans. (Sec. 204) Amends IRC to prohibit qualified employer plans from making loans through credit cards and other intermediaries. (Sec. 205) Increases the amounts of multiemployer plan benefits guaranteed under ERISA. (Sec. 206) Increases the maximum amount of the civil penalty which may be assessed administratively for certain prohibited transactions. (Sec. 207) Amends ERISA with respect to substantial owner benefits to revise the phase-in of guarantee and the allocation of assets. (Sec. 208) Directs the Secretary of Labor to report annually to the President and the Congress on plans from which residual assets were distributed to employers (reversion report). (Sec. 209) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of the Treasury should: (1) review existing correction mechanisms to determine whether modifications might facilitate additional utilization by sponsors, improve voluntary compliance, and hasten the correction of pension plans; (2) consider whether additional means of addressing nonegregious violations should be explored; and (3) make appropriate legislative recommendations. Subtitle B: ERISA Enforcement - Amends ERISA enforcement provisions to repeal a limited scope audit requirement for employee pension benefit plans. Requires an accountant, in offering an opinion in the case of an employee pension benefit plan, to rely, to the extent consistent with generally accepted auditing standards, on the work of any independent public accountant of any bank or similar institution or insurance carrier that holds assets or processes transactions of the employee pension benefit plan, provided that such bank, institution, or insurance carrier is regulated, supervised, and subject to periodic examination by a State or Federal agency. (Sec. 212) Sets forth additional ERISA requirements for qualified public accountants. (Sec. 213) Amends ERISA and the IRC to exempt from the prohibition against assignment or alienation of an accrued pension benefit offsets for certain civil and criminal judgments against fiduciaries. Changes from mandatory to discretionary the imposition and amount of civil penalties for breach of fiduciary responsibilities. Title III: Portability - Amends ERISA and the IRC to provide for faster vesting of employer matching contributions. (Sec. 302) Revises certain restrictions on distributions from IRC 401(k) plans. (Sec. 303) Amends ERISA and IRC with respect to an accrued benefit not to be decreased by plan amendment to revise the treatment of transfers between defined contribution plans. (Sec. 304) Amends ERISA rules requiring transfer of benefits of missing participants to direct the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to prescribe similar rules for multiemployer plans that terminate. Requires transfer of missing participants' plan benefits to the PBGC by certain plans not otherwise subject to ERISA enforcement provisions. Title IV: Comprehensive Women's Pension Protection - Subtitle A: Pension Reform - Makes certain new rules for pension integration under the Tax Reform Act of 1986 applicable to all existing accrued benefits. (Sec. 401) Amends IRC to: (1) disallow integration for simplified employee pensions; and (2) provide for eventual repeal of certain pension integration rules. (Sec. 402) Sets forth rules regarding the application of minimum coverage requirements with respect to separate lines of business. (Sec. 403) Amends IRC and ERISA with respect to division of pension benefits upon divorce, at the former spouse's election, to deem any State divorce decree to be a domestic relations order specifying that half of the marital share of the participant's accrued benefit is to be provided to such former spouse. (Sec. 404) Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (RRA) to entitle divorced spouses to railroad retirement annuities independent of the employee's actual entitlement. Subtitle B: Protection of Rights of Former Spouses to Pension Benefits Under Certain Government and Government-Sponsored Retirement Programs - Amends RRA to extend Tier II railroad retirement benefits to surviving former spouses pursuant to divorce agreements. (Sec. 412) Amends Federal civil service law with respect to survivor annuities for widows, widowers, and former spouses of Federal employees who die before attaining the age for deferred annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). (Sec. 413) Amends Federal law relating to the armed forces to terminate a two-tier annuity computation and social security offset under the military survivor benefit plan. (Sec. 414) Amends Federal civil service law with respect to payment of lump-sum benefits to former spouses of Federal employees under CSRS and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). Subtitle C: Modifications of Joint and Survivor Annuity Requirements - Modifies ERISA and IRC requirements for joint and survivor annuities to provide for an alternative joint and two-thirds survivor annuity payable while both the participant and the spouse are alive. Subtitle D: Spousal Consent Required for Distributions From Section 401(k) Plans - Amends IRC to require spousal consent for distributions from section 401(k) plans. Subtitle E: Women's Pension Toll-Free Phone Number - Directs the Secretary of Labor to contract with an independent organization to create a women's pension toll-free phone number and contact. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Date for Adoption of Plan Amendments - Sets forth dates for adoption of plan amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1997
Microcredit for Self-Reliance Act of 1997 - Authorizes the President to provide through U.S. and indigenous nongovernmental organizations and credit institutions credit and other assistance for microenterprises in developing countries. Sets forth assistance eligibility criteria. Authorizes funds allocations. Directs the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in order to maximize the sustainable development impact of such assistance, to establish a monitoring system that sets certain performance goals for it. Authorizes appropriations for the U.S. contribution to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) only to provide grants to nongovernmental organizations and other private community-based microenterprise institutions serving the poor, especially women. Directs the President to urge other IFAD donor nations to contribute to the microenterprise and microfinance activities of the Fund. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Microstart Program established by the United Nations Development Program represents an important new initiative; and (2) the President should instruct the U.S. representative to the United Nations to use the U.S. vote to support the Program.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1997
Merchant Mariners Fairness Act of 1997 - Provides that certain qualified service of a member of the U.S. merchant marine, including a vessel crewmember of the U.S. Army or Naval Transport Service, during World War II constituted active military service for purposes of eligibility for various veterans' benefits under the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977. Requires the Secretary of Defense to issue an honorable discharge under such Act to each merchant marine member whose qualified service warrants such a discharge. Prohibits the payment of any retroactive benefits under this Act. Mandates a processing fee for any benefit application of a member possessing such qualified service.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Research on Lupus Title II: Delivery of Services Regarding Lupus Lupus Research and Care Amendments of 1997 - Title I: Research on Lupus - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to expand and intensify research and related activities of the Institute with respect to lupus. Requires the Director to: (1) coordinate such activities with similar activities conducted by other national research institutes and agencies of the National Institutes of Health; and (2) conduct or support research to expand the understanding of the causes of, and to find a cure for, lupus, including research to determine the reasons underlying the elevated prevalence of the disease among African-American and other women. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Delivery of Services Regarding Lupus - Mandates grants for the establishment, operation, and coordination of effective and cost-efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals with lupus and their families. Regulates fees imposed by grantees on service recipients. Authorizes technical assistance. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: School Construction Assistance Program Title II: General Provisions Partnership to Rebuild America's Schools Act of 1997 - Title I: School Construction Assistance Program - Part 1: Program Authorized - Establishes a program to provide Federal funds to help States and local school districts finance the repair, renovation, modernization, and construction of their school facilities. (Sec. 104) Makes appropriations and specifies their allocation. Part 2: Grants to States - Provides for allocation of funds for formula grants to States by the Secretary of Education, on a proportional basis similar to that for Basic Grants for disadvantaged students under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Sets forth requirements relating to: (1) eligible State agencies; (2) allowable uses of funds; (3) eligible construction projects; (4) period for project initiation; (5) selection of localities and projects; (6) State applications; (7) amount of Federal subsidy; (8) separate funds or accounts; (9) prudent investment; and (10) State reports. Part 3: Direct Grants to Local Educational Agencies - Provides for direct grants both formula and competitive) to local educational agencies (LEAs) by the Secretary of Education. (Sec. 121) Makes eligible for grants the LEAs with the largest numbers of children aged five through 17 from families living below the poverty level. Makes LEAs for Hawaii and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ineligible for such grants. Sets forth requirements relating to: (1) grantees; (2) allowable uses of funds; (3) eligible construction projects; (4) redistribution of funds; (5) local applications; (6) formula grants; (7) competitive grants; (8) amount of Federal subsidy; (9) separate funds or accounts; (10) prudent investment; and (11) local reports. Title II: General Provisions - Sets forth requirements relating to: (1) technical employees; (2) wage rates; (3) no liability of the Federal Government; and (4) consultation with Secretary of the Treasury by the Secretary of Education.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1997
Opportunity-to-Learn Standards Implementation Act - Amends the Goals 2000: Educate America Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to restore provisions relating to opportunity-to-learn standards, including authority for the Secretary of Labor to make opportunity-to-learn development grants. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1997
A Living Wage, Jobs for All Act - Declares that the Congress affirms the basic economic rights and responsibilities under the 1944 "Economic Bill of Rights," while updating and extending it to include certain rights to: (1) decent jobs; (2) income security for individuals unable to work for pay; (3) a decent living for farm families; (4) freedom from monopolies; (5) decent housing; (6) adequate health services; (7) social security in old age, sickness, accidental injury, and unemployment; (8) education and work training; and (7) certain other rights relating to collective bargaining, a safe working environment, information on trends in pollution sources and products and processes that affect the well-being of workers throughout the world, voting and campaigning, and personal security. Recognizes specified personal responsibilities of persons benefitting from such rights. (Sec. 3) Sets forth requirements relating to corporate responsibility. Requires each corporation registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to include in its annual reports to the SEC a full and fair disclosure of the impact of its activities in the United States and other countries on environmental quality and on the rights of other stakeholders, including employees, consumers, and communities. Requires each State, in order to be entitled to receive any Federal grants or enter into any Federal contracts, to have initiated a time-phased program to require that all State-chartered corporations submit annual reports including such disclosures of information. Requires the Secretary of Labor and the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) identify corporations that have gone the furthest in managing their enterprises with responsible action toward environmental quality and the rights of other stakeholders, including employees, consumers, and communities; and (2) recommend to the President a special annual award to those chief executives and boards of directors that have made the greatest progress in this direction. Directs the Attorney General, with the assistance of business leaders and organizations, to establish an ongoing computerized registration program of all corporations found guilty of violating a Federal or State law. Authorizes the President, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence of rehabilitation, to deny Federal contracts, loans, or loan guarantees to non-compliant corporations. Makes it the responsibility of each Federal agency and commission, including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, to perform so as to help establish and maintain conditions under which all adult Americans may freely exercise the economic rights specified in 1944 and in this Act. Prohibits Federal agencies or commissions from directly or indirectly promoting recession, stagnation, or unemployment as a means of reducing wages and salaries or inflation. (Sec. 4) Directs the President to establish a framework for the annual budget submitted to the Congress that meets specified goals with respect to: (1) quality of life and environment; (2) responsible and sustainable growth; (3) reduction of officially measured unemployment; and (4) support for international human rights declarations. Requires such framework also to include specific legislative proposals, budgets, and executive policies and initiatives such as: (1) conversion from military to civilian economy; (2) truth in budgets; (3) improved indicators of progress and regress; (4) anti-inflation policies; (5) lower real interest rates; (6) public works and services; (7) international economic policy; (8) international conferences on reducing unemployment and underemployment; (9) reductions in work hours; (10) part-time employment with social benefits; (11) insurance protection for pension fund investments; and (12) other specified matters. (Sec. 5) Mandates Joint Economic Committee oversight of actions taken or proposed to be taken under this Act. Requires the Joint Economic Committee to submit an annual Concurrent Resolution on Economic Policy setting forth both in aggregate terms and in detail its proposed goals for employment by type of employment, with special attention to hours, wages, and social benefits, and for reducing unemployment, underemployment, and poverty in urban, suburban and rural areas. Requires these goals to serve as the framework for any concurrent resolutions on the Federal budget. (Sec. 6) Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1997
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the full realization of the rights of women is vital to the development and well-being of people of all nations; and (2) the Senate should give its advice and consent to the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Hemophilia Relief Fund Title II: Treatment of Certain Private Settlement Payments in Hemophilia-Clotting-Factor Suit under the Medicaid and SSI Programs Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act of 1997 - Title I: Hemophilia Relief Fund - Establishes in the Treasury the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 103) Specifies that any individual who has a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection shall receive $125,000 from amounts available in the Fund if the individual meets one of the following conditions: (1) has a blood-clotting disorder and was treated with blood-clotting agents between July 1, 1982, and December 31, 1987; (2) is the lawful spouse of such individual or the former lawful spouse and was the lawful spouse of the individual at any time after a date within such period on which the individual was treated; or (3) acquired the HIV infection through perinatal transmission from a parent who is such an individual. Requires that the following conditions be met with respect to such individual: (1) the individual submit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services written medical documentation that the individual has an HIV infection; (2) a petition for payment be filed with the Secretary by or on behalf of such individual; and (3) that the Secretary determine that the claim meets the requirements of this Act. (Sec. 105) Specifies that any right under this Act shall not be assignable or transferable. Sets limits regarding the number of claims per victim. (Sec. 106) Prohibits the Secretary from making any payment with respect to any petition filed under this Act unless the petition is filed within three years after the enactment of this Act. Title II: Treatment of Certain Private Settlement Payments in Hemophilia-Clotting-Factor Suit under the Medicaid and SSI Programs - Prohibits a settlement payment from being considered income or resources in determining a class member's eligibility for, or the amount of: (1) medical assistance under the Medicaid program; or (2) benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program. Defines the terms: (1) "class member"; and (2) "settlement payment."
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1997
Brooke Amendment Restoration Act - Amends the following Acts with respect to certain housing program rental contributions: (1) the United States Housing Act of 1937; (2) the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act; (3) the Housing Act of 1959; (4) the National Housing Act; (5) the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983; (6) the Stewart B. Mckinney Homeless Assistance Act; and (7) the Housing Act of 1949.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1997
Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Act of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide coverage under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of certain self-administered beta interferons and other drugs and biologicals approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of multiple sclerosis for patients with that disease.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Termination of Provisions of Public Law 104-193 Restricting Welfare and Public Benefits for Legal Immigrants Title II: Tax Provisions Immigrant Fairness Act of 1997 - Title I: Termination of Provisions of Public Law 104-193 Restricting Welfare and Public Benefits For Legal Immigrants - Repeals title IV (Restricting Welfare and Public Benefits for Aliens) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Title II: Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to: (1) tax provisions on expatriation, including coordination with estate and gift tax and health insurance portability rules; (2) basis of assets of nonresidents who become U.S. citizens or residents; (3) foreign income exclusions; (4) treatment of domestic corporation stock dispositions by certain foreign shareholders as effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, and related withholding requirements; and (5) imposition of an alternative minimum tax on corporations importing products into the United States at artificially inflated prices.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1997
Civil Rights Procedures Protection Act of 1996 - Amends specified Federal civil rights statutes (including title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, the equal pay requirement under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993) to prevent the involuntary application of arbitration to claims that arise from unlawful employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1997
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the post-1987 reduction in the State ceiling on private activity bonds. Provides, beginning in 1999, for cost-of-living adjustments in the State ceiling on such bonds.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1997
Aviation Safety Protection Act of 1997 - Amends Federal transportation law to establish a whistleblower protection program for airline employees providing air safety information. Prohibits air carriers, contractors, and subcontractors from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee as to pay, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee: (1) is about to provide or has provided to the Federal Government information relating to air safety; or (2) is about to file or has filed a proceeding, or testified, or otherwise participated in a proceeding relating to air safety. Sets forth a Department of Labor complaint procedure for persons who believe they have been discharged or discriminated against in violation of this Act. Provides for award of attorney's fees of up to $5,000 to a prevailing employer for any such complaint found frivolous or brought in bad faith. Specifies civil penalties for violation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Morris K. Udall Wilderness Act of 1997 - Designates specified lands in Alaska as wilderness and components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Primary Care Health Practitioner Incentive Act of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, with respect to payments for medical and other health services, to cover services which would be physicians' services if furnished by a physician but: (1) which are performed by a clinical nurse specialist; and (2) which the clinical nurse specialist is legally authorized to perform by the State. Eliminates the requirement, with respect to such services performed by a nurse practitioner, that they be performed in a skilled nursing facility or other specified nursing facility. Covers, in addition, other services and supplies incidental to such services. Revises the formula for payment from the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund for such services (thereby increasing such payment). Repeals the rural area restriction on services performed by nurse practitioners or clinical nurse specialists for which direct payment may be made. Requires a ten percent bonus payment from the Fund for services of a nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist furnished in a health professional shortage area.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Physician Assistant Incentive Act of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal restrictions on the setting of services provided by physician assistants for which payment may be made. Permits the specified payment for physician assistant services, and services and supplies furnished as an incident to physician assistant services, on an assignment-related basis only. Requires a bonus Medicare payment to physician assistants employed in specified health professional shortage areas. Revises the definition of an employment relationship for physician assistants to include any independent contractor arrangement. Subjects the determination of employer status to State law.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Commemorative Coins Title II: Circulating Coins Marian Anderson Centennial Commemorative Coin Act - Title I: Commemorative Coins - Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) mint and issue one-dollar and half-dollar coins in commemoration of the centennial of the birth of Marian Anderson; and (2) allocate sales surcharges to the Smithsonian Institution, the Public Broadcasting Fund, and the National Museum of American History for the support of the National Numismatic Collection. Title II: Circulating Coins - Amends Federal currency law to provide that at the Secretary's discretion, half-dollar coins minted after specified dates may bear the same design as the commemorative coins minted under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Increases the salaries of the Chief Justice and associate Supreme Court justices of the United States and the judges of the United States courts of appeals, the United States district courts, and the United States Court of International Trade by 9.6 percent. Requires future adjustments in judicial salaries to equal the percentage by which General Schedule pay rates are adjusted (currently, the percentage change in the Employment Cost Index).
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1997
Recognizes the importance of African-American music to global culture. Calls on the people of the United States to study, reflect on, and celebrate African-American music.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 1995 (sic) - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to include certain service in the organized military forces of the Philippines and service as Philippine Scouts within the definition of active U.S. military service for purposes of eligibility for various veterans' benefits for former active-duty military personnel.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1997
Access to College Education (ACE) Act of 1997 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a new part F, Administrative Support for State Prepaid Tuition Programs, under title X of such Act. Directs the Secretary of Education to: (1) make grants to States to support temporarily the establishment and operation of State prepaid tuition programs; and (2) disseminate to States applying for such grants certain studies and information on successful administrative practices for such programs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1997
Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Public Health Service Act to require any group health plan which provides emergency health services to cover emergency services furnished to a plan participant: (1) without need for any prior authorization; (2) subject to stated exceptions, whether or not the physician or provider is plan participant; and (3) subject to stated exceptions, without regard to any other term or condition of the plan. Defines "emergency medical services" and related terms. Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) to provide for the provision of the same benefits to Medicare and Medicaid plan participants. Provides for the establishment of guidelines by the appropriate Secretaries in order carry out the provisions of this Act. Directs the Secretaries to jointly establish an advisory panel to assist in the development of such guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
21st Century Scholars Act of 1997 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to establish a 21st Century Scholars Program, which shall give eligible 21st Century Scholars (eligible Scholars) a legally binding promise, secured by the full faith and credit of the United States, to provide the maximum authorized Pell Grant to cover the costs of attendance for each of up to four years of attendance at an eligible institution. Makes students eligible Scholars if they successfully completed the uppermost grade at a qualifying elementary school and were residents of the such school's attendance area during the school year in which such grade was completed. Makes schools qualifying elementary schools if they serve attendance areas in which the concentration of children from low-income families exceeds 75 percent, as determined under specified provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
National African American Museum Act - Establishes within the Smithsonian Institution the National African American Museum, to be operated as a center for scholarship and a location for museum training, public education, exhibits, and collection and study of items and materials relating to the life, art, history, and culture of African Americans. Authorizes the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to plan, design, reconstruct, and renovate the Arts and Industries Building to house the Museum. Establishes a Board of Trustees of the Museum in the Smithsonian Institution. Directs the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to appoint a Director to manage the Museum. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Amends Federal aviation law to direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations requiring the use of federally-approved child safety restraint systems (including weight and age limits) on commercial aircraft. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization should seek an international standard to require that passengers on civil aviation aircraft be restrained: (1) on takeoff and landing; and (2) when directed by the aircraft captain on commercial aircraft.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to extend the one year transition from disqualification for a current welfare recipient while his or her naturalization application is pending.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Decennial Census Improvement Act of 1997 - Requires the Bureau of the Census, in conducting the 2000 decennial census, to: (1) attempt to contact every household directly, whether by mail or in person (and allows the use of sampling as a substitute for direct contact in a particular census tract only after direct contact has been made with at least 90 percent of the households in such tract); and (2) seek to make more effective use of State and local government offices and appropriate local groups to reduce the undercount and include in a specified report a description of the measures it intends to pursue to carry out such requirement. Prohibits taking into account compensation for services performed by an individual appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to a temporary position for purposes relating to the 2000 decennial census (if the position is so designated by the Secretary at the time of such individual's appointment) for purposes of determining either the individual's eligibility for benefits, or the amount of benefits payable to an individual, under any Federal, State, or local program financed with Federal funds. Modifies Federal law regarding exemptions for reemployed annuitants and former uniformed service members to make such law: (1) applicable to service in any temporary position within the Bureau established for purposes relating to the 2000 decennial census; and (2) inapplicable to any service performed after December 31, 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
American Jobs Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include imported property income of a controlled foreign corporation within the sums added together to compute foreign base company income. Defines imported income property to include, among other things, income from manufacturing, growing, selling, renting, or leasing imported property, but exempts any foreign oil and gas income or any foreign oil-related income. Provides for a separate application of limitations on the foreign tax credit for imported property income. Allows an employer a credit against tax, during the two-year period beginning with the day an employee starts work, equal to 20 percent of the qualified social security taxes paid or incurred by the employer for such new employee. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Finance recommendations on the elimination of, or changes in, business tax preferences.
United States · United States Congress · 13 February 1997
Intelligence Budget Accountability Act of 1997 - Directs the President to include in the annual budget submitted to the Congress a separate, unclassified statement of the appropriations and proposed appropriations for the current fiscal year, and the amount of appropriations requested for the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted, for national and tactical intelligence activities.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Commemorative Coins Title II: Circulating Coins Thomas Alva Edison Sesquicentennial Commemorative Coin Act - Title I: Commemorative Coins - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint one-dollar silver coins emblematic of the inventions of Thomas Alva Edison in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of his birth. Directs the Secretary to conduct an open design competition for the design of the obverse and reverse of the coins. Terminates the authority to mint such coins after December 31, 1997. Requires that certain surcharges received from coin sales be distributed to specified entities. Title II: Circulating Coins - Amends Federal law to declare that half-dollar coins minted between specified dates shall have the same design as the commemorative coins minted under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to add providers of assistance to families or individuals with annual incomes below the poverty line to the list of organizations eligible to receive surplus personal property allocated by the Administrator of the General Services Administration.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Fair Wage Act of 1997 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the minimum wage rate to: (1) $5.50 an hour during the year beginning July 1, 1998; (2) $6.00 an hour during the year beginning July 1, 1999; and (3) $6.50 an hour beginning July 1, 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 11 February 1997
Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to limit the late enrollment penalty to a ten percent increase in the monthly part B premium due over a period equal to twice the number of years that the part B beneficiary could have been but was not enrolled under part B.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1997
Legal Immigrants' Fairness Act of 1997 - Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to permit legally admitted permanent resident aliens to receive Federal Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid payments.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1997
Designates the U.S. courthouse to be constructed at the corner of Superior and Huron Roads, in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Carl B. Stokes United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Patient Right to Know Act - Prohibits any contract or agreement, or the operation of any contract or agreement, between an entity operating a health plan (including any partnership, association, or other organization that enters into or administers such a contract or agreement) and a health care provider (or group of health care providers) from prohibiting or restricting the provider from engaging in medical communications with his or her patient. Requires that each State shall enforce this Act with respect to health insurance issuers that sell, renew, or offer health plans in the State. Provides for enforcement of this Act by the Secretary of Health and Human Services if the Secretary, after consultation with the chief executive officer of a State and the insurance commissioner or chief insurance regulatory official of the State, determines that the State has failed to substantially enforce the requirements. Mandates a civil money penalty. Allows State requirements equal to or more protective of medical communications than the requirements of this Act. Defines "medical communication" as a communication between a provider and a patient (or the patient's guardian or legal representative) regarding the patient's health status, medical care, or treatment options.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Mammogram Availability Act of 1997 - Amends the Public Health Service Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer offering group coverage, that provides coverage for diagnostic mammographies for any woman 40 years old or older to provide coverage for annual screening mammographies for such a woman. Prohibits related enrollment and renewal discrimination, monetary incentives to women, and penalties or incentives to providers. Amends the Public Health Service Act to apply those requirements and prohibitions to coverage offered by an issuer in the individual market. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to allow payment for annual screening mammographies for women over 39 (currently, over 49 but under 65) years old. Removes provisions empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services to revise the screening frequency for which payment may be made. Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require payment for annual screening mammographies for women over 39 years old.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, to permit a local educational agency to waive the immigration admission requirement that a foreign student reimburse the agency for his or her public secondary school costs.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the Attorney General to provide certain older persons with special consideration concerning the English language naturalization requirement.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1997 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to require certain group health plans, and health insurance issuers providing coverage under a group plan, to ensure specified minimum coverage regarding: (1) breast cancer mastectomies, lumpectomies, and lymph node dissections; (2) post-mastectomy breast reconstruction on both breasts; and (3) secondary consultations by specialists. Prohibits: (1) changing coverage terms and conditions based on a participant's or beneficiary's decision to request less than the minimum coverage; and (2) certain penalties or incentives to providers or specialists. Amends: (1) the Public Health Service Act to apply the same requirements to health insurance issuers in the individual market; and (2) the Internal Revenue Code to apply those requirements to group health plans.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Directs the Secretary of the Army to close the military education and training facility known as the United States Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. Repeals current statutory authority for the School.
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
Corporate Welfare Reduction Act of 1997 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to determining the foreign tax credit, to replace the formula for reducing the amount of oil and gas extraction taxes taken into account. Disallows as creditable amounts: (1) any taxes paid or accrued to a foreign country with respect to foreign oil and gas income (including extraction income) which are not imposed under the country's generally applicable income tax law; and (2) any other taxes on such income to the extent that the country's law is structured or operates so that the tax amount imposed will generally be materially greater, over a reasonable period, than the amount generally imposed on other income. Separates such income, for purposes of certain limitations on the application of the credit, into foreign oil and gas extraction income and foreign oil related income. Removes the deferral, for purposes of taxation of controlled foreign corporations, of tax on extraction income or income from consumption in the foreign country. Provides that the Secretary of the Treasury's authority, in allocating income, deductions, credits, and allowances among taxpayers owned or controlled by the same interests, shall not be limited by any restriction on the ability of the entities to transfer or receive money or property. Revises provisions concerning the exclusion of foreign earned income by U.S. citizens living abroad. Treats the gain or loss of a nonresident alien individual or foreign corporation that is a ten-percent shareholder in a domestic corporation upon disposition of such a corporation's stock as if the taxpayer were engaged during the taxable year in a trade or business within the United States and such gain or loss attributable to a permanent U.S. trade or business establishment. Imposes a 26-percent minimum tax on nonresident alien individuals. Provides for the withholding of tax on such dispositions, except in the case of stock which is not regularly traded. Excepts such gain from the branch profits tax imposed on foreign corporations. Requires notice to the Secretary upon distributions by a U.S. person to a foreign person in redemption of stock or complete liquidation of a subsidiary. Removes the exemption of ten-percent shareholders from the tax on interest of nonresident alien individuals received from portfolio debt investments. Redefines portfolio interest as only interest paid on obligations issued by governmental entities. Provides special rules for determining the source of income from the sale of inventory property.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1997
Constitutional Amendment - Prohibits Federal outlays of operating funds from exceeding receipts to such funds for any fiscal year plus any operating fund balances carried over from previous fiscal years. Waives such prohibition: (1) when a declaration of war is in effect; (2) when the United States by law is engaged in military conflict; or (3) if economic growth has been or will be negative for two consecutive quarters. Requires the President to propose a budget in accordance with this Act. Declares that total receipts exclude those derived from net borrowing. Declares that total outlays shall exclude those for repayment of debt principal and for capital investments in physical infrastructure that provide long-term economic returns, but shall include an annual debt servicing charge. Provides that the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund shall not be counted as receipts or outlays. Requires this article to take effect beginning with the later of FY 2002 or the second fiscal year beginning after its ratification.
![Official portrait of Rep. Watt, Melvin L. [D-NC-12]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/w000207_200.jpg)