United States · United States Congress · 20 January 2005
Military Death Benefit Improvement Act of 2005 - Increases from $12,000 to $100,000 the death gratuity payable to the survivors of members of the Armed Forces who die: (1) while on active duty or inactive duty training; or (2) within 120 days after discharge or release from such duty or training, if the death resulted from an injury or disease incurred or aggravated during such duty or training.
United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2005
Iran Freedom Support Act - States that: (1) U.S. sanctions, controls, and regulations relating to weapons of mass destruction with respect to Iran shall remain in effect until the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that Iran has permanently and verifiably dismantled its weapons of mass destruction programs and has committed to combating such weapons' proliferation; and (2) such certification shall have no effect on other sanctions relating to Iranian support of international terrorism. Amends the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 to: (1) eliminate mandatory sanction provisions respecting Libya; (2) impose mandatory sanctions on a person or entity that aids Iran acquire or develop weapons of mass destruction or destabilizing types and numbers of conventional weapons; (3) revise multilateral regime reporting requirements, including provisions respecting sanctions on individuals aiding Iranian petroleum development; (4) enlarge the scope of sanctionable entities; and (5) eliminate the sunset provision. Authorizes the President to provide financial and political assistance to eligible foreign and domestic individuals and groups that support democracy in Iran and that are opposed to the Government of Iran. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the President should appoint a special assistant on Iranian matters; (2) contacts should be expanded with democratic Iranian opposition groups; and (3) the President should designate at least one such eligible group within 90 days of enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Database Act of 2005 or Dru's Law - Directs the Attorney General to: (1) make publicly available in a registry via the Internet, from information contained in the National Sex Offender Registry, specified information about sexually violent predators and persons convicted of a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a minor, who are required to register with a minimally sufficient State sexual offender registration program; and (2) allow registry users to identity offenders who are currently residing within a radius of the location indicated by the user. Requires registry information to include the offender's name, address, date of birth, physical description, and photograph, the nature and date of commission of the offense, and the date on which the person is released from prison or placed on parole, supervised release, or probation Requires: (1) any State that provides for a civil commitment proceeding to notify the State attorney general of the impending release of a sexually violent predator or a person has been deemed to be at high-risk for recommitting any sexually violent offense or criminal offense against a minor; (2) the State attorney general to consider instituting a civil commitment proceeding; and (3) each State to intensively monitor, for at least a year, any such person who has been unconditionally released by the State and who has not been civilly committed. Makes a State that fails to implement Act requirements ineligible to receive 25 percent of funds that would otherwise be allocated to it under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Higher Education Science and Technology Competitiveness Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to award grants for articulation agreements between institutions of higher education that specifies the acceptability of courses in transfer toward meeting specific degree requirements, especially in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology. Allows the use of grant funds to establish articulation agreements: (1) statewide, among public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education, to provide a seamless transition for the transfer of students through a common core curricula that reflects the workforce needs of private industry; and (2) within community colleges, between occupational competency or certification programs and associate degree programs, to increase the proportion of students who enroll to complete their associate degree. Allows such grants also to be used to: (1) collect data on transfers from two-year to four-year institutions, for monitoring purposes; (2) develop a statewide articulation guide in consultation with public colleges and universities to provide students with descriptions of articulation requirements; and (3) develop a plan for professional development of two-year college faculty.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Pell Grant Increase Act of 2005 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $6,000 for academic years 2005-2006 through 2010-2011.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Social Security Fairness Act of 2005 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to repeal: (1) pension offset provisions applicable to husband's and wife's insurance benefits, widow's and widower's insurance benefits, and mother's and father's insurance benefits with respect to OASDI payments; and (2) windfall elimination provisions with respect to computation of the primary insurance amount of an individual.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Amends Federal aviation law to prohibit the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, solely by reason of a person's age if the person has not attained his or her Social Security retirement age, from: (1) denying, deferring as to, or failing to renew for any such person an airman or medical certificate for the operation of a commercial aircraft; (2) imposing restrictions or limitations on an airman or medical certificate following initial or periodic competency or medical testing which has the same age discriminatory effect on the person; or (3) requiring an air carrier to terminate the employment of, or not to employ, or to take any other action having the same age discriminatory effect on, such person as a pilot of an aircraft. Declares that such requirements shall not provide the basis for a claim of seniority made under any labor bargaining agreement in effect between the pilots and an air carrier by any pilot seeking re-employment by an air carrier following the pilot's previous termination or cessation of employment.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 - States that a condominium association, cooperative association, or residential real estate management association may not adopt or enforce any policy, or enter into any agreement, that would restrict or prevent an association member from displaying the U.S. flag on residential property within the association with respect to which such member has a separate ownership interest or a right to exclusive possession or use. States that nothing in this Act shall be considered to permit any display or use that is inconsistent with: (1) Federal law or any rule or custom pertaining to the proper display or use of the flag; or (2) any reasonable restriction pertaining to the time, place, or manner of displaying the flag necessary to protect a substantial interest of the condominium, cooperative, or residential real estate management association.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Job Training Improvement Act of 2005 - Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) to revise requirements and reauthorize appropriations for: (1) WIA title I, workforce investment systems for job training and employment services; and (2) WIA title II, adult basic skills and family literacy education programs (renamed as the Adult Basic Skills and Family Literacy Education Act). Directs the Secretary of Labor to implement a national demonstration project on personal reemployment accounts (PRAs), through competitive project grants to States or local boards or consortia to provide PRAs to eligible individuals who are likely to exhaust their unemployment compensation. Revises and reauthorizes workforce investment systems with respect to: (1) State and local planning, allocation, work force investment board membership, and performance accountability; (2) one-stop centers; (3) consolidated funding for adult program activities, including job training, dislocated worker retraining, the employment service system, and reemployment grants; (4) training programs for both out-of-school and in-school youth, including challenge grants; and (5) national job training programs, including the Job Corps and programs for Native Americans, migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and veterans. Exempts religious organizations, with respect to their employment of individuals of a particular religion, from WIA nondiscrimination requirements. Repeals Wagner-Peyser Act provisions relating to the U.S. Employment Service. Revises requirements and reauthorizes appropriations for: (1) vocational rehabilitation services under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and (2) the Helen Keller National Center Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to pay a monthly benefit of $1,000 to certain honorably-discharged veterans of the U.S. Merchant Marine who served between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946 (or to their survivors). Includes service in the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service. Exempts benefits paid under this Act from taxation. Provides for benefits for World War II Merchant Mariners under title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act - Modifies Federal criminal code provisions regarding trafficking in counterfeit goods or services to prohibit trafficking in counterfeit marks. Directs the court: (1) upon a determination by a preponderance of the evidence that any article in a defendant's possession bears or is a counterfeit mark, to order the forfeiture and destruction of such article, regardless of whether the defendant is convicted of an offense; and (2) in imposing sentence, to order a person convicted of, or who pleads guilty or nolo contendre to, a violation to forfeit any property derived from proceeds of, or used in the commission of, the violation. Modifies the definition of "counterfeit mark" to include a spurious mark that is applied to, or consists of, a label, patch or medallion. Provides that nothing in this Act shall entitle the United States to bring a criminal cause of action for the repackaging, without deception, of genuine goods or services.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Clean, Learn, Educate, Abolish, Neutralize, and Undermine Production (CLEAN-UP) of Methamphetamines Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to carry out environmental cleanup and remediation programs involving specified lands that are contaminated with hazardous substances associated with illegal methamphetamine manufacture. Directs: (1) the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate as hazardous certain byproducts of the methamphetamine production process and expand penalties against laboratory operators; (2) the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration to list byproducts likely to cause long-term environmental harm; (3) the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to provide grants to State and local law enforcement for specified training and equipment acquisition; (4) the EPA Administrator to study the impact of methamphetamine laboratory operation on the environment; and (5) the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study contamination issues. Amends: (1) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize grants for educational programs; (2) the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to provide treatment; and (3) the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to include among permissible grant projects under the "cops on the beat" program hiring personnel and purchasing equipment. Urges the President to seek commitments from the Canadian Government regarding the availability of pseudoephedrine.
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005
Adoption Information Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require family planning service projects or programs, as a condition of receiving certain grants or contracts, to assure the Secretary of Health and Human Services that they will provide to each person who inquires about their services a pamphlet containing a comprehensive list of adoption centers in their State. Directs the Secretary to prepare, annually update, and distribute such pamphlets to such projects or programs.
![Official portrait of Rescom. Fortuno, Luis G. [R-PR-At Large]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/f000452_200.jpg)