United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1987
Technology to Educate Children With Handicaps Act - Amends the Education of the Handicapped Act to add provisions for assistive device resource centers. Directs the Secretary of Education to make grants to States to pay the Federal share of the cost of establishing assistive device resources centers. Directs the Secretary to make State allotments based on the number of handicapped children. Sets forth a minimum State allotment. Requires that each center serve: (1) severely handicapped infants and toddlers; (2) severely handicapped children and youth; and (3) severely handicapped individuals who have attained 21 years of age if the State plan prescribes a targeted population of such individuals. Requires each center to: (1) train and assist specialists in local educational agencies and nonprofit community organizations to evaluate a handicapped student's potential to benefit from assistive devices; (2) instruct teachers, therapists, paraprofessionals, parents, and handicapped students in the appropriate use of assistive devices; (3) provide follow-up services and collect data to determine the effectiveness of the services provided; (4) develop a statewide service delivery system for severely handicapped children; (5) be able to assist in the development of assistive devices to meet the needs of handicapped individuals; (6) disseminate information to local educational agencies and nonprofit community organizations; and (7) provide in-service training to specialists, teachers, parents, and others on the benefits of assistive devices to promote improved educational performance and increased interaction between handicapped and nonhandicapped individuals. Requires each State to assure priority of services for handicapped children from birth through age 21. States that nothing in this Act precludes the provision of center services to handicapped individuals who are no longer eligible for services under the Education of the Handicapped Act. Requires each center to establish an Advisory Committee. Prohibits Federal funds from being used for the operations of such Committee. Sets forth required contents of State allotment applications. Allows any public agency or private nonprofit organization or institution to apply to a State for a grant to establish a center. Makes the Federal share of the cost 70 percent in FY 1988, 65 percent in FY 1989, and 60 percent in FY 1990. Authorizes appropriations to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1987
Recognizes the contributions of Rachel Carson to public awareness and understanding of environmental issues on the 25th anniversary of her book, "Silent Spring."
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1987
AIDS Federal Policy Act of 1987 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to create a new title on acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, to make grants for counseling and testing regarding the etiologic agent for AIDS. Specifies eligibility requirements for grants. Directs the Secretary, in making the grants, to give preference to applicants who will provide the counseling and testing in any geographic area with a significant incidence of AIDS. Prohibits the Secretary from making a grant unless the applicant submits an application containing agreements in accordance with specified provisions of this Act. Prohibits the Secretary from making a grant unless the applicant agrees to: (1) ensure the confidentiality of information and records; (2) test individuals only after obtaining informed consent; (3) provide counseling regarding certain matters before testing any individual; (4) provide counseling both for individuals testing negative and for individuals testing positive; (5) offer, to the extent permitted under State law, opportunities for an individual to undergo counseling and testing without the individual being required either to provide information regarding the individual's identity or using a pseudonym; (6) not require the individual to undergo testing as a condition of receiving health services, unless the testing is medically necessary in the provision of the health services; (7) use funds from the grant to significantly increase the availability of counseling and testing above the level previously provided by the applicant; (8) provide the counseling and testing without regard to the ability of the individual to pay charges imposed by the applicant, if any; (9) establish fiscal control and fund accounting regarding the grant; and (10) expend not more than ten percent of the amounts received for administering the grant. Authorizes the Secretary, on request of a grantee, to provide supplies and services in lieu of grant funds. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Prohibits, except as provided in this Act, disclosure of identifying information with respect to a protected individual or a contact of such individual. Describes persons subject to such prohibition. Provides for civil and criminal penalties for violation of the prohibition, and for injunctive relief. Authorizes disclosure of identifying information regarding a protected individual and a contact of the individual with consent of the protected individual. Authorizes certain persons subject to prohibition of disclosure to disclose identifying information without consent of the protected individual, in certain circumstances and for certain purposes, to: (1) health care professionals and providers; (2) the protected individual; (3) State public health officers; (4) medical facilities receiving blood, semen, breast milk, or an organ from the individual; and (5) others, as medically necessary. Authorizes redisclosure by recipients of information disclosed under the same terms and conditions as the original disclosure. Authorizes a court of competent jurisdiction to order disclosure of identifying information if the court determines, after due process, that the disclosure is necessary to prevent a clear and imminent danger of transmission of the etiologic agent for AIDS. Provides for confidentiality of court records. Authorizes physicians or professional counselors to disclose identifying information with respect to a protected individual to the individual's spouse or sexual partner, if the physician or counselor believes the disclosure is medically appropriate and that the protected individual will not inform the spouse of sexual contact with regard to the identifying information involved. Requires any person who discloses identifying information permitted by this Act, subject to exception, to: (1) accompany disclosure with a statement declaring that subsequent disclosure of the information may be prohibited by law; and (2) notify a living protected individual of the disclosure. Prohibits discrimination against an otherwise qualified individual, solely by reason of the fact that the individual is, or is regarded as being, infected with the etiologic agent for AIDS: (1) in employment, housing, public accommodations, or governmental services; and (2) in the provision of benefits under any program or activity that receives or benefits from Federal financial assistance. Provides guidelines for the construction of the term "otherwise qualified individual." Provides for civil penalties for violation of the prohibition against discrimination, and for injunctive relief. States that the prohibition of discrimination shall not be construed to prohibit life or health insurance organizations from requiring applicants for insurance to undergo testing for the purpose of determining whether the applicant is infected with such etiologic agent.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1987
Expresses the sense of the Senate: (1) supporting the President's efforts to gain Pakistan's compliance with its past commitments not to produce weapon-grade nuclear material; (2) urging the President to inform Pakistan that its verifiable compliance with such past commitments is vital to any further U.S. military assistance; and (3) urging the President to pursue an agreement by India and Pakistan to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, accept International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, allow mutual inspection of one another's nuclear installations, renounce nuclear weapons through a joint declaration, and establish a nuclear weapons free zone in the Subcontinent.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1987
Regulatory Fairness Act - Amends the Federal Power Act to direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order a public utility to refund those amounts determined by the Commission to be in excess of just and reasonable rates or charges.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1987
Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to provide that, for purposes of laws administered by the Veterans Administration providing benefits for qualified veterans, certain specified services performed by seamen in the merchant marine during World War II shall be considered active naval service if the total period of all such service is equal to or exceeds 12 months. Exempts from such 12-month minimum any person who has a permanent disability resulting from personal injury incurred while serving during such period. Directs the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to accept the certification of the Secretary of Transportation or the head of any other department or agency of the Federal Government that a person is qualified to receive such benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1987
Persian Gulf Shipping Act of 1987 - Requires the President to terminate the reregistration under the United States flag of any vessel which had been owned as of June 1, 1987, by the government of any country bordering the Persian Gulf or by any national of such country. Allows the President to reregister such vessels if, within a specified time, the President determines and certifies to the Congress that the exercise of such authority for an additional period of time is vital to the national security interests of the United States and if the Congress enacts a joint resolution authorizing such actions. Sets forth special rules for the consideration of such a joint resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1987
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 1992 the period during which qualified mortgage bonds and mortgage credit certificates may be issued. (Under current law, authority for these programs is due to expire as of 1989.)
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1987
Recognizes the importance of the agricultural export enhancement program established under the Food Security Act of 1985. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of Agriculture should assure that sufficient FY 1987 through 1990 funding be available for such program.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Methanol and Alternative Fuels Promotion Act of 1987 - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to revise the dual fuel passenger automobile driving range for automobiles operating on certain ethanol or methanol mixtures. Provides that for any ten consecutive model years between 1993 and 2005, a dual fuel passenger automobile manufacturer shall receive an average fuel economy increase according to specified guidelines. Declares that if a manufacturer makes methanol- or ethanol-powered or dual fuel passenger automobiles, the fuel economy of an automobile shall be based on the fuel content of the methanol or ethanol mixture used to operate it. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the Congress regarding ethanol and methanol promotion. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to declare that the determination of tax to be imposed regarding methanol-, ethanol-, or natural gas-powered or dual fuel passenger automobiles shall be based on the fuel economy rating established under the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Family Security Act of 1987 - Replaces the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) (part A of title IV of the Social Security Act) program with the Child Support Supplement (CSS) program. Title I: Child Support and Establishment of Paternity - Subtitle A: Child Support - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the withholding of child support payments from the non-custodial parent's wages upon the issuance or modification of a child support order. Waives such withholding requirement when both parents agree to an alternative arrangement or the State finds good cause to rely on an alternative arrangement. Amends part A of title IV of the Act to exclude the first $50 of child support payments which were due for a prior month from the determination of a family's need for CSS payments in the month during which such payments were received. Amends part D of title IV of the Act to require States to review State guidelines for child support award amounts at least once every five years. Makes such guidelines binding upon judges or other State officials unless the judge or official, pursuant to criteria established by the State, finds good cause to ignore such guidelines. Requires that child support awards established under such guidelines be reviewed at least once every two years. Requires the review of a child support award which was not established under such guidelines to adjust it in accordance with such guidelines if either parent requests such review and the State determines that the award should be reviewed. Gives parents at least 30 days notice of pending review or adjustment of a child support award. Subtitle B: Establishment of Paternity - Establishes State performance standards for the establishment of paternity which require the State's paternity establishment percentage for a fiscal year to be: (1) at least 50 percent; (2) the State's percentage for FY 1987 increased by three percentage points for each fiscal year after FY 1988; or (3) equal to or greater than the average percentage for all States. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to modify such requirements to take into account variables which may affect a State's ability to meet such requirements. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the Congress regarding the data upon which State paternity establishment percentages are based and the performance of States in establishing paternity. Raises the Federal matching rate to 90 percent (from 68 percent in FY 1988) for laboratory costs incurred in determining paternity. Subtitle C: Improved Procedures for Child Support Enforcement and Establishment of Paternity - Requires the Secretary to establish time limits within which a State must accept and respond to requests for assistance in establishing and enforcing child support orders. Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory committee, composed of State officials involved in the Child Support Enforcement program, with which the Secretary must consult before issuing regulations regarding such time limits. Requires the issuance of final regulations by the first day of the seventh month after this Act's enactment. Requires States to establish automatic data processing and information retrieval systems to assist in the administration of the Child Support Enforcement program within ten years of the State's submittal (by October 1, 1989) of an advance planning document for such system to the Secretary, or, if earlier, by the date specified by the State in such document. Authorizes the Secretary to waive the Act's requirements for such documents and systems if the State has an alternative system which is in substantial compliance with the Act's requirements. Sets the Federal share of establishing such a system at 90 percent so long as time limits have not been exceeded. Directs the Secretary of Labor to give the Secretary prompt access to wage and unemployment compensation claims information and data maintained by the Department of Labor and State employment security agencies. Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Act to require States to collect the social security numbers of both parents when their child is born for use by State agencies administering Child Support Enforcement programs unless the State finds good cause for not requiring such numbers. Establishes the Commission on Interstate Child Support which, by October 1, 1988, must hold one or more national conferences on reform of interstate child support procedures. Directs the Commission to submit a report to the Congress by October 1, 1989, containing recommendations for improving the interstate establishment and enforcement of child support and for revising the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act. Terminates the Commission on October 2, 1989. Authorizes appropriations for such Commission. Title II: Joint Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program - Amends part A of title IV of the Act to require States to establish, within three years of this Act's enactment, a job opportunities and basic skills training program (Program) which helps needy children and parents avoid long-term welfare dependence. Requires private sector involvement in planning and Program design to assure that participants are trained for jobs that will actually be available in the community. Requires non-exempt CSS recipients to participate in such Program if State resources permit such level of participation and necessary child care is available to participants. Allows exempt CSS recipients to participate on a voluntary basis. Authorizes States to require or allow absent fathers who are unemployed and unable to meet child support obligations to participate in the Program. Exempts from Program participation an individual who: (1) is ill, incapacitated, or of advanced age; (2) is needed in the home because of the illness or incapacity of another member of the household; (3) is a parent or relative of a child under age three or, at the State's option, less than age three but not less than age one (such exception applies to only one parent in a two-parent family and may be made inapplicable to both parents if the State provides the family with child care); (4) works more than 30 hours or more per week; (5) is a child under age 16 or attending elementary, secondary, or vocational school full time; (6) is a woman in the third trimester of pregnancy; or (7) resides in an area of the State where the Program is not available. Prohibits the requirement that the parent or a relative of a child under age six who is not the principal earner participate in the Program for more than 24 hours a week. Provides that if an individual is attending a school or a course of vocational or technical training designed to lead to employment when he or she would otherwise commence participation in the Program, such attendance may constitute satisfactory participation in the Program, though the costs of such schooling or training shall not be covered by the CSS program. Requires States to make an initial assessment of the education and employment skills of each Program participant and on that basis develop an employability plan for each participant which, to the maximum extent possible, reflects the participant's preferences. Authorizes the State to: (1) require each participant to then negotiate a contract with the State which specifies the duration of his or her participation as well as the activities the State will conduct and services it will provide in the course of such participation; and (2) assign to each participating family a case manager who is responsible for obtaining, on the family's behalf, any other services which may assure the family's effective participation. Requires State Programs to provide a broad range of services and activities, including: (1) high school or equivalent education; (2) remedial education to achieve basic literacy and instruction in English as a second language; (3) post-secondary education as appropriate; (4) work supplementation programs; (5) community work experience programs; (6) job search, training, and placement services; and (7) other employment, education, and training activities as determined by the State and allowed by the Secretary. Requires non-exempt custodial parents who have not attained age 22 or successfully completed a high school education to participate in high school or equivalent education, or literacy or English language education. Authorizes States to require such parents to participate in training or work activities if they fail to make good progress in educational activities or if their participation in such activities is inappropriate. Requires each work assignment to be consistent with the physical capacity, skills, experience, health, family responsibilities, and place of residence of each participant and not involve unreasonable travel. Gives participants the opportunity for a fair hearing in the event of a dispute involving his or her work assignment. Prohibits: (1) wage rates for work assignments from being set at less than the greater of the Federal or State minimum wage; and (2) work assignments which displace a currently employed worker or position, impair existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements, or fill the job of a worker who has been laid off or fired. Prohibits States from requiring participants to accept a job which would result in a loss of income to the participant's family unless the State maintains the family's income level through supplementary payments. Requires that Program activities be coordinated with Job Training Partnership Act programs and any other relevant employment, training, and education programs available in the State. Authorizes any State to institute a work supplementation program under which such State reserves sums which would otherwise be payable to program participants as child support supplements and uses such sums instead to subsidize jobs for such participants. Authorizes any State to establish a community work experience program to provide experience and training for individuals not otherwise able to obtain employment. Limits such programs to projects which serve a useful public purpose, utilizing, if possible, the participant's prior training, experience, and skills. Requires that other Program activities be coordinated with the community work program so that job placement has priority over participation in such program. Authorizes States to require individuals to participate in job search activities for up to eight weeks after applying for child support supplements and for up to eight weeks in any 12-month period thereafter. Subjects the families of individuals who are required to participate in the Program and fail to do so without good cause to the reduction or elimination of child support supplements. Continues sanctions for a minimum of three months if such individual failed to participate on a previous occasion and for six months if such noncompliance has occurred more than one time previously. Requires the State to notify recipients of any failure to comply with work or training requirements and the actions which must be taken to terminate the sanction. Sets the Federal matching rate for Program costs at 90 percent up to a specified dollar amount and 60 percent thereafter. Sets such rate for administrative costs (for needs assessments, case management services, and agency-client contracts) at 50 percent. Reduces the rate of Federal reimbursement for non-administrative Program expenditures to 50 percent if: (1) more than 40 percent of the non-Federal share of such expenditures is contributed in-kind; or (2) less than 60 percent of such expenditures is targeted at individuals who have received child support supplements for 30 of the preceding 60 months, are custodial parents under age 22 who have not completed and are not enrolled in high school, or are parents in families that are eligible for supplements by reason of the unemployment of the principal earner. Requires States to provide child care (or day care for an incapacitated individual living in the home of a dependent child) for families to the extent that it is necessary to an individual's participation in work, education, and training activities. Provides coverage for certain transportation and other work-related expenses. Sets forth technical and conforming amendments. Requires the Secretary to: (1) publish final Program regulations within one year of this Act's enactment; (2) submit recommended Program performance standards to the Congress within five years of this Act's enactment; (3) study State implementation of the Program; and (4) select five States to participate in three-year demonstration projects to study the relative cost-effectiveness of different approaches for assisting long-term CSS recipients under the Program. Sets forth cost-effectiveness study reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations for the State implementation study for FY 1988 through 1990 and for the cost-effectiveness study for FY 1988 through 1992. Title III: Transitional Assistance for Families After Loss of CSS Eligibility - Provides a family which loses CSS eligibility due to an increase of earned income with nine months of transitional child care if the State determines such assistance to be necessary for continuing employment and the family has received child support supplements for three of the preceding six months. Terminates transitional child care if the family ceases to include a dependent child or the caretaker relative engages in certain conduct prohibited under the CSS program. Requires families to contribute to the costs of such care on the basis of their ability to pay for such care. Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Act to require a State to continue a family's Medicaid eligibility for four months after the family loses CSS eligibility because of increased earnings if the family has received supplement payments for three of the preceding six months, and for an optional five additional months if the family has received the entire four months of extended Medicaid coverage. Terminates extended Medicaid coverage if the family ceases to include a dependent child or the caretaker relative engaged in certain conduct prohibited under the CSS program. Authorizes States to provide the extended Medicaid coverage by paying a family's expenses for health insurance offered by the caretaker relative's employer (or, if more cost-effective, by the absent parent's employer) or a family's expenses, during the five-month extension period, for enrollment in a group health plan offered to the caretaker relative, a group health plan offered by the State to its employees, or a health maintenance organization. Denies a family the five-month extension period if its earnings exceed 185 percent of the Federal poverty level. Requires States to impose a premium on families receiving the five months of extended coverage, but prohibits its exceeding ten percent of the amount by which a family's monthly earnings exceed $581 (as adjusted to reflect changes in the cost of living). Title IV: Family Living Arrangements - Amends part A of title IV of the Act to condition an unmarried minor parent's receipt of CSS payments on his or her residence with a parent, legal guardian, or other adult relative, or in an adult-supervised supportive living arrangement. Makes such requirement inapplicable if: (1) such individual has no living parent or legal guardian or is not allowed to live with such parent or legal guardian; (2) the health and safety of the child or minor parent would be jeopardized if such individual lived with the parent or legal guardian; (3) such individual has not lived at home for at least one year prior to the child's birth or making a claim for CSS payments; or (4) the State otherwise finds good cause for waiving the requirement. Requires that (where possible) CSS payments be made to the parent or legal guardian on behalf of the minor parent and child. Authorizes States to require minor parents who have not graduated from high school to attend school (and parent-training classes when available) on at least a part-time basis as a condition of their receipt of CSS payments. Alters the definition of a "dependent child" to include a child who is poor because of the unemployment of the principal earner in the family. Authorizes States to increase the number of hours which an individual who received a CSS payment in the preceding month may work and remain eligible for such payments. (Currently, an individual must work less than 100 hours per month to maintain such eligibility.) Authorizes States to count for up to four of the six quarters of work required of a parent in the 13 quarters preceding application for CSS payments such parent's: (1) full-time attendance as an elementary or secondary school student; (2) full-time attendance in a vocational or technical training course; and (3) participation in a Job Training Partnership Act education or training program. Title V: Benefit Structure Improvements - Requires each State to make scheduled reevaluations of its need and payment standards for CSS benefits at least once every five years and report to the Secretary and the Congress regarding the results of the reevaluations. Title VI: Demonstration Projects - Authorizes the Secretary to approve, as alternatives to the CSS program, five-year demonstration projects testing: (1) New York State's Child Support Supplement Program; and (2) Washington State's Family Independence Program. Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with four States, by April 1, 1988, for the conduct of two-year demonstration projects testing and evaluating model procedures for reviewing child support award amounts. Provides Federal coverage for 90 percent of the costs of such projects. Requires the Secretary to report the results of such projects to the Congress within six months after completion of all such projects. Amends part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to establish a program providing grants to States selected to conduct demonstration projects testing whether CSS housing costs can be reduced by constructing and rehabilitating permanent housing for rental to CSS recipients who would otherwise require CSS emergency assistance in the form of temporary housing. Provides that, to be eligible for selection as one of two States authorized to conduct such a project, a State must: (1) be currently providing CSS emergency housing assistance; (2) have an acute need for Federal assistance by virtue of the large number of homeless CSS families, and shortages of low-income housing, in the jurisdiction(s) where such project would be conducted; and (3) submit a plan to achieve significant cost savings over a ten-year period through the conduct of such project. Requires that such grants be used to provide permanent housing which is: (1) owned by the State, an instrumentality of the State, or a nonprofit organization; (2) available to families who have been unable to find decent housing at rents that can be paid with CSS aid for shelter; and (3) located in jurisdictions experiencing a critical shortage of such housing. Requires that: (1) the most costly temporary housing be retired from use in the emergency assistance program as permanent housing becomes available for occupancy, unless temporary housing is demonstrably needed; and (2) the costs of providing permanent housing be lower than costs which would be incurred if, instead, the State made CSS emergency assistance payments providing temporary housing. Sets the State contribution to the cost of constructing or rehabilitating such housing at at least the current State CSS share increased by ten percent. Authorizes appropriations for the grant program for each of the first five fiscal years following FY 1987. Amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants to States for one- to five-year demonstration projects for CSS children testing financial incentives and alternative approaches to reducing school dropouts, encouraging skill development, and avoiding welfare dependence. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for demonstration projects designed to increase compliance with child access provisions of court orders. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 and 1989. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on the effectiveness of such projects by July 1990. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for three-year demonstration projects testing innovative methods for providing suitable foster care arrangements and other necessary social and medical services for infants abandoned by their parents or removed from their parents' custody and placed in a hospital's care. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Directs the Secretary to make grants to between five and ten States for three-year demonstration projects increasing the availability of child care in communities by the acquisition or renovation of child care facilities, and the provision of child care transportation services. Favors States that propose to conduct the project primarily in communities having fewer than 50,000 inhabitants. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress regarding such projects by October 1, 1991. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to up to five States for demonstration projects testing whether the employment of parents of dependent children receiving child support supplements as day care providers will facilitate the conduct of the Program and afford a significant number of families a realistic opportunity to avoid welfare dependence. Title VII: Payments to American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands - Amends part A (General Provisions) of title XI of the Act to include American Samoa in the CSS program. Limits Federal funding for American Samoa's program to $1,000,000 for any fiscal year. Increases the total amount of Federal payments which may be made to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands in any fiscal year under titles I (Grants to States for Old-Age Assistance for the Aged), X (Grants to States for Aid to the Blind), XIV (Grants to States for Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled), XVI (Grants to States for Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled), and parts A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) and E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Act. Title VIII: Waiver Authority - Amends title IV of the Act to add a new "Part F: Waiver Authority," which sets forth the required content of State applications to the Secretary for the approval of demonstration projects experimenting with methods to more effectively assist the poor and reduce their welfare dependence. Prohibits the Secretary from approving the conduct of more than ten projects under part F at any one time. Permits applications to include within their proposed projects: (1) title IV programs; (2) social service block grants under title XX of the Act; and (3) any non-Federal public program within the State which is designed to alleviate poverty. Protects individuals and families included in a project from having their benefits reduced below what they would have been in the absence of the project. Requires State applications for projects involving work, education, or training activities to contain specified assurances, including assurances that: (1) mandatory participants in such activities be provided with child care; and (2) work assignments will not displace current employees or impair existing contracts or collective bargaining agreements. Prohibits the Federal share of project funding from being greater than the Federal share in the absence of such project under the programs included in the project. Authorizes the Secretary to approve projects replacing current entitlement programs with new entitlement programs provided such replacement does not cause a large increase or decrease in Federal funding. Requires the Secretary to notify a State of the approval or disapproval of its project within four months of the submission of the application. Sets forth reporting requirements. Provides that such projects shall terminate after five years unless the State Governor or Secretary terminates the project sooner. Title IX: Technical and Conforming Amendments Relating to Replacement of AFDC Program by Child Support Supplement Program - Sets forth technical and conforming amendments relating to the replacement of the AFDC Program by the CSS program. Title X: Reorganization and Redesignation of Title IV; General Conforming Amendment Relating to Such Reorganization and Redesignation - Reorganizes and redesignates the parts of title IV of the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Authorizes and requests the President to present a gold medal to Lawrence Eugene Doby and posthumously to Jack Roosevelt Robinson in recognition of their achievements in baseball and their contributions to the advancement of civil rights. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to cause bronze duplicates of the gold medals to be coined and sold at a price sufficient to cover the cost of such duplicates and gold medals.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1987
Recognizes the efforts of the United States Soccer Federation to bring the World Cup to the United States in 1994. Authorizes the President to designate the Secretary of Commerce as the official U.S. representative in any discussions with the Federation Internationale de Football Association.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1987
Designates the week beginning November 15, 1987, as African American Education Week. Authorizes and requests the President to issue a proclamation calling upon: (1) the Department of Education and State and local governments to support activities observing such week; (2) schools and communities with African Americans to demonstrate their commitment to the education of African Americans; and (3) community organizations to intensify their support of academic excellence by African Americans.
United States · United States Congress · 14 July 1987
Amends Federal law relating to the policing of the buildings and grounds of the Library of Congress to authorize the Librarian of Congress to designate certain employees as police (rather than as special police). Provides that the rank structure and pay for such police shall be the same as that for the Capitol Police.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 1987
Declares that the Congress encourages all Americans to read the Constitution within one year of its 200th anniversary and strongly encourages Members of Congress, Federal judges, and officials of the executive branch to set the example in studying this cornerstone of democratic government.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 1987
Veterans' Beneficiary Travel Reimbursement Restoration Act of 1987 - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions relating to the payment of travel expenses for veterans traveling to a Veterans Administration (VA) health care center for treatment to direct the Administrator of Veterans Affairs, in exercising the authority to make such payments, to make such payments to the following persons: (1) a person receiving veterans' benefits for or in connection with a service-connected disability; (2) a veteran receiving veterans' pension benefits; (3) a veteran whose annual income does not exceed the annual veterans' pension rate or who is unable to defray the expenses of such travel; (4) a person whose travel to a VA facility was incident to a scheduled compensation and pension examination; and (5) a veteran whose travel to a VA facility was required to be performed by a special mode of travel which was either authorized beforehand by the Administrator, or was in connection with a medical emergency. Authorizes the Administrator to deduct from the amount otherwise payable an amount equal to $3.75 for each trip to or from a VA facility. Provides a maximum amount authorized to be so deducted from the reimbursed expenses of veterans making six or more one-way trips during the following calendar month or months. Authorizes the Administrator to increase proportionately the amount permitted to be deducted whenever the amount of the reimbursement itself is increased. Directs the Administrator, with respect to any fiscal year in which he or she exercises the authority to make such payments, to make an allocation to each VA facility, before October 1 of each year, to enable the head of such facility to make such payments to veterans using such facility and authorized to receive such payments. Directs the head of each such facility to use such funds solely for such payments. Directs the Chief Medical Director of the VA's Department of Medicine and Surgery, when it is determined that insufficient payments have been made at any such facility, to authorize payments to be made for the proper amounts, unless the Chief Medical Director determines that making such payments at such lesser level would be in the best interests of furnishing care and services to eligible veterans at such facility. Permits any funds authorized for the making of such payments, but unexpended, to be used by the head of any such facility for support of other authorized direct-health care purposes. Directs the Administrator to take all appropriate steps to facilitate the establishment and maintenance of a program under which organizations or individuals who are volunteering their services to the VA would take responsibility for the transportation of such veterans, without reimbursement from the VA, primarily those residing in those areas which are geographically accessible to such facilities, who seek services or benefits from such VA facilities. Directs the Administrator, no later than six months after the enactment of this Act, to report to the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committee on the implementation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1987
Transport Regulatory Reform Act of 1987 - Establishes within the legislative branch a 15-member Transportation Regulatory Commissions Nominating Commission. Requires the President to notify the Commission's chair of any vacancy occurring on the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Maritime Commission, or the National Transportation Safety Board. Requires the Commission to submit a list of at least three qualified individuals within 90 days of notification. Enumerates qualification requirements of nominees. Requires the President to nominate an individual for a vacancy within 90 days. Provides for a default to the first name on the Commission list if the President fails to make a nomination within the required time period. Provides for expedited committee consideration of nominees. Requires Commission membership to be drawn from transportation carriers and their organizations. Requires the Commission to submit nomination reports to the President of the Senate and biannual evaluations to the Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1987
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to design, construct, operate, and maintain the following features of the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project: (1) modification of existing radial gates at Cle Elum Dam; (2) a Kachess Lake to Keechelus Lake pipeline; (3) a reregulating reservoir of the Roza Division; and (4) facilities to automate and otherwise improve canal operations of the Sunnyside Division and the Wapato Indian Project; (5) facilities to automate the headgate, wasteways, and trashrack of the Chandler Power Canal to maintain operating controls for the Kennewick Irrigation District; and (6) storage facilities at the Cabin Creek site pending a preliminary analysis, a specified report to the Congress, and secretarial approval. Directs the Secretary to develop and submit a plan to the Congress for water conservation measures by recipients of irrigation water from the Yakima Enhancement Project. Authorizes appropriations. Requires non-Federal interests to fund 35 percent of construction costs. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary for a feasibility study of certain other potential elements of the Yakima Enhancement Project.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1987
Quality Control Amendments of 1987 - Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to extend the moratorium on the reduction of payments to States for high erroneous payment rates under part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) of title IV of the Social Security Act through FY 1988. (Currently, such moratorium is set to expire at the close of June 1988.) Includes payments to States under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Act within such moratorium. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to place a moratorium on penalties for high erroneous payment rates under the Food Stamp program through FY 1988.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1987
Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture, through January 1, 1988, from accepting any mortgage loan prepayments on rural rental housing unless: (1) a loan was made or insured at least 20 years prior to the date of prepayment; or (2) in the case of a loan made or insured before December 21, 1979, the Secretary determines that comparable housing is available, or that such prepayment will not result in substantial rent increases to existing tenants.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1987
Makes funds available to the Secretary of Energy, according to a specified formula, for the cleanup of hazardous or radioactive waste from atomic energy defense activities. Directs the Secretary of Defense to transfer to the Secretary of Energy the amount calculated according to such formula. Precludes the use of such funds for repository costs resulting from permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste from atomic energy defense activities. Makes such funds available for FY 1988 through 1992. Requires the Secretary of Energy, in conjunction with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to: (1) develop a comprehensive plan, including a timetable and estimated costs, for the cleanup of hazardous or radioactive waste from atomic energy defense activities; and (2) submit such plan to specified congressional committees.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1987
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) encourage and assist Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in their planning and formulation of a comprehensive plan for their economic recovery and development; and (2) assist in the implementation of such plan and encourage other countries to join in extending such assistance to those Central American countries that have made substantial progress toward peaceful relations and peacekeeping mechanisms in their region and toward an open political system in the spirit of the present negotiations of those countries.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1987
Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act Amendments of 1987 - Title I: General Provisions - Amends the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (the Act) to require additional topics to be covered in an annual report which current law requires the State Planning Council to prepare and transmit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary). Adds topics to an annual report which current law requires the Secretary to submit to the President, the Congress, and the National Council on the Handicapped. Title II: State Assistance Program - Amends the Act to revise requirements regarding State plans for the provision of services for persons with developmental disabilities. Requires such plan (plan) to designate one State agency (designated agency) to administer or supervise the administration of the plan. (Current law allows one or more agencies to be so designated.) Authorizes the Governor of a State in which the designated agency, on the date of enactment of this Act, provides or pays for services to determine not to change the designation of such agency. Requires such determination to be made after the Governor has considered the comments of the general public and the non-agency members of the State Planning Council. Broadens the requirements for areas which must be covered in the plan. Requires each State Planning Council to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis regarding services to persons with developmental disabilities. Mandates that the plan describe a process and timetable for completion of such comprehensive review. Requires each State Planning Council to conduct a review and analysis of effectiveness and consumer satisfaction regarding functions and services provided or paid for from Federal and State funds for persons with developmental disabilities. Requires each State Planning Council to convene public forums to present the findings of such reviews and analyses, obtain comments regarding unserved and underserved populations, and prepare recommendations on how to remove barriers to services. Requires each State Planning Council to prepare and transmit to the Governor and legislature of its State a final report regarding such reviews and analyses containing recommendations concerning specified matters. Directs the Governor of each State to submit to the Secretary a copy of such report. Directs the Secretary to submit a summary of such reports to the appropriate committees of the Congress. Revises the provisions of such Act regarding assurances which must be contained in or support the plan to require certain funds paid to a State be used to significantly enhance the independence, productivity, and integration into the community of persons with developmental disabilities. Requires the plan to provide for the examination, at least once every three years, of the provision of and the need for the provision of Federal and State priority areas. Specifies minimum contents of such examination. Eliminates certain provisions relating to required contents of the plan regarding: (1) a comprehensive plan to address unmet needs; (2) the use of priority service funds for specified additional services; and (3) consideration of certain data collected by the State education agency. Revises the provisions of such Act regarding: (1) requirements that a certain percentage of specified sums available to the State be expended in the priority areas; and (2) standards which must be required by the plans. Revises the requirements for the process of development and annual review of the habilitation plan for a person with developmental disabilities. Revises the provisions of such Act requiring States which receive assistance under this part to establish a State Planning Council and specifying the makeup of such Council, including having a representative of the State agency that administers funds provided under the Older Americans Act of 1965. Authorizes each State Planning Council to prepare and approve a budget using amounts paid to the State under this part to hire staff and obtain the services of personnel as necessary. Makes the staff and personnel of a State Planning Council responsible solely for assisting such Council and prohibits their assignment to duties by any other agency or office of the State. Revises the formula for allotment of funds appropriated under existing provisions of the Act. Allows amounts obligated but not expended by a State to be reobligated during the immediately succeeding two fiscal years. Adds failure to implement the State plan or applicable regulations of the Secretary to the reasons for withholding payments of such allotments. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Title III: Protection and Advocacy - Revises the requirements regarding elements mandated as a part of the system to protect and advocate the rights of persons with developmental disabilities. Revises the formula for allotment of funds for such system. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990. Title IV: University Affiliated Programs - Directs the Secretary to make grants to university affiliated programs receiving grants under specified provisions of the Act for training personnel in early intervention, programs for the elderly, community-based service programs, and other areas. Specifies the factors the Secretary shall consider in making grant determinations. Authorizes university affiliated programs to use such grants to assist in paying the costs of courses of training or study and to establish fellowships or traineeships providing stipends and allowances. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to university affiliated programs receiving grants under specified provisions of the Act for: (1) training of parents of persons with developmental disabilities, professionals, volunteers, and other personnel; and (2) conducting an applied research program. Authorizes the Secretary to make a grant to a university to study the feasibility of establishing a university affiliated program or a satellite center. Limits the amount of such grant. Sets forth additional assurances applications for such grants must contain or by which such applications must be supported. Revises the minimum amount limits for such grants. Directs the Secretary to consider applications for grants for four university affiliated programs or satellite centers more each fiscal year than the previous fiscal year for FY 1988 through 1990. Requires such programs and centers to be geographically distributed to serve States which are underserved. Authorizes appropriations for such grants for FY 1988 through 1990. Makes amounts appropriated for a fiscal year for the administration and operation of certain activities of a university affiliated program available for obligation and expenditure until the end of the succeeding fiscal year. Title V: Projects of National Significance - Expands the Secretary's authority to include entering into contracts for projects of national significance, technical assistance, and demonstration projects regarding persons with developmental disabilities. (Current law authorizes making grants for such purposes.) Directs the Secretary to publish annually proposed and final priorities for such grants and contracts. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 1987
Restores, on an interim basis, certain recently amended procedures for determining the maximum attorney's fees which may be awarded to representatives of Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (title II of the Social Security Act) claimants for services rendered before the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study and report to the Congress regarding procedures for determining such fees.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1987
Authorizes and requests the President to declare June 27, 1987, as National Sokol Day in the United States, commemorating the Sokol, an association of Americans of Czech ancestry dedicated to gymnastics and democracy.
United States · United States Congress · 17 June 1987
Federal Energy Management Improvement Act - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to revise the policies governing Federal energy management. Adds and defines new terms, including "energy conservation measures" and "performance contracting." Redescribes procedures involved in the establishment and use of life cycle cost methods. Requires the establishment by each agency of a program of incentives that uses internal resources to encourage energy conservation and efficiency by allowing the retention of a portion of the dollar savings resulting from the agency's energy conservation measures. Establishes an Interagency Energy Management Task Force to assess Federal energy savings, disseminate information on energy efficiency, including cogeneration and other technologies, and develop energy-saving options. Requires agencies to improve construction designs for Federal buildings so that the energy consumption per gross square foot in use during FY 1995 is at least ten percent less than that of FY 1985. Sets forth implementation steps to meet such goal. Requires agencies to similarly enhance the energy performance of Federal passenger automobiles by ten percent over the same ten-year period.
United States · United States Congress · 16 June 1987
Family Planning Amendments of 1987 - Amends title X (Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs) of the Public Health Service Act to remove, from provisions relating to project grants and contracts for family planning services, provisions allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary), at the request of a grant recipient, to reduce the amount of the grant by the value of supplies or equipment furnished by the Secretary. Authorizes appropriations for such grants and contracts for FY 1988 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1991 for technical assistance and personnel training. States that such training shall include clinical training for obstetric-gynecologic nurse practitioners and training for educators and counselors. Repeals existing formula grant provisions. States that research grants and contracts may be made for evaluation as well as for development of contraceptives, and to improve clinical management and direct delivery of family planning services. Authorizes the Secretary to conduct, make grants, and enter into contracts for applied research into contraceptive development and evaluations of contraceptive devices, drugs, and methods. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1991. States that amounts appropriated under this provision are in addition to amounts allocated under a specified provision for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants or enter into contracts for community-based information and education programs regarding sexuality, pregnancy, parenthood, and sexually transmitted diseases. Directs the Secretary to conduct, or make grants and enter into contracts for, training and technical assistance for such programs. Directs the Secretary to make grants and enter into contracts for the development, evaluation, and dissemination of educational and informational materials consistent with the objectives of such programs. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1991. Requires not more than ten percent of amounts appropriated to be available for training and technical assistance and for educational and informational materials. Directs the Secretary to collect data annually on: (1) the number of low-income and marginal-income individuals and adolescents at risk of unintended pregnancies; (2) the sources of funding available for family planning services in the United States; (3) the numbers and age, gender, race, and family income of persons who receive family planning services; and (4) the types of services chosen by individuals receiving services. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and enter into contracts for such data collection. Requires the information to be made available to the public. Requires an annual report, currently required to be submitted by the Secretary to the Congress regarding family planning matters, to be based on the data collected.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1987
Performing Arts Labor Relations Amendments - Amends the National Labor Relations Act to exclude specified types of employers and performers in the performing arts from coverage under unfair labor practice provisions prohibiting specified contracts or agreements between employers and labor organizations and prohibiting specified actions of labor organizations to force or require cessation of dealings with others, joining of labor or employer organizations, or recognition of or negotiation with labor organizations not certified as representative. Permits such employers, excluding employers in the broadcasting or motion picture industries, to: (1) agree with a labor organization to make membership in such organization a condition of performing arts employment; and (2) make agreements with a labor organization covering performing artists even if the majority status of the organization has not yet been established. Defines "employer" to include purchasers of musical performance services. Defines "employee" to include independent contractors engaged to perform musical services.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1987
Declares that the use of U.S. armed forces to escort, protect, or defend certain reregistered vessels in the Persian Gulf requires compliance with certain reporting requirements enumerated under the War Powers Resolution. Provides that, in the event that such report is not transmitted to the Congress, the provisions of the War Powers Resolution shall nevertheless apply beginning 48 hours after the introduction of such forces.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1987
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the President should endorse the original position of the United States in ongoing international negotiations to protect the Earth's ozone layer; and (2) the United States should continue to seek an international agreement which will provide for an immediate freeze in the production of the major ozone depleting chemicals at 1986 levels, an automatic reduction of not less than 50 percent in the production of such chemicals, and the virtual elimination of such chemicals.
United States · United States Congress · 2 June 1987
Designates August 1, 1987, as Helsinki Human Rights Day. Requests the President to: (1) reassert the American commitment to the Helsinki Accords; (2) raise the issue of noncompliance with such Accords with the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania; (3) convey to all signatories of such Accords that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is vital to progress in the ongoing Helsinki process; (4) convey to U.S. allies the necessity of unity regarding such Accords; (5) continue his efforts to achieve the release of political prisoners of the Soviet Union, an increase in Soviet emigration, resolution of family reunification cases, and cessation of radio transmission jamming; (6) seek the inclusion, in any concluding document agreed to in Vienna, of a mechanism to sustain human rights progress after the Vienna Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and (7) convey to signatory states the desire of the United States for a result at Vienna that will not favor military security at the expense of human rights.
United States · United States Congress · 29 May 1987
Designates the week beginning October 18, 1987, as Financial Independence Week. Urges all citizens to pursue financial independence through sound planning and management of their individual resources.