United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1978
Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 with respect to price support loans in the producer storage program for wheat and feed grains: (1) to require a minimum cost of storage payment to producers of 25 cents per bushel annually; and (2) to set as a ceiling on the interest rate for such loans the rate of interest charged the Commodity Credit Corporation by the United States Treasury, adjusted quarterly.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1978
Beef Import Act - Title I: Import Quotas - Revises the quotas on the importation of beef. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine the domestic production quantity of beef each quarter in order that the import quota may be determined. Directs the Secretary to establish a system for the equitable distribution of such quota among importers. Title II: Customs Duties - Amends the Tariff Schedules of the United States to increase the customs duties on beef whenever domestic production is too low to trigger the imposition of import quotas.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1978
Intermediate Term Agricultural Export Credit Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Commodity Credit Corporation, to provide intermediate export loans on terms of from five to ten years in order to develop and expand foreign markets for United State agricultural commodities, including breeding livestock. Prohibits any sale involving such intermediate credit unless the Secretary determines that such sale will develop, expand, or maintain a particular country as a long-term foreign market for United States agricultural commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1978
Amends the Clayton Act to entitle any foreign sovereign government to sue for actual damages and the cost of suit (but not for treble damages) when injured in its business or property by reason of any action forbidden in the antitrust laws.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1978
Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set the established price for the 1977 and 1978 crops of upland cotton at 60 cents per pound and of corn at $2.35 per bushel.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 1977
Trade Procedures Reform Act - Amends the Antidumping Act of 1921 to require conditional payment of antidumping duty upon entry of imported articles. Permits "across-the-board" appraisal of the value of such articles. Eliminates the requirement that the Secretary of the Treasury, upon an interim finding that certain imports are unlikely to injure United States industries, refer the case to the International Trade Commission for investigation. Permits simultaneous investigation by the Secretary and the ITC. Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to permit Congressional disapproval of the President's determination to reduce import relief. Amends the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to procedures for relief from unfair trade practices through complaint to the Special Representative for Trade Negotiations. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to require the Secretary of the Treasury to initiate investigations within 30 days with respect to the existence of violations of such Act which require the imposition of countervailing duties (subsidy of imported products by foreign governments).
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 1977
Buy American Act Amendments - Amends the Buy American Act to require Federal agencies to prescribe regulations to require Federal purchases of American goods under the Act if the price of such goods does not exceed the price of like foreign goods by more than 15 to 50 percent. Makes States subject to the Act with respect to the repair or construction of public buildings or public works at least half the cost of which is financed with Federal funds.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1977
Declares that there be no reduction of customs duties on textile, apparel, or fiber products and that such products be excluded from the current Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Geneva.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 1977
Aquaculture Policy Act - Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make a comprehensive assessment of aquaculture in the United States. Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a national aquaculture development strategy, and to furnish leadership for Federal activities relating to the development of aquaculture. Requires the Secretary to alleviate constraints on aquacultural development, furnish assistance regarding aquaculture to public and private organizations and persons, compile production data, arrange for information exchanges with foreign nations, and coordinate the national aquaculture effort. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out any function under this Act through grants to or contracts with Federal or State agencies, colleges and universities, or individuals. Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to authorize the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to insure, or reinsure insurers of, aquatic species propagated and reared in aquaculture operations. Authorizes appropriations necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 1977
Designates the South Portal Federal Office Building of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare at 200 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington, D. C., as the "Hubert H. Humphrey Building."
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1977
Affirms Senate support for existing restrictions on unfair or subsidized competition from imports. Urges the President to enforce laws to prevent dumping, trade discrimination, and other unfair competition having an adverse impact on the American steel industry.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1977
Tuition Tax Credit Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit against an individual's income tax in an amount equal to 50 percent of the sum of the amounts paid by him to educational institutions as tuition (though no more than $500 for any single individual) for the attendance of the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or any of his dependents with respect to whom he is entitled to a personal exemption.
United States · United States Congress · 20 September 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from employment taxes a person engaged in the trade or business of putting sitters in touch with individuals who wish to employ them, if such person does not pay the salary or wages of the sitters and is compensated by the sitters or the individuals who employ them on a fee basis.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1977
Exempts disaster payments made in connection with the 1977 crops of wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, and rice from the payment limitations contained in the Agricultural Act of 1970 and the Agricultural Act of 1949.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1977
Amends the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 to direct the Appalachian Regional Commission to: (1) continue assistance at current levels to child development programs under such Act; and (2) conduct a study of such programs with special regard to a procedure to transfer complete sponsorship of such programs from such Commission to State or private agencies. Directs such Commission to report its findings to the Congress within one year after enactment of this Act. Authorizes appropriations necessary to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1977
Authorizes a presumption of service connection for cause of death for the purposes of payment of dependency and indemnity compensation in the case of a blinded veteran who had a service-connected disability rated permanent and total for at least one year immediately preceding death, if death was due to causes not the result of misconduct on the part of such veteran.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1977
Developing Institutions Endowments Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize grants to developing institutions of higher learning to establish endowments for such institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1977
Optional Educational Simplification Act - Declares the purpose of this Act to be to provide an optional program of consolidation and simplification of certain Federal assistance programs to State and local educational agencies, and to provide such agencies with greater flexibility in the use of such assistance. Title I: Special Needs Programs - Directs States desiring to participate in such a program to design their programs to; (1) meet the special educational needs of children from low income families; (2) provide health, nutritional, and educational services of such children, including preschool children and those previously enrolled in Headstart or Follow Through programs; (3) meet the educational needs of migratory children, including preschool children; (4) meet the educational needs of handicapped children, and establish standards for such programs; and (5) provide bilingual instruction for children with limited English speaking ability, and such instruction and bilingual vocational training programs for adults. Specifies how a State shall allocate funds to local educational agencies for each of such programs under this Title. Title II: Vocational, Adult, and Continuing Education and Employment Training - Authorizes Federal grants to assist States to; (1) extend programs of vocational, homemaking, and consumer education; (2) develop new programs of vocational education; (3) develop and carry out programs to overcome sex discrimination and sex stereotyping in vocational education programs; and (4) provide part-time employment for youths in order for them to continue vocational training. Sets forth the programs for which funds provided under this Title may be used. Requires a State desiring to participate in such consolidation program authorized by such Act to develop programs for adult basic education and for children in adult correctional institutions. Requires a participating State to show how its education training programs relate to manpower programs established under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973. Authorizes to be appropriated for each fiscal year ending prior to October 1, 1982, funds for such programs. Provides for the distribution of Federal funds to local educational agencies by the States for programs under this Title, and defines how they are to be allocated. Title III: Special Emphasis Projects - Requires a participating State to provide funds to local educational agencies for: (1) school library resources; (2) instructional equipment; (3) model elementary and secondary school programs; (4) counseling, testing, and guidance services; (5) nutrition and health services in low income area elementary and secondary schools; (6) programs aimed at lowering the dropout rate in secondary schools with high dropout rates; (7) strengthening the leadership resources of State and local educational agencies; (8) encouraging the use of the metric system; (9) education of gifted children; (10) career education; (11) educational equity for women; (12) drug and alcohol abuse projects; (13) curriculum materials on American ethnic groups and their contributions; (14) the Teacher Corps; (15) programs aimed at children with reading deficiencies; and (16) environmental activities. Directs that local educational agencies establish the needs and priorities of such programs. Provides for the allocation of State funds under this Title to local agencies. Title IV: General Provisions - Provides for the reserving of certain funds from the amounts appropriated to carry out programs consolidated by such Act, and the allocation of such reserved funds among those States participating in the consolidation program. Directs the United States Commissioner of Education to pay to each participating State an amount equal to the amount expended in that State for carrying out the State plan adopted pursuant to this Title. Provides for a participating State to receive a planning grant for use in preparing the comprehensive plan required by such Act. Authorizes appropriations for each fiscal year ending prior to October 1, 1981, to make these planning grants. Requires a State desiring to receive a grant for such consolidation program to; (1) designate a State agency to administer the financial assistance made available under this Act; (2) develop a four-year plan with an annual update; and (3) submit such plan or update to the Commissioner for his approval. Authorizes grants to States for the costs of administering the consolidation program. Requires a participating State to establish certain procedures for use in developing its comprehensive plan designed to assure: (1) the identification of children and adults with special educational and vocational needs; (2) determination of priorities by local education agencies; (3) participation of interested citizens, local government units, appropriate State agencies in the development of the plan; (4) coordination of consolidation funds with State, local, and other Federal funds extended for similar purposes; and (5) publication of the final plan or annual update. Deems a State plan to meet the necessary requirements if it includes; (1) the goals and program objectives; (2) the assessments of needs determined above; (3) the types of individuals to be served and the estimated enrollment of each program; (4) procedures to assure the proper distribution of funds as authorized by such Act; (5) a description of the program's administrative structure; (6) procedures for monitoring the local educational agencies; (7) procedures that the State will use to insure that any local educational agency receiving funds under such Act will annually develop or update a comprehensive plan for the use of such funds; (8) procedures for auditing local educational agency expenditures under such Act; (9) Minimum expenditures of funds from non-Federal sources; (10) procedures to assure that funds made available under such Act supplement and not supplant State and local funds; (11) due process procedures, including withholding of funds, available to a State against a local educational agency which has failed to implement a comprehensive program plan; and (12) an appeal process within the State for a local educational agency dissatisfied with such State's compliance with such Act. Provides for an annual evaluation of a State's program by the Commissioner. Authorizes the Commissioner to conduct annual monitoring programs of States' programs, and to establish procedures to rectify areas of noncompliance. Directs the Commissioner to provide technical assistance upon request of State and local educational agencies. Directs the Commissioner to issue grants to participating States for interstate programs of educational research and planning, and common administrative problems. Authorizes appropriations of $3,000,000 for each of the fiscal years ending prior to October 1, 1982, to carry out such provision. Directs that the consolidation program authorized by this Act be administered by a separate Federal administrative unit to be established within 60 days after enactment of this Act. Provides the Commissioner with certain enforcement procedures against participating States, and provides such States with judicial recourse against such action. Authorizes the use of funds paid to a State under this Act for construction purposes where such construction funds would have been available under a program consolidated under this Act. Subjects funds made available under this Act to certain civil rights requirements. Provides the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare with certain enforcement procedures against local educational agencies not in compliance with such requirements. Provides for the participation of eligible children in private nonprofit elementary and secondary schools and Indian tribal schools in the programs authorized under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1977
Federal Officials' Antidefamation Act - Renders a person who with actual malice, makes a false and defamatory communication concerning a Federal official liable for damages in a Federal court defamation suit.
United States · United States Congress · 26 May 1977
Taxpayer's Attorney Fee Award Act - Authorizes the district court to award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to any prevailing taxpayer in any case in which tax liability to the United States is asserted.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that State and local government retirement systems shall be tax exempt organizations. Exempts those systems from the reporting requirements pertaining to deferred compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1977
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to exclude from the class of aliens who may have their status adjusted to that of a permanent resident, alien students who seek to enter the United States temporarily to pursue a course of study.
United States · United States Congress · 19 May 1977
States that the voluntary departure from the United States in lieu of deportation allowed by the Attorney General under the Immigration and Nationality Act may not be granted to any alien more than once.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1977
Deems a certain charitable trust to be a non-exempt private foundation under the Internal Revenue Code until such time as it makes a distribution which is not to a specified kind of organization.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1977
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide technical and financial assistance to the State of Alabama for the purpose of correcting slope failures and erosion problems along the Coosa River at the Fort Toulouse National Historical Landmark and Taskigi Indian Mound.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt in certain circumstances, the leasing of property by a corporation, all the stock of which is owned by a private foundation, to a person affiliated with the foundation, from the excise tax on self-dealing by private foundations. Extends specified temporary provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1969 which exempt certain transactions between private foundations and affiliated persons from the self-dealing tax.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1977
Constitutional Amendment - Requires Congress to assure that the total outlays of the Government, during any fiscal year, do not exceed the total receipts of the Government during such fiscal year. States that by the fourth fiscal year after the ratification of this amendment the budget shall be balanced. Permits expenditures to exceed national revenues in time of declared emergency, but states that such expenditures shall never exceed receipts by more than ten percent. Provides that during the fifth fiscal year thereafter, the total receipts of the Government shall exceed outlays by an amount equal to five percent of the Federal indebtedness at the beginning of the fifth fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1977
Amends the Rural Development Act of 1972 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants for research related to the production and marketing of industrial hydrocarbons derived from agricultural commodities and forest products. Directs the Secretary to carry out a program of four pilot projects for the production and marketing of such hydrocarbons by guaranteeing loans not to exceed $15,000,000 per project to public, private, or cooperative organizations. Authorizes, for the research grant program, the appropriation of up to $24,000,000, not more than $3,000,000 of which may be awarded to the colleges and universities of any one State.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1977
Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to classify as rural area for purposes of financial assistance for housing, places within a standard metropolitan area with a population between 10,000 and 20,000 which have a serious lack of mortgage credit as determined by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development. Applies this Act to any application for such financial assistance filed with the Secretary of Agriculture on or after January 1, 1975.
United States · United States Congress · 29 April 1977
Judicial Tenure Act - Establishes A Council on Judicial Tenure. Sets forth procedures whereby complaints concerning Federal judges may be made to either the Council of Judicial Tenure except in the cases involving certain appellate judge's, or to the Judicial Council of the appropriate circuit. Directs that all nonfrivolous complaints within the scope of the Council on Judicial Tenure be investigated. Requires the Council to make further investigation into each written complaint to determine whether grounds specified in this Act for removal of a Justice or judge from office or for censure or involuntary retirement of a Justice or judge exist. Directs the Judicial Conference of the United States or, with the concurrence of a majority of its members, a panel of nine member judges to sit as a Court on Judicial Discipline to hear causes brought before it by the Council on Judicial Tenure. Authorizes the Conference or committee in all causes brought before it, by majority vote (1) to order the censure of any Justice or judge whose conduct is found to be inconsistent with the good behavior required by the Constitution; (2) to order the removal of any such Justice or judge from office; (3) to order the involuntary retirement of any Justice or judge in accordance with this Act; and (4) to dismiss or remand to the Council any such case. Directs the Supreme Court to review orders of the judicial conference upon the petition of any aggrieved judge. Establishes a temporary court of Disciplinary Review to review petitions of any aggrieved Supreme Court Justice.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1977
Declares it the sense of the Senate that the President discuss with Canada the impact of recent provisions of the Canadian tax code on the United States broadcasting industry.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1977
Academic Freedom Act - Requires any regulation affecting any institution of higher learning to be published in the Federal Register and include an educational impact statement. Prohibits enforcement of any regulation which fails to maintain academic requirements for graduate or undergraduate admissions. Restricts the authority and enforcement powers of Federal officials with respect to educational programs or activities of institutions of higher education receiving Federal financial assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1977
Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to pay to each State an amount equal to the amount expended by such State for erroneous supplemental payments to aged, blind, or disabled individual during 1974, under the Supplemental Security Income Program of the Social Security Act, to the extent that the amount paid by such State was required to be paid by Federal statute, was made as a result of good faith reliance by such State upon erroneous or incomplete information supplied by HEW, and recovery of such payments by the States is impossible or unreasonable.
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1977
Bilingual Courts Act - Requires that proceedings in U.S. district courts, in criminal and civil actions, be conducted bilingually where it is determined that a party to or a witness in, such proceedings does not understand the English language. Directs the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to determine and supply the personnel and facilities necessary to conduct such proceedings.
United States · United States Congress · 19 April 1977
Denies veterans' benefits to an individual whose discharge from military service during the Vietnam era under less than honorable conditions is administratively upgraded, under temporarily revised standards, to discharge under honorable conditions; but only when such veteran's claim for benefits is based solely on such upgraded discharge.
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1977
Federal Property Lessor Assistance Act -- Authorizes the Administrator of General Services to renegotiate the amount of rent paid by the Government for real property leased by the United States which is under the authority or supervision of the Administrator in order to compensate the lessor of such property for increased utility costs incurred in operating such premises.
United States · United States Congress · 6 April 1977
Provides for the designation of the library of any nationally accredited law school as a depository library upon request of such law school. (Adds 44 U.S.C. 1916)
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt certain corporations substantially owned by members of two or three families from the requirement that corporations engaged in farming use the accrual method of accounting.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1977
Occupational Safety and Health Act Amendments - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to require the Secretary of Labor to publish technological and economic feasibility studies of a proposed safety or health standard in the Federal Register at least 30 days before such standard is promulgated. Requires the Secretary to publish annual reports of the most prevalent classes of industrial and occupational violations. Extends from 15 to 30 days certain enforcement procedures. Prohibits the assessment of a civil penalty for a citation given for a nonserious violation during an initial inspection. Authorizes the Secretary to make consultative visits to workplace upon an employer's request.
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1977
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the television broadcasting of programs portraying nudity, obscenity, explicit sexual activity, gross physical violence, or morbid torture. Directs the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe regulations prohibiting broadcasting of such portrayals.
![Official portrait of Sen. Allen, James B. [D-AL]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/a000127_200.jpg)