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United States · Official source
5,946 records where Sen. Baucus, Max [D-MT] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 23 March 1994
Designates the week beginning June 13 as National Parkinson's Disease Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1994
Counterintelligence and Security Enhancements Act of 1994 - Amends the National Security Act of 1947 to prohibit a person from becoming an employee of an agency within the U.S. intelligence community unless the person: (1) authorizes the disclosure of tax returns; (2) agrees to allow an investigative agency to inspect financial accounts valued at over $10,000; and (3) agrees to the inspection of such person's foreign travel records. Sets forth additional requirements for critical intelligence positions, including requirements for information with respect to the nature, location, and material changes to accounts valued at over $10,000 and information with respect to foreign travel unrelated to official duties. Requires authorized investigative agencies to periodically review all information so obtained and notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) upon an indication of the loss or compromise of critical intelligence information. Provides for: (1) requests by authorized investigative agencies for appropriate information from governmental entities; (2) protection of the confidentiality of such information; and (3) investigative agency liability for unlawful disclosure of such information. Empowers the FBI Director with overall responsibility for conducting counterintelligence and law enforcement investigations involving persons in critical intelligence positions. Requires the Director of Central Intelligence to report to the congressional intelligence committees on the effectiveness of such investigative activities. Requires implementation of such provisions with respect to current employees in the intelligence community as well as congressional staff having access to critical intelligence information. Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for the disclosure to the FBI of consumer credit reports (CRs) for counterintelligence purposes if the FBI Director certifies that such records are necessary for an investigation and there is reason to believe that the person for whom the CR is sought is a foreign power or agent. Sets forth provisions governing, with respect to such disclosures by a credit reporting agency: (1) the disclosure of identifying information to the FBI; (2) confidentiality requirements concerning such disclosure; (3) the payment of fees by the FBI for such disclosures; (4) limits on the dissemination of information contained in the CRs; (5) disciplinary actions for disclosure violations (with an exception for a good faith disclosure); and (6) remedies (including injunctive relief). Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide FBI access to tax returns for counterintelligence purposes. Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the Attorney General to award individuals who provide information which leads to an arrest or conviction with respect to an act of espionage. Provides U.S. court jurisdiction to try cases involving acts of espionage by a U.S. citizen outside the United States. Makes the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material a misdemeanor criminal offense. Allows for the forfeiture of property for violation of certain espionage laws.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1994
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Comprehensive Program for Worker Reemployment Title II: Retraining Income Support and Flexibility in Unemployment Compensation Title III: One-Stop Career Center System Title IV: National Labor Market Information System Title V: Reinvention Labs for Job Training for the Economically Disadvantaged Reemployment Act of 1994 - Establishes: (1) a comprehensive program for worker reemployment; (2) retraining income support and flexibility in unemployment compensation; (3) a one-stop career center system; (4) a national labor market information system; and (5) reinvention labs for job training for the economically disadvantaged. (Sec. 4) Authorizes appropriations for titles I, III, and IV of this Act. Title I: Comprehensive Program for Worker Reemployment - Allots funds among States and reserves certain funds for national activities. (Sec. 103) Makes certain permanently laid-off workers and long-term unemployed individuals (as well as workers facing imminent plant shutdowns and self-employed individuals unemployed because of community economic conditions or natural disasters) eligible for services under this title. Makes dislocated homemakers eligible if a State Governor deems this appropriate and certain conditions are met. Part A: State and Substate Delivery System - Makes States responsible for administrative and management systems under this title. (Sec. 112) Requires the Governor to designate or establish a dislocated worker unit at the State level, with specified rapid response, information, and coordination functions. Directs such unit to coordinate with substate grantees and career centers, and to promote worker-management transition assistance committees. Provides for rapid response coverage of certain layoffs, State funding of preliminary assessments of worker buyouts of plants, prohibition of State transfer of rapid response functions, and Federal oversight of such functions. (Sec. 113) Requires the Governor to develop and maintain a comprehensive labor market information system in the State that meets certain requirements relating to the national system of effective labor market information. (Sec. 114) Requires the Governor to coordinate programs under this title with the worker profiling system under the Social Security Act and the retraining income support program under this Act. (Sec. 115) Authorizes the Governor to award supplementary grants to eligible entities to provide authorized services to eligible individuals in areas of the State experiencing substantial increases in numbers of such individuals due to plant closures, base closures, and mass layoffs. Allows such grant funds to be used to establish additional service centers, including on-site transition centers. (Sec. 116) Authorizes the Governor to award job retention project grants for: (1) upgrading skills of workers at risk of permanent layoff; and (2) retraining workers in new technologies and work processes to help convert or restructure businesses into high performance work organizations and avert plant closings or substantial layoffs. Requires State and employer contributions. Requires consultation with unions. (Sec. 117) Requires establishment of substate area administrative structures. (Sec. 118) Requires each designated substate grantee to establish one or more career centers in that area. Allows additional, temporary on-site transition centers. (Sec. 119) Authorizes the use of substate area funds for the following services for eligible individuals: (1) basic reemployment services; (2) intensive reemployment services; (3) education and training services; (4) retraining income support; (5) supportive services; and (6) supplemental wage allowances for older workers. (Sec. 120) Allows a career center to issue a certificate of continuing eligibility for services to eligible individuals who are accepting employment at a significantly lower wage than their previous one or in an occupation significantly different from their previous one. Part B: Federal Service Delivery System - Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a program of national discretionary grants to address large-scale economic dislocations resulting from plant closures, base closures, or mass layoffs. Allows the use of such grants to: (1) provide comprehensive planning services to assist communities in addressing and reducing the impact of an economic dislocation; and (2) establish on-site transition centers. (Sec. 132) Directs the Secretary to make funds available for disaster relief employment assistance to States for substate allocation. (Sec. 133) Directs the Secretary to provide for: (1) evaluation of programs under this title; (2) research on addressing economic dislocation, facilitating the transition of permanently laid-off workers to reemployment, and upgrading skills of employed workers; and (3) demonstration projects to develop and improve methods of addressing economic dislocation and promoting worker adjustment. (Sec. 134) Directs the Secretary to provide staff training and technical assistance to various entities to enhance their capacity to develop and deliver adjustment assistance services to workers, and to avert plant closings or substantial layoffs. Requires integration of such activities with those of the Capacity Building and Information and Dissemination Network. (Sec. 135) Directs the Secretary to provide for delivery of programs, activities, and services under this title in any State that chooses not to participate. Part C: Performance Standards and Quality Assurance Systems - Directs the Secretary to establish a process, including an annual meeting, in each State to promote development of a customer service compact among parties administering programs under this title. (Sec. 152) Directs the Secretary to prescribe performance standards relating separately to the substate grantees and the career centers. Directs Governors to prescribe adjustments to such standards and award incentive grants to grantees and centers exceeding such standards. (Sec. 153) Requires each substate grantee to establish methods for obtaining customer feedback from eligible individuals and employers who have received services from a career center. (Sec. 154) Makes providers of education and training services eligible to receive funds under this title if they are eligible to participate under student aid provisions of the Higher Education Act of 1965 or are determined eligible under alternative procedures established by Governors, and if they provide performance-based information. Exempts on-the-job training providers from such requirements. Part D: General Requirements - Sets forth general requirements for programs under this title, including provisions for benefits, labor standards, and grievance procedures. Part E: Fiscal Administrative Provisions - Sets forth various administrative provisions, including ones for program year, prompt allocation of funds, monitoring, fiscal controls and sanctions, reports, recordkeeping, and investigations, administrative adjudication, nondiscrimination, judicial review, nondiscrimination, and criminal provisions. Part F: Miscellaneous Provisions - Provides for transition, on July 1, 1995, to programs authorized under this title from the following programs, which this Act repeals, under employment and training assistance for dislocated workers provisions of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA): (1) Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance program; (2) Defense Conversion Adjustment Program; (3) Defense Diversification Program; and (4) Clean Air Employment Transition Assistance Program. Terminates the Disaster Relief Employment Assistance program under JTPA. Title II: Retraining Income Support and Flexibility in Unemployment Compensation - Part A: Retraining Income Support Program - Establishes a retraining income support program to assist permanently laid-off individuals participating in long-term training programs. (Sec. 202) Sets forth eligibility requirements for tenured workers (who have been employed for more than three years before being permanently laid off) and for trade-impacted workers. Provides, at a later date, for additional eligibility coverage for workers who have been employed for more than one year but less than three years before being permanently laid-off. (Sec. 203) Sets forth formulae for determining weekly amounts of such assistance. (Sec. 204) Limits the maximum duration of such assistance to: (1) 52 weeks for individuals with three years or more of job tenure; and (2) 26 weeks for individuals with less than three years of job tenure. Provides for coordination with the extended unemployment compensation benefit program. (Sec. 205) Provides for agreements with States, administration absent State agreement, liabilities of certifying and disbursing officers, fraud and recovery of overpayments, and penalties. Part B: Retraining Income Support Account - Amends the Social Security Act to establish a Retraining Income Support Account in the Unemployment Trust Fund. Provides for transfers to such Account and transfers to States. (Sec. 222) Provides for funds to assist States in administering cash benefits for retraining income support. Part C: Financing Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to raise the rate of the Federal unemployment tax. (Sec. 232) Provides for voluntary withholding of Federal individual income tax on unemployment and other benefits, including retraining income support. Requires States to provide for a system for deduction and withholding of Federal individual income tax from unemployment compensation upon the recipient's voluntary request. Part D: Integration of Trade-Impacted Workers into the Comprehensive Reemployment System - Phases out the trade adjustment assistance program. (Sec. 242) Establishes within the Department of Labor a temporary, transitional certification program to integrate trade-impacted workers into the comprehensive system of worker reemployment and retraining income support. Part E: Unemployment Compensation Flexibility - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow States, under their unemployment compensation programs, to conduct: (1) short-time compensation programs; (2) reemployment bonus programs. (Sec. 253) Amends the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act to repeal a sunset provision which would terminate the self-employment assistance program after five years. (Thus this Act extends such program indefinitely.) Title III: One-Stop Career Center System - Part A: Components of Voluntary One-Stop Career Center System - Requires a State's one-stop career center system, in order to receive a grant or waiver under this title, to include: (1) local workforce investment boards; (2) one-stop career centers established in accordance with specified procedures; (3) provision of specified services; (4) participation of specified Federal programs; (5) operating agreements for such centers; (6) quality assurance systems; and (6) a State Human Resource Investment Council. (Sec. 312) Directs the Governor to designate one-stop service areas within the State. Directs local officials to establish a workforce investment board for each such area. (Sec. 313) Directs the Governor and local officials to jointly select a consortium option or a multiple independent operator option as the method for establishing one-stop career centers for each service area. (Sec. 314) Requires each center to make available: (1) certain basic services to the public free of charge; and (2) certain intensive services to participants in the title I comprehensive program for worker reemployment who are unable to obtain employment through the basic services (and, optionally, to other individuals in accordance with the written agreement). Authorizes each center to provide specialized services to employers and additional services specified in the agreement. Authorizes charging fees under specified conditions, with all program income to be used to expand or enhance services. (Sec. 315) Requires the following programs to be made available to participants through the centers (and to participate in operation of such centers as parties to the agreement): (1) comprehensive programs for worker reemployment under title I of this Act; (2) Wagner-Peyser Act programs (employment services); (3) job counseling, training, and placement for veterans; (4) training services for the disadvantaged under title II of JTPA; (5) community service employment for older Americans programs under title V of the Older Americans Act; and (6) programs authorized under Federal and State unemployment compensation laws. Allows other human resource programs to provide services through and participate in operation of the centers, under specified conditions, including the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills program for AFDC recipients, the Food Stamp Employment and Training program, the Job Corps, veterans' employment programs under JTPA, and programs under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, Adult Education Act, Vocational Rehabilitation Act, and School-to-Work Opportunities Act. (Sec. 316) Sets forth requirements for operating agreements and quality assurance systems. (Sec. 318) Requires each State to establish a State human resource investment council that meets specified JTPA requirements and carries out certain additional functions including advising on development and implementation of the one-stop career center system. Part B: Grants and Waivers to Promote the Development and Implementation of One-Stop Career Center System - Authorizes the Secretary to establish programs of competitive grants to States for planning and development and for implementation of comprehensive statewide networks of one-stop career centers. (Sec. 333) Allows a State, at any point during such development or implementation, to request from the Secretary a waiver of one or more statutory or regulatory provisions. Sets forth waiver criteria. Subjects to such waiver authority the mandatory participating programs of the centers. (Sec. 334) Provides for pooling of administrative resources. Part C: Additional Activities in Support of One-Stop Career Center Systems - Directs the Secretary to establish a process, with each State implementing the one-stop career center system, including an annual meeting, to promote development of a customer service compact among the parties administering the system. (Sec. 335) Makes each State implementing such a system responsible for administration, management, monitoring, and technical assistance. (Sec. 336) Makes the Secretary responsible for monitoring compliance, staff training and technical assistance (integrated with the Capacity Building and Information Dissemination Network under JTPA), a national logo and name, and evaluation of one-stop career center programs. Part D: Effective Date - Sets forth effective dates for this title and for performance standards. Title IV: National Labor Market Information System - Directs the Secretary to develop, in coordination with other Federal, State, and local entities, a strategy to establish a nationwide system of local labor market information. (Sec. 403) Directs the Secretary, in cooperation with such other entities and public-private partnerships, to develop such system to make available specified types of information. Requires certain technical standards, consumer reports, and evaluation. (Sec. 404) Directs the Secretary to provide for coordination and integration of such system and appropriate dissemination of information. Title V: Reinvention Labs for Job Training for the Economically Disadvantaged - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to establish a five-year Reinvention Labs program to: (1) encourage innovative program designs to improve provision of services to and labor market outcomes for economically disadvantaged youth and adults; (2) develop, through service delivery areas (SDAs) and States, knowledge of effective approaches to providing employment and training to the economically disadvantaged; and (3) provide SDAs with increased flexibility in operating job training programs, in exchange for greater accountability. (Sec. 501) Sets forth requirements for SDA applications for waivers of Federal requirements relating to JTPA programs for employment and training of the economically disadvantaged. Authorizes the Secretary to waive certain of such requirements under specified conditions and to provide technical assistance to SDAs, States, and service providers for Reinvention Labs programs. (Sec. 502) Modifies the definition of tuition under JTPA.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1994
Designates March 20 through 26, 1994, as Small Family Farm Week.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1994
Fort Peck Indian Tribes-Montana Compact Act of 1994 - Ratifies the Fort Peck Indian Tribes-Montana Compact. Authorizes the Tribes (the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation) to enter into a Water Agreement.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1994
National Highway System Designation Act of 1994 - Designates the most recent National Highway System as submitted by the Secretary of Transportation to be the National Highway System (NHS). Authorizes the Secretary, at the request of a State, to add a new route segment to the NHS (including a new intermodal connection) or delete an existing route segment if the total mileage of the NHS, including any route segment or connection proposed to be added, does not exceed 165,000 miles. Requires each State making a request for a change in the NHS to establish that each change has been identified by the State, in cooperation with local officials, pursuant to applicable transportation planning activities for metropolitan areas and statewide planning processes. Authorizes the Secretary to approve such a request upon determining that the change meets the criteria established for, and enhances the national transportation characteristics of, the NHS.
United States · United States Congress · 22 February 1994
Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to make permanent its "Super 301" provision (under which the U.S. Government must identify annually those foreign markets most closed to U.S. exports and initiate specified unfair trade actions to open those markets). Increases from 30 days to 180 days the period between release of the National Trade Estimate and the announcement of Super 301 sanction priorities.
United States · United States Congress · 10 February 1994
Designates March 20, 1994, as National Agriculture Day.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1994
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Community Participation and Human Health Title II: State Roles Title III: Voluntary Response Title IV: Liability and Allocation Title V: Remedy Selection and Cleanup Standards Title VI: Miscellaneous Title VII: Funding Title VIII: Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund Title IX: Taxes Superfund Reform Act of 1994 - Title I: Community Participation and Human Health - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to direct the President to provide for community involvement in each significant phase of response activities taken under this Act. (Sec. 103) Requires the President to provide the opportunity to establish a representative public forum, known as a Community Working Group (CWG), to achieve direct and regular consultation with community members throughout all stages of a response action. Requires a CWG to serve as a facility information clearinghouse for the community and authorizes a CWG to offer recommendations to the President on anticipated future land uses. (Sec. 104) Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Administrator) to ensure that an independent Citizen Information and Access Office is established in each State and on each tribal land affected by a National Priorities List (NPL) facility. (Sec. 106) Requires the Administrator to select at least ten demonstration projects to be implemented over a five-year period that relate to the assessment and management of, and response to, multiple sources of risk in and around designated facilities. Directs the Administrator, if a distinct pattern of adverse health effects is identified in the surrounding community, to consider additional health benefits for the community. Provides for demonstration projects in locations that coincide with areas identified as empowerment zones under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1994. (Sec. 107) Includes standards and procedures for assessing risks posed by the release or threatened release of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants in the list of required elements of the national hazardous substance response plan. (Sec. 114) Requires the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Administrator to develop and distribute educational materials on human health effects of hazardous substances to the public. (Sec. 115) Authorizes the ATSDR Administrator to provide grant or contract assistance to individuals who may be affected by releases or threatened releases when: (1) a public health assessment or related health activity is conducted at a facility on the NPL; or (2) a release is being evaluated for inclusion on the NPL. Title II: State Roles - Authorizes States to apply to the Administrator to carry out response actions and enforcement activities at all facilities listed or proposed for listing on the NPL. Makes this authority inapplicable with respect to Federal facilities listed on the NPL if an interagency agreement for such a facility has been entered into. Grants a State such authority if it possesses the legal authority, technical capability, and resources necessary to conduct response actions in a manner consistent with this Act. Makes such States eligible for response action financing from the Hazardous Substance Superfund (Superfund). Requires States to pay 15 percent of the costs of all response actions and program support or other costs for which the State receives funds from Superfund. Makes such cost-sharing requirement inapplicable to Indian tribes. (Sec. 201) Authorizes a State to select a response action that achieves a level of cleanup that is more stringent than required if it agrees to pay for the incremental increase in response cost attributable to achieving the more stringent level. Provides for the retention of the President's authority to take response actions at facilities listed or proposed for listing on the NPL that are not being addressed by States. (Sec. 206) Provides for public notice and comment before a facility is to be listed on the NPL. Authorizes persons to request a facility to be listed on, or removed from, the NPL. Title III: Voluntary Response - Directs the Administrator to establish a program to provide assistance to the States to establish and expand voluntary response programs. Makes this title applicable to facilities at which a release or threat of release of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant has occurred. Excludes certain facilities. (Sec. 303) Requires the Administrator to establish a program to provide assistance to municipalities to conduct site characterizations for facilities at which voluntary response actions are being conducted or proposed. Title IV: Liability and Allocation - Authorizes the President to issue administrative subpoenas to require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and production of information regarding response actions. Revises confidentiality requirements with respect to such information. (Sec. 403) Absolves of liability for response actions a person who does not impede a response action or natural resource restoration to the extent liability is based solely on: (1) arrangement, transportation, or acceptance provisions relating to the disposal or treatment of hazardous substances and such activities involved fewer than 500 pounds of municipal solid waste (MSW) or sewage sludge or such amount as the Administrator may determine; (2) such provisions and such activities involved fewer than ten pounds or liters of materials containing hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants or such amount as the Administrator may determine; (3) ownership or operation of a vessel or facility and the person is a bona fide prospective purchaser of the facility; (4) ownership by a Federal agency and activities that resulted in a release occurred prior to 1976, the activities were pursuant to a statutory authority, the agency did not cause or contribute to the release, and there are other persons who are potentially liable and fully capable of performing or financing the response action; or (5) ownership by a Federal, State, or local entity of a road or other right of way over which hazardous substances are transported or on the granting of a license or a permit to conduct business. Makes persons who are solely liable under arrangement, transportation, or acceptance provisions regarding disposal or treatment of hazardous substances liable for no more than ten percent of total response costs if such activities only involved MSW or sewage sludge. Applies such limitation only if: (1) acts or omissions giving rise to liability occurred before the date 36 months after enactment of this Act or the person asserting the limitation participates in a qualified household hazardous waste collection program; and (2) the disposal did not occur on lands owned by the United States or on tribal land. Grants the United States a lien upon a facility for unrecovered response costs that inure to the benefit of a potential purchaser. Confers the right of contribution protection on a Federal agency when such agency resolves its share of liability, including liability for all penalties and fines. Applies State laws respecting liability for releases at non-Federal facilities to Federal agencies when such facilities are referred to a State pursuant to this Act or are part of a State-authorized program. Bars immunity for Federal employees from processes or sanctions of State or Federal courts with respect to enforcement of this Act. Entitles the United States to remove any action filed in State court against a Federal agency or employee to the appropriate Federal district court. Absolves Federal employees of personal liability for civil or administrative penalties for acts or omissions within the scope of official duties. (Sec. 404) Makes persons liable under CERCLA liable for other necessary costs of response incurred by any other person, other than the United States, a State, or an Indian tribe (currently, any other person). (Sec. 405) Authorizes adversely affected persons (currently, interested persons) to file petitions for the review of regulations promulgated under CERCLA. Revises contribution provisions to require an action by a potentially responsible party (PRP) against another PRP for recovery of any response costs or damages to be commenced within the later of: (1) three years after completion of a removal action or within six years after initiation of physical on-site construction of the remedial action; or (2) three years after the date of judgment in any action for recovery or the date of any administrative order or judicial settlement for recovery of costs or damages. (Sec. 406) Limits the right to seek contribution from other potentially liable parties where: (1) the person asserting the right has waived such rights in a settlement; (2) the person from whom the contribution is sought is liable solely under provisions regarding arrangement or transportation of hazardous substances for treatment or disposal and contributed fewer than ten pounds or liters of material containing hazardous substances or such amount as the Administrator may determine; or (3) the person from whom the contribution is sought has entered into a final settlement with the United States. Makes any person who commences a contribution action against a person who is not liable pursuant to limitations set forth in this Act or is protected from suits liable to the person against whom the claim is brought for reasonable costs of defending against the claim. Provides that a person who has resolved liability to a State in an administrative or judicially approved settlement shall not be liable for claims to persons other than the United States regarding response costs for damages addressed in the settlement. Provides the same protection for persons who have resolved liability to the United States. Includes protection against all claims that may be asserted against the settling party for recovery of costs or damages paid by another person if addressed in the settlement, except claims based on contractual indemnification. (Sec. 408) Removes provisions regarding guidelines for preliminary allocations of responsibility. Requires (currently, authorizes) the President to offer PRPs (currently, any person) who enter into settlement agreements a final covenant not to sue concerning liability to the United States for response actions or costs, provided that: (1) the settling party agrees to perform a final remedial action for the release that is the subject of the settlement; (2) the agreement has been reached prior to the commencement of litigation against the settling party; (3) the settling party waives all contribution rights against other PRPs at the facility; and (4) the settling party pays a premium that compensates for the risks of remedy failure, unanticipated increases in the cost of any uncompleted action (unless the party is performing the action), and the U.S. litigation risk with respect to persons who have not resolved liability to the United States unless the settlement covers 100 percent of U.S. response costs. Authorizes the President, for all other settlements, to provide any person with a covenant not to sue concerning any liability to the United States if the covenant not to sue is in the public interest. Adds the following to the list of conditions that a PRP must meet in order to be eligible for an expedited settlement: (1) liability must be based solely on provisions regarding arrangement, transportation, or acceptance of MSW or sewage sludge for treatment or disposal; and (2) the PRP must be a small business or a municipality that has demonstrated a limited ability to pay response costs. (Sec. 409) Requires the President to initiate a specified allocation of liability process for remedial actions at multi-party facilities. Establishes a moratorium on the commencement of liability actions regarding response actions for which allocations must be performed or have been initiated. Sets forth allocation procedures, including notice to PRPs and selection of an allocator. Requires the allocator, if the allocation parties do not agree to a negotiated allocation of shares, to prepare a report with a nonbinding, equitable allocation of percentage shares for the facility based on factors including: (1) the amount of hazardous substances contributed by each party; (2) the degree of toxicity and mobility of substances contributed by each party; (3) the degree of involvement of each party in the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal of the hazardous substance; (4) the degree of care exercised by each party with respect to the substance; and (5) the cooperation of each party in contributing to the response action and providing information. Authorizes the allocator to determine that a percentage share is specifically attributable to an orphan share. Limits orphan shares to specified cases, including shares attributable to identified but insolvent responsible parties who are not affiliated with another allocation party. Requires shares that cannot be attributed to any party to be allocated among the allocation parties. Provides for reimbursements from Superfund to eligible parties for costs attributable to orphan shares. Authorizes the Administrator and the Attorney General to determine not to settle on the basis of the allocator's allocation. Requires settlements based on allocated shares to include: (1) a waiver of contribution rights against all PRPs for the response action; (2) covenants not to sue and provisions regarding performance of such actions; (3) a premium that compensates for the U.S. litigation risk with respect to PRPs who have not resolved liability to the United States, except in cases where the settlement covers 100 percent of costs; (4) contribution protection; and (5) provisions for reimbursement from Superfund for any response costs incurred in excess of the allocated share. Authorizes the United States to commence a liability action against any person who has not resolved liability following allocation on or after 60 days following issuance of the allocator's report. Makes PRPs liable for the unrecovered response costs in such actions. Requires the Administrator and the Attorney General to issue guidelines to ensure that relief sought against de minimis parties under principles of joint and several liability will not be grossly disproportionate to their contribution to the facility. Restricts the admissibility in court of the allocator's report with respect to claims brought by or against the United States, except in its capacity as a nonsettling PRP or for the determination of liability. Title V: Remedy Selection and Cleanup Standards - Revises provisions regarding the degree of cleanup required under remedial actions. Directs the Administrator to promulgate national goals to be applied at all facilities and national generic cleanup levels for specific hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants that: (1) reflect reasonably anticipated future land uses; (2) reflect other variables which can be easily measured at a facility and whose effects are scientifically well-understood to vary on a site-specific basis; and (3) represent concentration levels below which a response action is not required. Authorizes the Administrator to rely on a site-specific risk assessment to determine the proper level of cleanup if a national generic cleanup level has not been developed or to account for particular characteristics of a facility. (Sec. 502) Requires remedial actions to comply with substantive requirements of Federal and State laws and standards. Authorizes the President to select a remedial action that does not attain a level of control equivalent to such standards under certain conditions. (Sec. 503) Revises general rules for remedial actions. Requires the President to establish cost-effective generic remedies for categories of facilities. (Sec. 504) Permits a State to enforce only those Federal and State requirements to which the Administrator has determined the remedial action is required to conform. (Sec. 505) Removes a condition on the President's authority to acquire property needed to conduct a response action that requires the State in which the property is located to agree to accept transfer of the property when the action is completed. (Sec. 506) Alters the criteria for the continuance of obligations for removal actions to provide that actions shall not continue after $6 million (currently, $2 million) has been obligated or three years (currently, 12 months) has elapsed from the date of initial response to a release or threatened release of hazardous substances. Title VI: Miscellaneous - Exempts a Federal agency from actions required for Federal facilities under CERCLA, with the exception of certain reporting requirements, if the agency owned or operated a facility over which it exercised no regulatory or other control over activities that resulted in a release of a hazardous substance if: (1) no Federal agency was the primary or sole source or cause of such release; (2) the activities resulting in the release were pursuant to statutory authority and occurred prior to 1976; and (3) the persons primarily responsible for the release are financially viable and capable of performing or financing the response action. (Sec. 604) Authorizes the Administrator, in order to achieve required levels of response, to reimburse up to 50 percent of response costs incurred by a potentially liable party that employs an alternative or innovative technology that fails to achieve the required level. (Sec. 605) Includes a trust or estate within the definition of "owner or operator" for purposes of determining liability under CERCLA. Excludes from such definition: (1) a person who holds title to a vessel or facility solely in the capacity as fiduciary, provided that the person does not participate in management operations that result in a release of hazardous substances and complies with other requirements; or (2) the United States, a Federal agency, or a conservator or receiver appointed by a Federal agency which acquired ownership of a facility or vessel in connection with receivership, conservatorship, forfeiture, or seizure authority or pursuant to an Act of the Congress provided such entity does not participate in operations that result in a release. Title VII: Funding - Extends the authorization of appropriations to carry out specified Superfund authorities through FY 1999. Title VIII: Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund - Environmental Insurance Resolution and Equity Act of 1994 - Establishes the Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund to provide for the resolution of disputes between certain PRPs and their insurers. Describes eligible persons, costs, and sites. (Sec. 802) Directs eligible persons that accept Fund resolutions to waive existing and future claims against an insurer for eligible costs. Requires the Fund to make pre- and post-resolution payments to eligible persons who accept a resolution. Makes any eligible person who litigates a claim and obtains a judgment that is less favorable than the resolution offered by the Fund liable to the insurer for 20 percent of reasonable legal fees incurred in the litigation. Provides for Fund reimbursements of certain costs incurred by insurers in cases where a person rejected a resolution and obtained a final judgment against an insurer. Deems payments made by the Fund pursuant to a resolution offer to be payments made by an insurer. (Sec. 804) Provides that this title acts as a stay of all pending litigation regarding claims for indemnity or arising from insurance coverage for eligible costs. Bars stays of litigation after May 31, 2000. (Sec. 805) Terminates the Fund's authority to: (1) accept requests for resolution after FY 1999; and (2) offer resolutions after March 31, 2000. Title IX: Taxes - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the applicability of the environmental tax to tax years before January 1, 2001 (currently, 1996). Extends certain provisions regarding the Superfund financing rate. (Sec. 903) Requires all expenditures of the Resolution Fund to be paid out of fees and assessments imposed by the Internal Revenue Code. Exempts the Fund from Federal, State, and local taxation.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1994
Designates the Federal building located at the corner of North 29th Street and Fourth Avenue North in Billings, Montana, as the William J. Jameson Federal Building.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993
Designates the Federal building located at 300 4th Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C., as the Daniel Webster Senate Page Residence.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Health Care Security Subtitle A: Universal Coverage and Individual Responsibility Subtitle B: Benefits Subtitle C: State Responsibilities Subtitle D: Health Alliances Subtitle E: Health Plans Subtitle F: Federal Responsibilities Subtitle G: Employer Responsibilities Subtitle J (sic): General Definitions; Miscellaneous Provisions Title II: New Benefits Subtitle A: Medicare Outpatient Prescription Drug Benefit Subtitle B: Long-Term Care Title III: Public Health Initiatives Subtitle A: Workforce Priorities Under Federal Payments Subtitle B: Academic Health Centers Subtitle C: Health Research Initiatives Subtitle D: Core Functions of Public Health Programs; National Initiatives Regarding Preventive Health Subtitle E: Health Services for Medically Underserved Populations Subtitle F: Mental Health; Substance Abuse Subtitle G: Comprehensive School Health Education; School-Related Health Services Subtitle H: Public Health Service Initiative Subtitle I: Coordination With COBRA Continuation Coverage Title IV: Medicare and Medicaid Subtitle A: Medicare and the Alliance System Subtitle B: Savings in Medicare Program Subtitle C: Medicaid Subtitle D: Increase in SSI Personal Needs Allowance Title V: Quality and Consumer Protection Subtitle A: Quality Management and Improvement Subtitle B: Information Systems, Privacy, and Administrative Simplification Subtitle C: Remedies and Enforcement Subtitle D: Medical Malpractice Subtitle E: Fraud and Abuse Subtitle F: McCarran-Ferguson Reform Title VI: Premium Caps; Premium-Based Financing; and Plan Payments Subtitle A: Premium Caps Subtitle B: Premium-Related Financing Subtitle C: Payments to Regional Alliance Health Plans Title VII: Revenue Provisions Subtitle A: Financing Provisions Subtitle B: Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Health Care Subtitle C: Employment Status Provisions Subtitle D: Tax Treatment of Funding of Retiree Health Benefits Subtitle E: Coordination with COBRA Continuing Care Provisions Subtitle F: Tax Treatment of Organizations Providing Health Care Services and Related Organizations Subtitle G: Tax Treatment of Long-term Care Insurance and Services Subtitle H: Tax Incentives for Health Services Providers Subtitle I: Miscellaneous Provisions Title VIII: Health and Health-Related Programs of the Federal Government Subtitle A: Military Health Care Reform Subtitle B: Department of Veterans Affairs Subtitle C: Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Subtitle D: Indian Health Service Subtitle E: Amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 Subtitle F: Special Fund for WIC Program Title IX: Aggregate Government Payments to Regional Alliances Subtitle A: Aggregate State Payments Subtitle B: Aggregate Federal Alliance Payments Subtitle C: Borrowing Authority to Cover Cash-Flow Shortfalls Title X: Coordination of Medical Portion of Workers Compensation and Automobile Insurance Subtitle A: Workers Compensation Insurance Subtitle B: Automobile Insurance Subtitle C: Commission on Integration of Health Benefits Subtitle D: Federal Employees' Compensation Act Subtitle E: Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act Subtitle F: Effective Dates Title XI: Transitional Insurance Reform Health Security Act - Title I: Health Care Security - Subtitle A: Universal Courage and Individual Responsibility - Entitles each eligible individual to: (1) the benefit provided under subtitle B through the applicable health plan in which the individual is enrolled; and (2) a health security card to be issued by the alliance or other entity that offers the applicable health plan in which the individual is enrolled. Defines an eligible individual as an individual who resides in the United States and is: (1) a citizen or national of the United States; (2) an alien permanently residing in the U.S. under color of law; or (3) a long-term nonimmigrant. Entitles a Medicare-eligible individual to benefits under Medicare instead of the above provisions of this Act. (Sec. 1002) Requires each eligible individual to enroll in an applicable health plan and pay any required premium. Prohibits disenrollment of an eligible individual until the individual is either enrolled in another plan or in Medicare. (Sec. 1003) States that nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting: (1) an individual from purchasing any health services; (2) an individual from purchasing supplemental insurance; (3) an individual who is not an eligible individual from purchasing health insurance; or (4) employers from providing additional coverage. (Sec. 1004) States that a regional alliance health plan is the applicable plan for a family, unless a family member is eligible for a corporate alliance health plan. Allows military personnel, veterans, and Indians to enroll either with an alliance or with a military, veteran, or Indian plan respectively. (Sec. 1005) Prohibits an undocumented alien from enrolling in a health plan under this Act. (Sec. 1011) Defines a family as an eligible individual's eligible spouse and children. Defines couple as meaning an individual and the individual's spouse. Defines a child as being under age 18, or under age 24 in the case of a full-time student. Subtitle B: Benefits - Includes the following terms and services in the comprehensive benefit package: (1) hospital services; (2) services of health professionals; (3) emergency and ambulatory medical and surgical services; (4) clinical preventive services; (5) mental illness and substance abuse services; (6) family planning services and services for pregnant women; (7) hospice care; (8) home health care; (9) extended care services; (10) ambulance services; (11) outpatient laboratory, radiology, and diagnostic services; (12) outpatient prescription drugs and biologicals; (13) outpatient rehabilitation services; (14) durable medical equipment and prosthetic and orthotic devices; (15) vision care; (16) dental care; (17) health education classes; and (18) investigational treatments. Describes such items and services. (Sec. 1131) Requires each health plan to offer to its enrollees only one of the following cost sharing schedules: (1) lower cost sharing; (2) higher cost sharing; or (3) combination cost sharing. Provides that the annual maximum out-of-pocket expenses for an individual in any of the plans shall be $1500 and for a family the annual maximum shall be $3000. (Sec. 1135) Sets forth a table of copayments and coinsurance. (Sec. 1141) Excludes the following items and services: (1) an item or service that is not medically necessary or appropriate; (2) an item or service that the National Health Board may determine is not medically necessary or appropriate; (3) custodial care, except hospice care; (4) surgery performed solely for cosmetic purposes, unless required to correct a congenital anomaly or performed to correct a part of the body injured by either disease or accident; (5) hearing aids; (6) eyeglasses and contact lenses for individuals at least 18 years of age; (7) in vitro fertilization; (8) sex change surgery and related services; (9) private duty nursing; (10) personal comfort items, except in the case of hospice care; and (11) any dental procedures involving orthodontic care, inlays, gold or platinum fillings, bridges, crowns, pin/post retention, dental implants, surgical periodontal procedures, or the preparation of the mouth for the fitting or continued use of dentures, except as specified. (Sec. 1151) Gives the National Health Board the authority to promulgate such regulations or establish such guidelines as necessary to assure uniformity in the application of the comprehensive benefit package across all health plans. Permits the Board to expand the benefit package. (Sec. 1162) Permits a health professional or facility to refuse to provide a benefit if the professional or facility objects on the basis of a religious belief or moral conviction. Subtitle C: State Responsibilities - Requires a State, in order to be approved as a participating State, to submit a document describing the State's health care system. (Sec. 1201) Requires a participating State to: (1) establish one or more regional alliances; (2) establish and publish the criteria used in the certification of its health plan; (3) meet minimum financial solvency requirements for health plans established by the National Health Board; (4) designate an agency or official to coordinate State responsibilities under this Act; (5) conform State laws to meet the requirements of title X of this Act with respect to workers' compensation and automobile insurance; and (6) carry out all the responsibilities of a participating State specified in this Act. (Sec. 1221) Permits a State, with the Board's approval, to operate a single-payer system if specified requirements are met. Subtitle D: Health Alliances - Provides for regional alliances and corporate alliances. (Sec. 1302) Requires a regional alliance to be governed by a Board of Directors consisting of: (1) employers, including self-employed individuals; and (2) members who represent individuals purchasing coverage. Requires each regional alliance to establish a provider advisory board consisting of health care providers and professionals. (Sec. 1311) Includes in a corporate alliance an eligible sponsor who is either a large employer (more than 5,000 full-time employees) or a multiemployer plan (a plan with more than 5000 active participants). Excludes: (1) an employer whose primary business is employee leasing; (2) the Federal Government (other than the U.S. Postal Service); and (3) a State or local government. Excludes from corporate alliance eligibility the following classes of individuals: (1) AFDC recipients; (2) SSI recipients; (3) military personnel and families, veterans, and Indians who elect to enroll in specified plans specifically designed for them; and (4) seasonal or temporary employees. (Sec. 1321) Directs each regional alliance to enter into a contract with any State-certified health plan to contract with the alliance for the enrollment under the plan of eligible individuals. (Sec. 1322) Requires each regional alliance to offer a choice of health plans, including at least one fee-for-service plan. (Sec. 1326) Requires each regional alliance to establish and maintain an office of an ombudsman to assist consumers in dealing with problems that arise with health plans and the alliance. (Sec. 1329) Permits a regional alliance to adjust payments to plans or use other financial incentives to encourage health plans to expand into areas that have inadequate health services. (Sec. 1341) Set forth provisions concerning the collection of funds by regional alliances from individuals, employers, and others. (Sec. 1351) Requires each regional alliance to compute a blended plan per capita payment amount for each regional alliance health plan for enrollment in the alliance. (Sec. 1353) Requires each regional alliance to make payments to the Federal Government for academic health centers and graduate medical education. (Sec. 1361) Requires each regional alliance to comply with specified standards relating to the management of finances, maintenance of records, accounting practices, auditing procedures, financial reporting, and employer payments. (Sec. 1371) Provides for a reduction in cost sharing for low-income families. (Sec. 1373) Provides for premium discounts and reduction in liabilities for low-income families. (Sec. 1381) Permits each corporate alliance to: (1) offer coverage under either an appropriate self-insured health plan; or (2) negotiate with a State-certified plan to enter into a contract with the plan. (Sec. 1382) Requires each corporate alliance to provide a choice of health plans, including at least one fee-for-service plan and two health plans that are not fee-for-service plans. (Sec. 1385) Requires each corporate alliance to make an additional contribution towards the enrollment in health plans of the alliance by certain low-wage families. (Sec. 1386) Sets forth provisions relating to corporate alliances concerning: (1) consumer information and marketing; (2) plan and information requirements; (3) management of funds; (4) cost control; (5) payments by corporate alliance employers to corporate alliances; (6) ERISA; (7) disclosure and reserve requirements; (8) trusteeship of insolvent corporate alliance health plans; (9) imposition and collection of periodic assessments on self-insured corporate alliance plans; and (10) payments to the Federal Government by multiemployer corporate alliances for academic health centers and gradual medical education. Subtitle E: Health Plans - Requires a health plan to: (1) be either a self-insured plan (meaning a group health plan as defined by a the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) or a State-certified plan (meaning a plan certified by a State or the National Health Board); and (2) meet the applicable regulatory requirements. (Sec. 1402) Requires each health plan offered by either a regional or corporate alliance to accept for enrollment every alliance eligible individual, unless the plan has reached its enrollment limit. Prohibits the limit from being imposed on the basis of any personal characteristics of enrollees such as health status, need for health care, age, occupation, or affiliation with any person or entity. Prohibits a plan from: (1) restricting or terminating coverage for any reason, including nonpayment of premiums; (2) cancelling coverage for any eligible individual until that individual is enrolled in another plan; (3) excluding an eligible individual because of an existing medical condition; (4) imposing a waiting period before coverage begins; or (5) imposing a rider that excludes the coverage of particular eligible individuals. Prohibits discrimination by a health plan on the basis of race, national origin, sex, language, socio-economic status, age, disability, health status, or anticipated need for health services. (Sec. 1405) Requires each plan to have a grievance procedure. (Sec. 1421) Permits an entity to offer a supplemental insurance policy if the policy and the entity meet specified requirements. (Sec. 1431) Requires each health plan, with respect to each electing essential community provider located within the plan's service area, to either: (1) enter into a written provider participation agreement; or (2) enter into a written agreement under which the plan will make payment to the provider as specified. Provides a special rule for providers of school health services. Makes the provisions of the proceeding sentence applicable only to health plans offered by a health alliance during the five year period beginning with the first year in which any health plan is offered by the alliance. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study essential community providers and to make recommendations concerning such providers to the Congress. Provides that such recommendations shall apply unless a joint resolution of disapproval is enacted by the Congress. (Sec. 1441) Requires each health plan to meet specified requirements of title X of this Act with respect to workers' compensation and automobile medical liability services. Subtitle F: Federal Responsibilities - Establishes the National Health Board in the Executive Branch. Directs the President to appoint the Board's seven members. (Sec. 1503) Directs the Board to: (1) interpret the comprehensive benefit package; (2) adjust the delivery of preventive services; (3) take steps to assure that the comprehensive benefit package is available on a uniform national basis; (4) recommend to the President and the Congress appropriate revisions to the package; (5) oversee cost containment requirements; (6) develop and implement eligibility standards; (7) establish a performance based system of quality management; (8) develop and implement standards for a national health information system; (9) establish State requirements and monitor State compliance; (10) establish premium class factors; (11) develop a methodology for the risk-adjustment of premium payments; (12) establish financial requirements for guaranty funds; (13) establish standards for health plan grievance procedures; and (14) report annually to the President and the Congress. (Sec. 1506) Authorizes appropriations for the Board. (Sec. 1511) Requires the Board to approve a State health care system if the system meets the applicable requirements of this Act. Prohibits approval of a State health care system prior to 1996. (Sec. 1512) Provides for sanctions for States failing to meet conditions for compliance. (Sec. 1515) Provides for planning grants to States for implementation assistance. (Sec. 1521) Provides for the Federal assumption of responsibilities in the absence of a State system. Provides for increased premiums of 15 percent during Federal operation of a State system to provide reimbursement for the Federal cost of operating the system. (Sec. 1541) Directs the Board to develop a risk adjustment and reinsurance methodology. Sets forth guidelines for developing such methodology. (Sec. 1543) Directs the Board to establish an advisory committee to provide technical advice and recommendations regarding the risk adjustment and reinsurance methodology. (Sec. 1551) Directs the Board to establish minimum capital requirements for regional alliance health plans under which at least $500,000 of capital must be maintained for each plan in the area. Permits the Board to require additional capital. (Sec. 1552) Requires the Board to establish standards for guaranty funds established by the States. (Sec. 1571) Sets forth the responsibilities of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Directs the Secretary to administer and implement all provisions of this Act, except those duties delegated to the Board, any other executive agency, or to any State. (Sec. 1572) Directs the Secretary to appoint an Advisory Council on Breakthrough Drugs that will examine the reasonableness of launch prices of new breakthrough drugs. (Sec. 1581) Provides for the certification of essential community providers. Sets forth the following categories of providers automatically certified (under provisions of the Public Health Service Act): (1) migrant health centers; (2) community health centers; (3) homeless program providers; (4) public housing providers; (5) family planning clinics; and (6) AIDS providers under the Ryan White Act. Includes as automatically certified (under other Acts) following: (1) Indian health programs under the Indian Health Act; and (2) maternal and child health providers and a federally qualified health center or rural health clinic under the Social Security Act. Includes as automatically certified (under provisions of this Act) the following: (1) providers of school health services; and (2) a qualified community practice network. Provides for the setting of standards for additional health providers. (Sec. 1591) Sets forth the responsibilities of the Secretary of Labor. Includes among those responsibilities the following: (1) enforcement requirements applicable to employers; (2) elections to become corporate alliances; (3) temporary assumption of insolvent self-insured corporate alliance health plans; (4) establishment and administration of the Corporate Alliance Health Plan Insolvency Fund; and (5) administering title I of ERISA as it relates to group health plans maintained by corporate alliances. Subtitle G: Employer Responsibilities - Requires employers to provide for the payments required under title VI of this Act. Sets forth other employer responsibilities including: (1) information reporting requirements; (2) requirements relating to new employees; (3) recordkeeping requirements; and (4) antidiscrimination requirements. (Sec. 1606) Prohibits self-funding of cost sharing benefits by regional alliance employers. (Sec. 1607) Requires an employer to make equal employer premium payments to all qualifying employees, if a voluntary premium payment is made. Places a limit on such voluntary employer premium payments. (Sec. 1608) Sets forth an employer's obligation to a qualifying retired beneficiary where the employer, as of October 1, 1993, was providing a threshold payment. (Sec. 1609) Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of this subtitle with respect to each individual. Subtitle J (sic): General Definitions; Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth the definitions and rules used in this Act. Subtitle B: Miscellaneous Provisions (sic) - (Sec. 1911) Grants the National Health Board, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Labor authority to issue regulations as necessary to permit the timely implementation of this Act. Title II: New Benefits - Subtitle A: Medicare Outpatient Prescription Drug Benefit - (Secs. 2001 through 2005) Amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for: (1) Medicare coverage of covered outpatient prescription drugs and biologicals as well as home infusion drug therapy services; (2) payment rules and related requirements, such as those pertaining to deductibles, for covered outpatient prescription drugs; (3) manufacturer rebates to the Secretary under Medicare part B for covered outpatient prescription drugs; and (4) determination of the Medicare part B premium attributable to covered outpatient prescription drugs. Subtitle B: Long-Term Care - Establishes requirements for State plans for home and community-based services to individuals with disabilities. Includes among those requirements the following: (1) a prohibition of limiting eligibility of individuals with disabilities based on income, age, geography, severity of disability, residential setting, or other grounds specified by the Secretary; (2) a requirement to serve low-income individuals; (3) a requirement to specify how Federal and State funds will be managed; (4) quality assurance requirements; and (5) reporting requirements. Requires a State to consult with individuals and groups of individuals with disabilities when developing the plan in order to have the plan approved. (Sec. 2103) Defines "individuals with disabilities" to mean any individual within one or more of the following four categories: (1) individuals requiring help with the activities of daily living; (2) individuals with severe cognitive or mental impairment; (3) individuals with severe or profound mental retardation; and (4) severely disabled children. (Sec. 2104) Requires a State plan to specify the services available. Requires each individualized plan to be developed in close consultation with the individual and the individual's family. Prohibits a State plan from covering: (1) room and board; (2) services furnished in a hospital, nursing facility, intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded, or other specified institutional setting; or (3) items or services to the extent coverage is provided for an individual under a health plan or Medicare. (Sec. 2105) Sets forth provisions relating to: (1) cost sharing; (2) quality assurance and safeguards; (3) advisory groups; (4) payments to States; and (5) the total Federal budget for State plans and allotments to States. (Sec. 2301) directs the Secretary, with the advice and assistance of the National Long-Term Care Insurance Advisory Council to promulgate regulations as necessary to implement provisions concerning private long-term care insurance. Directs the Secretary to make appointments to such Council. Authorizes appropriations for such Council. (Sec. 2321) Directs the Secretary, after considering the Council's recommendations to promulgate regulations designed to: (1) standardize formats and terminology used in long-term care policies; (2) require insurers to provide information to customers on the range of public and private long-term care coverage available; and (3) establish other requirements promoting consumer understanding of benefits. (Sec. 2322) Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations establishing requirements with respect to the terms of and benefits under long-term care policies, which shall include the following requirements that the policy may not: (1) limit coverage based on a preexisting condition, subject to an exception for a six month period; (2) condition eligibility for benefits based on the need or receipt of any other service; (3) condition eligibility for any benefit on any particular diagnosis; (4) condition eligibility for benefits by providers on compliance with requirements not required by State or Federal law; and (5) condition coverage of any service by a provider on the provision of such service at a higher level of care than required by the insured individual. Prohibits discrimination by diagnosis in the treatment of: (1) Alzheimer's disease; (2) any organic or inorganic mental illness; (3) mental retardation or any other cognitive or mental impairment; or (4) HIV infection or AIDS. Sets forth other requirements for such policies, including requirements related to: (1) premiums; (2) sales practices; (3) continuation, renewal, replacement, conversion, and cancellation of policies; and (4) payment of benefits. (Sec. 2342) Provides for grants to States to enforce the Federal standards concerning long-term care policies. Sets forth requirements for receiving such grants. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits the sale of a long-term care policy in a State without a regulatory program. (Sec. 2361) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for the development and implementation of long-term care information, counseling, and other programs to: (1) States; (2) regional alliances (at the option of States within which such alliances are located; and (3) national organizations representing insurance consumers, long-term care providers, and insurers. Authorizes appropriations for such grants. (Sec. 2601) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct a demonstration program to test the effectiveness of various approaches to financing and providing integrated acute and long-term care services for the chronically ill and disabled. Sets forth the services and benefits to be provided, including: (1) all benefits of the comprehensive benefit package provided under title I of this Act; (2) transitional benefits, including assessment and home care; (3) long-term care benefits, including adult day care, home-delivered meals, and nursing facility services in specialized care units; and (4) habilitation services. Permits any of the following to be eligible for such services under criteria to be established by the Secretary: (1) individuals with disabilities under a State program; (2) individuals entitled to benefits under the Medicare program; and (3) individuals entitled to Medicaid and who are also either entitled to Medicare or Supplemental Security Income benefits. Requires reports to the Congress on the demonstration program. Title III: Public Health Initiatives - Subtitle A: Workforce Priorities Under Federal Payments - Establishes within the Department of Health and Human Services the National Council on Graduate Medical Education. Directs the National Council to designate for each academic year the number of individuals nationwide who are authorized to be enrolled in each specified approval physician training program for each medical specialty. Sets forth provisions specifying: (1) Federal formula payments to approved physician training programs; (2) application for payments; and (3) amount of payments. (Sec. 3061) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program with respect to graduate nurse training programs that is equivalent to the program for approved physician training programs. Establishes a National Council on Graduate Nurse Education. (Sec. 3071) Authorizes appropriations for the following programs: (1) primary care physician and physician assistant training; (2) training of underrepresented minorities and disadvantaged persons; and (3) nurse training. (Sec. 3072) Authorizes appropriations for the following programs: (1) a program of skill upgrading and occupational retraining for health care workers; (2) a demonstration program to assist workers in health care institutions in obtaining advanced career positions; (3) a program to develop and operate health-worker job banks in local employment services agencies, subject to certain conditions; (4) a program to provide joint labor-management decision-making in the health care sector on workplace matters related to the restructuring of the health care delivery system of this Act; and (5) a program to facilitate the comprehensive workforce adjustment initiative. (Sec. 3073) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor to jointly establish the National Institute for Health Care Workforce Development. States that the Director of the Institute shall make recommendations to the Secretaries regarding: (1) the supply of health care workers; (2) the impact of this Act; and (3) the development and implementation of high-performance, high-quality health care delivery systems. Directs the Secretaries to establish an advisory board to assist in the development of such recommendations. Subtitle B: Academic Health Centers - Directs the Secretary to make payments to a qualified academic health center or qualified teaching hospital in order to assist such eligible institutions with costs that are not routinely incurred by other entities in providing health services, but are incurred by such institutions by virtue of the academic nature of such institutions. States that such costs include: (1) costs resulting from reduced staff productivity due to teaching responsibilities; (2) the uncompensated costs of clinical research; and (3) exceptional costs associated with an institutions specialized expertise. Provides that the funding for such payments will come from transfers from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, payments made by regional alliances to the Federal government for academic health centers and graduate medical education, and payments from corporate alliances. (Sec. 3131) Provides for the access of regional and corporate alliance patients to academic health centers. Subtitle C: Health Research Initiatives - Amends the Public Health Service Act to ensure that the National Institutes of Health conducts and supports biomedical and behavioral research on promoting health and preventing diseases, disorders, and other health conditions. Provides for health services research. Authorizes appropriations for such research. Subtitle D: Core Functions of Public Health Programs; National Initiatives Regarding Preventive Health - Authorizes appropriations for the core functions of public health programs and national initiatives regarding health promotion and disease prevention. (Sec. 3312) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to carry out one or more of the following core functions: (1) data collection; (2) activities to protect the environment and to assure the safety of housing, workplaces, and food and water; (3) investigation and control of adverse health conditions; (4) public information and education programs to reduce risks to health such as use of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, sexual activities that increase the risk of HIV transmission and other sexually transmitted diseases, poor diet, physical inactivity, and low childhood immunization levels; (5) accountability and quality assurance activities; (6) provision of public health laboratory services to complement private clinical laboratory services that screen for diseases and conditions; (7) training and education to assure provision of care by all health professionals; and (8) leadership policy development and administrative activities. (Sec. 3331) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to agencies of State or local government, private nonprofit organizations, and coalitions that link two or more of these groups for the purpose of carrying out projects to develop and implement innovative community-based strategies to provide for health promotion and disease prevention activities for which there is a significant need. Subtitle E: Health Services for Medically Underserved Populations - Directs the Secretary to make grants to migrant health centers and community health centers, which shall be in addition to other funds available to such centers. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 3412) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) grants and contracts for the development of qualified community health plans and practice networks; and (2) loans and guaranteeing the principal and interest to Federal and non-Federal lenders on behalf of public and private entities for the capital costs of developing qualified community health plans and practice networks. (Sec. 3461) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and enter into contracts with qualified community health groups to provide enabling services such as transportation, community and patient outreach, patient education, and translation services in order to increase the capacity of individuals to utilize the items and services under title I of this Act. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 3471) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) the National Health Service Corps; and (2) such amounts as are necessary to ensure that at least 20 percent of participants in the Scholarship Program or the Loan Repayment Program of the Corps are nurses. (Sec. 3481) Entitles a hospital with a low-income utilization rate in a base year of at least 25 percent to a payment as specified. Requires 75 percent of the total available to be allocated to hospitals for low-income assistance. Requires 25 percent of the total available to be allocated to hospitals for assistance in furnishing inpatient hospital services that are not covered services under title I of this Act. Subtitle F: Mental Health; Substance Abuse - Authorizes appropriations to carry out this part. Provides for grants to: (1) increase access to mental health and substance abuse services; (2) improve State and local capacity to coordinate and monitor such services; (3) provide incentives to integrate public and private service systems; and (4) supplement any activity under part B (Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Mental Services Block Grant) of title XIX of the Public Health Service Act. (Sec. 3503) Authorizes the Secretary to make loans for the capital costs incurred in the development of non-acute, residential treatment centers and community-based ambulatory clinics. (Sec. 3521) Requires the establishment of a pilot program demonstrating the integration of the mental illness and substance abuse services of the States with the services included under title I of this Act. Subtitle G: Comprehensive School Health Education; School-Related Health Services - Authorizes appropriations for the programs of this subtitle. States that the purposes of the programs shall be to: (1) support, in kindergarten through grade 12, the provision of comprehensive health educator programs; (2) establish a national framework within which States can create comprehensive school health education programs that target the health risk behaviors of youth, including tobacco use, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual behaviors resulting in infections, injury prevention, dietary patterns, and sedentary lifestyles; (3) pay the initial costs of planning and establishing such programs; (4) support related Federal demonstrations and training; (5) motivate youth to stay in school, avoid teen pregnancy, and strive for success; (6) improve the knowledge of health education among youth; and (7) further the National Education Goals set forth in title I of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Defines "comprehensive school health education program." Requires such programs to be sensitive to cultural and ethnic issues, promote involvement by families, and promote personal responsibility. Sets forth requirements for applying for grants and selection of grantees. Subtitle H: Public Health Service Initiative - Establishes a Public Health Service Initiative consisting of specified amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Initiative. States that: (1) the Initiative includes the programs of subtitles C through G of this title and the programs of subtitle D of title VIII; and (2) amounts appropriated to carry out the Initiative, including subtitles A through F of this title, are available to carry out specific programs for which the amounts are appropriated. Subtitle I: Coordination with COBRA Continuation Coverage - Amends title XXII (Requirements for Certain Group Health Plans for Certain State and Local Employees) of the Public Health Service Act to provide for coordination with COBRA continuation coverage. Repeals such title XXII upon implementation of this Act. Title IV: Medicare and Medicaid - Subtitle A: Medicare and the Alliance System - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for optional State integration of Medicare beneficiaries into regional alliance plans. (Sec. 4002) Allows individuals to elect to remain in certain plans. (Sec. 4003) Provides for payments to regional alliances on behalf of certain Medicare-eligible individuals. (Sec. 4004) Extends protections for working aged and disabled individuals to group health plans of all employers. Repeals the limitation on the period of protection for individuals with end stage renal disease. Prohibits Medicare payment for items and services provided under any health plan under this Act. Simplifies Medicare benefit coordination in cases where the individual is also eligible for benefits under this Act's health plans. (Sec. 4011) Makes various changes concerning eligible organization and Medicare supplemental policy enrollment and comparative informational materials, eligible organization outlier payments, and participating provider point-of-service networks. (Sec. 4022) Provides for expanded Medicare coverage for physician assistant, nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist services. (Sec. 4031) Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to: (1) provide for termination of the separate Medicare peer review program upon adoption of the National Quality Management Program above under subtitle A of title V of this Act; and (2) repeal provisions on surgical procedure review and second opinions. (Sec. 4032) Amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for mandatory assignment for all Medicare part B services. (Sec. 4033) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take such steps as may be necessary to consolidate administration of Medicare parts A and B and supersedes certain conflicting requirements to the extent required to achieve such purpose. (Sec. 4035) Prohibits the Secretary from implementing any change in procedures for billing and processing Medicare claims within six months of implementing any previous change. Adds advanced notification to providers as a requirement for carriers and fiscal intermediaries under Medicare. (Sec. 4041) Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to: (1) provide for civil monetary penalties for kickback violations under Medicare and State health care programs (the programs); (2) make other penalty-related changes, including increases in criminal and civil monetary penalties, a new criminal penalty exception for certain providers, additional civil monetary penalty offenses related to alliance systems, and requirements for the deposit of penalties collected into the All-Payer Account established above under title V of this Act; (3) revise exclusion provisions, with changes establishing a minimum period of exclusion for certain individuals and entities subject to permissive exclusion from the programs, and providing for program exclusions based on actions under alliance systems; and (4) modify sanction provisions, with changes removing certain conditions for imposing sanctions and setting specified civil money penalties for use in lieu of authorized sanctions. (Sec. 4042) Amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to revise the limitations on physician self-referrals. (Sec. 4051) Provides for the termination of payments under Medicare for medical education costs and directs the Secretary to make specified transfers from certain Medicare trust funds to the new accounts established above for funding physician training programs and academic health centers. (Sec. 4061) Amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the treatment of: (1) uniformed services and VA health plans as eligible organizations under Medicare; and (2) health care facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs as providers under Medicare. Subtitle B: Savings in Medicare Program - Amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for: (1) reductions in the update for inpatient hospital services and the adjustment for indirect medical education costs, in payments for capital-related costs for inpatient hospital services; (2) revisions to payment adjustments for disproportionate share hospitals in States participating under this Act; and (3) an extension of the freeze on updates to routine service costs of skilled nursing facilities. (Sec. 4111) Amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for: (1) establishment of cumulative expenditure goals for physician services; (2) use of real gross domestic product for volume adjustments; (3) repeal of restrictions on the maximum reduction permitted in default update; (4) reduction in the conversion factor for the physician fee schedule for 1995; (5) place limitations on payment for physicians' services furnished by high-cost hospital medical staffs; (6) requirements for physicians to identify the hospital at which the service was furnished; (7) an increase in practice expense relative value units for certain services while assuring budget neutrality; (8) a study and report to the Congress by the Secretary on a resource-based system for determining practice expense relative value units for each physician's service; (9) an increase in work relative value units for office visits while assuring budget neutrality; (10) a reduction in relative values for office consultations; (11) adjustment of outlier intensity of relative values; (12) changes in underserved area bonus payments; (13) elimination of formula-driven payments for certain outpatient hospital services; (14) copayments for laboratory services; and (15) competitive acquisition procedures for Medicare part B items and services (including clinical diagnostic laboratory tests). (Sec. 4131) Makes changes with respect to: (1) Medicare as secondary payer; (2) payments for health maintenance organizations and competitive medical plans with risk-sharing contracts; and (3) routine cost limits and copayments for, respectively, home health services and visits. (Sec 4135) Directs the Secretary to use a competitive process to contract with centers of excellence for cataract surgery, coronary artery by-pass surgery, and such other services as the Secretary determines to be appropriate. (Sec. 4141) Amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to revise Medicare part B premium provisions. (Sec. 4151) Requires the Secretary to submit a report to the Congress on the growth in spending under Medicare for FY 2000 through 2003. Subtitle C: Medicaid - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to provide that if a State Medicaid plan provides for payment to regional alliances of the amounts required above it is not required to provide payment for items and services covered under the comprehensive benefit package for alliance eligible individuals and will receive no Federal financial assistance with respect to such items and services. (Sec. 4211) Provides for: (1) spenddown eligibility and increased income and resource disregard for nursing facility residents; (2) informing such residents about the availability of assistance for home and community-based services; (3) treatment of items and services not covered under the comprehensive benefit package; and (4) establishment of a program under Medicare of noncovered items and services for poor children. (Sec. 4231) Discontinues certain payment policies under Medicaid. (Sec. 4241) Limits the frequency of changes in a State's billing and claims processing system, and provides for advance notification to providers of any major billing change. (Sec. 4251) Establishes the Medicaid Commission to study, report, and make recommendations with respect to options involving block grant use, integration of long-term care services, and consolidation of institutional and home- and community-based long-term care in relation to the Medicaid program. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Increase in SSI Personal Needs Allowance - Amends title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to provide for an increase in the SSI personal needs allowance. Title V: Quality and Consumer Protection - Subtitle A: Quality Management and Improvement - Requires the National Health Board to establish and oversee a performance-based program of quality management and improvement designed to enhance the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of heath care services and access to such services which will be called the National Quality Management Program. (Sec. 5002) Establishes the National Quality Management Council which shall: (1) administer the National Quality Management Program; (2) perform any other duty specified in this subtitle; and (3) advise the National Health Board with respect to its duties under this subtitle. Requires the Council to develop a set of national measures of quality performance to be used in the assessment of and the provision of access to health care services. Requires the Council, in addition, to: (1) recommend to the Board establishing goals for performance by health plans and health care providers on a subset of national measures of quality performance; (2) direct the Administrator for Health Care Policy and Research to develop, review, and disseminate practice guidelines to determine how diseases can most effectively be prevented, diagnosed, treated, and managed; and (3) direct the Administrator for Health Care Policy and Research to support research related to a five year priority list of performance measures. (Sec. 5008) Directs the National Health Board to: (1) establish and oversee regional professional foundations to perform such duties as develop lifetime learning programs for health professionals and conduct research on health care quality; and (2) establish the National Quality Consortium to perform such duties as establishing continuing education for health professionals and provide advice on research priorities. (Sec. 5012) Requires each regional alliance and each corporate alliance to: (1) disseminate specified information to consumers; and (2) ensure that performance and quality standards are continually improved. Subtitle B: Information Systems, Privacy, and Administrative Simplification - Directs the National Health Board to develop and implement a health information system, in consultation with Federal agencies, States, employers, health plans, and others, by which the Board shall collect, report, and regulate the collection and dissemination of health care information which shall be used for: (1) health care planning by Federal, State, and local government; (2) establishing and monitoring payments for health services; (3) assessing and improving the quality of health care; (4) managing and containing costs at the alliance and plan levels; and (5) other specified purposes. Requires the establishment of an electronic data network to collect, compile, and transmit information. (Sec. 5120) Sets forth provisions providing for health information privacy standards. (Sec. 5130) Directs the National Health Board to develop the following standard health care benefit forms: (1) an enrollment and disenrollment form; (2) a clinical encounter record; and (3) a claim form. (Sec. 5140) Establishes the National Privacy and Health Data Advisory Council in order to advise the National Health Board with respect to its duties under this subtitle. (Sec. 5141) Sets forth monetary penalties for violating health information system standards. Subtitle C: Remedies and Enforcement - Sets forth provisions with respect to the review of benefit determinations for enrolled individuals, including provisions: (1) regulating the time limits for notice of disposition of a claim; (2) governing a plan's duty to review claim denials; (3) concerning urgent requests for preauthorization; and (4) concerning other time limits with respect to time limits and notice. (Sec. 5202) Requires each State to establish a complaint review office for each regional alliance established by a State. Permits aggrieved individuals to file complaints with the appropriate review office. (Sec. 5205) Provides for a Federal Health Plan Review Board to review the decisions of complaint review office hearing officers. (Sec. 5207) Sets monetary penalties for a plan which unreasonably denies or delays payment or provision of benefits. (Sec. 5211) Directs each State to establish and maintain an Early Resolution Program in each complaint review office. Requires a program to include: (1) forums for mediation disputes; and (2) other forums of alternative dispute resolution as may be prescribed. Establishes guidelines for the eligibility of cases for submission to the Early Resolution Program. States that conclusions of the mediation proceedings shall be treated as nonbinding and shall not affect any rights to review. (Sec. 5231) Sets forth additional remedies and enforcement provisions. Subtitle D: Medical Malpractice - Prohibits any medical malpractice liability action until the final resolution of the claim under alternative dispute resolution. Requires each regional alliance health plan and corporate alliance health plan to adopt at least one specified method of alternative dispute resolution. Prohibits an individual from bringing a medical malpractice liability action unless the individual submits an affidavit that includes a report by a qualified specialist that states that there is a meritorious cause for filing the action. (Sec. 5311) Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a project to demonstrate whether substituting liability for medical malpractice on the part of the health plan in which a physician participates for the personal liability of the physician will result in improvements in the quality of care, reductions in defense medical practices, and better risk management; (2) a pilot program under which the Secretary provides funds to one or more eligible States to determine the effect of applying practice guidelines in the resolution of medical malpractice liability actions. Subtitle E: Fraud and Abuse - Directs the Secretary and the Attorney General to establish a program: (1) to coordinate the functions of the Attorney General, the Secretary, and other organizations with respect to the prevention, detection, and control of health care fraud and abuse; (2) to conduct investigations, audits, evaluations, and inspections relating to the delivery of and payment for health care; and (3) to facilitate the enforcement of this and other statutes applicable to health care fraud. (Sec. 5402) Creates, in the Treasury, the All-Payer Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Account which shall consist of: (1) gifts and bequests; (2) administrative penalties and assessments and portions of civil monetary penalties imposed under provisions of the Social Security Act; (3) all criminal fines imposed in cases involving a Federal health care offense; (4) penalties imposed under the False Claims Act involving claims related to the provision of health care items and services; and (5) amounts resulting from the forfeiture of property by reason of Federal health care offense. States that amounts in the fund may be used to cover costs incurred in operating the Program. (Sec. 5411) Excludes from participation in any health plan any individual or entity excluded from participation in a public program under provisions of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 5413) Sets forth physician self-referral limitations. (Sec. 5431) Amends the Federal criminal code to set penalties for knowingly executing a scheme or artifice to: (1) defraud any health alliance, health plan, or other person (alliance) in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, health care benefits, items, or services (benefits); and (2) obtain, by false or fraudulent means, money or property owned by, or under the custody of control of, any such alliance in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, health care benefits. (Sec. 5432) Amends: (1) the Federal criminal code to require the court, in imposing sentence on a person convicted of a Federal health care offense that poses a serious threat to the health of any person or has a significant detrimental impact on the health care system, to order such person to forfeit property used in the commission of the offense or that constitutes, or is derived from, proceeds traceable to the commission of the offense which is of a value proportionate to the seriousness of the offense; and (2) the Federal judicial code to require that all proceeds of forfeiture relating to Federal health care offenses be deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund. (Sec. 5433) Amends the Federal criminal code to set penalties for: (1) knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing, or covering up a material fact, making any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations, or making or using any false writing or document knowing it to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, in any matter involving a health alliance or health plan; and (2) bribery of, and graft by, a health care official. (Sec. 5435) Authorizes: (1) the Attorney General to commence a civil action in Federal court to enjoin a Federal health care offense; and (2) a person privy to certain grand jury information concerning a health law violation to disclose that information to an attorney for the Government to use in any civil proceeding related to a Federal health care offense. (Sec. 5437) Sets penalties for: (1) theft or embezzlement in connection with a health alliance, health plan, or fund connected with such alliance or plan; and (2) misuse of a health security card issued, or unique identifier provided, pursuant to this Act. (Sec. 5441) Makes provisions of the Civil False Claims Act applicable to the use of false records or statements made to a health plan. Includes within the definition of "claim" for purposes of such Act any request or demand for money or property which is made or presented to a health plan. Subtitle F: McCarran-Ferguson Reform - Amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to repeal the exemption under specified antitrust laws for the business of insurance to the extent that such business relates to the provision of health benefits. Title VI: Premium Caps; Premium-Based Financing; and Plan Payments - Subtitle A: Premium Caps - Sets forth provisions which provide for the computation of factors that limit the growth of premiums for the comprehensive benefit package in regional alliance health plans, including the computation of a: (1) regional alliance inflation factor; and (2) general health care inflation factor. (Sec. 6002) Directs the Board to determine: (1) a national per capita baseline premium target; (2) the national average per capita current coverage health expenditures; and (3) current health care expenditures. (Sec. 6003) Directs the Board to determine a regional alliance per capita premium. (Sec. 6004) Requires a regional alliance to annually obtain premium bids from each plan seeking to participate as a regional alliance health plan with respect to the alliance. (Sec. 6005) Permits any participating State to assume responsibility for containment of health care expenditures in the State consistent with this Act. (Sec. 6006) Directs the chair of the Board to establish an advisory commission on regional variations in health expenditures. Requires the commission to examine methods of eliminating variation in regional alliance per capita premium targets due to variation in practice patterns, not due to other factors. Requires the Board to submit its recommendations to the Congress. Requires such recommendations to apply unless a joint resolution of disapproval is passed. (Sec. 6011) Subjects each noncomplying regional alliance health plan for a year to a reduction in plan payment as specified, in order to assure that payments to regional alliance health plans by a regional alliance are consistent. Defines a noncomplying plan to include a plan in which the final accepted bid exceeds the maximum complying bid for the per capita target premium. Defines "maximum complying bid." (Sec. 6021) Directs the Board to develop a methodology for calculating an annual per capita expenditure equivalent for amounts paid for coverage for the comprehensive benefit package within a corporate alliance. (Sec. 6022) Terminates a corporate alliance with two excess years in a three year period. Provides that employers that were corporate alliance employers with respect to a terminated alliance shall become regional alliance employers. Defines an excess year as one in which the rate of increase for the corporate alliance exceeds the national corporate inflation factor. Defines rate of increase and national corporate inflation factor. (Sec. 6031) Sets forth special rules for a single-payer State. (Sec. 6041) Directs the Secretary to establish a program to monitor prices and expenditures in the U.S. health care system. Subtitle B: Premium-Related Financings - Makes each family enrolled in a regional health alliance plan or in a corporate alliance health plan in a class of family enrollment responsible for payment of the family share of premium payable for enrollment. Provides for income related discounts and specified credits. (Sec. 6102) Establishes the formula for determining the premiums. (Sec. 6111) Provides for the repayment of credit by certain families. (Sec. 6114) Provides for the special treatment of certain retirees and qualified spouses and children. (Sec. 6121) Requires each regional alliance employer to pay a monthly premium to the regional alliance for a qualifying employee. Sets forth provisions for determining such premium. Varies the premium depending upon such factors as the employer's size and average wages paid. (Sec. 6126) Sets forth provisions applicable to self-employed individuals. (Sec. 6131) Sets forth provisions for determining the corporate employer premium. Subtitle C: Payments to Regional Alliance Health Plans - Sets forth provisions to determine the computation of: (1) the blended plan per capita payment amount; and (2) the plan bid, AFDC, and SSI proportions. Title VII: Revenue Provisions - Subtitle A: Financing Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the excise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. (Sec. 7113) Imposes an excise tax on the manufacture or importation of roll-your-own tobacco. (Sec. 7121) Imposes an assessment on each corporate alliance employer and a temporary assessment on employers with retiree health benefit costs. Requires such assessments to be paid in the same manner as employment taxes. (Sec. 7131) Provides for the recapture of certain health care subsidies received by high-income individuals. Transfers such amounts to the Supplemental Medical Insurance Trust Fund. (Sec. 7141) Requires certain shareholders of S corporations and limited partners who materially participate in corporate activities to include their share of income or loss from such corporation when determining net earnings from self-employment. (Sec. 7142) Provides for extending Medicare coverage and applying the hospital insurance tax to all State and local government employees. Subtitle B: Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Health Care - Provides exceptions to the exclusion of employer-provided contributions to an accident or health plan from the gross income of an employee. (Sec. 7202) Prohibits the provision of health benefit under cafeteria plans. (Sec. 7203) Makes permanent the deduction for health insurance costs of self-employed individuals. Increases such deduction to 100 percent of the basic coverage purchased from a health alliance with limitations. Subtitle C: Employment Status Provisions - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations defining an employee for employment tax purposes. (Sec. 7302) Increases the penalty for failure to file correct returns involving payments for services. (Sec. 7303) Sets forth rules to limit retroactive employment tax reclassifications. Subtitle D: Tax Treatment of Funding of Retiree Health Benefits - Requires additional reserves for post-retirement medical and life insurance benefits to cover not less than ten years of the working lives of covered employees and to be maintained as separate accounts. (Sec. 7402) Terminates the authority of pension plans to maintain health benefits accounts. Subtitle E: Coordination with COBRA Continuing Care Provisions - Repeals provisions concerning continuation coverage requirements of group health plans upon implementation of this Act. Subtitle F: Tax Treatment of Organizations Providing Health Care Services and Related Organizations - Provides for the tax treatment of charitable organizations providing health care services, insurance provided by health maintenance organizations, and certain private foundations. (Sec. 7602) Sets forth transitional rules for taxing certain organizations providing health insurance and other prepaid health care services as insurance companies other than life insurance companies. (Sec. 7603) Exempts regional alliances from income tax. Subtitle G: Tax Treatment of Long-term Care Insurance and Services - Treats qualified long-term care services as medical care for purposes of the medical expense deduction. (Sec. 7702) Provides for the treatment of long-term care insurance as accident and health insurance. (Sec. 7703) Allows accelerated death benefits under life insurance contracts to be paid to terminally ill individuals. Subtitle H: Tax Incentives for Health Service Providers - Allows a tax credit for certain qualified individuals who provide primary health services full time in a health professional shortage area. (Sec. 7802) Increases the allowable depreciation deduction for expensing certain medical equipment. Subtitle I: Miscellaneous Provisions - Allows a tax credit for the cost of personal assistance services required by an employed individual who for medical reasons is unable to engage in substantial gainful activity. (Sec. 7902) Denies tax-exempt status for private activity bonds of regional alliances, corporate alliances, or guaranty funds established under this Act. Title VIII: Health and Health-Related Programs of the Federal Government - Subtitle A: Military Health Care Reform - Directs the Secretary of Defense to establish one or more uniformed services health plans in order to provide health care services to members of the armed forces on active duty for 30 or more days as well as their covered beneficiaries. Requires conformity of such plans with health plan requirements set forth in this Act. (Sec. 8001b) Allows any such plan to rely upon the use of military health care facilities, supplemented by civilian health care providers or health plans under agreements entered into by the Secretary. Requires at least the items and services in the comprehensive benefit package under this Act to be included in each such plan. Preempts any conflicting State health plan requirements. Provides for plan enrollment, effect of failure to enroll, and choosing between a uniformed services health plan and other available plans. Prohibits the imposition of plan charges to an active-duty member other than subsistence charges, but allows the Secretary to impose limited charges for covered beneficiaries. Establishes in the Department of Defense a financial account for payments received in connection with a uniformed services health plan, allowing such funds to be used only for purposes directly related to the delivery and financing of health care services under this Subtitle. Subtitle B: Department of Veterans Affairs - Allows each veteran who is an eligible individual under this Act and individuals currently enrolled in a health plan under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) to be enrolled with a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health plan. Requires conformity of such plans with health plan requirements set forth in this Act, with all the items and services of the comprehensive benefit package under this Act included. Allows such plans to offer supplemental health benefits and cost-sharing policies as consistent with this Act. Provides a limitation with regard to veterans enrolled with health plans outside the VA. Prohibits the imposition of any plan enrollment charges upon service-connected disabled veterans, veterans receiving disability compensation from the VA, former prisoners of war, and veterans unable to defray the costs of such care. Allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish plan charges for other veterans. Deems a VA facility to be a Medicare provider for purposes of any program administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Allows for the recovery of certain care and services provided under a VA plan in the case of an individual who has coverage under another plan. Establishes in the Treasury the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Plan Fund to be used for VA health plan payments and services. Preserves existing benefits for VA facilities not operating within a health plan certified under this Act. (Sec. 8102) Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to organize health plans and operate VA facilities as, or within, health plans under this Act. Preempts existing State health plan standards or requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to contract for the provision of services by a VA health plan when cost-effective, or to share resources with other health care plans, providers, or organizations. Authorizes appropriations to the VA for FY 1995 through 1997 for VA health plans under this Subtitle, subject to availability of appropriations. Requires a report from the Secretary to the Congress concerning the operation of the VA health care system within the requirements of this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to accept and use grants for health care services provided to special populations if used by the VA while operating under a VA health plan. Subtitle C: Federal Employees Health Benefits Programs - (Secs. 8202 through 8204) Provides for termination of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB) and treatment of Federal employees, annuitants, and other individuals (including those residing abroad) who would otherwise have been eligible for FEHBP under this Act's health plans. Subtitle D: Indian Health Service - Makes qualifying Indians eligible to enroll in a comprehensive benefits health program of the Indian Health Service. (Sec. 8303) Authorizes appropriations for supplemental Indian health care benefits. (Sec. 8305) Exempts tribal governments and organizations from making employer payments. (Sec. 8306) Sets forth provisions regarding health service to non-enrollees and non-Indians. (Sec. 8311) Requires each health program of the Indian Health Service to establish a comprehensive benefit package fund. (Sec. 8313) Authorizes appropriations for the Indian Health Service programs. Subtitle E: Amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to revise and limit the coverage of group health plans under ERISA. Makes certain ERISA provisions inapplicable with respect to State-certified health plans. Provides for an exception from ERISA civil action provisions where review is otherwise available under the Health Security Act (this Act, HSA). (Sec. 8402) Establishes ERISA requirements for expeditious reporting and disclosure applicable to group health plans, through special rules consistent with ERISA and HSA purposes. Excludes plans maintained by regional alliances from treatment as multiple employer welfare arrangements. (Sec. 8403) Revises certain ERISA provisions relating to continuation coverage under group health plans. Repeals such provisions upon implementation of HSA. (Sec. 8404) Makes ERISA standards for group health plans regarding: (1) cases of adoption applicable except to the extent otherwise provided in regulations of the National Health Board under HSA; and (2) coverage of pediatric vaccines inapplicable to a group health plan upon its becoming a corporate alliance health plan under HSA. (Sec. 8405) Requires group health plans under ERISA to comply with HSA requirements relating to health plan claims procedure. Subtitle F: Special Fund for WIC Program - Authorizes appropriations through FY 2000 for the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. Title IX: Aggregate Government Payments - Subtitle A: Aggregate State Payments - Sets forth provisions which have formulas for determining each participating State's payment to regional alliances within the State. Provides two different formulas. Establishes one payment formula for non-cash assistance recipients. Establishes another formula relating to cash assistance recipients. Defines a non-cash assistance adult as an individual who is: (1) over 21 years; (2) a U.S. citizen or lawful alien; and (3) is not an AFDC or SSI recipient or a Medicare-eligible individual. (Sec. 9022) Directs the National Health Board to review appropriateness of such payments. Subtitle B: Aggregate Federal Alliance Payments - Sets forth the formula for determining Federal payments to regional alliances for cash assistance recipients. (Sec. 9102) States that this section constitutes budget authority in advance of appropriation Acts and obligates the Federal Government to provide for the payment to regional alliances of a capped Federal alliance payment amount. Defines "capped Federal alliance payment amount." Subtitle C: Borrowing Authority to Cover Cash-flow Shortfalls - Authorizes the Secretary to make available loans to regional alliances to cover any period of temporary cash-flow shortfall attributable to: (1) any estimation discrepancy; (2) a period of temporary cash-flow shortfall attributable to an administrative error; or (3) a period of temporary cash-flow shortfall relating to the relative timing during the year in which amounts are received and payments are required. Sets forth loan terms and conditions. Title X: Coordination of Medical Portion of Workers Compensation and Automobile Insurance - Subtitle A: Workers Compensation Insurance - Requires each health plan that provides services to enrollees through participating providers to make arrangements to provide workers compensation to such enrollees. (Sec. 10002) Requires each workers' compensation carrier that is liable for payment for workers' compensation services furnished by or through a health plan, regardless of whether or not the services are included in the comprehensive benefit package, to make payment for such services. (Sec. 10011) Sets forth requirements for participating States. (Sec. 10031) Authorizes demonstration projects in one or more States with respect to the treatment of work-related injuries and illnesses. Subtitle B: Automobile Insurance - Requires an individual entitled to automobile insurance medical benefits and enrolled in a health plan to receive automobile insurance medical services through the provision of such services by the health plan. (Sec. 10102) Requires each automobile insurance carrier that is liable for payment for automobile insurance medical services furnished by or through a health plan, regardless of whether or not the services are included in the comprehensive benefit package, to make payment for such services. (Sec. 10111) Requires each participating State to develop a fee schedule applicable to payment for automobile insurance medical services for which a fee is not included in the applicable fee schedule. Subtitle C: Commission on Integration of Health Benefits - Establishes the Commission on Integration of Health Benefits which shall study and report on the feasibility and appropriateness of transferring financial responsibility for all medical benefits, including those currently covered by workers compensation and automobile insurance, to health plans. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Federal Employees' Compensation Act - Requires the Federal Employees' Compensation Act to be interpreted and administered consistent with the provisions of subtitle A. Subtitle E: Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act - Amends the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act of 1965 to require Health Security Act benefits. Subtitle F: Effective Dates - Sets forth effective date provisions. Title XI: Transitional Insurance Reform - Sets forth transitional provisions concerning: (1) enforcement; (2) preservation of current coverage; (3) restrictions on premium increases during transition; (4) portability requirements; (5) restrictions limiting benefit reductions; and (6) the establishment of the National Transitional Health Insurance Risk Pool.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993
Investment Competitiveness Act of 1993 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt interest-related dividends received from a regulated investment company from the 30 percent tax on the income of nonresident aliens and foreign corporations not connected with U.S. business. Provides exceptions. Provides for determining taxable estate stock of nonresident non-citizens in regulated investment companies. Applies the special rules for real estate investment trusts on the disposition of investment in U.S. real property to regulated investment companies.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993
State Transportation Financing Improvement Act of 1993 - Amends Federal transportation law to authorize a State to establish a transportation revolving investment loan fund to make loans and provide other assistance to public or private entities constructing projects eligible to receive assistance under the surface transportation program. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to establish each fiscal year a schedule for deposits and payments made by or on behalf of a State with respect to the fund. Authorizes a State to use the fund as security for bonds or notes issued to provide capital for the fund. Authorizes a State to loan an amount equal to all or part of the Federal share of a project to a public or private entity constructing: (1) a nontoll facility if loan repayment will be made from a dedicated revenue source, including any excise tax, sales tax, motor vehicle use fees, tax on real property, tax increment financing, or other dedicated revenue sources; or (2) a toll project. Requires the public or private entity, as a condition of receiving loans or other assistance, to comply with the requirements of this Act, the Federal Transit Act, and any Federal environmental laws.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993
Equitable Escheatment Act of 1993 - Amends specified Federal law to prescribe guidelines under which unclaimed distributions of security interests shall be subject to the custodial taking (escheatment) by the State which contains the principal executive offices of either the issuer or the holder of those securities.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) obstetrician-gynecologists should be included as primary care providers for women in Federal laws relating to the provision of health care; and (2) legislative proposals that define primary care should include primary care services performed by obstetrician-gynecologists in such definition.
United States · United States Congress · 29 October 1993
Designates May 2 through 8, 1994, as Public Service Recognition Week.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1993
Designates May 1 through 7, 1994, as National Walking Week.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1993
Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to make capitalization grants to States to establish State drinking water treatment revolving loan funds. Requires the Administrator to reserve one percent of funds for such grants for financial assistance to Indian tribes for the improvement of public water systems and to respond to public health emergencies, respectively. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants for the improvement of public water systems to the District of Columbia and specified U.S. terrorities. Directs States to prepare intended use plans prior to receiving grants. Requires priority for the use of funds to be given to public water systems that are in violation of a national primary drinking water regulation and in which residential water system rates are the highest percentage of median household income. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes (currently, requires) the Administrator to publish a maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) and promulgate a national primary drinking water regulation for any contaminant that may have adverse health effects and is anticipated to occur in public water systems in a concentration that indicates a public health concern. Requires the Administrator to publish a list and assessment of at least 15 unregulated contaminants that present the greatest public health concern, with additional lists and assessments of at least seven contaminants every three years. Directs the Administrator to publish health assessments for listed contaminants. Requires the Administrator to establish a publicly-available data base on the occurrence of unregulated contaminants in public water systems. Authorizes a minimum of seven State Governors to petition the Administrator to publish an MCLG and a national primary drinking water regulation for a contaminant. Requires drinking water regulations to be reviewed at least once every six (currently, three) years. Authorizes the Administrator to modify a drinking water regulation to remove monitoring requirements for public water systems that have not detected the contaminant that is the subject of the regulation if the systems have conducted at least two rounds of monitoring and the contaminant has only been detected at specified minimum levels. Permits the Administrator to modify monitoring requirements with respect to cancer-causing contaminants to waive such requirement for public water systems serving populations of fewer than 10,000 individuals if monitoring for any one quarter after this Act's enactment fails to detect the presence of the contaminant. Revises provisions concerning variances to drinking water regulations to require States with primary enforcement responsibility to submit triennially to the Administrator a State drinking water supply plan for the management of public water systems that serve fewer than 3,300 individuals. Provides for one of the following management approaches for systems that are in violation of a maximum contaminant level (MCL): (1) compliance with an MCL if the system has the financial and management capacity to comply; or (2) an individualized compliance program that implements consolidation, alternative water supply, alternative small system technology, or other system restructuring. Requires the Administrator, at the same time a drinking water regulation for a contaminant is published, to publish guidance describing treatment technologies associated with the contaminant that is appropriate for systems serving fewer than 3,300 individuals. Sets forth enforcement authorities. Requires the Administrator to issue regulations to establish a health-effects based performance standard that establishes minimal leaching levels of lead from new plumbing pipes, fittings, and fixtures that convey drinking water. Imposes restrictions on the importation, manufacturing, processing, or distribution in commerce of fixtures that contain more than a specified percentage of lead by dry weight if such regulations are not established. Directs the Administrator to promulgate national primary drinking water regulations and an MCL for radon. Permits alternative contaminant levels if a system is: (1) implementing an approved alternative compliance program; or (2) located in a State that is implementing a program to reduce radon in indoor air and is receiving specified grant assistance for the program. Lists requirements for alternative compliance programs. Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit Federal agencies from providing financial assistance relating to the financing of a residence located in a high-risk radon area unless the sale of the residence is conducted in compliance with regulations requiring testing for radon in indoor air at the time of such sale. Requires potential purchasers to be provided with results of any radon test and background information on radon health threats prior to the date of purchase of a residence in such an area. Requires the Administrator to establish a program to: (1) determine the effectiveness of water treatment devices designed to remove contaminants installed at a residence at the point of water use; and (2) ensure that consumers are provided with appropriate information about the devices at the time of sale. Replaces provisions concerning the sole source aquifer demonstration program and State programs to establish wellhead protection areas with programs to protect water supply areas. Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make funds under such Act available for water supply protection programs. Authorizes appropriations for drinking water research, investigations, and demonstrations. Requires the Chief Operator of a public water system and additional personnel, as designated by the Administrator, to be certified for proficiency. Extends the authorization of appropriations for technical assistance to small water systems. Authorizes appropriations for public water system supervision programs and grants to States for groundwater protection. Replaces provisions concerning special project grants to require the Administrator to establish a program for the collection of fees from public water systems to support the costs of administration of public water system supervision programs in States without primary enforcement responsibility for the programs. Establishes the Public Drinking Water System Supervision Fund. Extends the authorization of appropriations for recordkeeping and inspection requirements. Waives the sovereign immunity of the United States with respect to any requirement, administrative authority, process, or sanction imposed concerning the provision of safe drinking water. Directs the Administrator to study and report to the Congress on the seriousness of contamination of private sources of drinking water that are not regulated by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 13 October 1993
Designates the week beginning November 7, 1993, as National Women Veterans Recognition Week.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1993
Designates December 7, 1993, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Requests the President to urge that the U.S. flag be flown at half staff on December 7, 1993, in honor of the individuals who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1993
Designates October 16, 1993, and October 16, 1994, as World Food Day.
United States · United States Congress · 20 September 1993
Primary Health Care Support Act of 1993 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop resource-based expenses for the determination of average practice expense relative value units for use in determining payment for each physician service under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA). Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) eliminate the reduction in practice expense relative value units for certain part B services as mandated under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993; (2) base Medicare reimbursement for graduate medical education (GME) costs on a weighted national mean amount; and (3) provide greater GME reimbursement for primary care residencies. Establishes the National Physician Work Force Commission to: (1) study all matters relating to physician work force goals and issues in order to develop recommendations for an annual report to the Congress; (2) evaluate the undergraduate medical education programs operated by medical schools and graduate medical education programs located in the United States for a report to the Congress and the Secretary; (3) study non-Medicare funding of GME for a report to the Congress and the Secretary; and (4) submit to the Congress an implementing bill for allocating first-year residency positions to the various specialties and subspecialties and for allocating the positions within each specialty to individual GME programs. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Health Professions Education Extension Amendments of 1992 to abolish the Council on Graduate Medical Education. Directs the Secretary to conduct research and report to the Congress on the effect of research grants and contracts on primary care medical training. Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) double Medicare bonus payments for physicians who furnish qualified physician services in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs); (2) allow physicians to continue receiving their bonus payments for ten years after an area loses its HPSA designation; and (3) decrease on a graduated basis the indirect teaching adjustment factor used in determining additional payments for certain hospitals with indirect costs of medical education.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1993
Designates the week beginning October 25, 1993, as World Population Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 1993
Designates October 17 through 23, 1993, as National School Bus Drivers Safety Week.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 1993
Designates the weeks beginning November 14, 1993, and November 13, 1994, as Geography Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
Wastewater Treatment Operator Training and Certification Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to revise provisions concerning training grants and contracts to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) implement a national program to train persons in the operation of municipal and industrial wastewater treatment works and other water pollution control facilities; (2) make grants to, or contracts with, institutions of higher education to support such programs; and (3) publish guidance on the minimum elements of such programs. Requires chief operators and other designated personnel of publicly owned treatment works to be certified as proficient by the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to publish: (1) guidelines on minimum standards for certification; and (2) a treatment works operator's manual. Authorizes the delegation of authority for a certification program to a State, subject to certain conditions. Makes certifications valid for a five-year period. Permits recertification for an additional five years provided that the individual complies with in-service training and related education. Requires institutions of higher education, in addition to other requirements for receiving scholarships for individuals planning to enter occupations involving treatment works, to: (1) have participated in the treatment works training program; and (2) ensure representation of minorities and women in the scholarship program. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
Church Retirement Benefits Simplification Act of 1993 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to recodify and revise qualifications for church retirement and pension plans. Makes employee contributions to such plans nonforfeitable. Requires the plan to meet minimum vesting requirements. Recodifies the authority of a church or a convention or association of churches to be treated as an employer making contributions to retirement income accounts. Subjects church-related hospitals and universities to certain coverage and related rules in the case of a contract purchased by a church. Requires distributions from retirement income accounts provided by churches to be in accordance with distributions under cash or deferred arrangements. Provides for determining the beginning date for such distributions. Allows self-employed ministers and chaplains who work for non-church employers to participate in their church plans. Provides that certain rules aggregating employees do not apply to churches. Restores qualified voluntary employee contributions to church plans. Treats self-employed ministers as employees for purposes of certain welfare benefit plans and retirement income accounts. Allows a deduction for contributions to retirement income accounts by such ministers. Provides that a church plan maintained by more than one employer shall not be treated as a single plan. Provides that accounting methods of deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations do not apply to a church plan. Exempts a church plan from the requirement to maintain separate accounts for medical benefits for key employees. Provides that the special rules for computing employee contributions to pension plans do not apply to certain foreign missionaries. Repeals the elective deferral catch-up limitation for church retirement income accounts. Allows church plans to annuitize benefits and increase benefit payments. Provides that rules for self-insured medical reimbursement plans are not applicable to church plans. Provides that retirement benefits of ministers are not subject to the tax on net earnings from self-employment.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
Designates September 1993 as Childhood Cancer Month.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
Designates the week beginning November 6, 1994, as National Elevator and Escalator Safety Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 6 August 1993
Requests the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to publish, within one year, proposed amended regulations that specify the components of an adequate operator training program and that provide that only trained employees be authorized to operate powered industrial trucks.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1993
Designates December 1993 as National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1993
National Food Stamp Anti-Counterfeiting Act of 1993 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to require the domestic production of food stamp coupons.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1993
Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1993 - Provides land-grant status for tribally controlled community colleges, tribally controlled postsecondary vocational institutions, the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development, Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute, and Haskell Indian Junior College. Authorizes appropriations, in lieu of public land donations, for such colleges and institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1993
Designates March 1994 as Irish-American Heritage Month.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1993
Wetlands Conservation and Regulatory Improvements Act - Prohibits the issuance of revisions to or clarifications of the guidelines for identifying and delineating wetlands under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act until the National Academy of Sciences has completed a specified wetlands study. Provides for the continued use of the 1987 Corps of Engineers wetlands delineation manual until such guidelines are issued. Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to issue guidelines to identify and delineate wetlands. Earmarks funding for: (1) wetlands delineation training and certification programs; and (2) assistance to private landowners who lack financial capacity to identify or delineate wetlands in order to apply for dredge or fill permits or avoid impacts to wetlands. Provides for a public information program on Federal regulations, permitting requirements, and wetlands delineation. Expands the definition of "discharge of dredged or fill material" to include draining, mechanized landclearing, ditching, and excavations (thus, making such activities subject to permit requirements). Sets forth permit decision deadlines and administrative appeal procedures. Authorizes the issuance of general permits on a State, regional, or nationwide basis for any category of activities involving discharges of dredged or fill materials if the activities are similar in nature and will cause only minimal adverse environmental effects when performed separately and cumulatively. Requires specified Federal officials to enter into agreements to make technical determinations concerning wetlands on agricultural lands. Exempts prior converted croplands and certain waters and activities from regulation under dredged and fill permit provisions. Provides for the establishment of mitigation banks (wetlands restoration projects that provide compensation credits to offset foreseeable wetlands losses from future discharges of dredged or fill material into navigable waters where compensatory mitigation is not practicable). Authorizes funding to States for wetlands conservation and watershed management planning. Requires the Administrator to initiate a wetlands and watershed management research program. Establishes a committee to coordinate Federal, State, and local government wetlands policies. Provides for the development of a National Cooperative Wetlands Restoration Strategy.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1993
Designates November 22, 1993, as National Military Families Recognition Day.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1993
Provides that a Federal provision authorizing an additional amount of Servicemen's Group Life Insurance of up to $100,000 at the option of the member shall be considered to have become effective on November 30, 1992, for the benefit of 13 Air Force personnel killed in an airplane collision on such date.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1993
Treats Indian tribal governments and instrumentalities as employers with regard to any pension contract (under section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code) purchased in a plan year beginning before January 1, 1993.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 1993
Crow Settlement Act - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a contract with: (1) the Crow Tribe for the settlement of the 107th Meridian dispute over the boundary of the Crow Indian Reservation, Montana; and (2) the Northern Cheyenne Tribe for settlement of lands relating to such dispute included in the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Sets forth contract terms with the Crow Tribe and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe concerning property issues related to the boundary dispute, including coal, oil, and other mineral ownership. Requires an exchange of Montana public lands for State school lands within the Crow Indian Reservation and the disputed area. Makes special provision for the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam and construction of a powerplant and bypass. Establishes in the Treasury the Crow Tribal Trust Account. Revokes, upon effect of the settlement contract with the Crow Tribe and the Secretary, the authority of the Bureau of Reclamation to operate specified irrigation projects.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 1993
Designates August 1, 1993, as Helsinki Human Rights Day. Authorizes the President to reassert America's commitment to the Helsinki Accords and requests him to: (1) convey to all signatories of the Accords that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is a vital element of further progress in the ongoing Helsinki process; and (2) develop new proposals to advance the human rights objectives of such process to address the major problems that remain.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1993
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the identification of trade liberalization priorities by the United States Trade Representative under "Super 301" provisions of the Trade Act of 1974 should be done not later than April 30th of each year.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1993
Nuclear Enforcement Accountability Act of 1993 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to permit any person to petition the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to institute an enforcement proceeding. Subjects any Commission order denying such a request to judicial review.
United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1993
Omnibus Nuclear Power Safety and Security Enhancement Act of 1993 - Amends the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to require certain persons (including owners and operators) with information about a defect or safety violation at nuclear facilities regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), including those leased by the United States Enrichment Corporation, to notify the NRC immediately if such defect or violation could create a substantial safety hazard. Authorizes the NRC to issue regulations requiring such persons to devise and implement notification compliance procedures. Mandates that the notification requirements be preeminently posted on the business premises of persons subject to this Act. Provides a civil penalty for non-compliance. Grants the NRC enforcement powers. Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to establish civil penalties for violations of its licensing or certification strictures. Declares that each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate violation for purposes of computing the civil penalty. Repeals the requirement that the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards submit an annual status report to the Congress on reactor safety research. Authorizes the NRC to: (1) permit its licensees to carry firearms while in the discharge of their official duties; and (2) issue regulations regarding the introduction of dangerous weapons or instrumentalities upon property within its licensing purview. Includes within the penalty guidelines for the sabotage of nuclear facilities those facilities subject to NRC licensing during their construction where the damage could affect public health and safety during the operation of the facility. Sets forth guidelines for the NRC to conduct warrantless searches, and to enter certain premises with a judicially approved administrative search warrant.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1993
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Authorization Act for fiscal years 1994 and 1995 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1994 and 1995 to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to its Office of Inspector General. Prescribes allocation guidelines.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1993
Environmental Justice Act of 1993 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to publish a list, in rank order, of the total weight of toxic chemicals released in each county or other geographic unit in the most recent five-year period for which data are available. Designates the 100 counties with the highest total releases as Environmental High Impact Areas. Requires the publication of such list every five years. Directs the Administrator and the Secretary of Labor to conduct compliance inspections of all toxic chemical facilities in such Areas at least every two years. Delegates such authority to States or Indian tribes authorized to administer Federal laws regulating toxic chemicals. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue a report identifying the nature and extent of acute and chronic health impacts in such Areas from exposure to toxic chemicals as compared to other counties. Directs the President, if the report identifies significant adverse impacts, to report proposed administrative and legislative changes to the Congress to remedy and prevent such impacts. Includes within such remedies: (1) expansion of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 to include additional facilities or chemicals or reduced quantities of chemicals triggering reporting requirements; (2) the regulation of toxic chemicals not subject to Federal law based on a statutory or administrative exemption; and (3) the imposition of additional regulatory measures for toxic chemical facilities in such Areas. Requires the Administrator, if the report identifies significant adverse impacts, to promulgate regulations applicable to any Federal permit for construction or modification of a toxic chemical facility to require a net reduction in the release of a chemical determined to cause adverse health impacts in such an Area. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to individuals who may be threatened by toxic chemical releases in such Areas to: (1) facilitate access to the public participation process under this and other Acts; and (2) be used to obtain technical assistance relating to inspection and review authorities.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1993
Rural Health Improvement Act of 1993 - Amends title VII (Administration) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to create within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) an Assistant Secretary for Rural Health to: (1) head an independent Office of Rural Health Policy; (2) report directly to the HHS Secretary on the implications of national health care reforms for rural areas; and (3) establish a program to provide grants to rural health care networks to enhance the delivery of health care in rural areas through the use of interactive telecommunications systems. Authorizes appropriations. Amends parts A (Hospital Insurance) and B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of SSA title XVIII (Medicare) to provide for coverage of, and payment for, medical assistance facility services. Provides for: (1) adjustments in Medicare graduate medical education payments for certain publicly funded family practice residency programs; and (2) preventive care services as part of the initial residency period under Medicare.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1993
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Water Program Funding Title II: Toxic Pollution Prevention and Control Title III: Watershed Planning and Nonpoint Pollution Control Title IV: Municipal Pollution Control Title V: Permit Program and Enforcement Title VI: Program Management Water Pollution Prevention and Control Act of 1993 - Title I: Water Program Funding - (Sec. 101) Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to expand the list of projects for which State water pollution control revolving fund monies are available. Authorizes States to: (1) reduce amounts required for matching contributions to capitalization grants for water pollution control revolving funds by an amount equal to the amount of technical assistance provided to publicly owned treatment works or subsurface sewage disposal systems that serve 10,000 or fewer individuals; and (2) forgive an amount of loan principal for disadvantaged communities with respect to loans for water pollution control activities. Revises the allotment formula for revolving funds and extends the authorization of appropriations for such funds through FY 2000. Increases amounts authorized to be appropriated for FY 1996 through 2000 subject to certain on-budget deficit estimates. (Secs. 102 and 103) Extends the authorization of appropriations for specified pollution control programs through FY 2000. Title II: Toxic Pollution Prevention and Control - (Sec. 201) Revises provisions concerning effluent guidelines to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate effluent guidelines applicable to point sources which discharge pollutants into navigable waters. Revises provisions concerning pretreatment standards to require the Administrator to promulgate pretreatment standards for the introduction of toxic and nonconventional pollutants into treatment works. (Sec. 202) Directs the Administrator to publish a water quality criteria plan every five years. Requires the initial plan to contain at least eight sediment quality criteria. Directs the Administrator to: (1) require pesticide registrants to provide information sufficient to publish criteria unless the pesticide will not enter surface water; and (2) ensure that information necessary to publish criteria for chemical substances that are the subject of a premanufacture notice pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act is submitted unless certain conditions are met. Requires States to report triennially to the Administrator on the designated uses of waters. Deems: (1) all waters for which a use has not been designated to be designated as fishable and swimmable, unless a State establishes an alternative use; and (2) any chemical-specific numeric criterion published for a toxic pollutant to be the applicable standard for all waters unless a State objects to the criterion. Requires States to adopt pollutant specific standards for any pollutant for which criteria are published if the discharge of such pollutant could interfere with designated water uses. Directs States to implement antidegradation policies. Requires States to implement programs to protect outstanding national resource waters. Directs permitting authorities to conduct antidegradation reviews for a water prior to issuing a permit to a point source authorizing any new or expanded discharge of a pollutant. Requires the Administrator to establish a national policy concerning the use of mixing zones. Directs States to incorporate an equivalent policy into water quality standards. (Sec. 203) Revises provisions concerning toxic effluents to prohibit the discharge of any pollutant that: (1) is toxic and highly bioaccumulative; and (2) occurs in surface water primarily as a result of discharges. (Sec. 204) Authorizes the Administrator to impose pretreatment requirements on industrial users that introduce pollutants into publicly owned treatment works. Prohibits the introduction of hazardous wastes into publicly owned treatment works. (Sec. 205) Requires persons applying for the issuance or reissuance of discharge permits or for local limits for significant industrial users to submit pollution prevention plans as a condition of permit or limit issuance. Title III: Watershed Planning and Nonpoint Pollution Control - (Sec. 301) Requires States to conduct and report to the Administrator on programs to monitor the quality of navigable waters and aquatic sediment. Establishes a Water Quality Monitoring Council to coordinate Federal and State water quality monitoring programs. (Sec. 302) Authorizes State Governors to designate waters and associated land areas as watershed management units. Makes certain watershed planning activities eligible for assistance. Authorizes State Governors to submit watershed management plans to the Administrator for approval. Makes approved plan activities eligible for Federal assistance. Provides for extensions of discharge permits in watershed planning units, subject to certain conditions. (Sec. 304) Requires States to submit revised nonpoint source pollution management plans. Authorizes plans to provide for site-specific water quality plans if the plan is for a source within an approved watershed management plan area. Directs the Administrator to publish guidance that specifies elements of nonpoint pollution management programs. Withholds grant funds from States without approved programs, beginning in FY 1998. Extends the authorization of appropriations for such programs through FY 2000. Authorizes sources located in watershed areas of impaired waters to implement site-specific water quality plans in lieu of management measures outlined in the national guidance. Amends specified agricultural Acts to make such watershed areas eligible for participation in water quality incentive payment, environmental easement, and conservation programs. Provides for the implementation of nonpoint source water pollution control measures on Federal lands and for the prevention of water pollution resulting from highway construction. Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for the design of animal waste management facilities and publicly owned subsurface sewage organizations. Title IV: Municipal Pollution Control - (Sec. 401) Requires permits issued for discharges from combined storm and sanitary sewers to conform with combined sewer overflow control policy under Federal regulations published by the Administrator in January 1993. Authorizes the issuance of permits for compliance with a long-term control plan for a term of up to 15 years. (Sec. 402) Waives permit requirements for discharges composed entirely of stormwater in certain small communities. (Sec. 403) Replaces provisions concerning Alaska village demonstration projects to require EPA to be the primary coordinator for all Federal policies related to municipal, commercial, residential, and industrial water conservation. Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Army Corps of Engineers, to provide technical assistance and take specified actions to encourage water conservation. Directs the Administrator to establish a national clearinghouse on water conservation. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Permit Program and Enforcement - (Sec. 501) Requires fees for discharge permits to be used for point source elements of the water quality program and sewage sludge disposal and pretreatment programs. Establishes a Federal Water Pollution Control Permit Fund. (Sec. 502) Requires a permit applicant, in the case of a new discharge resulting from facility construction, to apply for a permit prior to the commencement of construction. Modifies permit application requirements, including numerical effluent limitations and consideration of biological discharge criteria. Waives permit limitations for point sources to encourage the testing of certain innovative production processes or pollution control technology. (Sec. 503) Revises enforcement and penalty provisions. Title VI: Program Management - (Sec. 601) Revises provisions concerning research and development to require the Administrator to establish a water pollution prevention and control demonstration and grant program. (Sec. 605) Increases the amount required to be reserved for assistance to Indian tribes for the construction of treatment works and nonpoint source pollution control. Permits State revolving funds to be used for assistance to Indian tribes. (Sec. 606) Requires the Administrator to establish a national water quality education program as well as specified volunteer and awards programs related to water pollution control. (Sec. 607) Extends the authorization of appropriations for the national estuary program through FY 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1993
Canyon Ferry Recreation, Tourism, and Economic Development Management Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to enter into cooperative management agreements necessary to manage the Canyon Ferry Recreation Area, Montana. Directs that such management agreement provide that the management responsibilities given to the BLM for lands withdrawn or acquired for reclamation purposes shall be accomplished in accordance with the statutory authority generally exercised by BLM in the management of public lands. Directs the Secretary to manage all lands and facilities in the Area associated with recreation, tourism, and related economic development pursuant to the Canyon Ferry Resources Management Plan of 1993. Provides that provisions of the Federal Water Project Recreation Act that limit or prescribe costs that may be incurred by Federal and non-Federal entities for recreation, planning, management, or facilities or that require non-Federal management of recreation facilities or programs shall not apply to the Area. Requires all recreation user fees collected from the Area to be retained by the managing agencies and used exclusively to fund the operation, maintenance, and development of the Area for recreation, tourism, and economic development. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1993
Designates July 25 through 31, 1993, as National Week of Recognition and Remembrance for Those Who Served in the Korean War. Authorizes the President to urge U.S. departments and agencies, interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the American flag at half-staff on July 27, 1993, in honor of the Americans who died as a result of their service in Korea.