United States · United States Congress · 10 October 2002
Ballistics, Law Assistance, and Safety Technology Act (BLAST Act) - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to require a licensed manufacturer or importer of firearms to: (1) test fire manufactured or imported firearms as specified by the Secretary of the Treasury; (2) prepare ballistics images of the fired bullet and cartridge casings; (3) make the records available to the Secretary for entry into a computerized database; and (4) store the fired bullet and cartridge casings. Directs the Attorney General and the Secretary to assist firearm manufacturers and importers in complying with these requirements through: (1) the acquisition, disposition, and upgrades of ballistics equipment and bullet and cartridge casing recovery equipment; (2) the hiring or designation of personnel necessary to develop and maintain a ballistics database; (3) providing education about the role of ballistics; and (4) providing for the coordination among law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and the firearm industry to curb firearm-related crime and illegal firearm trafficking. Requires the Attorney General and the Secretary to: (1) establish a computer system through which State and local law enforcement agencies can promptly access ballistics records; (2) encourage training for ballistics examiners; (3) report to Congress on the impact of this Act on criminal investigations, arrests, indictments, and prosecutions; and (4) conduct mandatory ballistics testing of all firearms obtained by or in the possession of their respective agencies. Prohibits the use of ballistics information of individual guns for prosecutorial purposes unless officials have a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed and that ballistics information would assist in the investigation.
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 2002
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the international scholarly community, the European Union, and individual governments should reject calls for an academic boycott of Israel; (2) the worldwide educational establishment should reverse actions taken to impede academic collaboration and free intellectual expression with Israeli intellectuals and institutions; and (3) the United States and the American scholarly community should continue to actively support efforts to increase academic cooperation and encourage U.S.-Israeli cultural and scientific exchange.
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 2002
Higher-Risk Impaired Driver Act - Requires the Secretary of Transportation to transfer an increasing percentage (two percent on October 1, 2006; four percent on October 1, 2007; and six percent on October 1, 2008) of a State's Federal-aid highway funds to that State's apportionment solely for impaired driving programs if the State has not enacted or is not enforcing a higher risk impaired driver law. Defines such a law as one that provides certain minimum penalties for: (1) a second or subsequent offense of driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI) within a minimum of five consecutive years, of DWI or DUI with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 percent or greater, or of driving-while-suspended if the suspension was the result of a DUI conviction; or (2) refusing a blood alcohol concentration test while under arrest or investigation for involvement in a fatal or serious injury crash. Includes among such penalties: (1) driver's license suspension; (2) motor vehicle impoundment or immobilization; (3) assessment by a certified substance abuse official and assignment to treatment; (4) imprisonment, attachment of an electronic monitoring device, or assignment to a DUI/DWI specialty facility; (5) a $1,000 fine; (6) required restitution; (7) probation; and (8) required attendance of a treatment program and a victim impact panel.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 2002
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 - Amends the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 (TEUCA, which is title II of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, PL107-147) to extend the TEUCA program through weeks of unemployment ending before July 1, 2003 (currently January 1, 2003). Entitles eligible individuals in all States to a total of 26 weeks of TEUCA compensation (13 weeks beyond the current 13 weeks). Provides an additional seven weeks of TEUCA benefits for workers in high unemployment States (entitling them to a total of 33, which is 20 weeks beyond the current 13). Applies a revised adjusted insured unemployment rate State trigger. Sets an additional TEUCA benefit period State trigger based on total unemployment rate.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 2002
Declares Sharif Kesbeh, Asmaa Sharif Kesbeh, Batool Kesbeh, Noor Sharif Kesbeh, Alaa Kesbeh, Sondos Kesbeh, Hadeel Kesbeh, and Mohanned Kesbeh to each be eligible for issuance of an immigrant visa or for adjustment of status to that of an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 2002
Hispanic Health Improvement Act of 2002 - Amends the Social Security Act to provide incentives for States to grant title XIX (Medicaid) and title XXI (SCHIP) coverage to parents and pregnant women. Grants automatic enrollment of children in State child health assistance who are born to title XXI parents. Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to permit States and localities to provide certain health care benefits to aliens that current law prohibits States and localities from granting. Latina Adolescent Suicide Prevention Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a program for the prevention of Latina adolescent suicides. Border Health Security Act of 2002 - Requires the Secretary, acting through the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission and in consultation with the State border health offices, to award border health services grants. Community Health Workers Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretary, acting in collaboration with the Director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and other Federal officials, to award grants to promote positive health behaviors in women. Patient Navigator, Outreach, and Chronic Disease Prevention Act of 2002 - Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, to make grants for cancer and chronic disease care and prevention. Permits the Director of the National Cancer Institute to make similar grants. Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend the programs of the Office of Minority Health. Directs the heads of certain agencies within the public health service to establish individual offices of minority health. Establishes in the Department of Health and Human Services an Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2002
Education for Retirement Security Act of 2002 - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to eligible entities to provide financial education programs to mid-life and older individuals who reside in local communities in order to: (1) enhance financial and retirement knowledge among them; and (2) reduce financial abuse and fraud, including telemarketing, mortgage, and pension fraud, among them. Authorizes the Secretary to award a grant to one or more eligible entities to: (1) create and make available instructional materials and information that promote financial education; and (2) provide training and other related assistance regarding the establishment of financial education programs.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2002
Designates the month of September 2002 as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Declares that the Federal Government has a responsibility to: (1) raise awareness about the importance of screening methods and treatment of prostate cancer; (2) increase research funding that is commensurate with the burden of the disease so that the causes of, and improved methods for screening, treating, and curing prostate cancer may be discovered; and (3) continue to consider ways for improving access to, and the quality of, health care services for detecting and treating prostate cancer.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 2002
Honoring the Passengers and Crew of United Flight 93 Act - Authorizes the President to award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to the passengers and crew of United Airlines flight 93 in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 9 September 2002
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to discharge or cancel the Federal student loan indebtedness of spouses, surviving joint debtors, and parents of public servants and other individuals who died (or die) or who became (or become) permanently and totally disabled from injuries suffered in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 5 September 2002
Designates the U.S. Postal Service facility (Brentwood Processing and Distribution Center) located at 900 Brentwood Road, N.E., in Washington, D.C., as the Joseph Curseen, Jr., and Thomas Morris, Jr. Processing and Distribution Center.
United States · United States Congress · 5 September 2002
Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretary of Defense to ensure that at least one Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team is established in each State by September 30, 2003, to provide support for emergency preparedness programs to respond to any emergency involving the use of a weapon of mass destruction.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2002 - Entitles domestic partners of Federal employees to benefits available to spouses of Federal employees. Specifies certifications required for benefit eligibility, filing requirements regarding partnership dissolution, and confidentiality requirements. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the tax exemption for employer contributions to accident and health plans to domestic partners under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
Act to Save America's Forests - States that the purposes of this Act are to protect native biodiversity and ecosystems on Federal land from losses caused by: (1) clearcutting and other forms of even-age logging operations; and (2) logging in ancient forests, roadless areas, watershed protection areas, and special areas. Amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 to revise eligibility criteria for members of the land and resource management scientific committee. Revises the committee termination date to ten years after enactment of this Act. Provides for conservation and restoration of native biodiversity in forested areas. Prohibits clearcutting or other even-age logging operations on any stand or watershed on certain Federal land, National Forest System land, and National Wildlife Refuge System land. Provides for: (1) Federal enforcement; and (1) a private right of action. Describes special areas as Federal forest land parcels possessing outstanding biological, scenic, recreational, or cultural values which may not meet the definitions of ancient forests, roadless areas, watershed protection areas, or Federal boundary areas. Designates specified special areas which shall be subject to restrictions on road construction and logging in the following States: (1) Alabama; (2) Alaska; (3) Arizona; (4) Arkansas; (5) California; (6) Colorado; (7) Georgia; (8) Idaho; (9) Illinois; (10) Michigan; (11) Minnesota; (12) Missouri; (13) Montana; (14) New Mexico; (15) North Carolina; (16) Ohio; (17) Oklahoma; (18) Oregon; (19) South Carolina; (20) South Dakota; (21) Tennessee; (22) Texas; (23) Vermont; (24) Virginia; (25) Wisconsin; and (26) Wyoming. Provides for the appointment of a committee of independent scientists to recommend additional special areas.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
Requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), within 15 days after the enactment of this Act, to return to the winning bidders of spectrum auction 35 the full amount of all deposits and down payments made for licenses that the FCC has not delivered by such date. Frees each winning bidder that elects within such period to relinquish a license not yet delivered of all license obligations such bidder would otherwise have had, including the obligation to pay the full amount of its winning bid upon license delivery.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
Amends the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT ACT) to extend to two years (currently, one year) after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack the period that certain aliens who were disabled as a direct result of the attack or who are survivors of aliens disabled or killed in the attack may lawfully remain in the United States in nonimmigrant status.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
FHA Multifamily Housing Loan Limit Improvement Act - Amends the National Housing Act to increase and index to the Bureau of the Census' annual construction cost index multifamily project mortgage loan limits for: (1) rental housing; (2) cooperative housing; (3) rehabilitation and neighborhood conservation housing; (4) housing for moderate income and displaced families; (5) housing for the elderly; and (6) condominiums. Increases loan limits in high-cost areas.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
Wire Transfer Fairness and Disclosure Act of 2002 - Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require that the following disclosures be prominently displayed on the premises of a money transmitting business which initiates an international money transfer for a consumer: (1) the exchange rate used in connection with such transaction; (2) the exchange rate prevailing at a major financial center of the foreign country whose currency is involved in the transaction; (3) all commissions and fees charged in connection with such transaction; and (4) the exact amount of foreign currency to be received by the recipient in the foreign country, which shall be disclosed to the consumer before the transaction is consummated. Requires further that such disclosures be prominently revealed in advertisements and receipts used by the business, and in the same language as that principally used by the business to advertise, solicit, or negotiate, at that office, if other than English.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
John's Law of 2002 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to withhold specified Federal highway funds from a State that fails to enact and enforce a law that requires: (1) an agency to provide an individual summoned to transport or accompany a person who has been arrested for public intoxication with a written statement advising that individual of his or her potential criminal and civil liability for permitting or facilitating the arrestee's operation of a motor vehicle while the arrestee remains intoxicated; and (2) a law enforcement agency to impound the vehicle of a person arrested for public intoxication for a period of 12 hours or until such later time as the person is able to operate the vehicle in a safe manner and not in violation of driving while intoxicated laws. Allows withheld funds to: (1) remain available for apportionment to the State (once it meets Act requirements) for four years; (2) remain available for expenditure for three fiscal years after apportionment; and (3) be redistributed to other States if the originally targeted State is not in compliance, or the funds are not obligated for expenditure, within such periods.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Reaffirms support of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Commemorates the 15th anniversary of the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) on November 4, 2003.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2002
Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2002 - Prohibits road construction and road reconstruction in inventoried roadless areas of the National Forest System. Specifies exceptions, including because: (1) there is threat of a catastrophic event; (2) a natural resource restoration action is necessary; or (3) a Federal-aid highway project is in the public interest or is consistent with the purposes for which the land was reserved or acquired. Forbids timber from being cut, sold, or removed in an inventoried roadless area. Permits various exceptions, including for specified environmental reasons, if the responsible official determines that the cutting, sale, or removal of timber is expected to be infrequent. Declares that this Act does not: (1) revoke, suspend, or modify legal instruments and decisions concerning the use of NFS land made before January 12, 2001; (2) compel the amendment or revision of any land and resource management plan; or (3) apply to specified activities in the Tongass National Forest. States that the prohibitions and restrictions of this Act cannot be reconsidered, modified, or terminated under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 2002
Amends the Federal Law Enforcement Pay Reform Act of 1990 to revise the special pay adjustments for (percentage differentials payable to) Federal law enforcement officers in specified consolidated metropolitan statistical areas.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2002
Highlands Stewardship Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to establish the Highlands Stewardship Area in the Highlands region (an area encompassing nearly 2,000,000 acres extending from eastern Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York to northwestern Connecticut). Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish: (1) within the Department of Agriculture the Office of Highlands Stewardship to implement the strategies of the Highlands Regional Study conducted by the Forest Service in 1990 (study) and the New York-New Jersey Highlands Regional Assessment Update conducted by the Service in 2001 (update); and (2) the Highlands Stewardship Area Work Group to assist with such implementation and to advise the Office and the Secretaries on priorities for projects carried out with assistance under this Act, on land conservation partnership projects, on Highlands region research, and on policy and educational initiatives necessary to implement study and update findings. Authorizes the Office to provide financial and technical assistance to an eligible entity to carry out a project to protect, restore, preserve, promote, or interpret Area resources. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to annually designate land conservation partnership projects that are eligible to receive financial assistance under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 2002
Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area Act of 2002 - Establishes the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area in New Jersey. Designates the Crossroads of the American Revolution Association, Inc. as the Area's management entity. Directs the Association to submit, and to assist local governments, regional planing organizations, and nonprofit entities in implementing, an area management plan which includes strategies for conservation, funding, management, and development of the Area. Bars the Association from using Federal funds received under this Act to acquire real property, but allows it to use any other source of funding, including other Federal funding, intended for the acquisition of real property. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to: (1) the Area to develop and implement the management plan; and (2) State or local government or nonprofit organizations for treatment of historical objects or structures eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Authorizes the Superintendent of Morristown National Historical Park to provide operational assistance supporting implementation of the management plan to public and private organizations within the Area, including the Association.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2002
Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to instruct the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to maintain a liaison with one another. Places transactions in certain energy or metal commodities within the regulatory and enforcement framework governing futures trading and foreign transactions (including a proscription against market price manipulation of any commodity in either interstate commerce or on the contract market for future delivery). Places electronic trading facilities (bilateral dealer markets) under the regulatory oversight of the CFTC, including filing, recordkeeping, reporting and capital requirements. Prohibits contracts designed to defraud or mislead. Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to mandate that the following agencies hold quarterly meetings to discuss conditions in energy trading markets and any changes in Federal law needed to regulate them: FERC, CFTC, the Securities Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve Board.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2002
Housing Voucher Improvement Act of 2002 - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to establish a thrifty voucher component within the section 8 public housing program to assist public housing authorities (PHAs) increase housing availability for extremely low-income families. Permits PHAs to use unutilized section 8 funds, or reserve funds in cases of no such unutilized funds, to help families find housing. Establishes the Voucher Success Fund to assist certain PHAs with no unutilized funds. Authorizes PHAs to make limited increases in maximum rents. Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide PHAs with lists of rental units in their metropolitan areas that were given low-income housing tax credits or were built under the HOME Investments Partnership Act. Authorizes the Secretary to reallocate chronically unutilized section 8 vouchers through designated metropolitan administrators. Permits families in project-based section 8 units to participate in specified self-sufficiency programs. Sets forth grant and income exclusion work incentives. Authorizes a welfare-to-work housing voucher program. Authorizes PHAs to: (1) begin rental payments before inspection under specified circumstances; and (2) use technical assistance funds and other means to establish electronic transfer systems for rental payments. .
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2002
Anti-Ocean Dumping Act of 2002 - Amends the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 to make ineffective any permit authorizing transportation of material for the purpose of dumping at the Historic Area Remediation Site (located east of Sandy Hook, New Jersey) other than qualified dredged material defined by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Prohibits dredged material from qualifying unless its level of polychlorinated biphenyls does not exceed 113 parts per billion.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2002
Amends the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 (which is title II of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, PL107-147) to extend temporary extended unemployment compensation (TEUC) program agreements through weeks of unemployment ending before June 30, 2003 (currently January 1, 2003). Revises the formula for determining the amount in an eligible individual's TEUC account. Sets such amount at the lesser of: (1) the total (currently half of the total) amount of regular compensation, including dependents' allowances, payable to the individual during the individual's benefit year; or (2) 26 (currently 13) times the individual's average weekly benefit amount for the benefit year. Increases an individual's account by half (currently all) of the amount originally established in that account if it is exhausted at the time a State is in an extended benefit period.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 2002
Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to extend from 39 to 52 the number of weeks of unemployment assistance to be made available to eligible individuals (after the President's declaration of the major disaster resulting from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001).
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Round II EZ/EC Flexibility Act of 2002 - Authorizes appropriations to: (1) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for specified urban empowerment zones; and (2) the Secretary of Agriculture for specified rural empowerment zones and rural enterprise communities. Permits: (1) use of such funds for zone or community strategic plan implementation; and (2) use of Federal funds to pay matching fund requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Social Security Plus (SSPA) Account Act of 2002 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit a tax credit for an eligible individual equal to 20 percent of any eligible contributions made to a Social Security Plus Account plus a matching Federal Government contribution. Sets forth the applicable percentages at which the Federal Government will match eligible contributions for various income levels. Classifies the matching contribution as an overpayment of tax which may only be transferred to an SSPA. Specifies minimum and maximum eligible contribution amounts for various income levels, along with a cost-of-living adjustment for the latter figure. Prohibits contributions to an SSPA on behalf of any individual over 70 and 1/2 years of age. Prohibits any deduction for retirement savings with respect to an eligible contribution or a matching contribution to an SSPA. Allows qualified rollover contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Yellowstone Protection Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement the final rule to phase out snowplane use in Grand Teton National Park and snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park, the John. D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, and Grand Teton National Park. Prohibits the Secretary from modifying or superseding any provisions of that final rule.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Amends rule XLII (employment practices) of the Standing Rules of the Senate to prohibit employment discrimination in the Senate based on sexual orientation.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2002
Declares that the Senate strongly disapproves of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Newdow v. U.S. Congress. Authorizes and instructs the Senate Legal Counsel to seek to intervene in the case to defend the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 2002
Unemployment Protection for Low-Income Families on TANF Act of 2002 (UPLIFT Act of 2002) -Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for the disregard of months of assistance received during periods of high unemployment for purposes of the five year limit on assistance under TANF.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2002
International AIDS Treatment and Prevention Act of 2002 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), to carry out HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and related activities in countries with or at risk for severe HIV epidemic. Requires particular attention to resource constrained countries and the use of indigenous capacity to the degree practicable. Authorizes support and assistance relating to: (1) HIV prevention services, including post exposure prophylaxis and a safe blood supply; (2) HIV/AIDS care and treatment services, linked to prevention services; (3) infrastructure and training, including the availability of health care facilities; and (4) HIV/AIDS treatment protocols. Creates grant programs for: (1) clinical education and training in the delivery of HIV/AIDS care and treatment services; (2) activities to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV; and (3) research on innovative microbicide concepts. Requires the coordination of Department of Health and Human Services programs by the Director of the Office of International Affairs. Extends the tuberculosis prevention program, to be coordinated with the activities under this Act. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Administrator of AID, to carry out workplace-based HIV/AIDS prevention and education programs in at-risk, constrained countries, with emphasis on protections against discrimination and creating supportive environments for individuals living with HIV/AIDS.
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2002
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the status quo on Cyprus must end and the island and its people must be reunited in a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal Cyprus, on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions; (2) the accession of Cyprus to the European Union (EU) would act as a catalyst for the solution of the Cyprus problem without such solution being a precondition for accession; (3) membership of Cyprus to the EU should be strongly supported; (4) all Cypriots should be urged to support and encourage efforts to bring Cyprus into the EU; and (5) U.S. agencies should pursue initiatives that will help promote and achieve reunification, reconciliation, stability, and prosperity on Cyprus.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2002
Amends Federal aviation law to require a background check of alien flight school applicants without regard to the maximum certificated weight of the aircraft for which they seek training. (Currently, a background check is required for aircraft with a maximum certificated takeoff weight of 12,500 pounds or more.) Requires the Secretary of Transportation and the Attorney General to report jointly to specified congressional committees on the effectiveness of the background check requirement.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2002
National Beach Recreation Act - Directs the Secretary of the Army, in making recommendations to Congress for shore protection projects, to develop and implement procedures which treat recreation benefits, hurricane and storm damage reduction benefits, and environmental protection and restoration benefits equally.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 2002
Health Care for Working Families Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to establish a new title II, Health Benefits for Employees and Their Families. Requires employers with 100 or more employees (large employers) to: (1) offer employees the opportunity to enroll in a qualifying health benefit plan that provides family coverage; (2) contribute at least 75 percent of the plan premium; and (3) withhold the employee's share from wages. Applies such requirements to smaller employers that perform a majority of their services for a single large employer. Considers contract, leased, and temporary workers as employees. Provides a formula for determining an alternative minimum employer contribution for plan coverage of part-time workers (who work less than 30 but no less than ten hours per week). Requires such qualifying health plans to provide benefits that are actuarially equivalent or greater in value than those under the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Standard Plan under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program as of January 1, 2002. Amends the Public Health Service Act to require health insurance issuers to ensure that any employee health insurance coverage they offer to employers complies with requirements of title II of FLSA.
United States · United States Congress · 17 June 2002
TANF Financial Education Promotion Act of 2002 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require a State to specify in its State plan how it intends to establish goals and take action to promote financial education among parents and caretakers receiving assistance under TANF through collaboration with community-based organizations, financial institutions and the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture. Defines "financial education" as education that promotes an understanding of consumer, economic, and personal finance concepts, including the basic principles involved with earning, budgeting, spending, saving, investing, and taxation. Defines "financial education" as a work activity for TANF purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2002
Requires the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to designate New Jersey Task Force 1 as part of the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2002
Declares that the Senate: (1) supports the goals of National Night Out (an event during which participants are urged to light up their homes and neighborhoods between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on August 6, 2002, to highlight the importance of community participation in crime prevention efforts); (2) recognizes that the fight against neighborhood crime and terrorism requires individuals, neighborhood crime watch organizations, schools, and community policing groups and other law enforcement officials to work together; (3) encourages neighborhood residents, crime watch organizations, and schools to participate in National Night Out activities; and (4) requests the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to participate and to make neighborhood crime prevention, community policing, and reduction of school crime important priorities of the Administration.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2002
Patient and Physician Safety and Protection Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require a participating hospital that uses the services of physician residents or postgraduate trainees to limit their working hours to specified schedules.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2002
Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection Act - Amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to establish a Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection Program to protect the environmental integrity of undeveloped coastal and estuarine areas. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to make program grants to coastal States for the purpose of acquiring property interests. Prohibits any more than 75 percent of the grant funding from being derived from Federal sources. Authorizes the Secretary to provide $5 million for a regional watershed protection demonstration project that: (1) leverages land acquisition funding from other Federal conservation or acquisition programs; (2) involves partnerships with Federal, State, and non-governmental entities; (3) creates conservation corridors; (4) protects habitats under imminent threat of development or conversion; (5) provides water quality protection for areas under the National Estuarine Research Reserve program; and (6) provides a model for future regional watershed protection projects. Reserves 15 percent of program funds for acquisitions benefitting the National Estuarine Research Reserve. Specifies that when property is acquired under this program: (1) title will be held by the grant recipient; (2) property will be managed consistent with the purpose of the program; and (3) funds will be returned to the Secretary if the property is sold, exchanged, or divested.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2002
Museum and Library Services Act of 2002 - Amends the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) and the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) to extend authorizations of appropriations and revise programs under such Acts. Amends MLSA to establish the National Museum and Library Services Board, within the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). (Eliminates a National Museum Services Board.) Requires the IMLS Director to: (1) ensure coordination with certain activities under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and other Federal activities; and (2) conduct and publish analyses of museum and library services impact. Revises requirements for annual national awards to outstanding libraries and museums that have made significant contributions in service to their communities. Amends LSTA to provide for: (1) an increased portion for administrative costs; (2) an increased alternative minimum allotment to States under certain conditions; (3) competitive grants to specified U.S. Territories; (4) State plans once every five years, as determined by the IMLS Director; (5) additional uses of grants to States for library programs; and (6) recruitment of library and information science personnel under the program of national leadership grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. Includes specified entities under the term museum, for MLSA purposes. Revises museum services activities. Repeals requirements under the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Act relating to Commission responsibilities to: (1) advise the IMLS Director; and (2) meet with the National Museum Services Board, which is eliminated by this Act. Revises Commission membership requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 11 June 2002
Chance to Succeed Act of 2002 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to include as a work activity satisfactory participation in services to address barriers designed to improve future employment opportunities, including substance abuse treatment, domestic violence counseling, and physical rehabilitation, mental health, and mental retardation and developmental disabilities services. Requires the assessment for each assistance recipient to determine whether the recipient has any barriers to employment or program compliance. Prohibits a State to which a TANF grant is made from imposing a sanction against an individual or family on the basis of noncompliance with a program requirement: (1) unless the State satisfies specified notice and review requirements; or (2) if the individual whose conduct is the basis of the sanction is in the uncompleted process of being screened or assessed for a mental health problem, disability, substance abuse problem, or sexual or domestic violence situation, or if the services outlined in the service plan developed for the individual or family were not offered, available, and accessible to the individual or family at the time of the noncompliance. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting a State in compliance with the requirements of this Act from imposing a sanction for noncompliance with work requirements against an individual or family who opts to not take full advantage of the opportunity for assessment or the services and supports made available to ensure that the individual or family can comply with program requirements if such an individual or family is not complying with the State's work requirements. Requires each State receiving a State family assistance grant to establish an advisory panel to review the efficacy of each TANF-funded program.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2002
Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 - Establishes in the Department of the Treasury the Terrorism Insured Loss Shared Compensation Program, administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall have general Program authorities. Prescribes guidelines for: (1) mandatory insurance company participation in the Program; and (2) mandatory availability of property and casualty insurance. Sets a Program termination date. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should make any determination to extend such Program in sufficient time to enable participating insurance companies to include coverage for acts of terrorism in their policies for 2003. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the insurance industry should build capacity and aggregate risk to provide affordable property and casualty insurance coverage for terrorism risk. Establishes a Federal cause of action for property damage, personal injury, or death arising out of or resulting from an act of terrorism, which shall be the exclusive cause of action and remedy for claims for such property damage, personal injury, or death (except for claims against terrorists or aiders and abettors, including governments and other entities).
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 2002
Toxic Clean-up Polluter Pays Renewal Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code by reinstating the Hazardous Substance Superfund financing rate until January 1, 2013, and reinstating the Corporate Environmental Income Tax until January 1, 2013.
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