United States · United States Congress · 11 October 1990
Education Capital Fund Act of 1990 - Establishes the Education Capital Fund Board (the Board) as an independent agency. Authorizes the Board to enter into contracts with eligible entities to pay for the Federal share of the costs of educational reform projects. Lists the types of such projects for which such funds may be used. Requires such contracts to be competitive, with specified considerations and priorities, for periods of from three to ten years. Sets forth requirements for applications and contracts. Requires that eligible entities include: (1) local education agencies; (2) consortia of such agencies; (3) schools or consortia of schools in such agencies; or (4) nonprofit organizations with a special ability to carry out educational reform projects. Directs the Board to disseminate widely information about funding. Sets the Federal share of such projects at 75 percent, and requires the non-Federal share to be a cash contribution. Requires that funding under this Act not be taken into consideration in other Federal or State funding decisions, except to the extent that additional assistance is sought for a project receiving assistance under this Act. Sets forth nondiscrimination provisions. Directs the Board to establish a technical assistance referral network to assist entities in developing and carrying out educational reform project proposals. Directs the Board to establish contract review and monitoring procedures, which may not include any review by persons other than the Board. Requires the Board staff to have quarterly contact with each entity that enters into a contract with the Board. Directs the Board to promulgate regulations permitting the suspension of assistance to entities failing to comply with review and monitoring procedures or contract conditions. Requires annual reports to the Board, by the entities with such contracts, and by the Board to the appropriate congressional committees. Directs the Board to: (1) establish necessary regulations; and (2) establish policies, including priorities for selecting entities to develop and evaluate projects. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury the Education Capital Fund (the Fund) to pay for the Board's expenses and expenditures for education reform contracts. Transfers to the Fund amounts equivalent to the additional revenues resulting from an increase in the corporate tax rate under this Act. Increases the corporate tax rate by specified amounts, except in specified circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1990
Directs the President to liquidate sufficient blocked Iraqi assets to repay debts owed by Iraq to the U.S. Government and to U.S. nationals, with priority given to Commodity Credit Corporation obligations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1990
Taxpayer Regulatory Relief Act of 1990 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe the extent to which rules and regulations may be applied without retroactive effect (or with it). Requires all final, temporary, or proposed regulations and rulings issued by the Secretary to apply prospectively from the date of publication in the Federal Register, unless the Congress supersedes such treatment.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1990
Disaster Assistance Act of 1990 - Extends assistance under this Act only to producers in a county substantially affected during the 1988, 1989, and 1990 crop years by a natural disaster or by a major disaster or emergency. Title I: Annual Crops - Extends disaster crop loss assistance through the 1990 crop year for wheat, feed grains, cotton, rice, peanuts, sugar, tobacco, soybeans, and other nonprogram crops. Extends crop quality reduction disaster assistance through the 1990 crop year. Reduces disaster assistance payments in relation to Federal crop insurance payments. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to announce within a specified time the conditions for establishing a 1990 farm yield for forage-use-crops. Limits to $100,000 assistance received under this Act or in combination with emergency livestock assistance under the Agricultural Act of 1949. Authorizes the substitution of crop insurance program yields for assigned farm yields for 1990 disaster assistance eligibility purposes. Title II: Orchards - Extends disaster assistance (up to $25,000 or an equivalent value in seedlings) to commercial orchardists who suffered 1990 weather-caused tree losses in excess of 45 percent. Title III: Forest Crops - Extends disaster assistance (up to $25,000 or an equivalent value in seedlings) to commercial tree farmers who suffered 1990 weather-caused losses in excess of 45 percent. Title IV: Additional Assistance - Prohibits the Secretary from reducing rental payments to an owner or operator who hays or grazes livestock during the 1990 crop year on land subject to a conservation reserve program contract to the extent that such owner or operator carries out and pays for specified additional conservation practices. Title V: Administrative Provisions - Requires assistance applications to be made by April 30, 1991, or such later date as the Secretary may prescribe. Title VI: Advance Deficiency Payments - Directs the Secretary, with regard to advance deficiency payments paid in 1988 or 1989 to producers who suffered 1988 through 1990 losses in disaster-affected counties, to permit a three-year repayment of such amounts.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1990
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the requirement that less than 30 percent of the gross income of a regulated investment company be derived from the sale or disposition of any of the following which were held for less than three months: (1) stocks or securities; (2) options, futures, or forward contracts (other than those on foreign currencies); or (3) certain foreign currencies.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1990
Provides direct Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) payments to hospitals for hospital-supported nursing or allied health education costs. Prohibits any reduction in Medicare payments to recoup such costs claimed for FY 1984 through 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1990
Expresses the sense of the Senate that any sequestration order issued under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) should not affect any conservation reserve contract under the Food Security Act of 1985.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1990
Repeals estate tax provisions of the Internal Revenue Code regarding inclusion in the gross estate of the value of certain types of transfers with a retained life estate. Applies the repeal retroactively in connection with property transferred after December 17, 1987. Establishes special valuation rules for determining whether a transfer of an interest in a corporation or partnership to a member of the transferor's family is a gift. Provides for determining the valuation of any retained rights, interests, and distribution rights. Provides for determining the value of cumulative but unpaid distributions by corporations or partnerships. Provides that a gift tax statute of limitations does not close for a gift determined after applying the special valuation rule, if such gift was not disclosed on a gift tax return. Sets forth special rules for valuing any interest for life or a term of years in property involving family members. Provides for determining the value of property for transfer tax purposes under certain buy-sell agreements. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to specified congressional committees on: (1) the prevalance and type of options and agreements used to distort the value of property for such purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1990
Directs the Secretary of the Army, to the extent consistent with the Flood Control Act of 1944, to operate the Missouri River mainstem reservoirs to minimize adverse environmental and economic impacts to authorized uses on the Missouri River and reservoir system. Requires the Secretary, if an authorized use is threatened with adverse impact by the operation of the system, to implement operational changes to prevent or mitigate such impact unless the potential impacts of the preventive or mitigative action requested by the affected State or tribe outweigh the environmental and economic impacts. Directs the Secretary to make grants to affected States or tribes for: (1) mitigating impacts in the system incurred as a result of implemented or denied operational adjustments; and (2) constructing specified facilities. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1990
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to permit wheat producers to store up to 15,000 bushels per farm of their 1990 crop in the producer reserve program.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 1990
Tribal Cattle Herd Pilot Project Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Tribal Cattle Herd Pilot Project (TRICAPP) to enable Indian tribes to secure at low-interest loan guarantees or direct loans to purchase cattle herds for tribal members to establish, maintain, or expand their individual cattle operations. Sets forth criteria tribal members must meet to be eligible to be selected by their tribe to receive cattle under TRICAPP. Requires Indian tribes securing such loans to pledge income from tribal enterprises as collateral. Declares that all cattle purchased under TRICAPP shall remain tribal property, secured by a conditional sales contract with the Federal Government as first lienholder, until such time as the tribe has repayed the loans used to purchase such cattle. Directs the Secretary to establish the TRICAPP Consortium to assist the participating tribes in successfully implementing TRICAPP. Authorizes the Secretary, in selecting the tribes to participate in TRICAPP, to give priority to the following Northern Great Plains tribes: (1) Cheyenne River Sioux; (2) Oglala Sioux; (3) Crow Creek Sioux; (4) Northern Cheyenne; and (5) Fort Belknap Community Council. Limits to ten the number of Indian tribes that may participate in TRICAPP. Directs Indian tribes, in order to participate in TRICAPP, to: (1) develop a plan of operation to be certified by their respective Tribal Councils and an assessment which describe, respectively, how they will satisfy specified requirements in administering TRICAPP and the need for TRICAPP on their reservation; and (2) enter into an agreement with an appropriate financial institution to establish an Operator's Contingency Reserve Fund to cover certain lossess not otherwise covered of individual participating operators who have entered into a contract with their tribe in order to participate in TRICAPP. Specifies the terms and conditions of such a contract, including requiring operators to pledge personal or real property as collateral for TRICAPP cattle unless they are granted an exemption. Requires participating tribes to repay loans secured under TRICAPP by annual payments from the sale of calves produced from TRICAPP cattle or from other tribal revenues. Permits Indian tribes to generate funds for repaying such loans from specified sources. Directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance to: (1) Indian tribes who apply to participate in TRICAPP to assist them in development plans of operation and assessments; and (2) Indian tribes participating in TRICAPP and the TRICAPP Consortium through grants made to State land grant colleges by the Department of Agriculture and funded by the Department of the Interior in the form of educational programs for managing tribal cattle and marketing beef. Outlines administrative provisions regarding Operator's Contingency Reserve funds, record-keeping requirements, and inspection and branding of TRICAPP cattle. Provides for the repossession of cattle for violations of this Act. Amends the Indian Financing Act of 1974 to increase the authorization of appropriations for interest payments for financing Indian economic development. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 through 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 1990
Authorizes the President to: (1) restrict the importation of products from countries that do not comply with the U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq; and (2) make payments from U.S.-held Iraqi property to U.S. creditors and U.S. nationals. Directs the President to utilize U.S. export promotion programs to minimize the effects of such sanctions on U.S. exporters.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1990
National Emergency Anti-Profiteering Act of 1990 - Prohibits profiteering with respect to essential commodities following a presidential declaration of a national economic emergency. Establishes criminal penalties and civil remedies for such profiteering (including disgorgement of all profits earned). Sets forth guidelines for the duration of a national economic emergency. Authorizes the Congress to terminate by passage of a joint resolution the designation of a national economic emergency or of the essential commodities with respect to which it exists. Provides for judicial review of the President's determination regarding either an emergency or essential commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 1990
Public Service Act of 1990 - Title I: Procurement Management Improvements - Adds to the statutory list of functions of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the role of serving as the President's principal advisor on issues of human resource management in the Government. Directs OPM to develop and implement a plan for decentralizing and delegating to the Federal departments and agencies as many of its current operating responsibilities as practicable. Title II: Recruitment - Directs OPM to establish a program to award scholarships to individuals pursuing a baccalaureate or advanced degree at an institution of higher education to cover annual educational expenses up to $15,000 and to pay such individuals an amount equal to the minimum biweekly rate of basic pay payable for grade GS-2 during each academic term in exchange for an individual's pledge to work for an executive agency before completion of studies and for a period equal to one and one-half times the period of the scholarship. Outlines general requirements for scholarships, including the requirement that OPM take into consideration the need to maintain a balanced workforce in which women and minorities are appropriately represented in Government service. Limits the annual number of scholarships to 1,000. Provides for indexing the $15,000 limitation according to changes in the Consumer Price Index. Codifies the existing Presidential Management Intern Program which currently operates under the authority of executive orders. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Provides that up to $4,000 per year in income derived from trust or restricted lands held by individual Indians shall not be considered as income for purposes of determining eligibility for assistance under the Social Security Act or any other Federal or federally assisted program.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Export Company Incentive Act of 1990 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt foreign sales corporations and export trade corporations from passive foreign investment company rules. Repeals export trade corporation rules. Provides for treating as previously taxed income actual distributions made by such corporations in taxable years beginning after December 31,1984, if such income is derived before the first taxable year beginning after December 31, 1990. Allows such corporations to elect to be treated as foreign sales corporations for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1990.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend for five years, through 1995, the investment tax credit in connection with depreciable: (1) solar energy property; (2) geothermal property; and (3) ocean thermal property.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Amends the Flood Control Act of 1944 to direct the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to prepare, publish in the Federal Register, and solicit public comment on a proposed annual plan for managing water control projects in the Missouri River Basin. Requires a summary of each plan to be distributed to the Governors of Missouri Basin States. Directs the Secretary to submit to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works and the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation a report on water control operations in the Missouri River Basin which includes a description of such plan.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1990
Amends the Railroad Retirement Solvency Act of 1983 to extend for two years provisions for the transfer of tier two railroad retirement benefit taxation revenues from the general fund of the Treasury to the Railroad Retirement Account.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1990
Commemorates the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Rail Passenger Service Act establishing the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak).
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1990
Fish Safety Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to create a new title setting forth a fish inspection program. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to exempt from specific provisions of the title: (1) fish processing by an individual for use in that individual's household; (2) custom processing for use in the household of the product owner; (3) processing of products not intended for nor capable of use as human food; (4) warehousing of up to 50 pounds or of product caught for other than commercial purposes in waters outside the United States; and (5) operations of types traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores or restaurants. Excludes from the application of the title recreational vessels, commercial fishing vessels, or fish tender vessels except where such vessels process fish. Authorizes the Secretary to cooperate with the appropriate agency in any State that has enacted a mandatory State fish product inspection law with requirements at least equal to those in the title. Prohibits State programs from permitting products to bear any official marks or certificates applicable to products in interstate commerce. Requires that fish products processed for intrastate commerce under a State program that are sold, transported, delivered, or offered for sale in interstate commerce be considered adulterated. Authorizes the Secretary to cooperate with State agencies concerning the State administration of the inspection and sampling components of the fish inspection program established under the title on behalf of the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to provide State agencies with advisory assistance, technical and laboratory assistance and training, and financial and other assistance for up to 50 percent of the cost of the cooperative program. Requires State program participants to submit operation plans to the Secretary annually. Directs the Secretary to establish standards for the efficient and effective administration of the sampling and inspection program by each approved State. Authorizes the Secretary to deputize specific State employees in approved States. Authorizes the Secretary to appoint advisory committees. Requires the appropriate State agency with which the Secretary may cooperate to be a single agency that is primarily responsible for the coordination of the State programs having objectives the same as the title. Directs the Secretary to develop and administer a comprehensive and efficient health-based inspection program for fish products designed to protect the consuming public from fish products that may be adulterated or misbranded. Sets forth program requirements. Directs the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to establish tolerances, except where tolerances are established by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, that shall be applicable to poisonous or deleterious substances that may adulterate fish products. Requires the tolerances to be: (1) established at levels so that fish products are not injurious to health; and (2) based on a scientific analysis of health risks. Directs the Commissioner to establish tolerances, except where tolerances are established by the Administrator under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, for harmful chemicals, toxins, parasites, pathogenic microorganisms, viruses, bacteria, and other harmful agents that may render fish products adulterated. Allows the tolerances to include the use of indicators, including indicator organisms. Directs the Secretary of Commerce and appropriate State authorities, for waters under their jurisdiction, to establish a system for the identification and classification of growing and harvesting areas for fish in coastal areas and the Great Lakes. Directs the Secretary to sample and test fish products regarding any instance or trend that may pose a significant threat to consumers' health and safety. Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial and other assistance to States to prevent the entry of adulterated fish products into establishments, including annual grants to each State that is a member of the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce, with regard to waters under the exclusive jurisdiction of that Secretary, to close waters or restrict harvesting of a species if fish of that species within the identified harvesting or growing areas are likely to be adulterated. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) periodically review the closure or restriction; and (2) establish procedures for review on petitions by affected persons. Requires reasonable public notice prior to closure or restriction, except in public health emergencies. Requires inspectors authorized by the Secretary to take actions as necessary to implement the title, including: (1) inspection of establishments, products, packages, equipment, procedures, and records; (2) sampling and testing of fish products; (3) detention and condemnation of adulterated or misbranded products; and (4) inspection, sampling, and testing of imports of fish products. Provides for: (1) segregation, seizure, condemnation, and destruction of adulterated or misbranded fish products; (2) processing of products to the extent necessary to prevent spoilage pending hearing and review; and (3) deferral of condemnation pending bringing of a product into compliance by relabeling or other action. Requires establishments to maintain premises, facilities, equipment, and operations in accordance with sanitation regulations set by the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to establish regulations for the storage or handling of fish products by any person in the business of buying, selling, freezing, storing, transporting, or importing fish products. Authorizes the Secretary to establish guidelines for training persons employed by establishments involved in fish product sanitation and quality control. Authorizes the Secretary to exempt products from inspection requirements until a specified date if appropriated funds are insufficient or if the exemption will aid in the effective transition to the programs implemented under the title. Directs the Secretary to establish procedures for the annual certification of establishments and persons engaged in importing of fish and fish products. Prohibits importers from processing or handling any fish product for commercial purposes unless the establishment is certified. Authorizes the Secretary to refuse to certify or to decertify establishments or importers unfit to engage in any business as a result of Federal or State convictions for: (1) acquiring, handling, or distributing adulterated, mislabeled, or deceptively packaged food, or fraud in food transactions; or (2) any felony involving a lack of the integrity needed for the conduct of operations affecting the public health. Requires all products processed at any certified establishment to bear on their shipping containers and immediate containers information as the Secretary requires. Authorizes the Secretary to permit such products to bear a seal stating that the product was processed in accordance with Federal standards or similar language. Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe: (1) labeling requirements to avoid false or misleading labeling; (2) definitions and standards of identity or composition and fill; and (3) procedures that permit statements on labels that indicate the State or location of the product's origin. Directs the Secretary to: (1) require that each package of fish product bears the appropriate identification, issued under the title, and an official mark; and (2) ensure that the official mark shall be available only on products processed in certified establishments. Prohibits articles from being sold or offered for sale under any name, marking, or labeling that is false or misleading, or in any container of a misleading form or size. Permits established trade names and other marking and labeling that are not false or misleading and that are approved by the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary, if any marking, labeling, size, or form of any container is false or misleading, to require that use be withheld unless modified as prescribed by the Secretary so that it will not be false or misleading. Prohibits a fish product from being entered, or withdrawn from warehouses, for consumption in the United States, unless the product: (1) is not adulterated or misbranded; (2) complies with all requirements of the title; and (3) is marked and labeled as required for imports. Treats all such products as domestic fish products under the title, except that its labeling must identify the country of origin. Directs the Secretary to enforce these provisions through inspections, sampling, and any other necessary procedures. Requires products refused entry or entered, or withdrawn from warehouses, in violation of these provisions to be destroyed unless exported or brought into compliance. Requires storage, cartage, labor, and other costs from denial of entry, or withdrawal from warehouse to be paid by the owner or consignee. Declares that nonpayment constitutes a lien against the product and any other fish product thereafter entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption in the United States by such owner or consignee. Directs the Secretary, on request of a country desiring to export fish products to the United States, to review the inspection program of products offered for importation to determine whether the requirements and tolerances for the products are at least equal to those under the title and, if so, and if the country will permit the enforcement measures the Secretary determines necessary, to issue a certificate stating that the country meets the requirements. Requires all fish products imported from an uncertified country to be inspected by the Secretary to ensure compliance with these provisions. Directs the Secretary to enforce these provisions through inspections, sampling, testing, or other actions in the foreign country, during importation, or which otherwise as necessary. Declares that products intended for export shall not be considered adulterated or misbranded if they are consistent with the laws of the importing country and meet other requirements. Directs the Secretary to inspect products intended for export as necessary. Directs the Secretary, on request of the exporter, to provide a certificate for export stating the condition of fish products inspected under these provisions. Authorizes the Secretary to require any person who owns or operates an establishment or is in the business of importing fish products to recall any fish product that is adulterated or misbranded if it could cause serious health consequences. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, through the Centers for Disease Control, an active surveillance system, based on a representative portion of the U.S. population, to provide an estimate of the frequency of human disease in the United States associated with the consumption of food, including a comparison of each major food category. Sets forth a list of prohibited acts in connection with the processing, handling, selling, transporting, offering for sale or transportation, possessing, misbranding, or importation of fish products or in connection with inspections under the title. Provides civil monetary penalties and criminal penalties for violations. Prohibits a common or contract carrier, including carriers that are fish tender vessels, from being subject to penalties under the title unless the carrier: (1) had knowledge, or possessed facts that would cause a reasonable person to believe, that the products were adulterated or misbranded; or (2) refuses to furnish certain information and documents. Sets forth: (1) felony penalties for giving or receiving bribes; and (2) criminal penalties for forcibly assaulting, resisting, intimidating, or interfering with any inspector or other person while engaged in official duties under the title. Requires each establishment or import business subject to inspection under the title to be operated in accordance with such sanitary and other procedures and practices as the Secretary requires. Directs the Secretary to prescribe standards for marking fish or fish products handled or processed in accordance with the title, or their packages, with an official stamp. Directs the Secretary to establish priorities for fish and fish products safety research. Requires the appropriate Federal agencies to conduct research regarding the priorities. Directs the Secretary, through the Extension Service, to provide a specified sum each fiscal year out of funds appropriated for the title to award grants for demonstration projects by States with regard to providing food safety information and instruction regarding the proper handling, storage, and preparation of fish and fish products for human consumption. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish through grants and administer, for a five-year period, a shellfish indicator research program to develop a system of classification of shellfish harvesting areas. Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory panel to assist in the development and implementation of the research programs under these provisions. Prohibits: (1) copying of any official mark; and (2) processing fish products except in compliance with the title. Authorizes the Secretary to limit the entry of fish products and other materials into any establishment consistent with the purposes of the title. Provides for administrative detention of any fish product meeting certain requirements if there is reason to believe the product is adulterated or misbranded. Makes any fish product capable of use as human food and adulterated or misbranded, or which otherwise is or has been in violation of the title, liable to be proceeded against and seized and condemned at any time, on a libel of information. Provides for disposal of a condemned product and for the delivery of the product to the owner on delivery of bond. Applies specified provisions of Federal law to the administration and enforcement of the title. Exempts the inspection, sampling, regulation, handling, processing, storage, or transportation of fish products from the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to the extent such matters are covered by the title. Requires that the cost of inspections be borne by the United States, except for overtime or holiday work required in an establishment, which must be borne by the establishment. Authorizes appropriations to carry out the title, earmarking: (1) certain sums for the research programs under the title; (2) certain percentage for the Food and Drug Administration; and (3) other percentages for the Department of Commerce. Amends Federal law to add a reference to food safety to provisions specifying the matters to be included in cooperative agricultural extension work. Authorizes appropriations for programs administered by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Extension Service to disseminate food safety information and instruction to consumers, restaurant food handlers, schools, and other persons. Requires the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to: (1) develop and implement a program to carry out and administer the title; and (2) enter into contracts with the National Academy of Sciences to identify chemical and microbiological contaminants, parasites, toxins, and other harmful substances that are most likely to be found in fish and fish products and that are most likely to cause fish and fish products to be adulterated. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to develop and implement a program to carry out the requirements of the title.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 1990
Directs the Secretary of Transportation to study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of constructing a four-lane expressway linking Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and Rapid City, South Dakota. Limits the Federal contribution to such study to 80 percent of the cost. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1990
Employee Benefits Simplification Act - Title I: Nondiscrimination Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to employee benefit plans. Redefines the term "highly compensated employee" for pension, profit sharing, and stock bonus plans, etc., purposes. Makes such employee one who is a five-percent owner or who has compensation from the employer in excess of $50,000. Provides a special rule where no employees are treated as highly compensated. Redefines "compensation" to mean, in general, the amount of wages shown on the W-2 form for the calendar year. Allows self-employed individuals to use their earned income amount. Includes the following deferrals as those which an employer may elect to take into account when determining salary reduction contributions: (1) deferred compensation plans of State and local government and tax-exempt organizations; (2) contributions to an employee trust; and (3) trusts for benefit payments funded by employer contributions. Permits an employer to elect to use base pay for all purposes, other than indentifying highly compensated employees, in lieu of W-2 compensation. Provides that the cost of living adjustment with respect to any calendar year is based on the increase in the applicable index as of the close of the calendar quarter ending September 30 of the preceding calendar year. Requires the rounding of such amounts to the nearest $1,000, except that elective deferrals and elective contributions to simplified employee pensions are to be rounded to the nearest $100. Provides that the minimum participation rule applies only to defined benefit pension plans. Requires such plans to benefit not less than 25 employees, or the greater of 40 percent of all employees or two employees (or if there is only one employee, such employee). Sets forth alternative methods of meeting nondiscrimination requirements for cash or deferred arrangements, including specified contribution and notice requirements. Sets forth alternative methods of satisfying the nondiscrimination test for matching contributions. Revises the method for distributing excess contributions to highly compensated employees. Title II: Distributions - Allows distributions from qualified pension plans to be rolled over tax-free to an individual retirement account or another qualified plan or annuity. Eliminates five-year forward averaging for lump-sum distributions from qualified plans. Requires certain tax-free distributions to be made in the form of a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to an eligible individual retirement plan. Sets forth administrative requirements in making such distributions. Requires distributions to be made from qualified plans by April 1 of the calendar year following the later of: (1) the calendar year in which the employee attains age 70; or (2) the calendar year in which the employee retires. (Present law requires such distributions no later than April 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the employee attains age 70 1/2.) Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Revises the definition of a leased employee to include one whose services are performed under the control of a service recipient, instead of one whose services are historically performed by employees. Replaces the 59 1/2- and 70 1/2-year age requirement with 59- and 70-year age requirements for specified pension plans. Eliminates the special aggregation rules that apply to plans maintained by owner-employees that do not apply to other qualified plans. Makes the 150 percent current liability limitation on the deduction allowed for employer contributions to qualified pension plans inapplicable to multi-employer plans. Repeals the present law annual valuation requirement for such plans and applies the prior law requirement that valuations be performed at least every three years. Sets forth affiliation requirements for employers jointly maintaining a voluntary employees' beneficiary association. Makes the following limitations inapplicable to plans maintained by State and local governments and certain tax-exempt organizations: (1) excess benefit limitations; (2) compensation limitation on benefits; (3) limitations on disability and survivor benefits; and (4) the limitation on benefits exceeding 100 percent of the participant's average compensation. Modifies provisions relating to simplified employee pensions. Increases the number of allowable participants for salary reduction arrangements from 25 to 100. Allows participation after one year of service (currently, three years of service is required). Repeals the requirement that at least 50 percent of eligible employees participate in a salary reduction arrangement. Eliminates certain requirements regarding contributions on behalf of disabled employees. Allows rural cooperative plans which include cash or deferred arrangements to make distributions to participants after attainment of age 59. Includes reports of pension and annuity payments in information returns and payee statements. Eliminates reports of designated distributions from the scope of the $25 per day penalty. Provides a $10 reporting threshold for designated distributions.
United States · United States Congress · 23 July 1990
Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to provide total Federal coverage of Medicaid services provided through Indian health facilities, rather than requiring that such services be provided through Indian Health Service facilities to qualify for such coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 1990
Minority Farmers Rights Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Under Secretary for Small Community and Rural Development, to establish policies, and programs and allocate resources necessary to address the needs of minority farmers. Amends the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 to direct the Secretary to provide outreach education, technical assistance, and legal assistance to assist minority farmers in registering with the National Minority Farmer and Land Registry (established under this Act) and in taking advantage of the goals for Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. Authorizes the Secretary and the Director of the Office of Advocacy and Enterprise (Office) to enter into grants, contracts, and other agreements with community-based organizations and institutions of post-secondary education (especially certain minority-oriented institutions) with respect to such outreach education. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to develop a computerized national registry of the names of all minority farmers in the United States as well as a legal description of the acreage comprising the minority agricultural land base (the National Minority Farmer and Land Registry). Requires the Secretary to take steps to ensure that the variety, quantity, and distribution of land in such landbase is not reduced from the level existing in the initial publication of the Registry. Specifies methods of preserving such landbase (including creation of minority land banks), and the use of Federal and State land inventories. Directs the Secretary to target a specific percentage of agricultural research funds to certain colleges and research institutions with minority enrollment exceeding 25 percent, or to projects specifically aimed at increasing minority farmer participation. Requires the Secretary to assign Agricultural Extension Service staff according to specified target participation rates for socially disadvantaged groups. Requires the Secretary to: (1) allocate significant portions of Extension Service resources to increase the number of minority farmers and help them develop efficient and profitable farming operations; and (2) review and report on minority participation in crop programs under the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. Requires a report to specified congressional committees. Directs the Secretary to establish a comprehensive program administered by the Office to attract, assist, and encourage minority first-time farmers and minority youth to participate in careers in production agriculture and related industries. Requires the Secretary, in addition, to support demonstration programs that do the same. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to establish: (1) an affirmative action program for each USDA agency to enhance opportunities for minority employees; and (2) a program requiring each USDA agency to set aside a percentage of all purchases and other contracting for minority-owned businesses and organizations. Sets forth goals for the latter program. Requires an annual report to the Congress on such programs. Makes the Office a clearinghouse for all complaints of discrimination brought by minority farmers against USDA employees or agencies. Provides for the filing of complaints and appeals and for corrective action. Requires an annual report to the Congress on the number and handling of such complaints. Requires the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on actions taken to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1990
Amends the Internal Revenue Code regarding estates and trusts to provide rules for the gratuitous transfer of qualified employer securities to an employee stock ownership plan from charitable remainder trusts.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1990
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual an itemized deduction of travel expenses in connection with the trade or business of logging, including the miles to and from the individual's home.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 1990
Innovative Indian Health Facilities and Delivery System Demonstration Project Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish 25 to 35 demonstration projects to determine the most effective and cost-efficient means of providing health services to Indians. Provides that such projects may include the construction and renovation of hospitals and other health facilities for Indians. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts with, or make grants to, any Indian tribe to carry out such a demonstration project. Sets forth requirements for applications for such demonstration projects, including an assessment of the status of current Indian health services and facilities and a proposal describing the facilities to be constructed or renovated or the program to be carried out under the project and outlining project costs, funding sources, and staffing requirements. Directs the Secretary to establish a priority system for considering, acting on, and selecting applications. Directs the Secretary to establish review panels to assist in such consideration that include tribal representatives and experts in rural health and Indian health facility construction and program implementation. Provides for congressional review of such system. Directs the Secretary to provide technical and other assistance to enable interested applicants to comply with this Act. Directs the Secretary to establish, within the Indian Health Service, an Office of Rural Demonstration within its Office of Health Programs to oversee demonstration projects under this Act and to coordinate such technical assistance. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 1990
Rural Health Care Provider Recruitment and Education Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a demonstration program known as the Rural Health Care Provider Recruitment and Education Program to assist rural communities in recruiting and educating eligible students to serve as health care providers. Directs the Secretary to make grants to States to share the costs incurred by local communities in providing funds to full-time students in a program leading to a degree in medicine or osteopathy or licensure or certification as a nurse midwife, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant. Requires each student to agree to serve between two and four years (but not less than the number of years in which the applicant was provided assistance). Requires that grant funds provided to States be used for 25 to 50 percent of the costs of the education. Requires students receiving assistance to serve in the rural community represented by the local community that provided assistance. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1990
Community Mental Health Center Services Act of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend covered partial hospitalization services to include psychologist and mental health professionals services prescribed by a physician and provided by a hospital or community mental health center to its outpatients as distinct and organized intensive ambulatory treatment services offering less than 24-hour daily care. Extends direct Medicare coverage to cover services furnished by marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurses, and clinical mental health counselors on-site at a community mental health center or necessarily furnished off-site due to the condition of the service recipient. Refers to such services as qualified mental health professionals services. Sets the Medicare payment for such services at 80 percent of the lesser of the actual charge for such services or the amount determined pursuant to a fee schedule established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Requires that payment for mental health professionals services be made only on an assignment-related basis.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1990
Resident Physician Student Loan Deferment Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to allow resident physicians to defer repayment of certain student loans while completing a resident training program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the Accrediting Committee of the American Osteopathic Association.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1990
Phases-in, by FY 1992, an update to the area wage index used in determining Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) payments to hospitals for wage-related costs in different areas. Requires the next survey of hospital wage-related costs to be conducted by FY 1993.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1990
Designates August 1, 1990, as Helsinki Human Rights Day. Authorizes and requests the President to: (1) reassert American commitment to the Helsinki Accords; (2) raise the issue of noncompliance with such Accords with any signatory nation which may be in violation; (3)convey to all signatories of such Accords that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is vital to progress in the ongoing Helsinki process; and (4) develop new proposals to advance the human rights objectives of the Helsinki process, including the self-determination of peoples.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1990
Indian Programs Reform Act of 1990 - Transfers to the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior the functions performed by: (1) the Bureau of Indian Affairs with respect to the distribution of royalty income to Indian tribes and allottees; and (2) Bureau of Land Management with respect to lease enforcement and inspection pertaining to oil and gas leases on Indian lands. Mandates that purchasers of oil or natural gas from Federal or Indian lands submit prescribed removal forms and annual reports to the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretary). Sets forth civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance. Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines for the maintenance and inspection of on-site meters used to gauge the production and purchase of oil and natural gas on Federal and Indian lands. Requires the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in conjunction with the Secretary to create a joint working group to provide training and coordination between the Bureau and the Department with respect to investigations of natural and resource thefts from Federal and Indian lands. Amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to: (1) increase civil penalties for non-compliance with its terms; and (2) authorize the Secretary to cancel a lease for failure to pay royalties within a specified deadline. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) conduct audits and impose recordkeeping requirements beyond the current six-year statutory period; and (2) compensate Indian tribes or certain organizations of Indian allottees for the costs incurred in participating in a cooperative agreement under the Act. Extends coverage of such Act to natural resources other than oil and natural gas. Requires the Minerals Management Service to print annual statistics regarding the auditing of Indian tribal and allottee leases and the frequency of underpayments.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1990
Federal Used Property for Domestic Use Act of 1990 - Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to authorize the Administrator of the General Services Administration to make available to foreign governments or international relief agencies for humanitarian relief purposes nonlethal surplus personal property not needed by the American National Red Cross or by States or territories for educational or public health purposes. Requires transfer of such property to the Secretary of State for distribution. Authorizes executive agencies having any such property in a foreign country that has not been returned to the United States to make such a transfer. Repeals provisions authorizing the Secretary of Defense to make available for humanitarian relief purposes any nonlethal excess supplies of the Department of Defense.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1990
Designates July 1, 1990, as Imported Oil Dependence Day. Requires the Secretary of Energy to report to the Congress, annually, on July 1, of the extent of the reliance of the United States on imported oil during the previous year, and the extent of its projected reliance for the coming year.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1990
Korean War Veterans Memorial Thirty-Eighth Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should recognize the 38th anniversary of the Korean War by minting and issuing a silver dollar coin. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue one-dollar silver coins to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the ending of the Korean War. Terminates such authority after December 31, 1991. Mandates that surcharges from the sale of such coins be used for the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1990
Employee Ownership and Participation Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) to establish an Employee Ownership and Participation Program (the Program) to help set up programs within the States to foster increased employee ownership and participation in company decisionmaking. Requires the Program to provide for grants to such programs which meet specified criteria. Directs the Secretary to establish within the Department of Labor the Office of Employee Ownership and Participation (the Office) to promote employee ownership, gainsharing, and participation in company decisionmaking. Requires the Office to: (1) support programs which are in compliance with the Program; (2) help the formation of new programs; and (3) conduct or fund research into employee ownership and participation in company decisionmaking and gainsharing. Authorizes the Office to make double-matching grants under the Program for specified activities in connection with programs within the States. Allows each State to sponsor and submit grant applications on behalf of local governments, State-supported institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organization programs. Permits such entities to apply directly in the absence of a State-established program. Requires each State (or recipient in the absence of a State program) to report annually on use of grant funds. Set forth limitations on aggregate grants to each State for FY 1991 through 1995. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Office to report to the Congress on the progress of employee ownership and participation in U.S. businesses, including critical cost and benefit analysis of program activities.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 1990
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the accession of Taiwan to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is in the best interest of the United States and of the world trading system and should be achieved prior to the end of the Uruguay Round; and (2) the United States should take the necessary steps to assure such country's membership in the GATT.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1990
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Lake Andes-Wagner Unit and the Marty II Unit, South Dakota, as units of the South Dakota Pumping Division, Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program. Requires the Marty II Unit to irrigate Indian lands in the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation. Allows both units to be utilized for rural water supplies via agreements between the Secretary and any rural water supply system operators. Requires the mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as the result of the construction of such units. Directs the Secretary to carry out a demonstration program to: (1) develop an accurate and definitive means of quantifying projected irrigation and drainage requirements with respect to glacial till and other soils found in the areas to be served with irrigation water by such units; (2) develop best water use and management techniques and technologies for such soils; (3) investigate and demonstrate the potential for enhancement of fish and wildlife and wetlands in the unit areas; and (4) investigate and demonstrate the suitability of glacial till soils for crop production under irrigation. Requires study sites for the carrying out of such program to be obtained through voluntary leases with landowners, under specified conditions. Requires reports from the Secretary concerning the demonstration program. Concludes such demonstration program after the fifth full irrigation season. Requires certain planning reports and environmental impact statements with respect to the construction of the units and the demonstration program. Requires, both with respect to construction of the units and the carrying out of the demonstration program, that preference be given in employment to members of the Yankton-Sioux Indian Tribe. Provides for the sharing of the cost of constructing the Lake Andes-Wagner Unit between the United States, South Dakota, and the Lake Andes-Wagner Irrigation District. Authorizes appropriations for the construction of each unit, the demonstration program, and the operation and maintenance of each unit.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1990
Aid for Trade Act of 1990 - Title I: Use of Foreign Assistance Funds - Allocates, on a percentage basis, bilateral economic assistance for FY 1992 through 1996 for the construction, design, or servicing of capital projects. Limits the use of such assistance to the procurement of U.S. goods and services. Sets specified percentage limits on cash transfers with respect to such economic assistance and Economic Support Funds for FY 1992 through 1996. Requires the Comptroller General to submit to the Congress a study of cash transfer assistance. Declares that nothing in this Act is intended to reduce the amount of bilateral economic assistance (including grants) for any fiscal year for least-developed beneficiary developing countries. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require the Administrator of each agency, in determining the geographic code for the purchase of goods and services, not to grant any waivers from Geographic Codes 000 (United States only) or 941 (United States and least-developed countries) except for specified reasons. Requires the Administrator of the Agency for International Development to report annually to the Congress on such waivers. Title II: Increase in Credit Authority - Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to direct the Export-Import Bank to increase its direct loans for FY 1992 through 1996 by 15 percent per year. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 to the Tied Aid Credit Fund. Amends the Trade and Development Enhancement Act of 1983 to authorize appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 to finance a tied aid credit activity. Title III: Eastern Europe Recovery Program - Establishes the Eastern European Loan Guarantee Program to be administered through the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to provide guarantees to U.S. lenders and exporters for projects which provide for the export of U.S.-made products and services to Eastern Europe. Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to extend the authority of the Bank to make interest subsidy payments to lenders who provide loans in support of U.S. exports through October 1, 1993. Authorizes appropriations to the Bank for FY 1992 and 1993 with respect to such payments for use in Eastern Europe only. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase the amount of direct investment loans that the Corporation must make each fiscal year. Earmarks a specified amount of such loans to promote the activities of U.S. small businesses in Eastern Europe. Title IV: General Provisions - Defines "bilateral economic assistance."
![Official portrait of Sen. Daschle, Thomas A. [D-SD]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/d000064_200.jpg)