United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1983
United States Olympic Checkoff Act of 1983 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow taxpayers to designate on their income tax returns a contribution of one dollar of their income tax refunds or any cash amount voluntarily forwarded with their returns to support the U.S. Olympic Trust Fund. Establishes in the Treasury a U.S. Olympic Trust Fund (trust fund). Appropriates to such trust fund an amount equal to the amount designated on tax returns. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay amounts so transferred to the U.S. Olympic Committee. Allows specified administrative expenses to be paid from such trust fund.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1983
Veterans' Health Care and Programs Improvement Amendments of 1983 - Title I: Adult Day Health Care Services Program - Authorizes the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to conduct a pilot program furnishing adult day care health services at Veterans Administration (VA) medical facilities to eligible veterans. Terminates such program after FY 1987. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1984-1987. Directs the Administrator to include a comprehensive report on this program in his annual report to Congress. Title II: Community Residential Care - Authorizes the Administrator to refer veterans eligible for hospital, nursing home, domiciliary, and medical care through the Veterans Administration to community residential facilities. Makes each veteran responsible for the cost of care and services provided by such facilities. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations regarding such facilities to ensure the health and safety of placed veterans. Requires the Administrator's approval of a facility before placement assistance is provided. Title III: Presumption Concerning Dysthymic Disorder - Creates a presumption of service-connection for disability purposes for dysthymic disorder (or depressive neurosis) manifest to a degree of ten percent or more in a veteran who is a former prisoner of war. Title IV: Beneficiary Travel - Permits the Administrator to pay the total travel costs of certain veterans receiving medical care at VA facilities. Title V: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date for this Act
United States · United States Congress · 16 February 1983
Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to transport to the decedent's place of burial the remains of a member of the uniformed services entitled to retired or retainer pay who dies in a military medical facility.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1983
Amends the Hobbs Act to redefine "extortion" to mean obtaining property from another with consent by use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear thereof, or wrongful use of fear not involving force or violence, or under color of official right. Expresses congressional intent: (1) not to exclude Federal jurisdiction on the ground that conduct involving force, violence, or fear thereof, takes place in the course of a legitimate business or labor dispute, or on the ground that the conduct violates State or local law; or (2) not to chill legitimate labor activity by authorizing Federal prosecution for offenses occurring during a labor dispute not involving extortion. Makes it an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that the defendant's conduct: (1) was incidental to peaceful picketing in the course of a legitimate labor dispute; (2) consisted solely of minor bodily injury or property damage; or (3) was not intended to extort property.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1983
Equal Access Act - Prohibits public schools that allow students to participate in extracurricular activities from receiving Federal funds if they deny equal access or opportunity for students and faculty to engage in voluntary prayer or religious discussion on school premises during noninstructional periods.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1983
Amends titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) and XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to establish the following accounts in the Treasury: (1) the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Depositary Account; (2) the Disability Insurance Depositary Account; (3) the Hospital Insurance Depositary Account; and (4) the Supplementary Medical Insurance Depositary Account. Requires the Managing Trustee of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund to deposit those portions of such trust funds not required to meet current withdrawals from such trust funds into the corresponding depositary accounts so established. Revises investment requirements with respect to trust fund assets deposited in such accounts.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1983
Acidic Deposition Mitigation and Research Act of 1983 - Amends the Clean Air Act to provide for a program of acidic deposition analysis and mitigation. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to study and report, within the five-fiscal- year period following the submission of the final comprehensive National Acid Precipitation Assessment plan under the Energy Security Act of 1980, to the Congress and the President on acidic deposition. Sets forth required inclusions and procedures for such report. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to any State or interstate agency to develop and implement on-site methods of mitigating the harmful effects on ecosystems resulting from high acidity which may be due to acidic deposition. Limits such grants to 75 percent of project costs. Authorizes appropriations to the Administrator for the five fiscal years following the enactment date of this Act for the preparation of such report and the making of such grants.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1983
Respect Human Life Act of 1983 - Prohibits Federal involvement in the performance of abortions, except when the life of the mother would be endangered if the child were carried to term. Includes the following activities within the scope of this prohibition: (1) performance of an abortion by a Federal agency; (2) use of appropriated funds to perform or reimburse or refer for abortions; (3) promotion or assistance in the performance of abortions abroad; (4) contracting for insurance which pays or reimburses for abortions; (5) discrimination against an individual on the basis of that person's opposition to abortions; and (6) the withholding from a handicapped infant of nutritional sustenance, medical or surgical treatment by an institution receiving Federal assistance. Provides for expedited Supreme Court review of State laws restricting abortions or infanticide whenever such laws have been invalidated by a lower court.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1983
Amends the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 to repeal provisions which disallow the accelerated cost recovery deductions for property financed with tax-exempt securities. Repeals the 1986 expiration date for the authority to issue such tax-exempt securities.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1983
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish the AfricaTown National Historical Park and District in Alabama. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with the owners of real and personal property within the park boundaries to render financial, technical, and other assistance in the interpretation and preservation of such properties. Permits the construction of administrative facilities, a visitors' center, a museum, a theater, and a library on park land. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1983
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the President should: (1) propose an amendment to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction to establish procedures for investigating and verifying suspected violations of such Convention and to establish specified research standards; and (2) undertake initiatives to condemn the use of toxins and other biological weapons by the Soviet Union or its allies against any country.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Bail Reform Act of 1983 - Repeals the Bail Reform Act of 1966 and sets forth new bail procedures. Retains execution of a money bond as a condition for pretrial release. Authorizes a judicial officer to consider the safety of any person or the community when making a pretrial release determination. Establishes as a mandatory release condition that the person not commit a Federal, State, or local crime during release. Expands the discretionary release conditions to include that the defendant: (1) maintain employment or an educational program; (2) avoid contact with an alleged victim or potential witness; (3) report to a law enforcement or pretrial service agency; (4) comply with a curfew; (5) refrain from possessing a firearm or using alcohol or narcotic drugs; (6) undergo medical treatment; (7) agree to forfeit designated property, including money, upon failure to appear; and (8) return to custody at specified hours. Prohibits a judicial officer from imposing financial conditions that result in the pretrial detention of a person. Authorizes a judicial officer to order the detention for up to ten days of a person who is presently on pretrial release for a felony under Federal, State, or local law or on probation or parole or release pending sentencing or appeal for any offense, upon a determination that such person may flee or pose a danger to any person or the community, or for deportation or exclusion purposes. Requires that a detention hearing be held in any case involving: (1) a crime of violence; (2) any offense punishable by life imprisonment or death; (3) a narcotics offense punishable by at least ten years' imprisonment; (4) any felony committed after the person has been convicted of two or more offenses for which a hearing is mandated; or (5) upon motion that a serious risk of flight or obstruction of justice exists. Authorizes a judicial officer after such a hearing to order the pretrial detention of a person upon finding that no condition will reasonably assure such person's appearance and the safety of any other person and the community. Creates certain rebuttable presumptions with regard to absence of such conditions. Enumerates additional factors to be considered by the judicial officer in making a release determination, including the defendant's past conduct, history of drug or alcohol abuse, criminal history, and the nature and seriousness of the danger to the community or any person. Directs the Attorney General to promulgate regulations governing custody of persons detained pending trial. Requires the detention of a person who has appealed his conviction unless the judicial officer finds by clear and convincing evidence that: (1) such person is not likely to flee or pose a danger to another person or property; and (2) the appeal raises a substantial question of law or fact. Requires the detention of a person awaiting sentencing unless the officer finds by clear and convincing evidence that the person is not likely to flee or pose a danger to any other person or the community. Authorizes a U.S. attorney to appeal a release order. Makes a person guilty of an offense for failing to appear after having been released. Provides increased penalties for persons charged with more serious offenses. Makes it an affirmative defense to such crime that uncontrollable circumstances prevented the person from appearing. Establishes mandatory additional penalties for commission of an offense while on pretrial release. Subjects a person who has been conditionally released and violates a condition of release to revocation of release and prosecution for contempt of court. Authorizes a surety to arrest a person charged with an offense who is released upon execution of an appearance bond with such surety. Requires such person to be delivered promptly to a judicial officer for a revocation determination. Grants new authority to law enforcement officers to arrest a person who violates pretrial release conditions.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Federal Anti-Tampering Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to make it a Federal offense to maliciously cause or attempt to cause injury or death to any person, or injury to any business' reputation, by adulterating a food, drug, cosmetic or other product. Provides for a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to $20,000 if personal injury results, or a prison term of up to life if death results. Establishes a separate offense, with similar penalties, for any person who willfully or maliciously conveys false information concerning an attempt at such adulteration, if injury, fear of injury or death results, or if a governmental or commercial recall occurs.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Amends the Small Business Act to eliminate from the exceptions to the requirement that notice of Government procurement actions be published in the Commerce Business Daily those procurement actions which: (1) involve perishable subsistence supplies; (2) are of such emergency that the Government would be seriously injured if bids were made more than 15 days after the invitation to bid was issued; (3) are made by an order placed under an existing contract; (4) are for personal or professional services; or (5) are for services from educational institutions. Prohibits procuring activities, when required to publish notice of procurement actions, from: (1) issuing a solicitation for a procurement action until 15 days after publication of such a notice; (2) foreclosing competition under a procurement order until 30 days after the issuance of the solicitation or, in the case of orders under a basic agreement, basic ordering agreement, or similar arrangement, after publication of intent to place the order; or (3) commencing negotiations for the award of a sole source contract until 30 days after the publication of a notice of intent to contract. Exempts from compliance with such time periods procurement actions which: (1) are made by an order placed under an existing contract; (2) are of such emergency that the Government would be seriously injured if such time periods were complied with; or (3) involve perishable subsistence supplies. Prohibits a procuring activity from entering into negotiations for the award of a sole source contract for more than $100,000 unless: (1) the head of the activity has approved the proposal for such negotiation; and (2) the activity has considered all responses to the notice of the procurement action. Provides for the application of this Act to the Tennessee Valley Authority only to the extent it deems practicable.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Minority Small Business Pilot Procurement Act of 1983 - Amends the Small Business Act to authorize the President to designate, within 60 days of the enactment of this Act, the agency (other than the Department of Defense) with which a Government procurement contract shall be made by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the provisions pursuant to which contracts are performed through subcontracts with socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses. Prohibits the SBA from entering into such a contract after the 18-month period following the enactment of this Act. (Under current law, such contracts must have been entered on or before September 30, 1981.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Title I: Limitation on Appropriations - Makes authorizations of appropriations under this Act effective only for FY 1984 and thereafter. Limits contractual obligations under this Act to the authority provided in advance in appropriation Acts. Title II: Amendments to the National Trails System Act - National Trails System Act Amendments of 1981 - Amends the National Trails System Act to state as an additional purpose of such Act the encouragement of volunteer citizen involvement in the development and management of national trails. Provides that national scenic trails may be located so as to represent various natural areas which exhibit significant characteristics of the physiographic regions of the United States. Defines the term "extended trails" for purposes of this Act. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to submit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, and periodically revise, a comprehensive plan for the national trails system. Requires consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the State Governors, and the trails community on such plan. Permits national recreation trails to be designated on private land if the owners consent. Designates the following as national trails: (1) the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail; (2) the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail in Tennessee and Mississippi; and (3) the Florida National Scenic Trail in Florida. Requires the feasibility of designating a trail to be based on an evaluation of the physical possibility and financial feasibility of developing a trail along a route being studied. Designates the following routes for consideration as national scenic trails: (1) the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail in, California; (2) the Trail of Tears in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma; (3) the Illinois Trail in Illinois; (4) the Jedediah Smith Trail in Wyoming, California, Utah, and Washington; (5) the General Crook Trail in Arizona; and (6) the Beale Wagon Road in Arizona. Requires the appropriate Secretary to notify the appropriate congressional committees if a trail advisory council cannot be established because of lack of public interest. Redefines the Federal members of trail advisory councils. Requires additional information in the comprehensive management plans for national historic trails. Removes the requirement that connecting or side trails provide additional points of access. Permits the location of such trails on private lands if the owners consent. Requires the appropriate Secretary to consult with all affected State and Federal agencies in the management of a trail. Allows management transfer of any specified trail segment. Authorizes the Secretary to provide for trail interpretation at historic sites. Authorizes the acquisition of lands or easements for trail rights-of-way from local governments or governmental corporations with their consent. Authorizes the acquisition, if the owner consents, of an entire tract of land, even if such tract lies partly outside a right-of-way. Permits lands acquired outside the right-of-way to be exchanged for non-Federal lands within the right-of-way or to be disposed of under procedures prescribed by the appropriate Secretary. Provides that cooperative agreements to develop and maintain national trails may include financial assistance provisions, or volunteer status provisions, or both. Requires Federal consultation with State and local governments to encourage the development of laws to regulate land practices and to protect private landowners from trespass, unnecessary personal liability, and property damage caused by trail use. Specifies some activities and vehicle types allowed on designated components of the national trails system. Permits trail accesses for handicapped individuals. Authorizes landowners to convey qualified real property interests to qualified organizations, pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code, in order to preserve national trail areas. Requires certain Federal officials to encourage the establishment of national trails using the provisions of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. Provides that the interim use of a railroad right-of-way for trail use shall not constitute an abandonment of the use of the right-of-way for railroad purposes. Authorizes the expenditure of land acquisition funds to provide for one trail interpretation site in each State crossed by the trail. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1983 and thereafter for the national trails designated in this Act. Limits the funds available for land acquisition for the Natchez Trace Trail and for development of the Natchez Trace Trail system. Authorizes the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture and the heads of Federal agencies administering Federal land to assist volunteers and volunteer organizations in the development and maintenance of national trails. Title III: Designation of the "Bizz Johnson Trail" - Designates the Susanville- Westwood Rails to Trails project in California as the Bizz Johnson Trail. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to place a commemorative marker along the trail. Authorizes appropriations to carry out this title. Title IV: Roy Taylor Forest - Designates specified land within the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina as the Roy Taylor Forest. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to place a commemorative marker in the forest. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to make references to the forest in Blue Ridge Parkway publications and to install appropriate signs along the parkway. Authorizes appropriations to implement this title.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1983
Amends the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 to repeal provisions which require the withholding of tax on interest and dividends. Requires taxpayers to file information returns and statements on the interest, dividends, and patronage dividends they receive.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Amends the copyright law to exclude from liability for infringement of copyright any individual who records copyrighted works on a video recorder if the recording is made for a private use and is not used in a commercial nature.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Housing Finance Opportunity Act of 1983 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit the continued issuance of mortgage revenue bonds after December 31, 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Declares that for the purposes of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution, each human life exists from conception without regard to race, sex, age, health, defect, or conditions of dependency, and that "person" includes all human beings. Recognizes the compelling interest of each State to protect the lives of those whom the State regards as human beings, independent of the status of unborn children under the fourteenth amendment. Eliminates inferior Federal court jurisdiction to issue any order in any case involving a State or local law that: (1) protects the rights of persons between conception and birth; or (2) limits or regulates abortion or provides funding or other assistance for abortions. Declares that this shall not deprive the Supreme Court of the authority to render appropriate relief in any case.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act Amendments of 1983 - Amends the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (the Act) to revise the definition of "employee" to exclude persons who at the time of injury were: (1) engaged by specified employers; (2) employees exclusively performing office clerical, secretarial, security, or data processing work; (3) club, camp, restaurant, museum, retail outlet, and marina personnel; (4) personnel of suppliers, transporters, or vendors temporarily doing business on the premises of specified employers; (5) aquaculture workers; (6) engaged in operating an independently or cooperatively owned grain elevator and not engaged in loading or unloading a vessel; or (7) employed to build or repair any recreational vessel under 65 feet long. (Retains the current exclusion from coverage of a master or member of a crew of any vessel or any person engaged by the master to load or unload or repair any small vessel under 18 tons net.) Excludes such employees only if they are subject to coverage under a State workers' compensation law. Revises the definition of "employer" to exclude: (1) clubs, camps, restaurants, museums, retail outlets, or marinas; (2) aquaculture farms; (3) operations of employers which do not receive Federal maritime subsidies and which involve building, repairing, or dismantling certain types of commercial barges, small vessels, or recreational vessels. Revises the definition of "wages" to exclude fringe benefits. Makes conforming amendments. Provides that recoveries under other workers' compensation laws or under specified Federal law relating to recovery for injury to or death of seamen shall be credited against any liability imposed by the Act. Provides that liability under the Act shall be exclusive and in place of all other liability, including any liability imposed by or arising out of such other laws. Provides that no person covered under the Act who is employed to provide shipbuilding, repairing, or breaking services may bring a negligence action against the employer in any capacity including as the vessel's owner, owner for this occasion, agent, operator, or charterer or against the employees of the employer. Permits employers engaged in operations on the Outer Continental Shelf to enter into valid indemnity agreements with third parties engaged in those same operations. Provides that compensation for disability or death shall not exceed 200 percent of the applicable national average weekly wage. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to order a change of physicians or hospitals where the charges exceed those prevailing within the community for similar services. Directs the Secretary to identify those physicians ineligible to provide care and receive payments under the Act. Revises provisions for employee recovery of expenditures for medical or other treatment or services. Requires the treating physician to furnish to the employer and the appropriate deputy commissioner an injury and treatment report within 21 days of first treatment. Authorizes an administrative law judge (as well as the Secretary) to suspend payment of compensation benefits to employees who unreasonably refuse to accept medical or surgical treatment or to submit to an examination by a consulting physician selected by the employer. Sets forth provisions relating to the barring of certain providers of services, appliances, or supplies under this Act. Allows an injured or disabled employee to obtain treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone by an accredited practitioner of, and in accordance with the tenets of, a recognized church or religious denomination. Prohibits such an employee from losing any benefits under this Act because of such treatment. Requires such employee to take all required physical examinations. Provides that an employee shall not be considered to have unreasonably refused medical treatment or vocational rehabilitation if such refusal is in adherence to the tenets of a recognized church or religious denomination. Requires that compensation paid to the injured employee under the Act be reduced by 50 percent of the amount of old age insurance benefits to which the employee is entitled under title II of the Social Security Act. Makes an employer liable to the employee only for loss of hearing attributable to employment by that employer. Makes an audiogram conclusive evidence of the amount of hearing loss sustained. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations defining "loss of hearing" in accordance with American Medical Association guidelines. Increases the maximum amount awardable for serious disfigurement from $3,500 to $7,500. Repeals provisions for reconsideration of the degree of impairment by the deputy commissioner, for purposes of compensation of permanent partial disability. Repeals provisions for death benefits for survivors of employees receiving compensation for permanent partial disability who die from causes other than the compensable injury. Lengthens the minimum period of the employer's payment responsibility from 104 weeks to 208 weeks. Requires that any request for second injury Fund apportionment be presented to the deputy commissioner and the Conservator prior to consideration by an administrative law judge. Repeals provisions for additional compensation for maintenance during vocational rehabilitation. Provides that employees in vocational rehabilitation shall receive continued temporary total or partial compensation, but prohibits entering an award for permanent disability until vocational rehabilitation has been determined unnecessary or has been completed. Makes an employee ineligible for compensation if the employee unreasonably refuses to undergo vocational rehabilitation or to participate in a reasonable plan offered and financed by the employer to return the injured employee to work. Repeals provisions which include consideration of the effect of disability as it may naturally extend into the future for purposes of determining the wage-earning capacity of an injured employee. Directs the deputy commissioner or administrative law judge to approve a settlement agreement within 30 days, unless it is found inadequate or procured under duress. Directs the deputy commissioner to issue a written statement within 30 days containing reasons for disapproval of any application for a settlement. Permits any party to the settlement to request a hearing before an administrative law judge to appeal such disapproval. Provides that approved settlements: (1) shall discharge the liability of the employer, carrier, or both; (2) may include future medical benefits; and (3) may be agreed upon at any stage of the proceeding including after entry of a final compensation order. Authorizes employers to notify claimants of their obligation to report their earnings. Provides that employees forfeit their right to compensation if the deputy commissioner determines that they have failed to report or have omitted or understated earnings. Repeals provisions for compensation for any death resulting from causes other than compensable injury. Increases the maximum funeral expense reimbursement from $1,000 to $3,000. Revises provisions for computation of death benefits. Limits to five percent per year annual increases in amounts payable as adjustments for permanent total disability and death caused by a compensable injury. Revises provisions for notice of injury or death. Requires such notice within 30 days after the employee or beneficiary is aware, or by reason of medical advice should have been aware, of the relationship between the injury or death and the employment. Requires employers to designate those agents or other responsible officials to receive such notice and to notify their employees of such designation in a manner prescribed by the Secretary in regulations. Makes conforming amendments. Repeals provisions authorizing the discharge of all or part of the employer's liability for compensation by payment of a lump-sum computed at a four percent discount rate. Revises provisions relating to presumptions in proceedings under the Act. Permits temporary expansion of the Benefits Review Board. Removes time limitations on requests for modification of awards and review of compensation cases. Provides that a claim for legal services or for any other services relating to a claim for or award of compensation under the Act is not valid unless approved by the deputy commissioner, an administrative law judge, the Benefits Review Board, or a court which is reviewing an order of an administrative law judge. Revises provisions for penalties for unapproved receipt of consideration or solicitation of employment with respect to claims or awards under the Act. Requires employers to report only those injuries which would cause loss of one or more shifts of work, but to keep a record of each and every injury. Requires that failure or refusal to send a required report by any employer, insurance carrier, or self-insured employer be willful before civil penalties may be imposed. Raises the maximum limit on such penalties from $500 to $25,000 for each such failure or refusal. Increases the criminal penalties for willful false statements or representations to obtain benefits or payments. Makes such false statements or representations felonies punishable by up to a $25,000 fine and/or up to three years imprisonment. Removes such penalties for misleading statements or representations. Directs the U.S. attorney for the district in which the injury is alleged to have occurred to make every reasonable effort to promptly investigate each complaint of such false statements or representations. Lists those persons who may or may not prosecute or defend claims under this Act. Makes false statements or representations for the purpose of denying or terminating benefits to an injured employee or the dead employee's dependents punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or up to three years imprisonment. Authorizes the Secretary to take into account the employer's financial condition and previous record of payments and other relevant factors in establishing collateral requirements for employers seeking authorization to make direct payment of compensation. Revises provisions for compensation for injuries where third parties are liable. Defines "award" with respect to such compensation orders as a formal award issued by the deputy commissioner, an administrative law judge, or the Benefits Review Board. Provides that the right to bring an action against the third person shall revert to the person entitled to the compensation if the employer fails to commence such action within a reasonable time after the cause of action is assigned. Establishes procedures for the distribution of proceeds from third-party actions brought by persons entitled to compensation or other benefits. Provides that all amounts paid and determined payable by the employer shall be a first lien on any proceeds obtained by judgment or settlement. Requires that all rights to compensation or medical benefits be terminated if a third-party action is settled without the employer's formal written approval. Provides that all payments made by a special fund to or on behalf of a person entitled to compensation or other benefits shall be a lien on the proceeds of any third-party action subordinate only to the lien of the employer or carrier. Directs the Secretary to report to Congress, at the beginning of each regular session, on the administration of the Act for the preceding fiscal year. Establishes the Special Fund Conservation Committee. Directs the Committee to appoint a Fund Conservator. Authorizes the Conservator to participate as fully as any other party in all proceedings involving claims to any amounts from the special fund. Provides that all administrative expenses incurred by the Committee and the Conservator shall be paid from the special fund. Repeals outdated provisions of the Act. Declares that the discharge or refusal to employ a person who has been adjudicated to have filed a fraudulent claim for compensation is not a violation of prohibitions against discrimination against employees who bring proceedings under the Act. Raises the minimum penalty for a violation of such prohibitions from $100 to $1,000, and the maximum penalty from $1,000 to $5,000. Sets forth the effective date for specified provisions of this Act. Provides that amendments made by this Act relating to the modification of awards shall not apply to compensation payments under the Black Lung Benefits Act.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to increase the acreage of the following preserves in Alaska (thereby easing restrictions on hunting on certain lands): (1) the Katmai National Preserve; (2) the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve; (3) the Noatak National Preserve; (4) the Lake Clark National Preserve; (5) the Wrangell-Saint Elias National Preserve; (6) the Denali National Preserve; (7) the Kenai Fjords National Preserve; (8) the Glacier Bay National Preserve; and (9) the Aniakchak National Preserve.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Declares that for the purposes of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution, each human life exists from conception without regard to race, sex, age, health, defect, or conditions of dependency, and that "person" includes all human beings. Recognizes the compelling interest of each State to protect the lives of those whom the State regards as human beings, independent of the status of unborn children under the fourteenth amendment. Eliminates inferior Federal court jurisdiction to issue any order in any case involving a State or local law that: (1) protects the rights of persons between conception and birth; or (2) limits or regulates abortion or provides funding or other assistance for abortions. Declares that this shall not deprive the Supreme Court of the authority to render appropriate relief in any case.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the highway use tax on heavy trucks. Increases the excise tax on diesel fuel from nine cents per gallon to 11 cents per gallon in 1983 and from 11 cents per gallon to 14 cents per gallon in 1984. Allows a tax refund for tax on diesel fuel used in automobiles and light trucks.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Establishes the Veterans Administration as an executive department redesignated as the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Makes technical and conforming changes, including the redesignation of the Administrator as the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Constitutional Amendment - Requires Congress, prior to each fiscal year, to adopt a statement of receipts and outlays for that year in which total outlays are no greater than total receipts. Permits Congress in such statement to provide for a specific excess of outlays over receipts by a three-fifths vote directed solely to that subject. Prohibits total receipts for any fiscal year set forth in such statement from increasing by a rate greater than the rate of increase in national income in the last calendar year ending before such fiscal year, unless Congress passes a bill directed solely to approving specific additional receipts and such bill has become law. Permits Congress to waive the provisions of this Act with respect to any fiscal year in which a declaration of war is in effect. Declares that total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States, except those derived from borrowing and total outlays shall include all outlays of the United States except those for repayment of debt principal.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Constitutional Amendment - Grants concurrent power to Congress and the States to restrict and prohibit abortions. Directs that a provision of a State law which is more restrictive than a conflicting law of Congress shall govern. Declares that the Constitution does not secure a right to abortion.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the right to life is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person. States that for the purposes of the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, the word "person" applies to all human beings without regard to age, health, function, or condition of dependency. Declares that no unborn person shall be deprived of life by any person, but permits a law allowing justification to be shown for medical procedures required to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or her unborn offspring, if this law requires every reasonable effort to be made to preserve the life of each.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the right to life is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person. States that for the purposes of the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, the word "person" applies to all human beings without regard to age, health, function, or condition of dependency. Declares that no unborn person shall be deprived of life by any person, but permits a law allowing justification to be shown for medical procedures required to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or her unborn offspring, if this law requires every reasonable effort to be made to preserve the life of each.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1983
Constitutional Amendment - Defines "person" to include the unborn for the purpose of the right to life guarantee. Makes such amendment inapplicable to laws permitting medical procedures required to prevent the death of the mother.
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 1982
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the national security policy should reflect a national strategy of peace through strength. Sets forth the principles and goals of such a policy.
United States · United States Congress · 6 December 1982
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the Senate condemns and abhors the suppression of civil liberties and human rights by the Polish martial law government; (2) Americans respect the commitment to ideals manifested by the Polish people and Lech Walesa in particular; (3) Americans hope that Polish authorities will take steps to return to the Polish people their rights and liberties; and (4) the President is urged to proclaim December 12, 1982, as a national day of solidarity and prayer for Poland.
United States · United States Congress · 30 November 1982
Federal Anti-Tampering Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to make it a Federal offense to maliciously cause or attempt to cause injury or death to any person, or injury to any business' reputation, by adulterating a food, drug, cosmetic or other product. Provides for a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to $20,000 if personal injury results, or a prison term of up to life if death results. Establishes a separate offense, with similar penalties, for any person who willfully or maliciously conveys false information concerning an attempt at such adulteration, if injury or death results.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1982
Declares that it should be U.S. policy to: (1) support the people of Afghanistan in their struggle to be free from foreign domination; (2) provide the Afghans, upon request, with material assistance; and (3) pursue a negotiated settlement of the war in Afghanistan based on the total withdrawal of Soviet troops and the recognition of the right of the Afghans to choose their own destiny.
![Official portrait of Sen. Denton, Jeremiah [R-AL]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/d000259_200.jpg)