United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Federal Administrative Improvements in Reports Act - Title I: Review of Reporting Forms - Terminates, three years after enactment of this Act, all reporting requirements imposed on small businesses by Federal agencies. Requires each agency to review its reporting forms within such period and to propose and submit to Congress new forms to become effective on such date. Directs each agency to: (1) consult with small business representatives; (2) consider the impact of proposed forms on small businesses; and (3) reduce the number of forms previously required by 50 percent. Prohibits the use of any proposed form which is disapproved by either House of Congress within 60 calendar days of continuous session after submission. Implements the provisions of this title every seven years after the end of the initial three-year period. Exempts the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from specified provisions of this title. Requires the Commissioner of the IRS to: (1) review its reporting forms; (2) eliminate any forms which require responses by small businesses more than once each year; (3) propose new forms; (4) reduce the number of forms required; (5) consult small business representatives; and (6) report to Congress every two years on action taken to implement these provisions. Title II: Pilot Testing Programs - Requires specified reporting forms required by a final rule to be distributed to a selected cross sample of small businesses in a pilot test survey. Specifies the information to be solicited through such survey which includes: (1) a description of any problems the respondent encounters in completing form requirements; and (2) an identification of any requirements which duplicate requirements of other forms. Directs each agency to: (1) maintain a file of survey responses; and (2) publish the problems identified through the survey and the planned agency actions to alleviate such problems. Subjects the reporting forms to the provisions of the Federal Reports Act and requires the submission of all forms to the Office of Advocacy in the Small Business Administration. Makes it the responsibility of the Office of Management and Budget to oversee the implementation of this Act and to certify that reporting forms submitted to Congress are not duplicative of existing forms.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1979
Robert A. Taft Institute of Government Trust Fund Act - Establishes in the United States Treasury the Robert A. Taft Institute Trust Fund. Authorizes the Commissioner of Education to make grants from such fund to develop the Robert A. Taft Institute of Government, New York, New York. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to invest portions of the Fund not required to meet current withdrawals. Appropriates $15,000,000 to the Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 1979
Expresses the sense of the Congress opposing promulgation by the President of specific, numerical wage, price, or other general economic stabilization standards which are enforced by the direct or implied threat of administrative actions or decisions under specified laws.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1979
Amends the Employment Act of 1946 to require the annual budget submitted by the President pursuant to the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, to contain a total amount of estimated outlays equal to the total amount of estimated receipts which would result if the increase in real economic growth for the fiscal year concerned was three percent. Authorizes the President to submit an alternative budget which does not comply with such requirement. Permits the Congress to consider such an alternative budget if each House concurs, by a two-third vote, with the President's determination that a national emergency so requires.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1979
Expresses the disapproval of the Senate with respect to the Secretary of Transportation's recommendations designating the basic route system for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation which were submitted to the Congress on January 31, 1979.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1979
Equal Access to Justice Act - Entitles a prevailing party (other than the United States) to be awarded fees and other expenses, including attorney fees, which were incurred by such party in: (1) an administrative adjudication, or (2) in any civil action (other than a tort or tax action) brought by or against the United States, unless the agency conducting such adjudication, or the court having jurisdiction of such action, finds that the position of the agency or the United States was substantially justified or that special circumstances make an award unjust. Authorizes a party dissatisfied with such award in an administrative adjudication to petition for leave to appeal the decision in an appropriate Federal court. Authorizes a court to award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party in any civil action brought by or against the United States, where the court may award such fees in such suits involving private parties (thus applying to Government litigation the common law exceptions to the "American rule" regarding attorney fee awards). Directs the Administrative Conference of the United States and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to report annually on the amount of fees and expenses awarded during the preceding fiscal year in such agency adjudications and civil actions.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1979
Permits to be counted as creditable service for Federal pension purposes service to a Member of Congress during a break in service of such Member provided such employee served such Member for six years before and six years after such break in service and during the entire break.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1979
Congressional Award Program Act - Establishes the Congressional Award Program in the United States and its territories to recognize and promote youth leadership and excellence in the areas of expedition fitness, personal creative development, and public service. Creates a Congressional Award Board with a Director to supervise such program. Authorizes the appointment of State award directors under this Act. Exempts the Board, its property, and its income from present and future Federal, State, and local taxation, with specified exceptions. Creates three Congressional Award Medals to the awarded under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 1979
Military Registration and Mobilization Assessment Act of 1979 - Directs the President to commence military selective service registration by October 18, 1979, and to report to the Congress by June 30, 1979, on plans for a modern and efficient system of registration. Amends the Military Selective Service Act of 1967 to authorize regulations granting the Selective Service System access to age and address information in the records of any school, or any agency or political subdivision of any State for the sole purpose of conducting selective service registration. Requires the Secretary of Defense, in the Secretary's annual report to Congress on military manpower requirements, to include an assessment of the Nation's capabilities to mobilize such additional manpower as may be needed to meet national security requirements under emergency situations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1979
Title I: Declaration of Policy - Establishes a comprehensive national civilian space and aeronautics policy to provide the basis for a world information system, Earth orbital facilities, exploration of the solar system and the development of other space and aeronautical activities. Title II: National Space and Aeronautics Policy - Sets forth national space and aeronautics principles in order to achieve the peaceful expansion of space and atmospheric environments for the benefit of mankind and the nation. Title III: Program - Directs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in cooperation with private, governmental, and international groups, to pursue aggressive research and systems development in space and aeronautics science and technology. Specifies programs and target dates for the achievement of such research and systems development. Directs the Administrator of NASA, together with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with appropriate Federal agencies, to develop and submit to Congress a preliminary five year program including proposed annual funding requirements and a detailed research and development schedule. Requires a final five-year program, a ten-year plan, and a 30-year policy goals to be submitted to Congress no later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act. Requires status reports and revisions to the plan be submitted annually with the budget request beginning the third year after the enactment of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to subject nonresident aliens, estates, trusts, partnerships, and foreign corporations to a tax on the gain from the sale or exchange of farm or rural lands situated in the United States. Requires foreign corporations which hold United States farm lands comprising 20 percent of their assets to make reports on such holdings as the Secretary of the Treasury may require.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of the Treasury to make annual adjustments in the individual income tax brackets according to a specified formula incorporating increases in the Consumer Price Index. Requires the Council on Wage and Price Stability to study the impact of the amendments made by this Act and to report its findings to Congress and the President no later than July 1, 1982.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1979
Constitutional Amendment - Limits the number of terms of office that a Member of the Senate may serve to two and a Member of the House of Representatives to six. Declares that only elections occurring because of the expiration of a term of office, and elections occurring before the date this article is ratified shall be taken into account.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 1979
Constitutional Amendment - Limits the number of terms of office that a Member of the Senate may serve to two and a Member of the House of Representatives to seven. Declares that a person may not serve more than 14 years as a Senator nor more than 15 years as a Representative. Declares that elections and service occurring before the date this article is ratified shall not be taken into account.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1979
Business Reporting Act of 1979 - Declares that no business shall be penalized for failing to report information to more than one Federal agency in any one year, provided that the business files a release authorizing disclosure of the information to any other agency. Directs agencies to share information and to refrain from demanding any information already available through another agency. Requires Congress to include in the committee report of legislation an estimate of the costs to private business of any reporting requirements which demand new information. Directs the General Accounting Office to report to Congress on the extent to which Federal agencies require duplicate information, and on the feasibility of establishing a central data bank of information provided by businesses.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1979
States that, in a review by a court of an action of a Federal agency, there shall be no presumption that any rule or regulation of any agency is valid. Prohibits the courts of the United States and State courts from upholding the validity of a challenged rule or regulation unless such validity is clearly and convincingly shown. Provides that if any rule or regulation is set up as a defense to any criminal prosecution or action for civil penalty, such rule or regulation shall be presumed valid until the party initiating the criminal prosecution or action for civil penalty shall have sustained the burden of proof normally applicable in such actions.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Reduces the annuities payable to a surviving spouse over age 62 pursuant to the armed forces Survivor Benefit Plan by an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount received under title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act where such benefits were calculated on the basis of the deceased's service in the uniformed services and calculated assuming that the deceased lived to age 65. Entitles certain individuals who were widowed on or before September 20, 1972, and who are not covered by the Survivor Benefit Plan, to an annuity. Directs that any individual who is entitled to retired or retainer pay and who did not elect to participate in the Survivor Benefit Plan may do so within 270 days after the effective date of this Act while continuing to participate in the Retired Serviceman's Family Protection Plan.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Regulatory Reduction and Congressional Control Act - Requires each Federal agency upon publication of each proposed and final rule to prepare, publish, and submit to Congress and the Comptroller General: (1) a statement of the need of the rule; and (2) a preliminary analysis of the economic impact of the rule. Requires, with respect to proposed major and final rules, as such rules are defined in this Act: (1) an economic impact statement disclosing the costs and benefits expected to result from the rule; (2) estimates of the paperwork requirements imposed by the rule; (3) estimates of the effects of the rule on the operation, workload, and efficiency of the Federal courts; and (4) an index of all other rules pertaining to the same subject matter. Makes it the responsibility of the Administrator of General Services to enforce prompt publication of such material. Authorizes the appropriate committees of Congress to review any such rule to determine whether it is economical and consistent with existing law and congressional intent. States that any such rule shall not become effective if it is disapproved within 60 days by one House of Congress and no action is taken on the disapproval resolution by the other House. Provides that either House of Congress may, by resolution, require any agency to reconsider and resubmit any rule to which this Act applies. Requires that such proposed rule be repromulgated anew in accordance with all the provisions of this Act unless it is reconsidered and resubmitted to Congress within 210 days after the adoption of the resolution requiring such reconsideration. Directs the Comptroller General to: (1) determine whether benefits of each rule exceed the costs; (2) determine the accuracy of each economic impact statement; (3) report its findings to Congress; and (4) develop, in conjunction with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the methods of preparing the preliminary analysis and economic impact statement. Requires each agency to transmit to Congress an annual report of the total costs of the public of complying with that agency's rules.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Save Our Schools Act of 1979 - Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury from implementing a proposed revenue procedure entitled, "Proposed Revenue Procedure on Private Tax-Exempt Schools," or any other guidelines for determining whether private schools have forfeited their tax-exempt status through the adoption of racially discriminatory policies, during the period beginning with the enactment of this Act and ending on December 31, 1980.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Authorizes the inclusion of military service performed by an individual after December, 1956, in the aggregate period of service on which a civil service annuity is based. Stipulates that this Act applies only to individuals becoming eligible for such annuity after the enactment of this Act. Directs the Civil Service Commission, upon request, to recompute the annuity of an individual receiving such annuity before the date of enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to authorize payment for specified services performed by chiropractors, including x-rays and physical examinations, and related routine laboratory tests.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Constitutional Amendment - Directs the President to estimate the level of Federal receipts for the ensuing fiscal year at the beginning of each regular session of Congress. Prohibits the Congress from authorizing outlays which exceed such estimate during the ensuing fiscal year. States that beginning with the fifth fiscal year after the effective date of this amendment, and for each of the succeeding 20 fiscal years, five percent of the receipts of the Government shall be available only to reduce the public debt. Authorizes suspension of such requirements for one year in time of war or grave national emergency upon the concurrence of three-fourths of the Members of both Houses of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 1979
Provides that, in accordance with the separation of powers under the Constitution, the President should not unilaterally take any action abrogating or affecting the validity of any of the security treaties comprising the post-World War II complex of treaties, including mutual defense treaties, without the advice and consent of the Senate or approval of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 17 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for casualty loss of depreciable fruit or nut trees. Sets a minimum deduction of the fair market value on the date such loss occurs, with a further allowance for an up to ten-year carryback and an up to four-year carryover.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
National Ski Patrol System Recognition Act of 1979 - Grants a Federal charter to the National Ski Patrol System. Declares that the purpose of such corporation shall be to promote public safety in skiing.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Tax Reduction Act of 1979 - Title I: Individual Tax Rates - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the income tax rates for individuals for the taxable years 1980 through 1982. Title II: Inflation Adjustment - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury, not later than December 15 of each calendar year beginning in 1982, to prescribe individual income tax rate tables: (1) by increasing the maximum dollar amount on which no tax is imposed under each table, and the minimum and maximum dollar amounts for each rate bracket for which a tax is imposed, by the cost-of-living adjustment for such year; (2) by not changing the rate applicable to any rate bracket as adjusted; and (3) by adjusting the amounts setting forth the tax to the extent necessary to reflect the adjustments in the rate brackets. Declares the cost-of-living adjustment for any calendar year as the percentage by which the Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the preceding calendar year exceeds the Consumer Price Index for calendar 1981. Requires cost-of-living adjustments in zero bracket amounts, exemptions and withholding taxes. Sets the minimum gross income for which an income tax return is required from certain individuals at an amount less than the sum of the exemption plus the applicable zero bracket amount.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Tax Equalization Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require annual cost-of-living adjustments to personal income tax brackets and the personal exemption.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Spending Limitation Act - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to limit the total Federal outlays agreed to in the second or any further concurrent resolution on the Budget to the following percentages of the gross national product: 21 percent in fiscal year 1980; 20 percent in fiscal year 1981; 19 percent in fiscal year 1982; and 18 percent in the fiscal year 1983. Authorizes the Congress to waive such limitations by a two-thirds vote of each House.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit equal to 50 percent of the excess of the eligible net savings (net savings in excess of certain types of debt) of a taxpayer for the taxable year over a specified percentage of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income. Specifies types of savings accounts which qualify for the credit. Increases taxpayer liability (except for individuals who attain age 65) if the taxpayer's eligible net saving is less than zero for a taxable year. Provides for an inflation adjustment to the taxpayer's adjusted gross income for purposes of determining the allowable amount of credit.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Constitutional Amendment - Requires a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress to pass any concurrent resolution on the budget which carries a deficit.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the President to review Government revenues and expenditures at specified times and to determine a surtax rate when expenditures exceed revenues to insure that receipts will equal outlays. Authorizes a suspension of such measures in the case of a grave national emergency declared by Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the President to review Government revenues and expenditures at specified times and to determine a surtax rate when expenditures exceed revenues to insure that receipts will equal outlays. Authorizes the suspension of such measures in the case of a grave national emergency declared by Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1979
Reaffirms the U.S. policy of friendship towards Taiwan. Declares that the U.S. will take any necessary action to preserve the independence and freedom of Taiwan. Declares that the United States will not tolerate aggression by the People's Republic of China against Taiwan for any purpose, including reunification.
United States · United States Congress · 13 October 1978
Title I: Declaration of Policy - Establishes a comprehensive national civilian space and aeronautics policy to provide the basis for a world information system, an orbital civilization, exploration of the solar system and the development of other space and aeronautical activities. Title II: National Space and Aeronautics Policy - Sets forth national space and aeronautics principles in order to achieve the peaceful expansion of space and atmospheric environments for the benefit of mankind and the nation. Title III: Program - Directs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA, in cooperation with private, governmental, and international groups, to pursue aggressive research and systems development in space and aeronautics science and technology. Specifies programs and target dates for the achievement of such research and systems development. Directs the Administrator of NASA, together with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with appropriate Federal agencies, to develop and submit to Congress a 30-year plan including proposed annual funding requirements and a detailed research and development schedule. Requires status reports and revisions to the plan to be submitted every year along with the budget request beginning the third year after the enactment of this Act. Authorizes funds necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 1978
Prohibits the President from taking any action that would affect the validity of any post-World War II security and mutual defense treaties without the advice and consent of the Senate, or the approval of both Houses of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1978
Amends the venue provisions of Federal law to provide that a civil action in which a defendant is the United States, a United States agency, or an officer or employee thereof acting in an official capacity, or an appeal from a final order of the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture, or the Maritime Administration must be brought in a judicial district or circuit in which it has been determined that a substantial portion of the impact or injury exists.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1978
Space Policy Act - Establishes a national space policy and program to enable the United States to maintain leadership in space science and technology. Declares such policy, including that the United States: (1) is committed to space exploration for peaceful purposes and the benefit of mankind; (2) rejects claims of sovereignty over outer space and celestial bodies; and (3) will continue to participate in cooperative international space activities. Directs the President to assure the space program proceeds toward enumerated goals in space and terrestrial application and in space science. Details the goals to be achieved within ten years, including: (1) design of prototype electric power generation transmission systems; (2) design of space technologies determining the feasibility of space-based manufacturing; (3) establishment of a remote-sensing system of earth's resources; and (4) the pursuit of planetary and lunar science and exploration. Requires the President to submit to Congress a five-year schedule, with annual revisions, identifying missions, projects, and programs to achieve the objectives of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1978
Establishes a procedure for either House of Congress to disapprove any rule or regulation which would impose additional burdens on recipients of: (1) water supply from Federal projects; or (2) Federal grant or loan assistance for the development of water supply or treatment works. Requires any department or agency issuing any rule or regulation subject to disapproval to transmit copies to: (1) each House within three days of its issuance; and (2) the affected States at least 60 days prior to its issuance. Forbids any department or agency from initiating legal action to quantify or establish Federal or Indian reserve water rights without first notifying the appropriate congressional committees and affected States.
United States · United States Congress · 8 August 1978
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a one-time tax exclusion of up to $100,000 of the gain from the sale or exchange of a property used by a taxpayer as his principal residence for at least two years during the three year period prior to the date of the sale or exchange.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1978
Provides for payments by the Secretary of the Treasury to any State which places on the ballot in the general election of November, 1978, a question concerning the opinion of the voter on the subject of a balanced Federal budget.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1978
Expresses the sense of the Congress that (1) the trials of Antoly Shcharansky, Viktoras Petkus, and Aleksandr Ilyich Ginzburg are matters of deep concern to the American people that adversely affect Soviet-American relations; and (2) the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet should seek a humanitarian resolution to these cases and work toward improving such relations.
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