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United States · Official source
2,344 records where Sen. Gramm, Phil [R-TX] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1998
Designates May 15, 1998, as National Peace Officers Memorial Day.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1998
American Missile Protection Act of 1998 - States as U.S. policy to deploy as soon as technologically possible an effective National Missile Defense system capable of defending U.S. territory against limited ballistic missile attack (whether accidental, unauthorized, or deliberate).
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1998
Designates April 1, 1998, as National Breast Cancer Survivors' Day.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1998
Authorizes appropriations for the U.S. Customs Service for FY 1999 and 2000 for acquisition and deployment of narcotics enforcement and cargo processing technology (including maintenance and support of such equipment, training of personnel, and for new technologies) along the U.S. Southwest border. Earmarks amounts for additional inspectors, canine enforcement officers, special agents, and enhanced investigative resources during peak hours along the border.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1998
Declares that the Senate: (1) expresses gratitude to, and calls upon all Americans to show their gratitude to, John McCain and the men who were held as prisoners of war during the Vietnam conflict and for the return of Senator McCain to the United States; and (2) will not forget that more than 2,000 members of the armed forces remain unaccounted for from such conflict and will continue to press for the fullest accounting for such members.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1998
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Government of Costa Rica should: (1) consider fundamental reform to protect the property rights and lives of all law-abiding residents and property owners of Costa Rica from acts of intimidation, violence, and property invasion; and (2) conduct a complete investigation into the death of Max Dalton (a U.S. citizen who was murdered in a dispute with squatters illegally occupying his property in the Pavones region of that country).
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1998
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude distributions from an individual retirement account from inclusion in gross income to the extent that such distributions are used for charitable purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1998
Calls for commemoration of the death of George Washington.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1998
Designates December 13, 1998, as National Children's Memorial Day.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1998
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) it should be U.S. policy to support Israel's efforts to enter an appropriate United Nations (UN) regional group; (2) the President should instruct the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN to carry out this policy; (3) the United States should insist that any effort to reform the UN, including the Security Council, also resolve this anomaly and should ensure that the principle of sovereign equality be upheld without exception; and (4) the Secretary of State should submit a report to the Congress on the steps taken by the United States, the UN Secretary General, and others to help secure Israel's membership in an appropriate UN regional group.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1998
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) it should be U.S. policy to support Israel's efforts to enter an appropriate United Nations (UN) regional group; (2) the President should instruct the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN to carry out this policy; (3) the United States should insist that any effort to reform the UN, including the Security Council, also resolve this anomaly and should ensure that the principle of sovereign equality be upheld without exception; and (4) the Secretary of State should submit a report to the Congress on the steps taken by the United States, the UN Secretary General, and others to help secure Israel's membership in an appropriate UN regional group.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1998
Tax Code Termination Act - Prohibits the imposition of any tax by the Internal Revenue Code: (1) for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2001; and (2) in the case of any tax not imposed on the basis of a taxable year, on any taxable event or for any period after December 31, 2001. Excepts the: (1) tax on self-employment income (chapter 2 of the Code); (2) Federal Insurance Contributions Act (chapter 21 of the Code); and (3) Railroad Retirement Tax Act (chapter 22 of the Code). Declares that any new Federal tax system should be a simple and fair system.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1998
Designates the week of May 3, 1998, as National Correctional Officers and Employees Week.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1998
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that the Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the U.S. flag.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1998
Renames Washington National Airport in Virginia as the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1998
Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 1998 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the tax imposed and increase the 15 percent tax bracket for joint returns and surviving spouses, heads of households, other unmarried individuals, married individuals filing separately, and estates and trusts.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Improving Monetary Policy and Financial Institution Management Practices Title II: Streamlining Activities of Institutions Title III: Streamlining Agency Actions Title IV: Disclosure Simplification Title V: Miscellaneous Title VI: Technical Corrections Financial Regulatory Relief and Economic Efficiency Act of 1997 - Title I: Improving Monetary Policy and Financial Institution Management Practices - Amends the Federal Reserve Act (FRA) to permit interest payments on reserves maintained at a Federal reserve bank to meet depository institution reserve requirements. (Sec. 102) Repeals the limitation on the authority of a depository institution to permit the owner of any deposit or account to make withdrawals by negotiable or transferable instruments for transfers to third parties. (Currently, such authority may be applied only with respect to the accounts of charitable, religious, and other nonprofit organizations, as well as to Federal, State, and local governments.) Amends the FRA, the Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to repeal the prohibition against interest or dividend payments on demand deposits. (Sec. 103) Amends HOLA to: (1) repeal savings association liquid asset and dividend notice requirements; (2) provide for examination of savings association companies; (3) repeal certain restrictions on interstate acquisitions that result in the formation of a multiple savings and loan holding company which controls savings and loan associations in more than one State; and (4) permit a savings and loan holding company, with the prior approval by the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, to acquire more than five percent of the voting shares of a non-subsidiary savings association or non-subsidiary savings and loan holding company. (Sec. 108) Amends the FDIA to repeal deposit broker notification and recordkeeping requirements. (Sec. 109) Amends the FRA to reserve to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) (currently, the appropriate Federal banking agency) the authority to promulgate regulations on extensions of credit to executive officers of member banks. (Sec. 110) Amends the National Bank Consolidation and Merger Act to prescribe expedited procedures permitting a national banking association to: (1) reorganize as either a bank holding company, or as a bank holding company subsidiary; or (2) merge with subsidiaries or nonbank affiliates. (Sec. 111) Amends Federal banking law to increase from one year to three years the term of the national bank director. Amends the Banking Act of 1933 to authorize the Comptroller of the Currency to exempt a national banking association from the 25-member limit on the number of members of an association's governing body. (Sec. 113) Amends Federal banking law and the FDIA to exclude from the prohibition against loans or discounts on the security of the shares of its own capital stock any such loan or discount if a national banking association or depository institution acquires the stock in order to prevent loss upon a debt contracted for in good faith before the discount transaction or loan date. Removes the prohibition against depository institution affiliation with a Government-sponsored enterprise. (Sec. 116) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to: (1) repeal certain cross-marketing restrictions placed upon banks controlled by certain companies that are not treated as bank holding companies; (2) preserve the exemption from bank holding company treatment of certain companies whose limited purpose bank subsidiary may have permitted overdrafts resulting from an inadvertent computer or accounting error beyond the control of both the bank and the affiliate (daylight overdrafts); and (3) authorize actions which specified banks may take to avoid divestiture following loss of exemption from treatment as bank holding companies. (Sec. 118) Amends the FRA to mandate inclusion of net debit caps and daylight overdraft fees (as well as exemption from such caps and fees) within any FRA policy or regulation governing payment system or intraday credit. (Sec. 119) Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (FHLBA) to: (1) repeal the requirement of Board approval for certain internal bank management practices; (2) provide that a Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) shall not be required to submit budget, business, or strategic plans to its board of directors for approval; and (3) revise guidelines for secured advances to FHLB members to include federally insured or guaranteed mortgages as collateral eligible for such advances. Title II: Streamlining Activities of Institutions - Amends the HOLA to permit community development investments for the primary purpose of promoting the public welfare, including housing, services, and jobs for low- and moderate-income communities. (Sec. 202) Amends the FDIA to repeal the restriction on the interest rate paid by an adequately- but not well-capitalized insured depository institution, or by an insured depository institution in conservatorship, that accepts deposits from a deposit broker. Applies the prohibition on deposit solicitation to adequately- but not well-capitalized insured depository institutions and insured depository institutions in conservatorship. (Sec. 203) Amends the FRA to terminate the power of the Board to set lending limitations upon member banks' extension of loans that are collateralized by stocks and bonds (thus eliminating the Board's duty to prevent undue use of bank loans for the speculative carrying of securities). (Sec. 204) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970 to repeal the prohibition against certain bank tying arrangements in connection with credit, leasing, or property sales transactions. (Sec. 205) Amends the BHCA to permit certain banks and bank holding companies to extend credit card accounts for business purposes, including the issuance of such accounts to small businesses. (Sec. 206) Makes it lawful for a real estate settlement services provider, upon clear disclosure to the consumer, to make payments to an unrelated affinity group in exchange for its endorsement of such provider's services or products. (Sec. 207) Amends the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to exempt from its coverage: (1) communications involving legal proceedings or made to collect loans under the Higher Education Act of 1965; and (2) bank drafts payable on demand and signed by the maker. (Sec. 208) Amends BHCA to exempt from treatment as a bank holding company any company that acquires control from the Resolution Trust Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision of more than five percent of the shares of an undercapitalized bank, savings association, or other insured institution. (Sec. 209) Revises HOLA guidelines governing reorganization by a mutual savings association into a holding company. (Sec. 210) Mandates that the Federal banking agencies work jointly to develop: (1) electronic filing and public dissemination of depository institution status reports (call reports); and (2) uniform formats as well as simplified filing instructions for such reports. Title III: Streamlining Agency Actions - Amends the Resolution Trust Corporation Completion Act to reduce from four to two times a year the frequency of scheduled meetings of the Affordable Housing Advisory Board. (Sec. 302) Amends the FDIA to: (1) repeal the mandate for Federal banking agencies to jointly develop a method for supplemental disclosures in various required Federal filings of the estimated fair market value of depository institution assets and liabilities; (2) authorize the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to establish the interest rate for or make postinsolvency interest payments to creditors holding proven claims against the receivership estates of insured Federal or State depository institutions following satisfaction by the receiver of the principal amount of all creditor claims; and (3) repeal the mandate that Federal banking agencies file annual reports with certain congressional banking committees regarding differing accounting and capital standards used by other agencies. (Sec. 305) Requires the responsible agency, in its review of competitive factors in bank merger filings, to request a report from the Attorney General only (currently, from the Attorney General and the other Federal banking agencies). Amends the BHCA and the FDIA to require the Board and the responsible agency, respectively, before disapproving a bank merger transaction on the grounds of disproportionate anticompetitive effects, to consider specified criteria concerning competitive effects. (Sec. 306) Terminates the Thrift Depositor Protection Oversight Board. Title IV: Disclosure Simplification - Amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) disclosure requirements for open end consumer credit plans to permit, as an alternative to the currently required table illustration, a statement at the option of the creditor that periodic payments may increase or decrease substantially. (Sec. 402) Amends specified consumer protection disclosure requirements for advertisements for credit other than open end plans. Sets forth requirements for alternative compliance methods for advertising credit terms. Title V: Miscellaneous - Revises the positions of Board members on the Executive Schedule. (Sec. 502) Prescribes enrollment guidelines for certain enrollees in health plans administered by the Federal banking agencies. (Sec. 503) Amends the FHLBA to eliminate the position of consumer representative from mandatory membership on the board of directors of the Federal Housing Finance Board. Title VI: Technical Corrections - Makes technical corrections to related Acts. (Sec. 603) Amends Federal banking law to: (1) authorize the Comptroller of the Currency to waive the citizenship requirement for a minority of the total number of directors sitting on the board of a national bank; (2) declare it is unlawful for the Comptroller to hold an interest in any national bank; and (3) repeal specified capital and surplus requirements for national banking associations. (Sec. 604) Amends the International Bank Act of 1978 to modify examination requirements pertaining to establishment and operation by a foreign bank of Federal branches and agencies.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1997
Requires the Secretary of the Interior to allow use of the project distribution system for transport of water to municipalities from the Canadian River Conjunctive Use Groundwater Project , subject to an environmental review under a specified memorandum of understanding between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority and a review of the engineering design of the interconnection facilities to assure the continued integrity of the Canadian River reclamation project in Texas. Directs the Authority to bear the costs: (1) of construction, operation, and maintenance of the Project; and (2) incurred by the Secretary in conducting the environmental review.
United States · United States Congress · 29 October 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Survivor Benefits, and Related Matters Subtitle E: Other Matters Title II: Health Care Provisions Subtitle A: Health Care Services Subtitle B: Tricare Program Subtitle C: Uniformed Services Treatment Facilities Subtitle D: Other Changes to Existing Laws Regarding Health Care Management Subtitle E: Other Matters Subtitle F: Persian Gulf Illness Title III: Military Construction, Army Title IV: Military Construction, Navy Title V: Military Construction, Air Force Title VI: Military Construction, Defense Agencies Title VII: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program Title VIII: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities Title IX: Expiration and Extension of Certain Authorizations Title X: General Military Construction Provisions Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes Subtitle B: Real Property and Facilities Administration Subtitle C: Defense Base Closure and Realignment Subtitle D: Land Conveyances Subtitle E: Other Matters Title XI: Sikes Act Improvement Title I: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits - Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances - Waives any FY 1998 military pay increases tied to increases in the General Schedule of Compensation for Government employees. Increases the rates of basic pay by 2.8 percent, effective January 1, 1998. (Sec. 102) Entitles all enlisted personnel other than those in basic training to the basic allowance for subsistence (BAS). Provides a new BAS rate based on food costs. Allows BAS to be paid to enlisted personnel in advance for not more than three months. Directs the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to prescribe policies regarding the use of dining and field messing facilities of the military departments. Provides transitional provisions with respect to the current BAS, terminating such transitional authority on a specified conditional date. (Sec. 103) Consolidates and revises generally Federal provisions concerning the basic allowance for quarters (BAQ), the variable housing allowance, and overseas housing allowances (which include a family separation housing allowance). (Sec. 104) Requires the President to adjust the basic pay of military personnel whenever the General Schedule of Compensation is adjusted. Authorizes the President to allocate such increases among pay grade and years-of-service categories, requiring congressional notification of any such allocation. Requires quadrennial assessment of such allocations. (Sec. 105) Prohibits the total pay and allowances of a member from being reduced when such member is assigned either to field duty at a home station or to temporary duty away from the member's permanent duty station. Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays - Extends through FY 1999 specified authorities currently scheduled to expire at the end of FY 1998 with respect to certain special pay and bonus programs within the regular and reserve armed forces. (Sec. 114) Increases the monthly hazardous duty incentive pay and the aviation career incentive pay, the latter effective as of January 1, 1999. (Sec. 116) Increases the aviation officer retention bonus and authorizes bonus agreements to extend for a third year. (Currently, only one or two-year agreements are permitted.) (Sec. 117) Authorizes the payment of an annual retention bonus for certain dental officers who execute a written agreement to remain on active duty for two, three, or four years after completion of their active-duty service commitment. Authorizes the Secretary concerned to extend such bonus authority to other dental officers not immediately qualifying for such bonus. (Sec. 118) Increases the variable and additional special pays for dental officers with specified years of creditable service. (Sec. 119) Authorizes the payment of special pay for members on duty at a location designated by the Secretary as a hardship duty location. (Sec. 121) Makes eligible for the Selected Reserve reenlistment bonus those Reserve enlisted personnel with less than 14 (currently, ten) years of total military service. Authorizes the payment of bonuses for consecutive three-year reenlistments. Revises bonus amounts. (Sec. 122) Provides eligibility for the Selected Reserve reenlistment bonus to an enlisted member of a reserve component who has completed less than 14 (currently, ten) years of total military service. Increases bonus amounts. Provides similar eligibility and amount revisions with respect to former enlisted personnel who become members of the Selected Reserve after completion of their enlisted service. (Sec. 123) Extends to Coast Guard personnel eligibility for payment of a bonus when entering into a reserve affiliation agreement to serve in the reserves upon completion of an active-duty tour. (Sec. 124) Increases the special pay and bonuses authorized for nuclear qualified officers. (Sec. 125) Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned (Secretary concerned) to pay either a monthly special pay or an annual bonus for enlisted personnel with designated specialties who agree to extend their tours of duty at designated overseas locations. Requires pro rata repayment of an unearned bonus, with a waiver authorized. Prohibits the concurrent receipt by such personnel of the annual bonus and rest and recuperative absence or transportation. (Sec. 126) Increases from $75 to $100 the monthly family separation allowance. (Sec. 127) Allows for payment of the muster duty allowance within 30 days after such duty is performed. (Currently, such payment is required on or before the date of such duty.) Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances - Removes certain restrictions on the payment of travel and transportation allowances to dependents of members who receive certain court-martial sentences. (Sec. 132) Changes the authorized amount of the military dislocation allowance from two months of the BAQ to a rate based on the member's pay and dependency status. Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Survivor Benefits, and Related Matters - Authorizes a participant in the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) to elect to discontinue participation at any time during the one-year period beginning on the second anniversary of the date on which payment of retired pay to the participant commences. Requires spousal concurrence, with an exception. (Sec. 142) Allows at any time (currently, within one year after remarriage) a change of election in SBP coverage to provide an annuity to a spouse instead of a former spouse. (Sec. 143) Directs the Secretary to review and report to the defense committees on the current Federal protections and benefits afforded to: (1) current and former military personnel and Federal employees; and (2) former spouses of such personnel and employees. (Sec. 144) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to pay an annuity to the qualified surviving spouse of each member who: (1) died before March 21, 1974, and was entitled to retired or retainer pay at the time of death; or (2) was a reserve member between September 21, 1972, and October 1, 1978, and at the time of death would have been entitled to retired or retainer pay except for not having attained 60 years of age. Provides annuity amounts. Terminates annuity payment authority on September 30, 2001. (Sec. 145) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1989 to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to consolidate into a single payment certain annuities currently paid by the Secretary of Defense to the survivors of military retirees. Subtitle E: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to repay loans used to finance the education of commissioned officers who are qualified in the health professions. Requires the officer to serve an additional period of active duty in return for such repayment. Limits the repayment amount to $22,000 for each additional year that the officer agrees to extend his or her duty. (Sec. 152) Amends the Coast and Geodetic Survey Commissioned Officers' Act of 1948 to bring the separation pay provisions of commissioned officers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration into conformity with separation pay authorized for members of the armed forces. (Sec. 153) Makes members of the Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration eligible for reimbursement of certain adoption expenses. (Sec. 154) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to pay to World War II veterans who served as guerilla fighters in the Philippines an amount representing the quarters and subsistence allowance which accrued during the period of service between January 1942 and February 1945. (Sec. 155) Directs the Secretary to study and report on military personnel and their families who subsist at, near, or below the poverty level. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to make available to the Secretary the same payments and commodities for military personnel outside the United States as are made for the special supplemental food program in the United States under the Child Nutrition Act of 1996. Requires an implementation report. Title II: Health Care Provisions - Subtitle A: Health Care Services - Amends the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) to include under its military retiree dental insurance plan the surviving spouse and child dependents of military personnel who die while on active duty of 30 days or more and whose dependents are no longer eligible for dental benefits under the regular dental insurance plan. (Sec. 202) Authorizes the provision of prosthetic devices necessary due to significant conditions resulting from trauma, congenital anomalies, or disease. (Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary to conduct a study on the provision to TRICARE beneficiaries of comparative information on the medical assistance provided by a managed care entity. Subtitle B: Tricare Program - Directs the Secretary to prepare and submit a plan for the expansion of the managed care option of the TRICARE Program known as TRICARE Prime into areas outside of the catchment areas of military medical treatment facilities in which such option is a cost-effective alternative. Subtitle C: Uniformed Services Treatment Facilities - Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 to authorize the Secretary to modify the effective date of the implementation of military health care designated provider agreements to permit a transition period of not more than six months between the date of agreement execution and the date on which the designated provider commences delivery of health care services. Provides for the temporary continuation during such period of existing health care participation agreements. (Sec. 222) Requires a designated provider to be considered part of the Department of Defense (DOD) for purposes of the continued acquisition of reduced-cost drugs for enrollees under the agreement. (Sec. 223) Directs the Secretary, in establishing the ceiling rate for designated provider enrollees who are also eligible for CHAMPUS services, to take into account the health status of such enrollees. Subtitle D: Other Changes to Existing Law Regarding Health Care Management - Makes active-duty personnel assigned to certain remote duty locations eligible for health care under CHAMPUS. Directs the Secretary to waive any deductible, copayment, or annual CHAMPUS fee with respect to such personnel. (Sec. 232) Authorizes the Secretary to waive or reduce the overseas dental plan copayments required of military dependents who accompany members overseas. (Sec. 233) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish procedures for the collection of the member's share of premiums under the Selected Reserve dental insurance plan and the retiree dental insurance plan; (2) allow such members to pay such premiums through payroll deduction; and (3) submit an implementation program with respect to both plans. Extends through April 1, 1998, the deadline for implementation of the dental insurance plan for military retirees. (Sec. 234) Makes the administering Secretaries (Secretaries of Defense, Health and Human Services, and Transportation with respect to the Coast Guard when not operating as a service of the Navy) (currently, only the Secretary of Defense) responsible for CHAMPUS dental plan coverage for certain military retirees and their dependents. (Sec. 235) Revises CHAMPUS provisions to conform health care provider reimbursement rates with such rates under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 236) Authorizes the Secretaries of Defense and Transportation to enter into personal services contracts to carry out certain health care responsibilities at locations outside of military medical treatment facilities. Includes the actions of service contract personnel under provisions concerning the defense of lawsuits arising out of medical malpractice. Requires a report from the Secretary on alternative means for performing medical screening examinations routinely performed at military entrance processing stations. (Sec. 237) Authorizes any health-care professional holding a current medical, dental, or other health care license to practice within a DOD health care facility, a civilian facility affiliated with DOD, or any other location authorized by the Secretary. (Sec. 238) Requires the Secretary to prescribe a standard form for the admission of claims for the payment of health care services provided under CHAMPUS. (Sec. 239) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 to extend through FY 1999 the chiropractic health care demonstration program. Requires such program to be expanded to at least three other military health care facilities, including the National Naval Medical Center and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to the defense committees on the additional facilities participating in the program; and (2) modify the program to evaluate its effectiveness at all of the facilities. Subtitle E: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to enter into an agreement with an accredited institution of higher education under which students may attend the physician assistant training program conducted by the Army Medical Department at the Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, in return for the institution's agreeing to perform Academy support services. (Sec. 242) Authorizes the Secretary to pay the costs of any overseas emergency health care provided to military and civilian personnel of the On-Site Inspection Agency. Provides funding. (Sec. 243) Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force, after 90 days' notice to the defense and appropriations committees, to enter into an agreement with Gerald Champion Hospital, Alamagordo, New Mexico, for the provision of health care services to eligible individuals in a medical resource facility in Alamagordo that is constructed, in part, using funds provided by the Secretary under the agreement. Provides funding for such agreement from Air Force operation and maintenance (O&M) funds. Directs the Secretary to review the proposed agreement and provide comments to the Congress before the agreement may take effect. (Sec. 244) Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations requiring each source dispensing a prescription medication under CHAMPUS to furnish to the recipient cautionary information on such medication. (Sec. 245) Requires, by October 1, 1998, the competitive procurement outside DOD of all ophthalmic services related to the provision of eyeware for certain current and former military personnel and their beneficiaries, with an exception. (Sec. 246) Directs the Comptroller General (CG) to conduct studies evaluating: (1) the adequacy of the maximum allowable charges for physicians under CHAMPUS and the effect of such charges on physician participation in CHAMPUS; (2) DOD pharmacy programs; and (3) the validity of recommendations made by the Navy's Medical Education Policy Council regarding restructuring the Navy's graduate medical education program (prohibits any restructuring until a required report is submitted). (Sec. 249) Directs the Secretary to report on expanding the eligibility for participation in a demonstration project for the purchase of prescription pharmaceuticals by mail to include additional Medicare-eligible CHAMPUS beneficiaries. (Sec. 250) Directs the CG to study and report to the Congress and the Secretary on current requirements for military medical facilities in the National Capital Region. (Sec. 251) Directs the Secretary to report to the defense committees on the effectiveness of DOD policies and programs promoting healthy lifestyles among military personnel and their dependents. (Sec. 252) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Congress and the President should address the problems associated with the provision of quality health care to military retirees. Subtitle F: Persian Gulf Illness - Directs the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to jointly prepare and submit a plan to provide appropriate health care to Persian Gulf veterans (and their dependents) who suffer from a Gulf War illness. (Sec. 263) Directs the CG to submit a study evaluating revised DOD criteria used by physical evaluation boards to set disability ratings for military personnel who are no longer medically qualified for active duty so as to ensure the accuracy of such ratings with respect to the diagnosis of a Persian Gulf illness. (Sec. 264) Entitles to medical care to the same extent as a member on active duty a member of the reserves who is: (1) a Persian Gulf War veteran with a qualifying symptom or illness; and (2) not otherwise entitled to medical and dental care under either CHAMPUS or veterans' medical care. (Sec. 265) Directs the Secretary to establish a medical tracking system for military personnel deployed outside the United States as part of a contingency or combat operation. (Sec. 266) Directs the Secretary to provide affected members with specified information with regard to the receipt of an investigational new drug, including new drug notification and information concerning possible side effects. (Sec. 267) Directs the Secretary to submit a plan for tracking members and units serving in a theater of operations during a contingency or combat operation. (Sec. 268) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should ensure that U.S. military units involved in a contingency or combat operation include specialized units to detect and monitor the presence of chemical, biological, and similar hazards. (Sec. 269) Directs the Secretary to report on the effectiveness of medical research initiatives regarding Persian Gulf War illnesses. (Sec. 270) Directs the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to establish a program of cooperative clinical trials at multiple sites to address the effectiveness of protocols for treating Persian Gulf War veterans who suffer from ill-defined or undiagnosed conditions. (Sec. 271) Expresses the sense of the Congress that all promising technologies and treatments relating to Persian Gulf War illnesses should be fully explored and tested to facilitate treatment to such veterans who are stricken with unexplainable illness. Title III: Military Construction, Army - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire family housing units, to carry out architectural planning and design activities, and to improve existing military family housing in specified amounts. Authorizes appropriations to the Army for fiscal years after 1997 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Army. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. (Sec. 305) Authorizes the use of prior-year military construction funds to construct a heliport at Fort Irwin, California. Title IV: Military Construction, Navy - Provides, with respect to the Navy, authorizations for purposes paralleling those for which authorizations are provided for the Army under the previous title. (Sec. 405) Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 to: (1) authorize a military construction project at the Naval Station in Pascagoula, Mississippi, using funds authorized under such Act; and (2) increase the amount authorized for a project at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. Title V: Military Construction, Air Force - Provides, with respect to the Air Force, authorizations for purposes paralleling those for which authorizations are provided for the Army. (Sec. 505) Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 to authorize a military construction project at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, using funds authorized under such Act. Title VI: Military Construction, Defense Agencies - Authorizes the Secretary to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out architectural planning and design activities and to improve existing military family housing units, in specified amounts. (Sec. 604) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out certain energy conservation projects. (Sec. 605) Authorizes appropriations to DOD for fiscal years beginning after 1997 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of DOD. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. (Sec. 607) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out specified military construction projects, using amounts authorized under a prior military construction authorization Act, for a project at McClellan Air Force Base, California. (Sec. 608) Increases the amounts authorized under a prior military construction authorization Act for projects at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, and Umatilla Army Depot, Oregon. Title VII: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program - Authorizes the Secretary to make contributions for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Security Investment Program and authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1997 for such contributions. Title VIII: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1997 for the Guard and Reserve forces for acquisition, architectural and engineering services, and construction of facilities. (Sec. 802) Increases the amounts authorized under a prior military construction authorization Act for projects at the Army National Guard, Hilo, Hawaii, and the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve, New Orleans, Louisiana. (Sec. 803) Directs the Secretary of the Army, with regard to a military construction project at Camp Williams, Utah, to enter into an agreement under which the State of Utah agrees to provide financial or in-kind contributions toward project land acquisition, site preparation, and relocation costs. Title IX: Expiration and Extension of Certain Authorizations - Terminates all authorizations contained in titles III through VIII of this Act on October 1, 2000, or the date of enactment of an Act authorizing funds for military construction for FY 2001, whichever is later, with exceptions. Extends certain prior-year military construction projects. (Sec. 906) Extends the availability of funds appropriated under a prior defense appropriations Act for construction of over-the-horizon radar at the Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. Title X: General Military Construction Provisions - Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes - Requires the Secretary concerned to provide congressional notification when carrying out unspecified minor construction projects even though the project will use funds made available to enhance the deployment and mobility of military forces and supplies. (Sec. 1002) Requires congressional notification by the Secretary concerned when using O&M funds to carry out a repair project with an estimated cost in excess of $10 million. (Sec. 1003) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to lease up to eight family housing units in the Miami, Florida area for key and essential personnel of the United States Southern Command for which unit rental expenditures exceed normal authorized amounts. (Sec. 1004) Provides for the crediting of financial incentives received by DOD from gas, electric, and water utilities for energy and water cost savings. (Sec. 1005) Requires congressional notification with respect to the use of DOD housing funds for investments in nongovernmental entities. Subtitle B: Real Property and Facilities Administration - Increases from $200,000 to $500,000 the minor land acquisition threshold. (Sec. 1012) Authorizes the Secretary of a military department to convey to a municipal, private, regional, district, or cooperative utility company or other entity part or all of a utility system under its jurisdiction. Requires 21-day prior congressional notification. (Sec. 1013) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to accept amounts provided by a person or entity to cover administrative expenses incurred in entering into real property transactions. (Sec. 1014) Prohibits the Secretary concerned from conveying any real property unless the Administrator of General Services has screened the property for further Federal use under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. Requires notification to the Secretary concerned of screening results. Provides excepted conveyances. (Sec. 1015) Provides for the disposition of proceeds from the sale of Air Force Plant No. 78 in Brigham City, Utah. (Sec. 1016) Directs the Secretary of the Army to report to the defense and appropriations committees a plan to address the requirements for fire protection and hazardous materials protection services at Fort Meade, Maryland. Subtitle C: Defense Base Closure and Realignment - Amends the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and Realignment Act to direct the head of the Federal agency acquiring non-federal property as a new or replacement Federal facility to consult with the Secretary concerning the feasibility and cost advantages of using Federal property or facilities at a closed military installation in lieu of such an acquisition. Requires the concurrence of the redevelopment authority for the area concerned. (Sec. 1022) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, conclude cooperative agreements, and supplement other Federal funds to assist a State or local government in enhancing that government's capability to support DOD efforts to privatize its military family support services. (Sec. 1023) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to enter into an agreement with the local redevelopment authority for the Red River Army Depot, Texas, under which the Secretary shall provide security, fire protection, or hazardous material response services on property under the jurisdiction of such authority after realignment under the base closure laws. (Sec. 1024) Directs the Secretary to prepare and submit to the defense and appropriations committees a report on costs and savings attributable to prior base closure rounds and on the need for additional base closure rounds. Requires the Congressional Budget Office and the CG to review such report. Prohibits the use of any funds for the closure or realignment of military installations until such report and reviews are completed. Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary should develop a system for determining actual costs and savings associated with base closures and apply such system to the 1995 base closure round. (Sec. 1025) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the savings derived from the base closure process should be utilized by DOD solely for the modernization of new weapon systems. (Sec. 1026) Prohibits the Secretary of the Navy, in disposing of real property in connection with the closure of Naval Station, Long Beach, California, from conveying any portion of such property to the China Ocean Shipping Company or any of its successors or subsidiaries. Provides a reversionary interest to the United States if such a transfer occurs. Requires the Secretary and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to separately submit to the President and the defense and appropriations committees a report on the national security implications of such a conveyance. Provides presidential waiver authority with respect to the prohibition. Subtitle D: Land Conveyances - Part I: Army Conveyances - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to convey to: (1) Hale County, Alabama, specified real property at the Army Reserve Center, Greensboro; (2) Big Five Community Services Incorporated, an Oklahoma nonprofit corporation, the James T. Coker Army Reserve Center in Durant; (3) the Lawndale Business and Local Development Corporation in Illinois the Gibson Army Reserve Center, Chicago; (4) Caroline County, Virginia, specified real property at Fort A.P. Hill; (5) Wrightstown, New Jersey, and the New Hanover Board of Education specified portions of real property at Fort Dix; (6) Spring Lake and Harnett County, North Carolina, specified portions of real property at Fort Bragg; and (7) Mineral County, Nevada, the Schweer Driving House Area within the Hawthorne Army Ammunition Depot. (Sec. 1038) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 to authorize the Secretary of the Army to convey to Indiana an additional parcel of real property at the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant. (Sec. 1039) Modifies prior land conveyances with respect to: (1) Lompoc, California; (2) the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado; and (3) the Army Reserve Center, Andersen, South Carolina. Part II: Navy Conveyances - Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to convey to: (1) the Maine School Administrative District No. 75, Topsham, a parcel of the Topsham Annex, Naval Air Station in Brunswick; and (2) Nassau County, New York, the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant No. 464 in Oyster Bay. (Sec. 1053) Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 to change from the State of Mississippi to Lauderdale County, Mississippi, the lessee designation with respect to a lease of the Naval Air Station in Meridian. Part III: Air Force Conveyances - Transfers administrative jurisdiction over specified real property at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, from the Secretary of Transportation to the Secretary of the Air Force. Revokes a contrary executive order. (Sec. 1062) Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to convey to: (1) Air Force Village West, Incorporated, in Riverside, California, specified real property at March Air Force Base; (2) the Greater Box Elder Area Economic Development Corporation in Box Elder, South Dakota, specified real property at Ellsworth Air Force Base; (3) Onondaga County, New York, specified real property at Hancock Field, Syracuse; (4) the Bear Paw Development Corporation, Havre, Montana, the Havre Air Force Station and the Havre Training Site; and (5) Bangor, Maine, the Charleston Family Housing Complex in Bangor. (Sec. 1067) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 to direct the Secretary of the Air Force to report on Air Force land exchange options in the vicinity of Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. Subtitle E: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to terminate or reduce the operations of the Naval Academy Dairy Farm in Gambrills, Maryland. Authorizes such Secretary to lease the dairy farm property, as long as the rural and agricultural nature of the property is maintained. (Sec. 1072) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to acquire by long-term lease structures and real property relating to a regional hospital complex in Naples, Italy, that are suitable for the Naples Improvement Initiative. (Sec. 1073) Designates specified military family housing developments at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in honor of Frank Tejeda, a late Member of the House of Representatives. (Sec. 1074) Directs the Secretary, in at least one U.S. metropolitan area containing multiple military installations, to provide for the installation of fiber-optics based telecommunications technology to link as many of such installations as possible. Title XI: Sikes Act Improvement - Sikes Act Improvement Act of 1997 - Amends an Act of September 15, 1960, commonly known as the Sikes Act, to officially designate such Act as the Sikes Act. Directs (current law authorizes) the Secretary to carry out a program for the conservation and rehabilitation of natural resources on military installations. Requires the Secretary of each military department to prepare and implement an integrated natural resources management plan (plan) for each military installation under his or her jurisdiction. Authorizes such Secretaries to provide for: (1) the conservation and rehabilitation of natural resources on such installations and the sustainable multipurpose use of such resources; and (2) public access to such installations to facilitate their use. Directs each Secretary to: (1) review military installations under his or her jurisdiction for which the preparation of a plan is appropriate; (2) submit such determinations to the Secretary; and (3) implement such plans within three years thereafter. Requires the Secretary to report such reviews to the Congress. Provides an opportunity for public comment on such plans. (Sec. 1106) Allows wildlife conservation fees collected at military installations which are subsequently closed to be transferred to another military installation and used for the same purpose. (Sec. 1107) Requires annual reviews and reports by the Secretaries of Defense and the Interior with respect to the implementation of such plans. (Sec. 1108) Authorizes multiyear cooperative agreements for plan implementation. (Sec. 1109) Provides for the enforcement on military installations of all Federal laws relating to natural resources conservation on Federal lands. (Sec. 1110) Requires the Secretary of each military department to ensure that sufficient numbers of trained natural resource management and law enforcement personnel are available and assigned to perform necessary tasks for plan compliance. (Sec. 1114) Extends through FY 2003 the authorization of appropriations for natural resources conservation programs on military installations, as well as equivalent programs on other public lands.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Abolishment of Department of Commerce Title II: Disposition of Programs, Functions, and Agencies of Department of Commerce Title III: Establishment of United States Trade Administration Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: United States Trade Administration Title IV: Establishment of the Office of Patents, Trademarks, and Standards Subtitle A: Establishment Subtitle B: Administrative Provisions Subtitle C: Conforming Amendments Title V: Statistical Consolidation Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: Establishment of the Federal Statistical Service Subtitle C: Transfers of Functions and Offices Subtitle D: Administrative Provisions Subtitle E: Miscellaneous Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions Department of Commerce Dismantling Act - Title I: Abolishment of Department of Commerce - Abolishes the Department of Commerce (Department). Transfers all Department functions to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before the applicable date of abolishment, which is the earlier of: (1) the last day of the six-month period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act; or (2) September 30, 1998. (Sec. 103) Sets forth requirements for the resolution of all Department functions. Terminates all functions that are transferred to the Director that are not otherwise continued by this Act on the last day of the 3-year period beginning on the date of enactment. (Sec. 104) Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) the OMB Director's responsibilities during the resolution and termination of functions; and (2) transfer of Department personnel. (Sec. 106) Provides for the submission of specified reports. (Sec. 107) Requires General Accounting Office (GAO) audits of: (1) persons performing functions or activities pursuant to this Act; and (2) persons providing certain goods or services to, or receiving financial assistance from, persons performing functions or activities pursuant to this Act. (Sec. 109) Sets forth provisions for privatizing transferred functions designated for privatization under Title II of this Act. (Sec. 110) Amends Federal law concerning Government organization and employees to require affected agencies to establish agency-wide priority placement programs for Federal employees affected by a reduction in force attributable to this Act. (Sec. 111) Limits the total amount authorized to be appropriated as funding related to the performance of functions transferred to the Director or to OMB from the Department to not exceed: (1) for the first fiscal year that begins after the abolishment date, 75 percent of the total amount of funding appropriated to the Department for FY 1997; and (2) for the second fiscal year that begins after the abolishment date and for each fiscal year thereafter, 65 percent of the total amount appropriated to the Department for FY 1997. Title II: Disposition of Particular Programs, Functions, and Agencies of Department of Commerce - Repeals the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 and transfers all financial obligations owned by the Department under such Act to the Department of the Treasury. Requires an audit by the Comptroller General of all Department grants made under such Act in FY 1997. (Sec. 202) Terminates the Technology Administration and the Office of Technology Policy. Redesignates the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). Transfers: (1) the NBS to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reestablished under this Act; (2) all functions relating to the Bureau that were functions of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) or the Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology to the NBS Director; and (3) all functions of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) to the OMB Director for privatization. Provides for the reestablishment of the NTIS as a wholly owned Government Corporation if an arrangement for privatization of the functions of the NTIS has not been made. (Sec. 203) Transfers all functions of the Secretary relating to the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis to the Federal Statistical Service established under this Act. (Sec. 204) Terminates assistance to: (1) public telecommunications; (2) educational television programs; and (3) telecommunications demonstrations. Repeals establishment of the National Endowment for Children's Educational Television (thus abolishing it). Transfers the: (1) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) laboratories to the OMB Director for privatization; (2) NTIA functions concerning the research and analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum to the NBS Director; and (3) functions of the NTIA, and of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of Communications and Information with respect to the NTIA to the Federal Communications Commission. Provides for the transfer of NTIA laboratories to the reestablished NOAA if an arrangement for privatization of the laboratories has not been made. Abolishes the NTIA. (Sec. 205) Terminates specified miscellaneous NOAA research programs. Transfers from the NOAA: (1) aeronautical mapping and charting functions to the Transportation Administrative Services Center at the Department of Transportation; (2) functions relating to mapping, charting, and geodesy authorized under a certain Act to the Army Corps of Engineers; (3) all functions and assets performed by the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information System to the reestablished NOAA; (4) all functions and assets (including global programs) performed by the NOAA that were authorized to be performed by the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research to the reestablished NOAA; and (5) all functions and assets of the NOAA that are authorized to be performed by the National Weather Service to the reestablished NOAA. Prohibits: (1) funding for the NOAA Administration Corps of commissioned officers after FY 1997; and (2) allowing individuals to serve as such commissioned officers after FY 1997. Provides for the establishment of a priority placement program by NOAA to assist commissioned officers who are separated from the active list because of the termination. Abolishes on September 30, 2000: (1) the Office of the NOAA Administration of Corps of Operations or its successor; and (2) the Commissioned Personnel Center. Sets forth service contract provisions with respect to the NOAA Administration Fleet. Directs the Administrator of Oceans and Atmosphere to: (1) use excess capacity of University National Oceanographic Laboratory System vessels; and (2) enter into memoranda of agreement with the operators of such vessels. Transfers certain excess vessels to the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Transfers to the: (1) NOAA all functions authorized to be performed by the National Marine Fisheries Service; (2) reestablished NOAA all functions performed by the National Ocean Service, including the Coastal Ocean Program; and (3) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency coastal nonpoint pollution functions that are vested in the Secretary under the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. (Sec. 206) Reestablishes as an independent agency in the executive branch the NOAA. Provides for NOAA, and all functions and offices transferred to the new NOAA to be administered under the supervision and direction of an Administrator of Oceans and Atmosphere. Transfers to the new NOAA: (1) the functions and offices of the NOAA; (2) the NBS along with its functions and offices; and (3) the Office of Space Commerce, along with its functions and offices. Terminates NOAA and certain other agency offices affected by the transfer. (Sec. 207) Terminates: (1) the Minority Business Development Administration; (2) NTIA programs and activities mentioned in section 204 of this Act; (2) the Advanced Technology Program; (3) the Manufacturing Extension Programs; (4) the NIST METRIC Program; and (5) the Economics and Statistics Administration. Title III: Establishment of United States Trade Administration - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Sets forth definitions. Subtitle B: United States Trade Administration - Chapter 1: Establishment - Reestablishes the Trade Administration in the executive branch as an independent establishment to be headed by the Trade Representative who shall retain ambassador rank and represent the U.S. in all trade negotiations conducted by the Trade Administration. Directs the Trade Representative to serve as the principal adviser to the President on international trade policy, along with certain additional trade related functions, including those under Chapter 3. Chapter 2: Officers - Sets forth provisions related to Trade Administration management positions and related functions, among other things establishing three Deputy U.S. Trade Representatives: (1) the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Negotiations (with ambassador rank); (2) the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (with ambassador rank); and (3) the U.S. Trade Representative for Administration (acts for and exercises the functions of the Trade Representative during the absence, disability, or vacancy of the Trade Representative and exercises all transferred or established Trade Administration functions, except those functions exercised by certain Trade Administration officials). Establishes four Assistant Administrators to exercise certain transferred Department functions under the direction of the Deputy Trade Representative for Administration: (1) the Assistant Administrator for Export Administration; (2) the Assistant Administrator for Import Administration; (3) the Assistant Administrator for Trade and Policy Analysis; and (4) the Assistant Administrator for Export Promotion (with ambassador rank). Creates the position of chief financial officer to perform all functions prescribed by the Deputy Trade Representative for Administration under the direction of such Deputy. Chapter 3: Transfers to the Trade Administration - Abolishes the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Transfers to the Trade Administration Federal trade functions, including those of the Department, the Trade and Development Agency, the Export-Import Bank, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. (Sec. 336) Directs the President to: (1) transmit to the Congress a comprehensive plan to consolidate Federal nonagricultural export promotion and financing activities; and (2) transfer those functions to the Trade Administration. (Sec. 337) Transfers: (1) functions of the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) to the Trade Administration; and (2) other functions of CITA related to the assessment of the impact of textile imports on domestic industry to the International Trade Commission. Abolishes CITA. Chapter 4: Administrative Provisions - Sets out Trade Representative related administrative provisions pertaining to personnel and other miscellaneous administrative matters, including those relating to a working capital fund for administrative expenses. Chapter 5: Related Agencies - Amends the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the National Security Act of 1947, and the Bretton Woods Agreement Act to make miscellaneous and conforming changes to complete the consolidation and streamlining process described above. Chapter 6: Conforming Amendments - Makes miscellaneous technical and conforming amendments to various specified provisions of Federal law, including those relating to executive schedule positions. Chapter 7: Miscellaneous - Limits the total amount appropriated in the performance of all functions vested in the Trade Representative and the Trade Administration to not exceed: (1) for the first fiscal year that begins after the effective date, 75 percent of the total amount appropriated in FY 1998; and (2) for the second fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, 65 percent of the total amount appropriated in FY 1998. Title IV: Establishment of the Office of Patents, Trademarks, and Standard s - Subtitle A: Establishment - Establishes the Office of Patents, Trademarks, and Standards in the executive branch as an independent establishment to be administered by a Director. Transfers to the Director of the Office of Patents, Trademarks, and Standards all functions of, and all functions performed under the direction of, certain Department officials. Transfers to the Office the Patent and Trademark Office and NIST. Subtitle B: Administrative Provisions - Sets forth provisions related to the administrative functions of the Director. Subtitle C: Conforming Amendments - Makes conforming amendments relating to the Office and the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks. Title V: Statistical Consolidation - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to: (1) a more centralized statistical system and the role of the Chief Statistician of OMB; (2) confidentiality; and (3) decennial censuses of population. Subtitle B: Establishment of the Federal Statistical Service - Establishes the Federal Statistical Service as an independent establishment in the executive branch. Sets forth provisions for principal officers, including: (1) an Administrator; (2) a Deputy Administrator; (3) a Director of the Census; (4) a Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis; and (5) a Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Sec. 513) Establishes a Federal Council on Statistical Policy to advise the Service, nominate the Administrator, serve as an advisory body to the Chief Statistician on certain confidentiality issues, and establish a unified statistical policy for the Federal Government. Mandates studies by the Council on: (1) whether the functions of the Bureau of the Census relating to decennial censuses of population could be delineated from the other functions of the Bureau; and (2) making the Bureau's field offices part of the field offices of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Subtitle C: Transfers of Functions and Offices - Transfers to the Service the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor, along with all of its functions and offices. Subtitle D: Administrative Provisions - Sets forth provisions related to the administrative functions of the Administrator. Subtitle E: Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth miscellaneous provisions with respect to functions or offices of the Service and makes conforming amendments relating to certain officials of the Service. Title VI: Miscellaneous - Sets forth provisions pertaining to officers and employees to whom a function is transferred by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1997
Iran Missile Proliferation Sanctions Act of 1997 - Directs the President to report periodically to specified congressional committees on foreign persons (except those previously identified or sanctioned or subject to waiver) who, on or after August 8, 1995, have transferred, or attempted to transfer, controlled goods or technology, or provided, or attempted to provide, technical assistance or facilities that contributed, or would have contributed, to Iran's efforts to acquire, develop, or produce ballistic missiles. Requires imposition on such persons of minimum two-year sanctions prohibiting: (1) sales to such persons of items on the United States Munitions List (and terminating sales of any controlled U.S. arms); (2) the export to such persons of dual use goods and technology; and (3) the provision of U.S. financial assistance. Authorizes the President to waive such sanctions on the basis of additional information demonstrating that the sanctioned person did not commit the acts alleged.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1997
National Research Investment Act of 1998 - States purposes of this Act, including to double the annual authorized amount of Federal funding for basic scientific, medical, and pre-competitive engineering research over the ten-year period following enactment of this Act. Authorizes appropriations for covered research and development for FY 1999 through 2008 to be used by the National Institutes of Health of the Department of Health and Human Services. Sets forth limitations on the use of such funds.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1997
Redesignates Washington National Airport in Alexandria, Virginia, as Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
United States · United States Congress · 9 October 1997
Marriage Tax Elimination Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit a husband and wife to file a combined income tax return on which each spouse is taxed separately at the unmarried return rate.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1997
Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1997 - Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to proscribe bringing a private class action based upon State or municipal law in State or Federal court by any private party alleging: (1) an untrue statement or omission in connection with the purchase or sale of a covered security; or (2) that the defendant used any manipulative or deceptive device in connection with such a transaction. Declares that any class action brought in any State court involving a covered security shall be removable to the Federal district court for the district in which the action is pending.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1997
Citizens Access to Justice Act of 1997 - Authorizes a property owner to file a civil action to challenge the validity of any Federal agency action that adversely affects the owner's interest in private property in a district court or the United States Court of Federal Claims (claims court). (Sec. 5) Grants the district court and the claims court concurrent jurisdiction over both claims for monetary relief and claims seeking invalidation of any Act of Congress or any regulation of a Federal agency affecting private property rights. Authorizes the plaintiff to elect to file an action under this section in a district court or the claims court. Waives sovereign immunity of the United States regarding such an action. (Sec. 6) Grants: (1) any person adversely affected by a Federal agency action standing to challenge and seek judicial review of that action without first exhausting administrative remedies, subject to specified limitations; and (2) the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit exclusive jurisdiction of any action filed under this Act. (Sec. 8) Modifies Federal judicial code provisions to grant the claims court jurisdiction to render judgment upon certain claims against the United States for monetary relief and for invalidation of any Act of Congress or regulation of an executive department under this Act. Grants the claims court the power to grant injunctive and declaratory relief in any case within its jurisdiction. Repeals a provision limiting the claims court's jurisdiction with respect to the pendency of claims in other courts. Expands the district court's jurisdiction to include concurrent jurisdiction over civil actions filed under this Act. Specifies that any claim or action brought to redress the deprivation of a property right or privilege secured by the Constitution shall be ripe for adjudication by the district courts upon a final decision by any person acting under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any U.S. State or territory that causes actual and concrete injury to the party seeking redress. Sets forth provisions regarding final decisions, related State proceedings, and certification of questions of State law. (Sec. 9) Sets a statute of limitations for actions filed under this Act of six years from the date of the taking of private property. (Sec. 10) Directs the court, in issuing a final order in any action filed under this Act, to award litigation costs, including reasonable attorney and expert witness fees, to any prevailing plaintiff.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1997
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide that investment managers under ERISA shall include fiduciaries registered solely under State law only if Federal registration is prohibited under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940. Treats a fiduciary as meeting certain ERISA filing requirements if the information is available to the Secretary of Labor from a centralized electronic or other record-keeping database.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Abolishment of Department of Commerce Title II: Disposition of Programs, Functions, and Agencies of Department of Commerce Title III: Establishment of United States Trade Administration Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: United States Trade Administration Title IV: United States Patent and Trademark Organization Subtitle A: United States Patent and Trademark Organization Subtitle B: Early Publication of Patent Applications Subtitle C: Patent Term Restoration Subtitle D: Prior Domestic Commercial Use Subtitle E: Patent Reexamination Reform Subtitle F: Miscellaneous Patent Provisions Title V: Statistical Consolidation Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: Establishment of the Federal Statistical Service Subtitle C: Transfers of Functions and Offices Subtitle D: Administrative Provisions Subtitle E: Miscellaneous Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions Department of Commerce Dismantling Act - Title I: Abolishment of Department of Commerce - Abolishes the Department of Commerce (Department). Transfers all Department functions to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before the applicable date of abolishment, which is the earlier of: (1) the last day of the six-month period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act; or (2) September 30, 1998. (Sec. 103) Sets forth requirements for the resolution of all Department functions. Terminates all functions that are transferred to the Director that are not otherwise continued by this Act on the last day of the three-year period beginning on the date of enactment. (Sec. 104) Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) the OMB Director's responsibilities during the resolution and termination of functions; and (2) transfer of Department personnel. (Sec. 106) Provides for the submission of specified reports. (Sec. 107) Requires General Accounting Office (GAO) audits of: (1) persons performing functions or activities pursuant to this Act and (2) persons providing certain goods or services to, or receiving financial assistance from, persons performing functions or activities pursuant to this Act. (Sec. 109) Sets forth provisions for privatizing transferred functions designated for privatization under Title II of this Act. (Sec. 110) Amends Federal law concerning Government organization and employees to require affected agencies to establish agencywide priority placement programs for Federal employees affected by a reduction in force attributable to this Act. (Sec. 111) Limits the total amount authorized to be appropriated as funding related to the performance of functions transferred to the Director or to OMB from the Department to not exceed: (1) for the first fiscal year that begins after the abolishment date, 75 percent of the total amount of funding appropriated to the Department for FY 1997; and (2) for the second fiscal year that begins after the abolishment date and for each fiscal year thereafter, 65 percent of the total amount appropriated to the Department for FY 1997. Title II: Disposition of Particular Programs, Functions, and Agencies of Department of Commerce - Repeals the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 and transfers all financial obligations owned by the Department under such Act to the Department of the Treasury. Requires an audit by the Comptroller General of all Department grants made under such Act in FY 1997. (Sec. 202) Terminates the Technology Administration and the Office of Technology Policy. Redesignates the National Institute of Standards and Technology as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). Transfers: (1) the NBS to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reestablished under this Act; (2) all functions relating to the Bureau that were functions of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) or the Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology to the NBS Director; and (3) all functions of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) to the OMB Director for privatization. Provides for the reestablishment of the NTIS as a wholly owned Government corporation if an arrangement for privatization of the functions of the NTIS has not been made. (Sec. 203) Transfers all functions of the Secretary relating to the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis to the Federal Statistical Service established under this Act. (Sec. 204) Terminates assistance to: (1) public telecommunications; (2) educational television programs; and (3) telecommunications demonstrations. Repeals establishment of the National Endowment for Children's Educational Television (thus abolishing it). Transfers the: (1) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) laboratories to the OMB Director for privatization; (2) NTIA functions concerning the research and analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum to the NBS Director; and (3) functions of the NTIA, and of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of Communications and Information with respect to the NTIA to the Federal Communications Commission. Provides for the transfer of NTIA laboratories to the reestablished NOAA if an arrangement for privatization of the laboratories has not been made. Abolishes the NTIA. (Sec. 205) Terminates specified miscellaneous NOAA research programs. Transfers from the NOAA: (1) aeronautical mapping and charting functions to the Transportation Administrative Services Center at the Department of Transportation; (2) functions relating to mapping, charting, and geodesy authorized under a certain Act to the Army Corps of Engineers; (3) all functions and assets performed by the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information System to the reestablished NOAA; (4) all functions and assets (including global programs) performed by the NOAA that were authorized to be performed by the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research to the reestablished NOAA; and (5) all functions and assets of the NOAA that are authorized to be performed by the National Weather Service to the reestablished NOAA. Prohibits: (1) funding for the NOAA Corps of commissioned officers after FY 1997; and (2) allowing individuals to serve as such commissioned officers after FY 1997. Provides for the establishment of a priority placement program by NOAA to assist commissioned officers who are separated from the active list because of the termination. Abolishes on September 30, 2000: (1) the Office of the NOAA Administration of Corps of Operations or its successor; and (2) the Commissioned Personnel Center. Sets forth service contract provisions with respect to the NOAA Administration Fleet. Directs the Administrator of Oceans and Atmosphere to: (1) use excess capacity of University National Oceanographic Laboratory System vessels; and (2) enter into memoranda of agreement with the operators of such vessels. Transfers certain excess vessels to the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Transfers to the: (1) NOAA all functions authorized to be performed by the National Marine Fisheries Service; (2) reestablished NOAA all functions performed by the National Ocean Service, including the Coastal Ocean Program; and (3) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency coastal nonpoint pollution functions that are vested in the Secretary under the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. (Sec. 206) Reestablishes as an independent agency in the executive branch the NOAA. Provides for administration of NOAA, and all functions and offices transferred to the new NOAA, under the supervision and direction of an Administrator of Oceans and Atmosphere. Transfers to the new NOAA: (1) the functions and offices of NOAA; (2) the NBS along with its functions and offices; and (3) the Office of Space Commerce, along with its functions and offices. Terminates NOAA and certain other agency offices affected by the transfer. (Sec. 207) Terminates: (1) the Minority Business Development Administration; (2) NTIA programs and activities mentioned in section 204 of this Act; (2) the Advanced Technology Program; (3) the Manufacturing Extension Programs; (4) the NIST METRIC Program; and (5) the Economics and Statistics Administration. Title III: Establishment of United States Trade Administration - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Sets forth definitions. Subtitle B: United States Trade Administration - Chapter 1: Establishment - Reestablishes the Trade Administration in the executive branch as an independent establishment to be headed by the Trade Representative who shall retain ambassador rank and represent the United States in all trade negotiations conducted by the Trade Administration. Directs the Trade Representative to serve as the principal adviser to the President on international trade policy, along with certain additional trade related functions, including those under Chapter 3. Chapter 2: Officers - Sets forth provisions related to Trade Administration management positions and related functions, among other things establishing three Deputy U.S. Trade Representatives: (1) the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Negotiations (with ambassador rank); (2) the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (with ambassador rank); and (3) the U.S. Trade Representative for Administration (acts for and exercises the functions of the Trade Representative during the absence, disability, or vacancy of the Trade Representative and exercises all transferred or established Trade Administration functions, except those functions exercised by certain Trade Administration officials). Establishes four Assistant Administrators to exercise certain transferred Department functions under the direction of the Deputy Trade Representative for Administration: (1) the Assistant Administrator for Export Administration; (2) the Assistant Administrator for Import Administration; (3) the Assistant Administrator for Trade and Policy Analysis; and (4) the Assistant Administrator for Export Promotion (with ambassador rank). Creates the position of chief financial officer to perform all functions prescribed by the Deputy Trade Representative for Administration under the direction of such Deputy. Chapter 3: Transfers to the Trade Administration - Abolishes the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Transfers to the Trade Administration Federal trade functions, including those of the Department, the Trade and Development Agency, the Export-Import Bank, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. (Sec. 336) Directs the President to: (1) transmit to the Congress a comprehensive plan to consolidate Federal nonagricultural export promotion and financing activities; and (2) transfer those functions to the Trade Administration. (Sec. 337) Transfers: (1) functions of the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) to the Trade Administration; and (2) other functions of CITA related to the assessment of the impact of textile imports on domestic industry to the International Trade Commission. Abolishes CITA. Chapter 4: Administrative Provisions - Sets out Trade Representative related administrative provisions pertaining to personnel and other miscellaneous administrative matters, including those relating to a working capital fund for administrative expenses. Chapter 5: Related Agencies - Amends the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the National Security Act of 1947, and the Bretton Woods Agreement Act to make miscellaneous and conforming changes to complete the consolidation and streamlining process described above. Chapter 6: Conforming Amendments - Makes miscellaneous technical and conforming amendments to various specified provisions of Federal law, including those relating to executive schedule positions. Chapter 7: Miscellaneous - Limits the total amount appropriated in the performance of all functions vested in the Trade Representative and the Trade Administration to not exceed: (1) for the first fiscal year that begins after the effective date, 75 percent of the total amount appropriated in FY 1998; and (2) for the second fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, 65 percent of the total amount appropriated in FY 1998. Title IV: United States Patent and Trademark Organization - Subtitle A: United United States Patent and Trademark Organization - United States Patent and Trademark Organization Act of 1997 - Chapter 1: Establishment of the United States Patent and Trademark Organization - Establishes the United States Patent and Trademark Organization as a wholly owned Government corporation under the policy direction of the Secretary. Requires the Organization to maintain an office in the District of Columbia metropolitan area. Makes the Organization responsible for authorizing the transfer of up to $100,000 in any year to the Department of State for special payments to international intergovernmental organizations for studies and programs to advance international cooperation concerning patents, trademarks, and related matters. Authorizes the Organization to retain and use all of its revenues and receipts. (Sec. 413) Vests management of the Organization in a Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Organization (Director) who shall be appointed by the President. Requires the Director to take specified actions, including: (1) advising the President of all activities of the office undertaken in response to U.S. obligations under treaties and executive agreements or which relate to cooperative programs with foreign governmental authorities responsible for granting patents or registering trademarks; (2) representing the United States, at the President's direction, in international negotiations on matters of patents or trademarks; (3) maintaining a program for identifying national security positions and providing for appropriate security clearances; (4) ensuring that the United States Patent and Trademark offices each prepare appropriation requests, adjust fees to provide sufficient revenues to cover expenses, and expend funds derived from such fees only for the functions of such offices; (5) reporting annually to the Congress on office budgetary and expenditure activities and related matters; and (6) appointing Commissioners of Patents and Trademarks, respectively. Exempts the Organization from any administratively or statutorily imposed limitation on positions or personnel and from provisions governing Federal employees, with exceptions, including those relating to retirement, health benefits, life insurance, and labor-management relations. (Sec. 414) Revises Federal provisions to establish as separate administrative units of the Organization the United States Patent and Trademark Offices. Provides for the establishment of Patent and Trademark Office Management Advisory Boards to review the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of their respective Offices and a Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences within the Patent Office. Sets forth provisions regarding annual reporting requirements to the Congress by, and funding of, such Offices. (Sec. 416) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) suits by and against the Organization; (2) funding of Organization activities; and (3) transfer of functions, funds, and property. (Sec. 419) Prohibits the unofficial use of the names of the Organization or the Patent or Trademark Offices. Chapter 2: Effective Date; Technical Amendments - Makes this title effective four months after its enactment. Sets forth technical and conforming amendments to patent and trademark law and the Inspector General Act of 1978. Subtitle B: Early Publication of Patent Applications - Patent Application Publication Act of 1997 - Requires each patent application, except applications for design patents and provisional applications, to be published as soon as possible after 18 months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought, except for an application that is no longer pending, one subject to a secrecy order, or one certifying that the invention disclosed has and will not be the subject of an application filed in a foreign country. Directs GAO to conduct a three-year study of applicants who file only in the United States. Permits earlier publication at the applicant's request. Prohibits disclosure of information concerning published applications except as determined by the Commissioner of Patents. Directs the Commissioner to establish appropriate procedures to ensure that this title does not create new opportunities for pre-issuance opposition that did not exist before its adoption. (Sec. 443) Entitles a patent application to claim the benefit of an earlier filing date in a foreign country if a claim, identifying the original foreign application by specifying its application number, country, and the day, month, and year of its filing, is filed in the Patent Office at any such time during the pendency of the application as required by the Commissioner. Allows the Commissioner to: (1) consider the failure of the applicant to file a timely claim for priority as a waiver of any such claim; (2) require the payment of a surcharge as a condition of accepting an untimely claim during such pendency; and (3) require a certified copy of the original foreign application, specifications, and drawings upon which it is based, a translation if not in the English language, and such other information as necessary. Authorizes the Commissioner to determine the time period within which an amendment containing the specific reference to an earlier filed application shall be submitted. (Sec. 444) Provides that a patent shall include the right to obtain a reasonable royalty from any person who, between the date the patent application is published and the date the patent is issued: (1) makes, uses, or sells in or imports into the United States the claimed invention or a product made by the invention if it is a process; and (2) had actual notice of the published patent application. Specifies that an action to obtain such a royalty must be brought within six years after the patent is issued. Provides for issuance to an applicant of a patent incorporating multiple claims of a published application. (Sec. 445) Revises Federal patent law to provide that a person shall not be entitled to a patent if the invention was described in a published patent application filed earlier by another person in the United States, with exceptions. (Sec. 448) Provides that, if the day that is 12 months after the filing date of a provisional application falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the period of pendency shall be extended to the next succeeding business day. Subtitle C: Patent Term Restoration - Modifies Federal patent law to restore to the patent holder any part of the term that is lost because of undue administrative delay caused by specified factors, such as an unusual administrative delay by the Patent Office in issuing the patent, subject to specified limitations. Defines "unusual administrative delay" as the failure to take specified actions, such as the failure to issue a patent within four months after the date on which the issue fee was paid and all outstanding requirements were satisfied. Requires the Commissioner to determine the period of any patent term adjustment available to an applicant and include a copy of such determination with the final application notice. Provides for judicial review with respect to patent term extensions. (Sec. 452) Directs the Commissioner to prescribe regulations for the further limited reexamination of applicants for patent at the request of the applicant. Authorizes the Commissioner to establish appropriate fees for such reexamination, allowing for a 50 percent fee reduction for certain qualifying small entities. Subtitle D: Prior Domestic Commercial Use - Prior Domestic Commercial Use Act of 1997 - Amends Federal patent law to create a defense to patent infringement with respect to any subject matter that would otherwise infringe one or more claims in the patent being asserted, if a person had, acting in good faith, commercially used the subject matter before the effective filing date of such patent. Specifies that the sale or other disposition of the subject matter of a patent by a person entitled to assert the defense shall exhaust the patent owner's rights to the extent they would have been exhausted had such disposition been made by the patent owner. Subjects the defense to specified limitations and qualifications regarding: (1) the scope of the defense; (2) effective and serious preparation; (3) burden of proof; (4) abandonment of use; (5) who may assert the defense; (6) a one-year limitation; (7) unsuccessful assertion of the defense; and (8) invalidity of a patent. Subtitle E: Patent Reexamination Reform - Patent Reexamination Reform Act of 1997 - Establishes procedures for reexamination proceedings based upon third-party (persons who are not the patent owner) requests. Requires documents filed in such proceedings, other than the request, to be served on all parties. Grants third-party requesters: (1) one opportunity to file written comments not less than one month after the date of service of the patent owner's response to any Patent Office action on the merits of reexamination; and (2) the right to appeal final reexamination decisions on the same basis such right is available to patent owners. Estops a third-party requester who files a notice of appeal or who participates as a party to an appeal from asserting at a later time the invalidity of any claim determined to be patentable on appeal on any ground which was or could have been raised during reexamination. Prohibits: (1) patent owners and third-party requesters, once an order for reexamination has been issued, from filing a subsequent reexamination request until a reexamination certificate is published; and (2) a party, once a final decision has been entered in a civil action that the party has not sustained the burden of proving the invalidity of a patent claim, from requesting reexamination on issues that were or could have been raised in the civil action. Requires the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences to review adverse decisions of examiners in reexamination proceedings and authorizes appeals to the Board by patent owners and third-party requesters with respect to reexamination decisions. Permits appeals of Board decisions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. (Sec. 475) Requires the Director to submit to the Congress a report evaluating whether the reexamination proceedings established under amendments made by this title are inequitable to any of the parties in interest and, if so, to recommend necessary changes. Subtitle F: Miscellaneous Patent Provisions - Revises provisions regarding abandonment of provisional applications to allow, notwithstanding the absence of a claim, a provisional application to be treated as a patent application under specified conditions. (Sec. 482) Grants: (1) benefits of an earlier filing date to an invention patent application filed in this country that has previously and regularly been filed for the same invention in a foreign country which affords similar privileges in the case of applications filed in a foreign WTO member country under specified conditions; and (2) applications for plant breeder's rights filed in such country or in a foreign UPOV Contracting Party the right of priority as a patent application, subject to the same conditions and requirements. (Sec. 483) Requires the Organization to develop and implement statewide computer networks with remote library sites in rural areas so that those citizens will have enhanced access to information in their State's patent and trademark depository library. (Sec. 485) Allows a patent to be issued for a tuber propagated plant. Provides that, in the case of a plant patent, the grant to the patentee shall include the right to exclude others from offering the reproduced plant or any of its parts for sale throughout, or importing the plant so reproduced into, the United States. (Sec. 486) Amends Federal patent provisions to authorize electronic filing of patent and trademark documents. (Sec. 487) Directs GAO to study and report to the Congress on the potential risks to the U.S. biotechnology industry relating to biological deposits in support of biotechnology patents. Requires the Patent Office to consider such recommendations in drafting regulations affecting biological deposits. Title V: Statistical Consolidation - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to: (1) a more centralized statistical system and the role of the Chief Statistician of OMB; (2) confidentiality; and (3) decennial censuses of population. Subtitle B: Establishment of the Federal Statistical Service - Establishes the Federal Statistical Service as an independent establishment in the executive branch. Sets forth provisions for principal officers, including: (1) an Administrator; (2) a Deputy Administrator; (3) a Director of the Census; (4) a Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis; and (5) a Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Sec. 513) Establishes a Federal Council on Statistical Policy to advise the Service, nominate the Administrator, serve as an advisory body to the Chief Statistician on certain confidentiality issues, and establish a unified statistical policy for the Federal Government. Mandates studies by the Council on: (1) whether the functions of the Bureau of the Census relating to decennial censuses of population could be delineated from the other functions of the Bureau; and (2) making the Bureau's field offices part of the field offices of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Subtitle C: Transfers of Functions and Offices - Transfers to the Service the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor, along with all of its functions and offices. Subtitle D: Administrative Provisions - Sets forth provisions related to the administrative functions of the Administrator. Subtitle E: Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth miscellaneous provisions with respect to functions or offices of the Service and makes conforming amendments relating to certain officials of the Service. Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth provisions pertaining to officers and employees to whom a function is transferred by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1997
Property Owners Access to Justice Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal judicial code to provide that whenever a district court has jurisdiction in civil rights cases it shall not abstain from exercising or relinquishing its jurisdiction to a State court in an action where no claim of a violation of a State law, right, or privilege is alleged. Authorizes the district court, in such cases that cannot be decided without resolution of a significant but unsettled question of State law, to certify such question to the highest appellate court of that State (and after the State appellate court resolves the question certified to it, the district court shall proceed with resolving the merits). Bars the district court from certifying a question of State law unless such question will significantly affect the merits of the injured party's Federal claim and is so unclear and obviously susceptible to a limiting construction as to render premature a decision on the merits of the constitutional or legal issue in the case. Requires that any claim or action brought to redress the deprivation of a property right or privilege secured by the Constitution be ripe for adjudication by the district courts upon a final decision rendered by any person acting under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or territory of the United States, that causes actual and concrete injury to the party seeking redress. Provides that any claim brought under provisions regarding the United States as defendant and regarding the jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims, that is founded upon a property right or privilege secured by the Constitution but allegedly infringed or taken by the United States, shall be ripe for adjudication upon a final decision rendered by the United States that causes actual and concrete injury to the party seeking redress. Sets guidelines for what constitutes a "final decision" for purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 18 September 1997
Medicare Beneficiary Freedom To Contract Act of 1997 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise provisions added by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 regarding the use of private contracts by Medicare beneficiaries for professional services. Outlines specific requirements for private contracts between Medicare beneficiaries and physicians or health care practitioners for services for which no Medicare claims may be submitted.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1997
Emergency Spending Control Act of 1997 - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to prohibit adjustments of discretionary spending limits for statutes that designate emergency appropriations but contain appropriations for other matters. Permits such statutes to contain rescissions of budget authority. Bars designation of new budget authority, outlays, or receipts as emergency requirements if a statute contains non-emergency designations but authorizes the statute to contain provisions that reduce direct spending. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to establish a point of order against the consideration of emergency measures containing non-emergency appropriations or matters not relevant to the emergency. Authorizes points of order for extraneous matter against any provision violating such requirement. Permits such measures to contain rescissions of budget authority or reductions of direct spending or to reduce amounts for the emergency.
United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1997
Declares September 26, 1997, to be Austrian-American Day.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1997
Parent and Student Savings Account PLUS Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to education individual retirement accounts to: (1) include qualified elementary and secondary education expenses (including home schooling); and (2) increase annual contribution limits to $2,000.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Assignment of Liability to Coal Operators Title II: Adjustments to Premium Computations Title III: Other Provisions Comprehensive Coal Act Reform Act - Title I: Assignment of Liability to Coal Operators - Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions concerning coal industry health benefits to define "signatory operator" to mean a person that is or was a signatory to the 1978 National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement or any subsequent coal wage agreement. (Currently, the term is defined as a person that is or was a signatory to a coal wage agreement. The term "coal wage agreement" is, and would continue to be, defined as the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement or any other agreement between a coal industry employer and the United Mine Workers of America having specified requirements.) (Sec. 102) Requires: (1) that each eligible coal industry retiree be assigned first to the signatory operator that most recently employed the retiree for at least two years, then to the signatory operator that was the most recent to employ the operator; and (2) revocation of the assignment of any beneficiary to anyone who ceases to be a signatory operator because of the above change in definition, not reassigning the beneficiary, and considering them to be unassigned. Prohibits assigning or reassigning a beneficiary after enactment of this Act, treating as unassigned any beneficiary determined to have been incorrectly assigned. Title II: Adjustments to Premium Computations - Modifies the formula for determining the per beneficiary premium. (Sec. 202) Provides for: (1) annual premium reductions for small reachback signatory operators; and (2) the treatment of a surplus or deficit in the Combined Fund. (Sec. 203) Sets separate requirements for death benefit premiums for reachback signatory operators and other assigned operators. Modifies: (1) requirements regarding the unassigned beneficiaries premium; (2) the definition of "applicable percentage" and (3) requirements regarding applicable premium annual adjustments. Mandates establishment of a separate subaccount in the death benefits premium account for each of: (1) the death benefit premiums of reachback signatory operators; (2) the death benefit premiums of other assigned operators; and (3) the portion of the unassigned beneficiaries premiums attributable to death benefits coverage of unassigned beneficiaries. (Sec. 204) Sets forth a special rule regarding annual premium payment by a related person of an assigned operator. Title III: Other Provisions - Modifies requirements regarding certain 1988 agreement operators paying withdrawal liability. (Sec. 302) Requires the Combined Fund to make available to any person required to make contributions to that Fund all documents: (1) that reflect the Fund's financial and operational status; and (2) prepared at the request of the Fund's trustees or staff that form the basis for any actions or reports.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1997
Ozone and Particulate Matter Research Act of 1997 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) request the National Academy of Sciences to convene an independent panel of scientists with expertise on the health effects of air pollution to establish priorities for research on the health effects of particulate matter; and (2) report the panel's recommendations to the Congress. Requires the President to establish the Particulate Matter Interagency Committee to develop recommendations for, and periodically evaluate, a program to coordinate the activities of Federal agencies engaged in research on health effects of particulate matter that ensures that such research advances the prioritized agenda of the panel. Directs the Administrator to: (1) review the air quality criteria and standards under the Clean Air Act for ozone and particulate matter; and (2) determine whether to retain or revise such standards and criteria or promulgate new ones. Authorizes the Administrator to require State implementation plans under such Act to require ambient air quality monitoring for fine particulate matter. Provides for grants to States to carry out such monitoring. Reinstates the national ambient air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter in effect on July 15, 1997. Bars revision of such standards until the Administrator's scientific review under this Act is completed. Directs the National Institutes of Health to begin a research program to study the health effects of allergens on asthmatics, particularly in inner city areas. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 June 1997
Civil Rights Act of 1997 - Allows any person aggrieved by an action of the Federal Government consisting of intentionally discriminating against, or granting a preference to, any person or group based in whole or in part on race, color, national origin, or sex to bring an action in a U.S. district court for appropriate relief (including back pay). Requires awarding a prevailing plaintiff attorney's fees as part of the costs. Defines "preference" as an advantage of any kind, including a quota, set-aside, numerical goal, timetable, or other numerical objective.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 1997
Civil Rights Act of 1997 - Prohibits discrimination or preferences in Federal employment and contracting and other Federal programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, or sex. Prohibits requiring or encouraging any Federal contractor or subcontractor to so discriminate or grant a preference. Declares that this Act does not prohibit or limit encouraging contract bidding, recruiting employees, encouraging participation in other programs or activities or requiring or encouraging Federal contractors, subcontractors, or recipients of Federal licenses or financial assistance to so recruit or encourage, if the recruiting or encouraging does not involve granting a preference. Prohibits construing this Act to prohibit or limit: (1) any act designed to benefit historically Black colleges or universities; or (2) any action under a Federal law or treaty relating to the Indian tribes. Declares that this Act does not prohibit or limit employment classifications based on sex if sex is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to normal operation or the classification is applied regarding an armed forces member. Allows any aggrieved person to obtain, in a civil action, appropriate relief (including back pay). Requires awarding a prevailing plaintiff attorney's fees as part of the costs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 June 1997
Amends Federal aviation law to declare that nothing in such law or in the Death on the High Seas Act shall affect any remedy existing at common law or under State law with respect to any injury or death arising out of any aviation incident occurring on or after January 1, 1995.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1997
Imported Fire Ant Control, Management, and Eradication Act of 1997 - Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a National Advisory and Implementation Board on Imported Fire Ant Control, Management, and Eradication. Directs the Board to select and fund specified research or demonstration projects, including a final national plan for fire ant control, management, and possible eradication.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 1997
Declares that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto in December 1997 or thereafter which would: (1) mandate new commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the Annex 1 Parties, unless the protocol or other agreement also mandates new specific scheduled commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties within the same compliance period; or (2) result in serious harm to the U.S. economy. Calls for any such protocol or other agreement which would require the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification to be accompanied by: (1) a detailed explanation of any legislation or regulatory actions that may be required to implement it; and (2) an analysis of the detailed financial costs which would be incurred by, and other impacts on, the U.S. economy.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1997
Repeals the tax increase on social security benefits made by the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993. Mandates application and administration of the Internal Revenue Code as if such increase had not been enacted.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1997
Stealth Tax Prevention Act - Amends Federal law relating to congressional review of agency rulemaking to include in the definition of "major rule" any rule that is promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service and for which the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget finds that implementation and enforcement of the rule has resulted in (or is likely to result in) any net increase in Federal revenues.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1997
Designates July 2, 1997 and 1998 as National Literacy Day.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1997
Commends the American Medical Association on its 150th anniversary.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Findings and Purposes Title II: Property Rights Litigation Relief Title III: Alternative Dispute Resolution Title IV: Private Property Taking Impact Analysis Title V: Miscellaneous Omnibus Property Rights Act of 1997 - Title I: Findings and Purposes - Sets forth findings and purposes for this Act. Title II: Property Rights Litigation Relief - Prohibits Federal and State agencies from taking private property except for public use and with just compensation to the owner. Sets forth the circumstances in which compensation is required. Prohibits filing claims against a State agency for carrying out a regulatory program mandated by Federal law, delegated under a Federal program, or funded by Federal funds in connection with a State regulatory program. Title III: Alternative Dispute Resolution - Provides for settlement or arbitration, on consent of both parties, of property rights disputes. Declares that title 9 of the U.S. Code (relating to arbitration) shall apply to enforcement of awards rendered under this title. Title IV: Private Property Taking Impact Analysis - Requires that Federal agency actions likely to result in the taking of private property be preceded by a written impact analysis available to the public. Title V: Miscellaneous - Sets forth severability provisions and the effective date of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1997
Welfare Flexibility Act of 1997 - Permits State use of nongovernmental personnel to determine eligibility under the Medicaid, food stamp, and special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC) programs.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1997
African Growth and Opportunity Act - Declares the support of the Congress for the economic self-reliance of Sub-Saharan African countries committed to economic and political reform, market incentives and private sector growth, eradication of poverty, and the importance of women to economic growth and development. (Sec. 4) Makes a sub-Saharan African country eligible to participate in programs, projects, or activities, or receive assistance or other benefits under this Act for a fiscal year only if the President determines, according to specified evidence, that it has established, or is making continual progress toward establishing, a market-based economy. Directs the President to monitor and review eligible sub-Saharan countries that are in need of making continual progress in meeting one or more of this Act's requirements. Makes ineligible to participate in programs or receive assistance or other benefits under this Act any countries that have not made progress in meeting such requirements. (Sec. 5) Expresses the sense of the Congress that sustained economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa depends upon the development of a receptive environment for trade and investment through the continued support by the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) of programs that help to create this environment. Sets forth declarations of policy with respect to assistance provided to sub-Saharan Africa through the Development Fund for Africa and the African Development Foundation. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide: (1) additional program authorities to include assistance to promote democratization and strengthen conflict resolution; and (2) increased program flexibility through presidential waivers of certain requirements (except those for certain child survival activities). (Sec. 6) Directs the President to convene annual high-level meetings between U.S. Government officials and officials of the governments of sub-Saharan African countries to foster close economic ties between them. Directs the President to establish a United States-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 7) Directs the President to develop a plan meeting certain requirements to enter into one or more trade agreements with certain eligible sub-Saharan African countries to establish a United States-Sub-Saharan Africa Free Trade Area. (Sec. 8) Expresses the sense of the Congress that reform of trade policies in sub-Saharan Africa that removes structural impediments to trade, consistent with the World Trade Organization (WTO), can lay the groundwork for sustained growth there in both textile and apparel exports. Directs the United States, pursuant to the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, to eliminate the existing quotas on textile and apparel exports to the United States from Kenya and Mauritius, provided they adopt a visa system to guard against the unlawful transshipment of such goods. Directs the President to: (1) continue the existing no quota policy for sub-Saharan African countries; and (2) report to the Congress on the growth in textiles and apparel exports to the United States from such countries in order to protect U.S. consumers, workers, and textile manufacturers from economic injury on account of the no quota policy. (Sec. 9) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize the President to provide duty-free treatment for any non-import-sensitive article that is the growth, product, or manufacture of an eligible sub-Saharan African beneficiary developing country. Waives the competitive need limitation with respect to eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Extends duty-free treatment to sub-Saharan African beneficiary developing countries through May 31, 2007. (Sec. 10) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) specified international financial institutions and their programs are vital to the economic growth and development of sub-Saharan African countries; (2) the executive branch should extinguish concessional debt owed to the United States by the poorest sub-Saharan countries; and (3) the Congress supports the efforts of the executive branch to secure agreement from such institutions to maximize debt reduction for such countries as part of the multilateral initiative known as the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Supports and encourages the implementation of specified initiatives through AID and the Trade Development Agency, including: (1) the formation of American-African business partnerships; (2) technical assistance to promote trade reforms; (3) agricultural market liberalization; (4) trade promotion; and (5) trade in services. (Sec. 11) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) should exercise its authorities to initiate two or more equity funds in support of projects in sub-Saharan African countries, particularly projects that expand opportunities for women entrepreneurs and employment for the poor. (Sec. 12) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise the composition of the Board of Directors of OPIC to require at least one of the eight presidentially-appointed Directors to have extensive private sector experience in sub-Saharan Africa. Directs the Board to increase financial assistance in sub-Saharan Africa. Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to make similar changes with respect to the Export-Import Bank of the United States. (Sec. 13) Directs the President to establish the position of Assistant United States Trade Representative within the Office of the United States Trade Representative to focus on trade issues relating to sub-Saharan Africa.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1997
Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offenders Registration Improvements Act of 1997 - Amends the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 regarding State sex offender registration programs to require that a determination that a person is or is no longer a sexually violent predator be made by the sentencing court after considering the recommendations of the appropriate State board or boards or of the State under certain circumstances. Directs each State, within two years, to establish one or more State boards. Authorizes the Attorney General to waive such requirement under specified circumstances. Modifies requirements regarding release, parole, supervised release, and probation of such persons to require specified actions by a designated agency, court, or other responsible official under an approved State registration program, including reporting address changes as provided by State law. Requires such agency to forward the registration information to the agency responsible for registration under State law, in accordance with State procedures that meet specified requirements. Requires that any person who is: (1) required to register in that person's State of residence also register in accordance with the law that governs the registration, verification, and notification of sex offenders of each State in which that person is employed or carries on a vocation or is enrolled as a student; and (2) serving a sentence of probation, parole, or other supervised release for conviction of an offense that requires registration, and who is residing in any State other than that in which that person was sentenced, to register in accordance with the law of the State of residence of the offender. Sets forth notification requirements. Requires a State, by July 1, 1999, to submit a report to the Attorney General that sets forth existing or proposed laws regarding stalking crimes against individuals 16 years old or younger. Prohibits the sale or exchange of information collected under a State registration program for profit or remuneration. Includes independent contractors acting at the direction of law enforcement agencies and State officials within immunity for good faith conduct. Expands registration requirements to include certain Federal offenders and military offenders. Expresses the sense of the Congress that each State should have in effect a law that makes it a crime to stalk an individual under age 16 without requiring that such individual be physically harmed before a stalker is restrained or punished.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 1997
Amends specified Federal trade laws to replace the term "most-favored-nation" status or treatment with the term "normal trade relations."
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1997
First Flight Commemorative Coin Act of 1997 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue for a limited period ten-dollar gold coins, one-dollar silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins emblematic of the first flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Instructs the Secretary to ensure: (1) establishment of a coin marketing plan; and (2) availability of adequate funds to cover the costs of implementing such plan.