United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1983
Directs the President to impose the following sanctions on countries that fail to take adequate measures to prevent the export to the United States of opium or its illicit derivatives: (1) suspension of U.S. assistance; and (2) prohibition of U.S. exports or imports from such countries. Exempts food and medicine from such prohibition and suspension. Directs the President to report to Congress annually on the countries that fail to take such measures.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1983
Amends the Federal criminal code dealing with the sexual exploitation of children. Prohibits the distribution of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors even if the material is not found to be "obscene" and is transferred without sale. Increases the criminal fines for violation of this section by individuals from $10,000 to $75,000 (from $15,000 to $150,000 for a second or subsequent offense). Sets a fine of $250,000 for organizations. Provides for both criminal and civil forfeiture. Requires the Attorney General to report annually to Congress on the number of cases and convictions, and the dollar amount received in forfeiture, under this section.
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 1983
Housing Opportunity and Mortgage Equity Act of 1983 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for cash contributions to a tax-exempt housing opportunity mortgage equity account established for the exclusive purpose of purchasing the taxpayer's first home. Limits the maximum annual deduction to $1,000 ($2,000 for a joint return), with a maximum lifetime deduction of $10,000. Phases out the deduction for individuals or couples whose income exceeds $50,000. Recaptures as ordinary income the amount of the withdrawals from the account for a home purchase over a period of the greater of five years or the number of years contributions had been made to the account. Requires that contributions to a housing opportunity mortgage equity account must be used by the end of ten years after the initial contribution. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions not used for the purchase of a principal residence. Requires the trustee of a housing opportunity mortgage equity account to report on the maintenance of the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to file required reports.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1983
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt holdings in an independent local newspaper business from the tax on excess business holdings of private foundations. Defines an "independent local newspaper business" as: (1) a proprietorship which publishes an independent local newspaper; (2) a partnership which publishes such a newspaper and which has none of its outstanding partnership interests traded in an established securities market; and (3) a corporation which publishes such a newspaper and which has none of its outstanding capital stock traded in an established securities market.
United States · United States Congress · 6 June 1983
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the continuing possibility that the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to withholding of tax from interest and dividends will be repealed is creating, for all payors, an undue hardship within the meaning of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, and that the Secretary of the Treasury should exercise his authority under such Act to delay the effective date of such provision until December 31, 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 25 May 1983
Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended and reenacted by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, to permit the Secretary of Agriculture to issue marketing orders regulating the handling of eggs.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 1983
Rural Electrification and Telephone Revolving Fund Self-Sufficiency Act of 1983 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (REA) to eliminate the requirement for a State certificate of convenience and necessity before the Administrator may make loans to provide rural telephone service. Revises the liabilities and uses of the Rural Electrification and Telephone Revolving Fund established under the REA to provide that notes of the Administrator to the Secretary of the Treasury to obtain funds for loans shall be equity capital of the Fund. States that assets of the Fund shall be available only for: (1) payment of interest and principal on loans to the Administrator from the Secretary; and (2) for certificates of beneficial ownership issued to the Secretary or in the private market. Requires the Administrator to maintain two separate accounts within the Fund: (1) the Electrification Account; and (2) the Telephone Account. Lists the items that shall be accounted for in each Account respectively, and restricts the purposes for which the assets of each Account shall be available. Authorizes the Administrator to repurchase specified certificates of beneficial ownership under certain conditions affecting their interest rates. Establishes guidelines for interest-bearing insured loans made by the Administrator to electric and telephone borrowers. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to request in each annual supplemental budgets estimate the amount needed to replenish the Fund for anticipated and actual costs resulting from loans made at less than a specified rate during the preceding fiscal year. Directs the Administrator to guarantee loans to specified borrowers or to accommodate or subordinate liens or mortgages held in the Fund, according to prescribed rules and regulations. Directs the Administrator to promulgate such rules and regulations within ninety days after the effective date of this Act. Prescribes guidelines under which certain lenders are authorized to adjust interest rates on loans guaranteed by the Administrator. Requires rural electrification borrowers to obtain concurrent supplemental financing according to prescribed guidelines in any fiscal year in which the minimum loan level for insured rural electrification loans is less than $1,000,000,000. Repeals certain provisos governing the loan-making authority of the Governor of the Rural Telephone Bank which require approval by the Secretary of Agriculture of facilities or lines to be acquired with such loans. Eliminates loan restrictions placed upon potential borrowers whose net worth exceeds their assets by twenty percent.
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 1983
Patent Term Restoration Act of 1983 - Amends the patent law to extend the terms of patents which encompass specified products or methods for using or producing a product, any of which are subject to certain nonpatent regulatory review periods. Sets forth the terms and conditions of such extension, including a seven year limitation. Directs the Commissioner of Patents to issue to the owner of record of a patent a certificate of extension stating the fact and length of the extension and identifying the product and the use and the claim to which such extension is applicable. Makes such certificate a part of the original patent. Limits the application of such patent term extension to patents for products subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Act of March 4, 1913 (relating to virus, serum, toxin, and analogous products).
United States · United States Congress · 17 May 1983
Expresses the support of the Senate for Lebanon's and Israel's agreement on arrangements for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Calls upon other nations to work toward the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. Emphasizes the need of all nations to recognize the sovereignty of Lebanon. Urges Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization to agree to the arrangements for the withdrawal of their forces from Lebanon.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1983
Manufacturing Sciences and Technology Research and Development Act of 1983 - Permits the Secretary of Commerce, through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Productivity, Technology, and Innovation, to award grants and enter into cooperative agreements to provide for research on ways of producing more efficient manufacturing processes and methods, including: (1) computer-assisted design; (2) automated materials handling; (3) automated testing; and (4) integrated manufacturing systems. Requires grants to be made on a competitive basis. Permits the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements to establish and support Centers for Manufacturing Research and Technology Utilization. Permits such Centers to conduct applied research on a matching funds basis. Authorizes appropriations for both the grants and cooperative agreements for FY 1984-1988. Directs the Secretary to establish a program of experimental activities to identify the most feasible means of utilizing advanced manufacturing methods by retraining displaced workers. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress within one year on such program. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1984 and 1985. Directs the Secretary to select specific domestic technology-sensitive industrial sectors to analyze their long-term capability for remaining competitive. Authorizes appropriations for such purpose for FY 1984-1988. Directs the Secretary to establish a Manufacturing Sciences and Technology Enhancement Advisory Committee to advise the Secretary concerning the activities to be conducted under this Act. Requires such Committee to submit to Congress an annual report.
United States · United States Congress · 12 May 1983
Administrative Law Judge Corps Act - Amends Federal law to establish, in Washington, D.C., an Administrative Law Judge Corps (the Corps) comprised of all current administrative law judges. States the chief administrative law judge shall be the chief administrative officer of the Corps as well as its presiding judge. Specifies the qualifications for chief judge. States such judge shall be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Directs the chief judge to submit a written report to the President and the Congress at the end of each fiscal year. Specifies contents. Establishes between four and ten divisions within the Corps, with each division headed by a division chief judge appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. Identifies initial divisions and their respective areas of jurisdiction. Specifies qualifications required for division chief judges. States that the Corps' policymaking body shall be the Council of the Corps (the Council), comprised of the chief judge and the division chief judges. Authorizes the Council to approve or disapprove: (1) the assignment of judges to divisions; (2) creation, abolition or reorganization of divisions; and (3) re-assignments of division chief judges. Authorizes the Council to determine matters of general Corps policy, including: (1) issuing regulations for Corps proceedings; (2) creation or abolition of divisions or regional offices; (3) contractual transactions; and (4) delegation of functions to division chief judges. Establishes a Judicial Nomination Commission (the Commission) to submit a list of qualified nominees for positions of chief judge and division chief judges. Specifies officials who shall appoint a member to the Commission. Sets the terms of initial Corps appointments and the procedure for filling vacancies. Prescribes a procedure for recommending appointments to the President. Directs the Corps to appoint new judges from a register maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. Confers jurisdiction upon members of the Corps to adjudicate cases under specified sections of the Administrative Procedures Act. Requires cases arising under such sections to be referred to the Corps. Directs the Council to issue regulations for assigning such cases. Provides guidelines for the removal and discipline of administrative law judges. Establishes a Complaints Resolution Board within the Corps to recommend action upon complaints against the official conduct of judges. Details the membership of such Board and the procedures to be followed. Declares Board proceedings and the contents of complaints to be privileged and confidential. Exempts documents and reports considered by the Board from the disclosure and publication requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. Exempts the Board from compliance with the public meeting requirements of specified Federal law. Directs the Corp's chief administrative law judge to study the various types of agency review to which decisions of administrative law judges are subject. Sets guidelines for such studies and directs the Council to report the findings of such studies to the President and the Congress. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1983
Church Audit Procedures Act of 1983 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to restrict the Secretary of the Treasury from investigating or auditing churches unless the Secretary possesses evidence causing him to believe that a church: (1) is carrying on an unrelated trade or business; or (2) should not be granted tax-exempt status. Restricts the Secretary from beginning any investigation unless he has first provided the church with written notice that an investigation is being commenced. Sets forth the requirements of such notice. Requires that the Secretary must first approve an application by the regional counsel of the internal revenue region for examination of church records and religious activities before beginning any such examination. Requires the Secretary, prior to the approval of any such application, to offer in writing an opportunity for a conference to discuss facts, evidence and issues relevant to the investigation. Requires the Secretary to notify the church in writing of the approval of the application for examination at least 15 days prior to the commencement of such examination. Limits the examination of religious activities to that necessary to determine whether an organization is a church or convention or association of churches. Limits the examination of church records to that necessary to determine the amount of tax imposed. Allows an organization which claims that the Secretary has violated the provisions of this Act to bring a civil action for injunctive relief against the Secretary. Reduces the statute of limitations for collection after assessment of tax to three years in the case of any organization which is a church or convention or association of churches.
United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1983
Disapproves the proposal of the Study Group on Senate Practices and Procedures to abolish the Committee on Veterans' Affairs by merging it with the Committee on Armed Services.
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 1983
Expresses the sense of the Senate that Taiwan should remain a full member of the Asian Development Bank, irrespective of the issue of the People's Republic of China's application to such bank. Declares that the President and the Secretary of State should express U.S. support for Taiwan.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1983
Child Protection Act of 1983 - Amends the Federal criminal code dealing with the sexual exploitation of children. Prohibits the distribution of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors even if the material is not found to be "obscene" and transferred without a sale. Increases the penalties for violation of this section. Redefines "minor" as any person under the age of 18.
United States · United States Congress · 6 May 1983
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should seek a consensus at the Williamsburg Summit, aimed at: (1) reducing disparities in certain financial rates and economic policies among summit countries; and (2) arranging a meeting of summit country finance ministers with the Secretary of the Treasury, to achieve an alignment between the interest rates and major currencies. Urges the President to arrange, in conjunction with the Williamsburg Summit, bilateral discussions with the Prime Minister of Japan to bring about further realignment of the yen and dollar exchange rates.
United States · United States Congress · 5 May 1983
Designates August 1, 1983, as Helsinki Human Rights Day. Authorizes and requests the President to issue a proclamation reasserting the American commitment to the human rights and humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki accords. Requests the President to continue to raise the issue of noncompliance with the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1983
Title I: National Inland Waterways Urgent Improvement Act of 1983 - Directs the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to replace the Gallipolis locks, Ohio River, Ohio and West Virginia, according to specified recommendations. Directs the Secretary to mitigate fish and wildlife habitat losses resulting from such construction by purchasing, at Federal expense, specified land. Authorizes the Secretary to transfer such land to the State of West Virginia for operation and maintenance. Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to construct a specified multipurpose lock and dam project to replace the William Bacon Oliver lock and dam, Black Warrior River, Alabama. Amends Federal law to authorize the Secretary to construct a new lock at the Bonneville lock and dam project, Oregon and Washington, according to a certain Chief of Engineers' report. Directs the Secretary to construct: (1) a lock and dam (to be called Grays Landing) to replace lock and dam numbered 7, Monongahela River, Pennsylvania; and (2) a lock and abutment (to be called Point Marion lock) to replace the lock and abutment at lock and dam numbered 8, Monongahela River, Pennsylvania. Requires construction of such projects to be carried out according to specified recommendations. Authorizes the Secretary to replace the Winfield locks on the Kanawha River, West Virginia. Establishes procedures for the submission of final environmental impact statements to Congress for the navigation projects authorized by this title. Sets forth related judicial review procedures. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Upper Mississippi River System Management Act - Grants congressional approval of the Comprehensive Master Plan for the Management of the Upper Mississippi River System as a guide for future water policy on such system. Defines the Upper Mississippi River System as those river reaches having commercial navigation channels on certain rivers in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Grants congressional consent to Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin (or any two or more of such States) to: (1) enter into agreements for cooperative effort and mutual assistance in the planning for the use, protection, growth, and development of the System; and (2) form agencies for effecting such agreements. Authorizes officers or employees of the United States, who are responsible for management of any part of the System, to assist such agencies. Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to provide for the engineering, design, and construction of a second lock at locks and dam 26, Mississippi River, Alton, Illinois and Missouri. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to monitor traffic movements on the System to verify the need for future capacity expansion of the System and the future need for river rehabilitation and environmental enhancement. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, in concert with any appropriate State agency, to undertake with respect to the System: (1) a habitat rehabilitation and enhancement program; (2) the implementation of a long-term resource monitoring program; and (3) the implementation of a computerized inventory and analysis system. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to implement a program of recreational projects for the System and to assess the economic benefits generated by recreational activities in the System. Authorizes appropriations. Declares that the Master Plan for the System has reasonably complied with the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1983
Operational Testing and Evaluation Act of 1983 - Establishes in the Department of Defense a Civilian Director of Operational Testing and Evaluation appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Requires such Director to perform all duties relating to operational testing and evaluation in the Department. Requires such Director to advise and report directly to the Secretary of Defense. Grants such Director access to all necessary Department records. Permits the Director to require observers to be present during testing. Directs the Secretaries of the military departments to report all testing results to the Director. Requires the Director to respond to congressional requests for information. Prohibits the obligation of funds for operational testing without the advance approval of the Secretary. Directs the President to request separate budget authority for the Director's activities. Grants the Comptroller General access to all records of the Department of Defense.
United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1983
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the changes in the Federal estate tax laws which were made by the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 are vital to the continuation of the family farm and small business, and that such changes should not be repealed or amended and should be allowed to run their course.
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1983
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the President should: (1) continue to express U.S. opposition to the forced exile of Ida Nudel; and (2) urge the Soviet Union to provide her with adequate medical care, grant her residence status in Moscow, and allow her to emigrate to Israel.
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1983
Agricultural Productivity Act of 1983 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) make an inventory of existing research and extension materials and recommend further areas of research regarding crop rotation, intercropping, biological pest control, and other related farming and soil conservation systems; and (2) make such information available to the public. Directs the Secretary to conduct research on 12 pilot farms (having specified mixes of livestock and crops) to examine the effects of the transition from practices relying on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and traditional soil tillage to systems relying on organic and biological pest control, crop rotation, and conservation tillage. Requires such farms to be chosen within 120 days. Directs the Secretary to make a parallel study of 12 farms which have been using such farm systems for at least five years. Sets the term of such projects at five years each. Sets forth on-farm study data, including soil profile changes, crop yields, energy and water use, and farm income. Directs the Secretary to make payments to the owner of a pilot farm if the Secretary determines such payments are justified. Stipulates that these payments may be made only during a project's last four years. Directs the Secretary to coordinate such pilot farms project with specified Federal and State agricultural services, colleges, and farmers. Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees: (1) within 15 months regarding the information inventory; and (2) by April 1 of each year from 1985 through 1988 regarding the pilot farms, with a final project summary and recommendations by April 1, 1989. Provides for a five-year program of intercropping assistance under the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act. Authorizes ceilinged appropriations for FY 1984 through 1988.
United States · United States Congress · 19 April 1983
Regulatory Reform Act - Amends the Administrative Procedure Act to exempt from its applicability any rule involving public property, contracts, or general policy statements of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Repeals the current exemption provided for matters relating to loans, grants, and benefits. Requires a notice of proposed rulemaking to include: (1) a statement of need and objectives; (2) a statement that the agency seeks proposals of alternative methods from the public and from State and local governments; (3) a description of the information on which the agency plans to rely in the rulemaking; and (4) a statement specifying where copies of the rulemaking file may be obtained. Allows an agency to adopt a rule before publishing notice, providing a period for public comment, or establishing a rulemaking file, when notice or hearing is not required by another statute, if: (1) it publishes its findings that compliance with such procedures before the rule becomes effective would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest; and (2) it completes such procedures as soon as practicable after the rule is promulgated. Requires an agency to publish a notice and allow a period for comment on any final rule which is substantially different from the original rule as proposed. Directs each agency to give interested persons at least 60 days to submit written comments on a proposed rule. Permits an agency to use any appropriate procedure to elicit full and representative public comment on the significant issues of a rulemaking. Requires an agency to provide an opportunity for oral presentations at informal public hearings in a rulemaking for a "major rule," as defined by this Act. Requires agencies to publish with each final rule a notice of its effective date and a statement of its basis and purpose, including: (1) a discussion of significant issues and alternative approaches raised by public comments; and (2) an explanation of how the agency's factual determinations are substantially supported in the rulemaking file. Prohibits an agency promulgating a rule from relying on any material not placed in the rulemaking file in time to afford an adequate period for public comment. Directs each agency to give interested persons the right to petition for an interpretation of, or exemption from, a rule. Requires an agency to respond promptly and in writing to such a petition. Requires that each agency maintain a public file of the paperwork, data, and comments pertaining to each rulemaking which shall constitute the rulemaking record for purposes of judicial review. Allows an agency to exclude from the file material exempted from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, if the agency includes a summary of such material or a notice of the existence of such material. Prohibits an agency rule from substantially changing the requirement of any existing contract, agreement, or grant between a Federal agency and a State or local government for one year after the rule takes effect, unless the agency publishes a finding that delaying the rule's effect would be contrary to the public interest. Provides for the judicial review of agency compliance with rulemaking requirements under this Act. Requires each agency: (1) prior to publishing a rulemaking notice, to determine whether a proposed rule is a "major rule" and (2) to include an explanation of such determination in the notice. Authorizes the President or a selected officer to determine that a rule is a major rule within 30 days after publication of the rulemaking notice and to designate not more than 75 rules as major rules during any fiscal year. Requires an agency to issue, to enter into the rulemaking file, and to publish in summary form a preliminary rulemaking analysis of each proposed major rule, with specified exceptions. Provides 60 days for public comment on such analysis. Lists the contents of such analysis, including: (1) a description of quantifiable and nonquantifiable costs and benefits; (2) a description of reasonable alternatives; (3) a statement identifying the source of Federal funds, if any, to pay costs imposed on State and local governments; (4) a description of agency action to verify data; and (5) an explanation of why the rule chosen is more cost effective than the alternatives. Directs the agency to issue a final regulatory analysis upon publishing a final major rule, to place such analysis in the rulemaking file, and to summarize such analysis in the statement of the basis and purpose of the rule. Establishes guidelines for the evaluation and description of benefits and costs in the preparation of such analysis. Limits judicial review over: (1) the designation of a major rule; or (2) any regulatory analysis. Authorizes the President to establish procedures for agency compliance with the regulatory analysis and sunset review requirements under this Act and to monitor and enforce agency implementation of such procedures, except for rules issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Directs the President to report to Congress annually on agency compliance with regulatory analysis requirements. Requires each agency to publish for public comment a proposed schedule for the review of its existing major rules and other rules selected for review by the agency or the President. Directs each agency to publish a final schedule with its responses to public comments within one year of enactment of this Act. Requires each agency to review major rules within ten years after enactment of this Act, or within ten years after such a rule is promulgated, amended, or renewed, whichever is later. Directs each agency to publish a notice of its proposed action regarding a reviewed rule. Requires that the notice: (1) assess the costs and benefits of the rule; and (2) invite public proposals for modifications or alternatives. Requires an agency to follow normal rulemaking procedures when amending or rescinding a rule. Specifies procedures for renewing a rule without amendment. Provides for: (1) extension of the review period to not to exceed 15 years; (2) revision of the review schedule; and (3) expedited agency action if a review deadline is not met. Requires each agency to publish in the Federal Register, semiannually, an agenda of the rules the agency expects to propose, promulgate, renew, or repeal within the next twelve months, including a schedule of the agency actions pertaining to each rule. Directs the President to publish, semiannually, a Calendar of Federal Regulations, listing each of the major rules included in such agenda. Allows an agency to promulgate a major rule not listed in such agenda only if it publishes an explanation of why the rule was omitted. Requires each agency to include in the notice of a proposed rulemaking the date by which it intends to complete action or each major portion of action on the rule. Directs an agency that fails to complete action by such date and that expects a delay of more than 30 days to announce a new deadline for action. Directs the President to report to Congress annually on the regulatory activities of the Government. Requires that the report include estimates of the costs and benefits to each major sector of the economy of all major rules promulgated during the preceding year, included in the regulatory agenda for the preceding year, or scheduled for review. Directs a court reviewing an agency action to: (1) determine the authority or jurisdiction of the agency on the basis of the language of the authorizing statute or other evidence of legislative intent; (2) accord no presumption in favor of or against agency action, but to give an agency's interpretation of a statutory provision such weight as it warrants; and (3) determine whether the factual basis of an agency rule has substantial support in the rulemaking file. Declares that when proceedings for review of the same agency action are instituted in two or more courts of appeals within five days, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall select, by a system of random selection, the court in which the record shall be filed. Authorizes the courts to postpone the effective date of the agency action until after such selection is made. Amends the Federal Advisory Committee Act to exclude from the definition of "advisory committee" for purposes of such Act any committee which is composed wholly of elected State or local officials or their representatives. Grants Federal district courts original jurisdiction of any civil action or proceeding to resolve a controversy between two or more regulatory agencies not of the same State concerning jurisdiction to regulate a public utility, unless the courts of appeals have exclusive original jurisdiction to review actions of one of the regulatory agencies involved. States that a declaratory judgment in such a proceeding shall not be withheld: (1) on the ground that a controversy over matters other than jurisdiction to regulate may exist between the parties; (2) because of failure to exhaust administrative remedies; or (3) because of inconsistent provisions of other statutes providing for judicial review of agency action. Declares that any Federal or State agency may join or be joined as a party to such action and the district court may issue its processes without regard to territorial limitations. Establishes venue for such a proceeding. Prohibits the use of appropriated funds to pay the expenses of persons participating or intervening in agency proceedings, except as expressly authorized by statute. Authorizes each Federal agency to adopt as a Federal rule with respect to a State or locality any State or local rule which duplicates or is substantially equivalent to or more stringent than such Federal rule. Declares that any final agency rule, with specified exceptions including an emergency rule, shall be considered to be a recommendation to Congress and shall have no effect unless it is reviewed and not disapproved by Congress. Directs each agency to transmit each final rule to Congress on the day the rule is transmitted for publication to the Federal Register. Prohibits the rule from becoming effective if: (1) within 45 days of continuous session of Congress after the rule is received by Congress, either committee of the House or the Senate having primary legislative jurisdiction over it reports or is discharged from consideration of a resolution disapproving it; (2) within 30 days after such resolution is reported or discharged, either House adopts it; and (3) within 30 days after the adopted resolution is transmitted to the other House, such other House agrees to it. Permits a final rule to become effective at any time after either House rejects a resolution of disapproval. Authorizes an agency to issue and submit to Congress for review a recommended final rule relating to the same acts or practices as a disapproved rule. Sets forth expedited congressional procedures for the consideration of resolutions of disapproval. Declares that the provisions of this Act supercede any other provision of law requiring action by both Houses of Congress for congressional review and disapproval of agency rules, but not any other provisions requiring action by only one House. Amends the Government in the Sunshine Act to include the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Board as an agency subject to such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1983
Equal Access Act - Prohibits public schools that allow students to participate in extracurricular activities from denying equal access or opportunity for students and faculty to engage in voluntary prayer or religious discussion on school premises during noninstructional periods. Grants Federal court jurisdiction to hear actions for damages or injunctive relief arising out of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1983
Expresses the sense of the Senate that rural community fire protection grants provided under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 and rural fire prevention and control activities of the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture should receive a level of funding for FY 1984 which is at least as high as the level of funding provided for such programs for FY 1983.
![Official portrait of Sen. Heflin, Howell [D-AL]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h000445_200.jpg)