United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1979
Farm Credit Act Amendments of 1979 - Title I: Federal Land Banks and Associations - Amends the Farm Credit Act of 1971 to authorize any Federal land bank, under the supervision of the Farm Credit Administration, to: (1) participate in loans with other Farm Credit System institutions (i.e., Federal land banks, Federal land bank associations, Federal intermediate credit banks, production credit associations, and banks for cooperatives); (2) participate in loans which the land banks are authorized to make with lenders which are not Farm Credit System institutions; (3) sell interests in loans to such lenders; (4) buy from and sell to Farm Credit System institutions interests in loans, other extended financial assistance, and nonvoting stock; (5) make other investments; (6) accept contributions to their capital from Federal land bank associations; (7) enter into agreements with other Farm Credit System institutions to share loan and other losses; (8) issue nonvoting stock to borrowers as a patronage refund; and (9) make or participate with other lenders in long-term real estate mortgage loans not exceeding 85 percent of the appraised value of the real estate security. Makes producers and harvesters of aquatic products eligible for Federal land bank services. Authorizes Federal land bank associations to make capital contributions to a Federal land bank. States that a member of a Federal land bank association need not make the required purchases of land stock with respect to that part of a loan derived from a lender which is not a Farm Credit System institution. Authorizes the Federal land bank associations to pay dividends on a differential basis between different classes and issues of stock and participation certificates corresponding to the value of such classes and issues to the capital or earnings of the Federal land bank in its district. Permits the Federal land bank associations to agree to share loan and other losses with other Farm Credit System institutions. Title II: Federal Intermediate Credit Banks and Production Credit Associations - Authorizes the Federal Intermediate Credit Banks, subject to the supervision of the Farm Credit Administration, to: (1) buy from and sell to Farm Credit System institutions interests in loans, other extended financial assistance and nonvoting stock; (2) make other investments; (3) agree to share loan and other losses with other Farm Credit System institutions; (4) participate with other Farm Credit System institutions in making loans; and (5) issue nonvoting stock to such institutions. Authorizes the Federal intermediate credit banks to discount for, or purchase from other financial institutions loans made to producers and harvesters of aquatic products. Permits any Federal intermediate credit bank to transfer more than 25 percent of its net earnings after expenses to its allocated reserve account (presently, not more than 25 percent of such earnings may be transferred to this account). Authorizes each production credit association, subject to the supervision of the intermediate credit bank in its district and the Farm Credit Administration, to: (1) buy from and sell to any bank in the Farm Credit System interests in loans, other financial assistance extended, and nonvoting stock; (2) participate in loans with other Farm Credit System institutions; (3) agree to share loan and other losses with other Farm Credit System Institutions; (4) issue participation certificates to eligible borrowers in lieu of nonvoting stock; and (5) issue participation certificates or nonvoting stock to any financial institution outside the Farm Credit System with which the association participates in a loan in satisfaction of the requirement that a borrower own such stock or participation certificates. Requires a borrower to own only that amount of stock or participation certificates which is proportionate to that portion of a loan retained by a production credit association when it participates with another lender in making a loan. Authorizes the production credit associations to extend loan assistance to bona fide farmers, ranchers, and producers and harvesters of aquatic products for basic processing and marketing directly related to the borrower's operations. Title III: Banks and Cooperatives - Empowers each bank for cooperatives, subject to the supervision of the Farm Credit Administration, to: (1) participate with other Farm Credit System institutions in making loans; (2) deposit its securities and current funds with any domestic or foreign financial organization (presently, such deposits must be made at a member bank in the Federal Reserve System); (3) buy and sell bankers' acceptances which are obligations of member banks in the Federal Reserve System; (4) buy and sell other obligations including those which arise in the course of transactions which the bank has assisted through loans; (5) buy from and sell to Farm Credit System institutions interests in loans, other financial assistance extended and nonvoting stock; (6) make other investments; (7) invest in foreign and domestic business entities to facilitate the obtaining of credit information and the performance of services related to international transactions; (8) maintain credit balances to assist in the transfer of funds between parties to authorized transactions; (9) agree to share loan and other losses with other Farm Credit System institutions; and (10) issue participation certificates to parties who may not be issued voting stock. Requires all participation certificates, voting and nonvoting stock issued by the banks for cooperatives to be retired at par value. Authorizes the banks for cooperatives to: (1) offer a currency exchange for eligible cooperative associations; and (2) extend loans, loan participation commitments, and other technical and financial assistance to any domestic or foreign party in which a member cooperative has an ownership interest or which engages with the cooperative in dealings in agricultural or aquatic products, farm supplies or the lease of property, provided such assistance substantially benefits the member cooperative. Enables cooperatives solely engaged in furnishing aquatic business services to borrow from the banks for cooperatives. Reduces the degree of ownership in a cooperative which must be held by farmers, producers or harvesters of aquatic products, or other cooperative associations in order to make such a cooperative eligible to borrow from a bank for cooperatives. Requires a bank for cooperatives to retire any equity held by a borrower in default or dissolution at fair market value not to exceed the par value of the equity interest of the borrower. Prohibits the retirement or cancellation of such an equity interest if the bank's capital structure would be adversely affected. Permits each bank for cooperatives to transfer more than 25 percent of its net annual savings to a surplus account. Authorizes the banks for cooperatives to pay patronage refunds to borrowers in the form of participation certificates. Title IV: Provisions Applicable to Two or More Classes of Institutions of the System - Declares that interest rates established by the Farm Credit Administration for loans made by Farm Credit System institutions shall preempt any interest rate limitation imposed by State law. States that when two or more Farm Credit System institutions participate in a loan as authorized by this Act, the terms of such loan shall be those agreed upon by the institutions. Requires that such factors as borrower eligibility, membership, term, amount, loan security and purchase of stock or participation certificates by the borrower are to be governed by the provisions of law applicable to the institution originating the loan. Exempts credit transactions of Farm Credit System institutions from the provisions of any State statute or any other law or regulation which impose, with regard to a credit transaction, any duty or requirement which had been imposed by the Truth in Lending Act before amendment. Authorizes the institutions of the Farm Credit System to organize corporations to perform non-lending functions and services which such institutions are authorized to perform. Empowers the Governor of the Farm Credit Administration to review and revise the charters of such corporations. States that such corporations shall be subject to supervision and examination by the Administration. Title V: District and Farm Credit Administration Organization - Revises the process for the election of farm credit district directors by reducing from three to two the number of nominees in the election poll. Establishes the rate of compensation for the Federal Farm Credit Board at the daily equivalent of the rate prescribed for grade GS-18 of the General Schedule. Authorizes the Board to fix the salary of the Governor of the Farm Credit Administration at any level not exceeding the maximum rate of basic pay in the Executive Schedule. Authorizes the Governor to appoint Deputy Governors to provide assistance in the functioning of the Farm Credit Administration. Exempts the Administration from provisions of Federal law relating to appointments in the competitive civil service, travel expenses, allowances, procurement, and property disposition. Credits employees of Farm Credit System institutions with specified leave and retirement benefits when they are transferred to Federal service in the Farm Credit Administration.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1979
Authorizes the President to: (1) transfer and appoint any commissioned officer of the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (CCNOAA) to any armed force; and (2) transfer and appoint any commissioned officer of an armed force to the CCNOAA. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to work with the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating and the Secretary of Defense in establishing procedures for such transfers and appointments. Declares that a transferred officer shall receive credit, for purposes of retirement and pay, for his or her creditable service as of the day before the transfer. Includes the CCNOAA as an "armed force" for purposes of provisions of Federal law governing pay advances to members of the armed forces. Includes service in the CCNOAA as "Federal service" under provisions governing unemployment compensation for ex-servicemen.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1979
Capital Cost Recovery Act of 1979 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method for determining useful lives of business assets for purposes of computing allowable depreciation deductions. Replaces the asset depreciation range (ADR) method with a schedule of capital cost recovery periods for three classes of business property. Establishes capital cost recovery periods for the following classes of business property: (1) buildings and their structural components, ten years; (2) tangible property, five years; and (3) automobiles, taxis, and light-duty trucks (up to $100,000), three years. Allows a ten percent investment tax credit for buildings and tangible property, and six percent credit for automobiles, taxis, and light-duty trucks. Requires the recapture of depreciation amounts and investment tax credit amounts applicable to assets which are sold or otherwise disposed of prior to the expiration of the capital cost recovery period. Permits a taxpayer to deduct less the full allowance for capital cost recovery in any taxable year. Permits a carryover to succeeding taxable years of any unused depreciation amounts. Disqualifies capital cost recovery property from the allowance for first year depreciation. Treats amounts claimed as the capital cost recovery of noncorporate lessors as an item of tax preference for purposes of the minimum tax. Adopts as an accounting practice the "half year convention" under which investments eligible for capital cost recovery treatment or the investment tax credit which are made at any time during the taxable year are deemed to be made in the middle of such year.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 1979
Paperwork and Redtape Reduction Act of 1979 - Title I: Central Management and Control Responsibility - Requires Federal agencies to utilize methods of collecting information which: (1) impose a minimum burden on business; (2) require a minimum cost to the Government; and (3) eliminate any unnecessary duplication of efforts. Establishes, within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Office of Federal Information Management Policy (OFIMP) to have government-wide responsibility for setting policies and coordinating procedures governing the planning, budgeting, management, and control of Federal information management activities and of the measurement of the burdens imposed by such activities on businesses, State and local governments, and individuals. Requires the Administrator of OFIMP to: (1) publish, annually, a report of the burdens imposed by the reporting requirements of each agency; (2) review, at least every three years, the information management activities and the paperwork reduction activities of each agency; (3) establish goals for the reduction of reporting requirements; (4) assist agencies in developing information management programs; (5) recommend policies to Congress, the President, and agencies concerning the confidentiality and security of information; (6) study and develop improved information and paperwork cost accounting and reduction techniques; and (7) promulgate standards concerning recordkeeping requirements imposed on the public. Sets forth procedures which enable the Administrator to designate one agency to collect information for two or more agencies requiring similar data. Prohibits any agency from collecting information which: (1) is collected by a designated agency; or (2) the Administrator determines is unnecessary. Authorizes the Administrator to order the exchange of information among agencies. Requires an agency, before collecting any information, to: (1) eliminate reporting requirements which seek information which is available through another Government source; (2) minimize the compliance burden on respondents; (3) plan the tabulation of the information in a manner which maximizes its usefulness to other agencies; and (4) obtain the Administrator's approval of such collection. Directs the Administrator to approve a collection request within 60 days after its receipt for a period not to exceed two years. Directs the Administrator to report to Congress annually on the activities of OFIMP. Grants access to all records of such Office to the Comptroller General. Requires that formal meetings of OFIMP to establish policies and regulations be open to the public. Specifies conditions under which confidential information may be released from one agency to another. Delegates specified information management duties of the Director of the OMB to the Administrator. Title II: Elimination of Unnecessary Duplication - Establishes, within OFIMP, a Federal Locator System composed of an information locator, a data element dictionary, and an information referral service. Directs the System to serve as the authoritative register for all recordkeeping requirements and all public use, interagency, and intra-agency reports. Directs the Administrator to: (1) design and operate the system; (2) require the head of each agency to insert into the system a synopsis of the questions of each report and the information maintained for each reporting requirement of that agency; (3) compare the information sought by proposed reporting requirements to information in the System; and (4) make available the comparison results to agencies and the public. Requires the Administrator to insure that no actual data is contained within the locator system, except descriptive data profiles necessary to identify duplicative data or to locate information. Requires that any information holding which contains a data element of a personal or proprietary nature within the meaning of the Privacy Act of 1974 be identified as such and restricted in access and use. Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes the appropriations of such sums as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. States that this Act shall take effect 60 days after its enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1979
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the President should call upon Paraguay to apprehend and extradite Josef Mengele to stand trial in the Federal Republic of Germany.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 1979
Special Investigator of Fuels Shortages Act - Establishes in the Department of Justice the position of Special Investigator of Petroleum Fuels Shortages, to be appointed by the President with all the investigatory powers and authority of the Attorney General, in order to investigate the causes of petroleum fuels shortages arising during the period beginning January 1, 1978. Requires the Special Investigator to report his written findings and recommendations to the President and to each House of Congress within six months after appointment. Directs the Special Investigator to report any information concerning alleged criminal conduct or any possible violation of a Federal law to the Attorney General whenever such information is obtained.
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 1979
Requires the President to insure the satisfactory resolution of the certified claims of United States nationals against the Castro regime. Requires the provision of tax credits to United States certified claimants should the President enter into any agreement involving counterclaims made by the Castro regime against the United States. Directs the President to urge the Castro regime to establish a fund for the payment claims of U.S. nationals to be administered by the International Monetary Fund or some similar international agency.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1979
Gasohol Marketing Freedom Act of 1979 - Amends the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act to prohibit the termination of a gasoline dealer's franchise due to its selling, consigning, or distributing gasohol, and prohibits any reprisals or discrimination against retailers or distributors of gasohol because of such sale, consignment, or distribution.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1979
National Technology Innovation Act of 1979 - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish and maintain an Office of Industrial Technology to enhance technological innovation for the improvement of the economic, environmental and social well-being of the United States. Requires the Secretary to prepare and submit to the President and Congress, within three years after the date of enactment of this Act, a report on the progress, findings, recommendations, and conclusions of activities conducted. Requires the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a Director of the Office who shall provide assistance for the establishment of Centers of Industrial Technology, whose activities shall include: (1) research supportive of technology and industrial innovation including cooperative industry-university basic and applied research; (2) assistance in the evaluation and development of technological ideas supportive of industrial innovation and new business ventures; (3) technological assistance and advisory services to industry; and (4) curriculum development and instruction in invention, entrepreneurship, and industrial innovation. Declares that such centers shall be affiliated with a university or nonprofit institution, and authorizes the Director to make available nonrenewable planning grants to such universities or nonprofit institutions for the purpose of developing a plan for the management and evaluation of the activities proposed within the particular Center, including the consideration of means to place the Center on a self-sustaining basis. Declares that each Center has the option of acquiring title to any invention conceived under the auspices of the Center that was supported at least in part by Federal funds and that the Secretary shall obtain title to any invention for which such option is not exercised. Authorizes the Director to make grants and enter into cooperative agreements to assist any activity established under this Act. Prohibits any such grant or cooperative agreement from exceeding 75 percent of the total cost of the program or project involved. Sets forth the terms and conditions for such grants or cooperative agreements. Requires the Director to seek the advice and cooperation of departments and agencies whose missions contribute to or are affected by the programs established under this Act. Authorizes the Director to receive moneys from other departments and agencies to support activities of the Centers. Establishes an independent committee to be known as the Industrial Technology Review Panel which shall review annually the activities of the Office and advise the Secretary and the Director with respect to such activities. Authorizes appropriations to carry out the purposes of this Act through fiscal year 1984.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1979
Research Tax Incentive Act of 1979 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an additional ten percent investment tax credit for investment in research and experimental property. Denies such credit to taxpayers whose gross receipts were in excess of $250,000,000 for a taxable year, or whose research and experimental expenditures did not exceed 2.5 percent of their gross receipts for a taxable year. Extends the investment tax credit to buildings and structural components used in research and experimentation. Requires the recapture of credit amounts if investment property ceases to be used for research and experimental purposes. Allows the amortization of research and experimental property, based on a period of not less than 60 months.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1979
Labor Productivity and Training Act - Amends the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act to permit prime sponsors, pursuant to regulations of the Secretary of Labor, to provide financial assistance: (1) to employees who will be laid off due to productivity improvement programs initiated by private employers; or (2) to employers for the cost of training and retraining employees. Requires prime sponsors to: (1) give special consideration to training and retraining programs which contain cost-sharing arrangements with private employers and/or emphasize on-the-job training programs; and (2) establish, pursuant to regulations of the Secretary, criteria for determining when impending layoffs are due to productivity improvement programs. Requires that such productivity improvement retraining programs meet specified standards for all CETA retraining programs. Limits the amount which each prime sponsor may use for productivity improvement retraining programs to five percent of the CETA allocation for such sponsor. Directs the Secretary to survey all federally assisted labor training programs and to report to Congress with recommended revisions to promote: (1) labor productivity; and (2) worker retraining by joint efforts by Federal Government and by private and State and local public employers.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1979
New Firm Incentive Act of 1979 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that net operating losses incurred by a corporation during its first three taxable years may be carried over to the next ten taxable years, for purposes of the income tax deduction.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1979
Research Promotion Act of 1979 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow businesses with gross receipts not in excess of $250,000,000 a nonrefundable income tax credit equal to ten percent of their research and experimental expenditures which exceed 2.5 percent of their gross receipts for the taxable year. Provides for carryovers and carrybacks of unused credits in any taxable year.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1979
Federal Government Productivity Data Act - Directs the Secretary of Labor through the Bureau of Labor Statistics to: (1) collect data on the productivity of Federal employees; (2) conduct comparison studies on the productivity of public and private sector employees; (3) study the feasibility of collecting data on productivity in the private sector in the areas of capital, materials, and energy; and (4) report annually to Congress concerning the results of such studies and any recommendations for improving Government functions.
United States · United States Congress · 24 May 1979
Patent Depreciation Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that research and experimental expenditures in connection with a patent may be amortized for any period of not less than 60 months.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1979
Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to provide criminal penalties for placing, or attempting to place, a loaded firearm aboard an aircraft. Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to promulgate regulations which require all air carriers to post notices in conspicuous places informing the public of such prohibition.
United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit distilled spirits plants to be established solely for producing, processing, storing, using, and distributing distilled spirits exclusively for fuel use. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to exempt such distilled spirits plants from the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code pertaining to distilled spirits, wines, and beers (except requirements pertaining to the payment of the excise tax) when necessary to facilitate the production of fuel. Permits distilled spirits to be withdrawn free of tax from the bonded premises of a distilled spirit plant exclusively for fuel use. Prohibits distilled spirits to be withdrawn, used, sold, or disposed of for any purpose other than fuel use. Specifies that the term "distilled spirits" does not include distilled spirits produced from petroleum, natural gas, or coal.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the carryover basis provisions enacted by the Tax Reform Act of 1976 which provide that beneficiaries receiving property from a decedent's estate will retain the decedent's basis in the property. Restores prior law which "stepped up" or "stepped down" the property's basis to its market value at the time of death without imposing tax consequences on the appreciation or depreciation the property underwent while held by the decedent.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1979
Federal Crop Insurance Act of 1979 - Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to increase the capital stock of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation from $200,000,000 to $500,000,000. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to cancel, without consideration, receipts for payments for or on account of the stock of the Corporation outstanding on the date of enactment of this Act. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to appoint three active farmers, who are not otherwise employed by the Federal Government, to the Corporation's Board of Directors. Increases the maximum compensation of Board members not otherwise employed by the Government to no greater than the daily rate for GS-18. Removes State court jurisdiction and grants exclusive jurisdiction to Federal district courts of all suits brought by or against the Corporation, and states that all suits against the Corporation shall be tried by the court without a jury. Authorizes the Board of Directors to contract with private companies in the administration of the Federal crop insurance program. Eliminates the limitation of reinsurance to 20 selected counties. Requires the Corporation to offer lesser levels of yield coverage than the standard 75 percent coverage, at the producer's option. States that any insurance so offered shall make available coverage (per unit of production insured) equal, as close as feasible, to the highest of the: (1) target price of the commodity involved; (2) the loan rate for it under a Federal price support program; or (3) the projected market price. Excludes from coverage losses due to failure of a producer to reseed to an approved substitute crop in areas where it is customary to so reseed. Requires the Federal Government to pay 20 percent of each producer's calculated premium. Repeals: (1) the authority of the Secretary to appoint advisory committees; and (2) the requirement that the Corporation post a list of indemnities paid for farm losses at each county courthouse. Authorizes the Corporation to: (1) reinsure private insurance companies, groups or pools of such companies, or governmental entities that insure producers of any agricultural commodity under an acceptable contract (with the Federal Government paying 20 percent of every premium so reinsured); and (2) offer specific risk protection programs including prevented planting, wildlife depredation, tree damage and disease, and insect infestation. Requires insurance on yields of timber and forests to include appreciation (including interest charges) as an insurable cost of production in calculating indemnities and premiums. Grants the Corporation discretionary emergency borrowing authority. Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to extend to the 1980 and 1981 crops of wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, and rice the farm and prevented planting disaster payment programs. Denies eligibility for such payments to anyone in any county in which federal crop insurance is generally offered for the agricultural commodity concerned.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1979
Youth Opportunity Wage Act of 1979 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to allow employers to employ youths between 16 and 20 years of age, without prior or special certification by the Secretary of Labor, at 85 percent of the minimum wage (or the applicable wage in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands) for 180 days, with the exception of youths employed by an employer at the minimum wage before the enactment of this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to insure against violations of such provisions. Prohibits employers from engaging in a pattern and practice of: (1) substituting younger workers employed at less than the minimum wage for older workers employed at or above the minimum wage; or (2) terminating the employment of some youths and employing other youths in order to gain continual advantage from the youth opportunity wage. Establishes rates of compensation and fines for such violations. Eliminates special subminimum wage provisions for full-time students.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the special tax treatment of church agency pension plans as qualified church plans. Provides that plans maintained by groups or associations of churches include individuals "substantially all" of whom are qualified beneficiaries. Allows such plans to retain accrued benefits, according to their terms, or to continue receiving contributions for up to five years for separated employees. Allows any plan which is determined to have failed to meet church plan requirements a grace period of 270 days, or any other period specified by the Secretary of the Treasury or a court in an adjudication of such an issue, to bring itself into compliance without becoming disqualified. Applies these provisions retroactively to 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that, for purposes of computing the allowable retirement plan exclusion and employer contributions allowance for church employees, all years of service for a church, church association, or an agency for such churches, shall be considered employment for one employer. Extends to church employees the same option presently enjoyed by employees of tax-exempt health and education organizations to elect alternative exclusion allowances for contributions to annuity contracts. Provides a minimum $10,000 allowance for annual additions to these contracts without regard to the amount of the employee's compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1979
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to make permanent the special tax treatment of church agency pension plans as qualified church plans. Provides that plans maintained by groups or associations of churches include individuals "substantially all" of whom are qualified beneficiaries. Allows such plans to retain accrued benefits, according to their terms, or to continue receiving contributions for up to five years for separated employees. Allows any plan which is determined to have failed to meet church plan requirements a grace period of 270 days, or any other period specified by the Secretary of the Treasury or a court in an adjudication of such an issue, to bring itself into compliance without becoming disqualified. Applies these provisions retroactively to 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1979
Amends title XVI (Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled) of the Social Security Act to require that aged, blind, or disabled aliens, as defined in title XVI, must have resided in the United States during the three years immediately preceding such aliens' application for benefits under title XVI. Exempts from the three-year requirement those aliens: (1) who are political refugees or parolees into this country; (2) with respect to whom the support agreement under the Immigration and Nationality Act is excused; and (3) certain blind or disabled individuals. Stipulates that such three-year requirement shall apply only to aliens applying for supplemental security income benefits under title XVI. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to stipulate that no immigrant shall be admitted into the United States unless: (1) at the time of application for admission a support agreement exists which states that the immigration sponsor shall provide such financial support as is necessary to maintain the immigrants' income at a dollar amount equal to the dollar amount such immigrant would receive under Title XVI of the Social Security Act, if such immigrant is aged, blind, or disabled as defined in title XVI, during the three-year period beginning on the date of admission of the immigrant; (2) such immigrant presents evidence of other means to provide the required support; or (3) such immigrant is designated as a parolee or political refugee without available means of private support. Authorizes the Attorney General, the immigrant, or any State which is making payments to such immigrant under any program based on need, to enforce such agreements in a civil action. Declares a support agreement excused and unenforceable if: (1) the sponsor dies or is adjudicated as bankrupt; (2) the alien becomes blind or disabled from causes arising after admission to the U.S.; (3) the sponsor can affirmatively demonstrate that his or her financial resources have diminished beyond the sponsor's control and that the sponsor is financially incapable of supporting the alien; or (4) judgment cannot be obtained in court because of circumstances unforeseeable to the alien at the time of admission.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1979
Establishes a Commission on the International Application of Antitrust Laws. Charges such Commission with examining the international aspects of United States antitrust laws and related statutes, court rules and administrative procedures, and with making recommendations to the President and to the Congress on the results of such study. Directs the President to appoint the 18 member Commission from the executive branch, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the private sector. Sets forth the organization and compensation of members and the powers of the Commission. Stipulates that any formal recommendation made by the Commission to the President and to the Congress must have the majority vote of the Commission as present and voting. Requires the Commission to submit its final report within one year after its first meeting. Terminates the Commission 60 days after it submits the report to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations as may be necessary to carry out the activities of the Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 1979
Unfair Foreign Competition Act of 1979 - Prohibits any person who imports any article into the United States from knowingly and purposely importing or selling such article at a price lower than the price for such article in the principal markets of the country of their production if: (1) sale at such price would necessarily and directly injure an industry, prevent, wholly or partially, the establishment of an industry in the United States, or restrain or monopolize trade and commerce in such article in the United States; and (2) such damage actually results from such sale. Establishes the maximum fine for violation of such prohibition at $50,000. Empowers a United States district court before which a proceeding is pending to enjoin the further importation or distribution of the alleged article (or similar articles) by a defendant who fails to comply with the orders or decrees of such court.
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1979
Affirms that farmer cooperatives are a vital and necessary element in maintaining and promoting the family farm system of food production. States that the Department of Agriculture and all appropriate budget appropriation review groups should recognize the need to reinforce and expand programs of cooperative research, service, education, and other cooperative assistance. Declares that the Department should: (1) establish an Office of Farmer Cooperatives to coordinate such programs; and (2) take other aggressive leadership toward expanding resources for cooperative work.
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1979
Amends the Rural Development Act of 1972 to extend the authorization of appropriations (at the current level, $20,000,000 per fiscal year) through fiscal year 1982 for rural development and small farm research and extension programs.
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1979
Declares it the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of State should seek the good offices of the Secretary General of the United Nations for the purpose of establishing a special investigatory commission charged with the responsibility of securing a full accounting of Americans listed as missing in Southeast Asia.
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1979
Small Business Loan Reform Act of 1979 - Amends the Small Business Act to empower the Small Business Administration (SBA) to guarantee or insure loans to small business concerns directly through banks and other private financial institutions. Requires the SBA to certify a financial institution according to published criteria developed in cooperation with appropriate regulatory agencies. Allows a financial institution to be certified to participate in the loan program if its respective regulator verifies that the institution has the necessary expertise to make small business loans. Stipulates that qualified financial institutions shall be responsible for all loan administration functions, including size determination of the small business concern, credit analysis, loan monitoring, and loan collection and liquidation. Stipulates that such SBA loans shall not: (1) be extended if financial assistance is otherwise available on comparable terms from non-Federal sources; (2) be insured in excess of 90 percent of the balance of the loan outstanding at the time of disbursement; (3) be made for a period exceeding ten years, except that portion of a loan made for the purpose of acquiring real property; and (4) exceed $350,000 each. Requires that lending institutions pay to the SBA a guarantee fee or insurance premiums. Stipulates that the amount of such fee shall be determined actuarially to cover all anticipated future loan losses. Authorizes the SBA to reimburse a qualified financial institution which has made a good faith effort to recover all unpaid amounts if there is a default on an SBA loan. Requires regulators in their routine examination or audit of financial institutions to review an appropriate number of outstanding SBA loans made under authority of this Act. Directs the SBA to examine annually small business lending companies. Requires regulators to determine if commonly accepted lending practices have been followed by financial institutions qualifying to make loans under authority of this Act. Allows the SBA to decertify a financial institution if in the course of the routine examination an unsatisfactory report is made or losses rise above a certain fixed percentage as determined by the SBA. Requires that a qualified financial institution file only an abbreviated report with the SBA, retaining all other information needed for compliance for examination by the regulator during the routine audit. Allows the SBA to require that only a small business concern receiving a loan under authority of this Act be certified as a small business according to SBA size standards. Establishes within the Treasury a separate revolving fund for guarantees or insurance which shall be available to the SBA without fiscal year limitation.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1979
States that the total funds which the executive branch may obligate for the travel and transportation expenses of its officers and employees during fiscal year 1980 shall not exceed an amount which is $500,000,000 less than the amount proposed therefor in the Budget of the United States for such fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to limit the recognition of gain from the sale of small business stock to the amount by which the gain from such sale exceeds the cost of small business stock purchased by the taxpayer within 18 months after the date of the sale. Defines "small business stock" as common or preferred stock of a domestic corporation which does not have passive income (e.g., rents, royalties, interest, etc.) for a taxable year in excess of 20 percent of its gross receipts, and which has equity capital not in excess of $25,000,000. Limits nonrecognition treatment to stock held by the taxpayer for more than 12 months. Provides for the reduction of the basis of the small business stock purchased by the taxpayer by the amount of gain which is not recognized due to the application of this Act. Provides for a three year statute of limitations for the assessment of tax deficiencies with respect to the gain from the sale of small business stock.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1979
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer an income tax credit equal to ten percent of his investment in incentive stock for a taxable year. Limits the dollar amount of such credit to $750 for a taxable year ($1,500 in the case of a joint return). Defines "incentive stock" as common or preferred stock which is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and which is part of an issue the sale price of which does not exceed $25,000,000. Requires the issuing corporation to be a domestic corporation and to have an equity capital not in excess of $25,000,000. Disqualifies, for purposes of the credit, incentive stock which: (1) is acquired more than 180 days after its issuance; (2) is acquired by a stock broker; (3) is redeemed by the issuing corporation; (4) is investment company stock; (5) is disposed of less than 12 months after its acquisition; and (6) is held by a trust or estate.
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1979
Expresses the gratitude of the Senate upon the retirement of the Honorable Clarence M. Mitchell, Junior, as chief legislative spokesman for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and for his contributions to the establishment of justice and equality in America.
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1979
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the President should withdraw the standby gasoline rationing plan submitted to Congress on March 1, 1979, and resubmit an amended plan to remedy interstate inequities with regard to gasoline rationing coupon distribution.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1979
Amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 to provide that the provisions of such Act shall not apply to stone mining or sand and gravel mining operations.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1979
Communications Act Amendments of 1979 - Title I: General - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to declare that such Act applies to, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has jurisdiction over: (1) all interexchange and international telecommunications and all transmission of electromagnetic energy by radio, which originates and/or is received within the United States; (2) all commerce in telecommunications and electronics equipment and services, information software, and information services; (3) the licensing and regulating of all radio stations; and (4) all persons engaged within the United States in such telecommunications or such transmission of energy by radio or such commerce. Directs the FCC to collect annual public resource fees based on the fair market value of licenses granted for the exclusive or shared use of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum, with specified exceptions. Directs the FCC to establish separate fee schedules according to each class of service, considering certain factors. Sets forth formulas for determining fees for VHF and UHF television and full-time radio broadcast licensees. Title II: Domestic and International Telecommunications; Rural Telecommunications Development - Directs the FCC to revise, reduce, or eliminate rules with respect to telecommunication services or carriers operating in a market as competition develops, such that the need for regulation or supervision accordingly diminishes. Declares that the sale, lease, or other provision of telecommunications equipment, information software, or information services (the creation, manipulation, and marketing of information in electronic form) shall not be deemed a telecommunications service (the electronic transfer of information from one location to another). Prohibits Category II carriers (as such term is defined in this Act), and carriers providing an exchange telecommunications service not subject to effective competition, from selling, leasing or otherwise marketing, and from producing or providing telecommunications equipment or electronic equipment, information software, or information service, except through a fully separated entity (not having common directors, officers, employees, or facilities and dealing at arms-length), unless the FCC determines that effective competition and consumer interests can be protected through certain accounting or structural safeguards. Authorizes State commissions having regulatory jurisdiction with respect to exchange services of carriers to permit certain exchange carriers to engage in such sales, leases, and marketing within such States. Prohibits Category II carriers from offering telecommunications equipment as an integral part of telecommunications service, with certain exceptions. Authorizes the FCC to set certain standards and labeling requirements for such equipment and to foster competition in such markets, but otherwise prohibits the FCC from regulating suppliers (that are not telecommunications carriers) of telecommunications or electronics equipment or of information software or services. Prohibits States from imposing special requirements, other than those generally applicable for electronics equipment, on the manufacture or marketing of such equipment for use with any telecommunications system. Sets forth criteria for determining regulation classification categories for entities providing telecommunications services as separable or integral parts of information or other nontelecommunications services. Requires the classification and regulation of all telecommunications carriers as either: (1) Category I carriers which provide only services subject to effective competition and which are not affiliated with a Category II carrier; or (2) Category II carriers, which provide national or regional telecommunications or other class of services not subject to effective competition. (Changes the term "common carrier" to "Category II carrier" throughout such Act). Directs the FCC to designate and regulate as Category II, any carrier authorized to provide telecommunications service both essential to the public interest and unlikely to be generally available at reasonable rates under competitive conditions. Sets forth criteria and procedures for such classification by the FCC. Limits the FCC to imposing only those requirements specifically set forth in this Act on Category I carriers. Authorizes the FCC to prescribe necessary and appropriate requirements for Category II carriers. Directs the FCC to order a Category II carrier not to provide or to discontinue providing a telecommunications service, whenever the FCC determines that such provision of service would be inconsistent with the purposes of this Act. Prohibits certain carriers which provide, without effective competition, "exchange" services (within a local area having a community of interest for economic, social and other purposes) from also providing certain interexchange services, or vice versa, except by means of a fully separate carrier or by permission of the FCC. Requires telecommunications carriers which provide exchange, interexchange, or international telecommunications services or facilities not subject to effective competition to establish: (1) physical connections with any other carrier upon request; and (2) through-routes (with charges, facilities, and regulations for such through-routes) upon an FCC order for joint operations. Authorizes the FCC to determine just and reasonable arrangements for such physical connections, through-routes, charges, or division of charges, whenever such carriers are unable to reach agreement. Prohibits the FCC from imposing requirements as to charges, practices, or conditions for services of Category I carriers. Requires Category II carriers: (1) to make available, on reasonable request, any of their interexchange telecommunications services which are not subject to effective competition; and (2) to establish just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory tariffs for such services. Requires all telecommunications carriers to provide to the FCC (and to the public, with certain exceptions) telecommunications operations information to enable: (1) the FCC and the public to monitor the activities of such carriers within the markets in which they operate; and (2) the FCC to carry out its duties under this Act. Authorizes the FCC to impose different information requirements on different categories of carriers. Requires Category II carriers to make public schedules showing charges, practices, and regulations for interexchange telecommunications services and through-routes. Requires that new or revised tariffs proposed by Category II carriers for telecommunications services not subject to effective competition be conditionally accepted or finally approved by the FCC before taking effect. Authorizes the FCC to facilitate public negotiation between such carriers and interested parties opposing such tariffs. Directs the FCC to hold hearings for good cause shown upon request, with the burden of proof on the carrier to show that such tariff is just and reasonable. Sets forth the procedure to be followed by a Category II carrier in establishing a new or revised tariff. Requires all such carriers providing interexchange telecommunications services subject to effective competition to file any new or revised tariff with the FCC. Permits interested parties to petition for hearing concerning the lawfulness of such tariff. Requires Category II carriers to file with the FCC copies of contracts, agreements, or arrangements with other carriers relating to traffic affected by such Act. Authorizes the Commission to require filing of other Category II carrier contracts and to waive filing requirements for minor contracts. Prohibits employees, officers, or directors of any Category II carrier, or persons directly or indirectly controlling or controlled by such carrier, from being officers or directors of: (1) significant customers expending more than $100,000 per year for such carrier's telecommunications services or equipment; (2) suppliers to such carrier of goods or services; (3) financial institutions; or (4) Category I carriers. Prohibits employees, officers, or directors of entities (except not-for-profit education institutions) with gross expenditures of more than $100,000 per year for telephone service or equipment purchase or rental from being officers or directors of Category II carriers, except with FCC permission by rule. Authorizes the FCC to make valuations of property owned or used by Category II carriers. Requires such carriers to notify the FCC of facilities construction, acquisition, or operation. Authorizes the FCC: (1) to require such carriers to obtain FCC certificates or other FCC authorization for such activities; and (2) to authorize long-term facilities construction plans for such carriers. Permits court injunction of such activities or of their effects on services when such activities or effects are contrary to the provisions of this Act. Authorizes the FCC to require such carriers to provide themselves with adequate or extended facilities to perform essential services. Requires that joint planning by two or more carriers for facilities for switched public message telephone service be done under FCC auspices. Authorizes the FCC to permit temporary or emergency augmentation, discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of facilities or services. Authorizes the FCC to prescribe the forms of accounts, records, and memoranda to be kept by carriers. Directs the FCC to prescribe guidelines to accomplish a complete accounting divestiture of competitive services or products from the non-competitive services of carriers. Directs the FCC to notify State authorities and interested parties of the application of one or more carriers to consolidate properties or to acquire any part of the property of or control of another carrier. Requires a public hearing in such cases when requested by a carrier, an association of carriers, a State commission, or local governmental authority. Authorizes the FCC to order such hearings on its own motion or upon the request of a member of the public, where the FCC determines that substantial questions are raised as to whether the purposes of this Act are being served by such consolidation, acquisition, or control. Terminates, 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, all practices and procedures prescribed by the FCC for allocating the costs of exchange operations among local exchange, intrastate toll, and interstate toll services. Requires, thereafter, all interexchange carriers to reimburse local exchange carriers directly for actual costs. Establishes a basic exchange maintenance program consisting of surcharges on all interexchange carriers, with proceeds going to local exchange facility operators. Grants jurisdiction to the FCC over intraexchange facilities used to originate, terminate, or transfer interexchange telecommunications. Authorizes the FCC to ensure that there is no unlawful discrimination in the use and pricing of exchange facilities. Directs the FCC to establish a special permanent Joint Board to implement and manage the basic exchange maintenance program established by this Act. Directs the Board to establish and collect into a fund fees from all interexchange carriers and to disburse amounts to each local exchange operator according to specified formulas. Extends pole attachment regulations to cover cooperative telephone companies. Requires utility pole owners to provide reasonable access to telecommunications carriers providing cable television services. Requires States to define the geographic configuration of exchange telecommunications areas within their borders, or, in conjunction with other States where any such area extends outside of State borders. Requires that exchange area boundaries not extend beyond those of any standard metropolitan statistical area and that every point within a State be included in an exchange area. Authorizes the FCC to redefine exchange areas in certain cases. Prohibits telecommunications carriers which provide telecommunications service not subject to effective competition from providing cable television services, unless specifically permitted by the FCC. Directs the FCC to require conditions adequate to achieve separation of cable television services from noncompetitive telecommunications services. Declares, for purposes of a 1956 American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) consent decree, that any information or telecommunications equipment or telecommunications services provided by AT&T be deemed regulated common carrier communications services or equipment. Directs the FCC: (1) to limit the number of facilities of telecommunications carriers owned or controlled in common by any person; and (2) to limit or prohibit ownership or control of such facilities alone or in combination with other media interests so as to promote telecommunications media diversity and competition and avoid excessive concentrations of media control. Authorizes the establishment of the International Facilities Management Corporation, a nonprofit corporation separate from the Federal Government. Transfers to the Corporation all the duties, responsibilities, rights, and privileges heretofore assigned: (1) to Comsat for satellite international telecommunications; and (2) to all other U.S. telecommunications carriers for other international telecommunications. Requires annual Corporation reports to Congress and the President. Requires that the U.S. portion of all international transmission facilities of the corporation be owned by a consortium of those international carriers which have established requisite operating agreements with foreign correspondents, subject to the planning, management, and operational control of the Corporation. States that, in return for the transfer of assets to the consortium, carriers shall be entitled to use a proportionate share of the available capacity for services provided by the consortium. Provides for the acquisition by the consortium of the Government's interest in the Corporation. Directs the President to supervise the Corporation in foreign policy matters. Directs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to assist the Corporation in specified ways. Authorizes and directs the FCC to regulate the Corporation in specified instances and matters. Requires the Corporation to notify the Department of State of any foreign business negotiations. Establishes provisions for equitable relief from any violations of this Act by the Corporation or any other person. Requires international telecommunications carriers: (1) to establish physical connections with any domestic telecommunications carrier, upon reasonable request, on nondiscriminatory terms; and (2) to allocate foreign-originated traffic and unrouted domestically-originated international traffic (and an appropriate share of revenues therefrom ) among domestic carriers according to a specified FCC formula. Designates every international carrier as a Category II carrier (not subject to effective competition), subject to FCC regulation of tariffs, interconnections, and other conditions. Requires telecommunications carriers seeking to provide both domestic and international telecommunications services to establish fully separated entities for either of such services, such entities to be also subject to FCC regulation. Prohibits international telecommunications carriers which provide international public message telephone service not subject to effective competition from providing any other international telecommunications service. Establishes the Rural Telecommunications Planning Program, administered jointly by the Secretaries of Commerce and of Agriculture. Makes available to regional, State, and local applicants planning project grants for the development and improvement of rural telecommunications services. Limits the amounts of such grants to 75 percent of the reasonable and necessary costs of a planning project. Provides for review of such planning projects. Directs such Secretaries, in consultation with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and with other public service agencies, to establish additional criteria to be used by the Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration in determining eligibility for rural telecommunications construction project loans (also amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to add such criteria). Directs the FCC to compile and publish, and then revise or eliminate, all rules, regulations, and policies having a direct and significant effect on the provision of telecommunications services to rural populations, weighing the benefits from diversity of ownership or control of telecommunications and other media and from intramedia competition with the necessity of permitting common ownership or control in areas where telecommunications and other public services would not otherwise be likely to be or become available. Title III: Broadcasting - Increases the terms of broadcast licenses to: (1) indefinite periods of time for radio stations; (2) no longer than five years for television stations; and (3) no longer than ten years for any other class of stations. Provides for the renewal of such licenses. Directs the FCC to conduct a random review of five percent of the radio broadcast stations which have been licensed for at least one year. Prohibits the FCC from considering as basis for license revocation or other disciplinary action, any failures or violations of a radio or television licensee or permittee which occurred more than five years before coming to FCC attention. Prohibits the FCC, in considering broadcast station license renewal applications where there are duly filed competing applications for the same facilities, from considering: (1) ownership interests or official connections of the applicant in other broadcast stations or other nonbroadcast communications media (unless the FCC does not have in effect a generally applicable rule prohibiting or restricting such interests or connections); or (2) the degree of ownership participation in station management. Stipulates that: (1) any broadcast station construction begun prior to the grant of an FCC permit shall be at the risk of the applicant; and (2) the FCC may grant a permit for construction undertaken prior to grant. Prohibits the FCC from considering the fact of such construction or the costs incurred thereby in determining whether to grant such a permit. Authorizes the FCC to prescribe or continue in force such rules and regulations governing the terms and conditions of broadcast signal retransmission by telecommunications carriers or channel programmers as are necessary to preserve local broadcast program origination by a radio or television broadcasting licensee or group of licensees within a local market. Requires an FCC evidentiary finding that such origination would be diminished in the absence of such rules limiting or restricting the number or source, or requiring deletion, of such signals. Authorizes the FCC to exempt from such rules certain carriers or categories of carriers or channel programmers whenever such rules are unnecessary to preserve local broadcast program origination. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Makes certain conforming amendments to the procedural and administrative provisions of this Act. Title V: National Commission on Spectrum Management - Establishes the National Commission on Spectrum Management as an independent instrumentality of the United States. Directs such Commission to study, investigate, and recommend appropriate administrative action and legislation to improve the allocation, assignment, and authorization of use of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum. Directs such Commission to report to Congress and the President within 18 months after the confirmation of its chairman. Title VI: Conforming Amendments; Repealer; Reference - Makes certain conforming amendments in the U.S. Criminal Code and the Clayton Act. Repeals Titles I through IV of the Communications Satellite Act of 1962. Provides for a transition of FCC authority.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1979
Soft Drink Interbrand Competition Act - Declares that exclusive territorial arrangements made as a part of a licensing agreement for the manufacture, distribution, or sale of a trademarked soft drink product are lawful under the antitrust law provided such product is in substantial and effective competition with other products for the same general class in the relevant market or markets. Prohibits recovery in private actions under the Clayton Act based on territorial provisions in a trademark licensing agreement prior to a final determination that such provisions are unlawful.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1979
Farm Entry Assistance Act - Title I: States the findings of Congress, and the purposes of this Act. Title II: Establishment of Farm Entry Assistance Program - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program to provide financial assistance to individuals who are seeking to establish and operate full-time family farms. Prescribes the general criteria for State programs. Title III: Application for the Program - Limits qualification for such assistance to applicants who: (1) are seeking to operate a family farm; (2) are entering farming on a full-time basis for the first time during the ten years prior to the date of application; (3) have been denied credit on reasonable terms from a commercial source and the Farmers Home Administration, and could not obtain credit without the program's assistance; (4) demonstrate they are qualified to operate a family farm on a full-time basis; and (5) have net worths of less than $75,000 in 1979 dollars. Title IV: Federal Assistance to Applicants through State Agencies - Directs the Secretary to make available to qualified applicants guarantees of not more than 90 percent of the principal and interest of certain loans, not more than 90 percent of payments due under certain leases or contracts. Subjects to the specified guidelines of this program: (1) loans for the purchase of farmland, for operating purposes, or for both; (2) payments on a land purchase contract with a ten-year repayment period; and (3) payments on leases of not more than ten years. Requires the availability of guarantees for other State programs consistent with specified requirements. Prescribes the general procedures the Secretary is to follow in the event of defaults by any beneficiary on such guaranteed loans, contract obligations, or leases. Title V: Funding - Directs the Secretary to make available not more than $400,000,000 in guarantees for each of the four fiscal years following the first fiscal year commencing at least one year after enactment. Prescribes a general allocation formula for distribution of such guarantees among participating States. Creates a Farm Entry Assistance Fund for the discharge of the obligations of the Secretary under contracts guaranteeing loans or leases under this Act. Title VI: Reports - Requires the Secretary to report annually on the operation of the program to the appropriate committees of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1979
Product Liability Partial Self-Insurance Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction to any business enterprise engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution, lease, or sale of any product for contributions to its product liability trust account and for amounts paid to a captive insurer (wholly or partially-owned by the taxpayer) for product liability insurance. Specifies the amount a taxpayer may deduct, based upon the ability of such taxpayer to obtain insurance through conventional channels. Disallows any deductions for product liability losses which do not exceed the sum of the total trust funds in the taxpayer's account at the beginning of the taxable year plus the amount of deductible payments made by the taxpayer to the account during such year. Imposes penalties for the improper use of product liability reserve funds. Treats amounts accumulated in the taxpayer's product liability trust account as amounts accumulated for reasonably anticipated business needs, for purposes of avoiding the accumulated earnings tax.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1979
Grants the Court of Claims jurisdiction over claims against the United States for certain losses sustained by producers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or other persons resulting from the ban on apparel, fabric, yarn, or fiber containing Tris phosphate. Directs such court to consider certain factors in determining the validity of such claims. Prohibits the inclusion of lost profits, proceeds from distress sales, attorney's fees, or interest on any such loss in determining the amount of losses for which such claims are brought. Sets forth the measure of losses for specified types of claimants.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1979
Directs the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to appoint two individuals to serve as cochairpersons of a team of observers of the election in Rhodesia. Requires the team to observe such election and to report to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1979
Small Business Private Investment Act of 1979 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit against the individual income tax for incentive stock (original issue common or preferred stock) acquired in a domestic corporation whose equity capital does not exceed $25,000,000 immediately before the unrestricted public offering of such stock. Specifies the amount of such credit to be an amount equal to the sum of: (1) ten percent of the first $10,000 of such taxpayer's adjusted basis; plus (2) five percent of any other amount of such adjusted basis. Limits such credit to $3,000 annually ($6,000 in the case of a married individual filing a joint return).
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1979
University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act - States that it is the objective of this Act to amend existing patent procedures in order to promote the marketing of inventions developed under federally supported research and development projects by nonprofit organizations and small business firms. Permits any such organization or firm to elect, within a reasonable amount of time, to retain title to such inventions. Permits Federal agencies which have supported such projects to retain title to inventions through their funding agreements in specified circumstances. Requires review of agency determinations that such circumstances exist by the Comptroller General and the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the implementation of this Act by Federal agencies. Enumerates provisions which must be included in funding agreements between a Federal agency and a small business firm or nonprofit organization including provisions: (1) to insure the rights of the Federal Government under this Act; (2) to provide that the agency shall have a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable and paid-up license to use the invention; (3) to prohibit a nonprofit organization from assigning rights to the invention without the approval of the Federal agency; (4) to prohibit such an organization from granting exclusive rights from the earlier of five years from the first commercial use of the invention or eight years from the date of invention; and (5) to require such organizations to use their royalties and earnings to support scientific research or education. Authorizes a Federal agency to transfer or assign its rights, acquired from an agency employee as coinventor, to an inventor electing to acquire title to an invention. Empowers any Federal agency to require inventors or their assigns to grant licenses in order to: (1) achieve practical application of the invention in its field of uses; (2) alleviate health or safety needs; (3) meet requirements for public use specified by Federal regulations; or (4) achieve participation by United States industry in the manufacture of an invention. Entitles the government to collect up to 50 percent of all net income above specified amounts received by a patent holder until government research funds have been repaid. Restricts the assignment and licensing of rights by patent holders to foreign owned or controlled firms unless such persons agree that any products embodying the subject invention or produced through the use of the subject invention will be manufactured substantially in the United States. Authorizes Federal agencies to withhold information on inventions from public disclosure. Specifies the authority of Federal agencies with respect to obtaining patents, promoting licensing of inventions, granting licenses, conducting market surveys, transferring custody of patents, and receiving funds. Authorizes the Administrator of General Services to promulgate regulations specifying the terms upon which any federally-owned invention may be licensed. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to coordinate a program for assisting Federal agencies in protecting and licensing federally-owned inventions. Sets forth the procedure whereby Federal agencies may grant exclusive or partially exclusive licenses in any invention covered by a federally-owned domestic patent or patent application. Prohibits licensing which lessens competition. Directs that small business firms be given preference in exclusive or partially exclusive licensing. Enumerates provisions which must be contained in any grant of a license by a Federal agency. Declares that this Act shall take precedence over any other Act in the disposition of inventions.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 1979
Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to eliminate the requirement that the package label of margarine or oleomargarine bear such words in typeface or lettering as large as any other typeface or lettering, or that the individually wrapped contents of such a package also bear such words. Repeals the requirement that public eating places when serving margarine or oleomargarine must either so label each separate serving or serve each such serving in a triangular shape. Requires only that such product be labeled in a manner likely to be understood by the ordinary patron.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 1979
Federal Administrative Improvements in Reports Act - Title I: Review of Reporting Forms - Terminates, three years after enactment of this Act, all reporting requirements imposed on small businesses by Federal agencies. Requires each agency to review its reporting forms within such period and to propose and submit to Congress new forms to become effective on such date. Directs each agency to: (1) consult with small business representatives; (2) consider the impact of proposed forms on small businesses; and (3) reduce the number of forms previously required by 50 percent. Prohibits the use of any proposed form which is disapproved by either House of Congress within 60 calendar days of continuous session after submission. Implements the provisions of this title every seven years after the end of the initial three-year period. Exempts the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from specified provisions of this title. Requires the Commissioner of the IRS to: (1) review its reporting forms; (2) eliminate any forms which require responses by small businesses more than once each year; (3) propose new forms; (4) reduce the number of forms required; (5) consult small business representatives; and (6) report to Congress every two years on action taken to implement these provisions. Title II: Pilot Testing Programs - Requires specified reporting forms required by a final rule to be distributed to a selected cross sample of small businesses in a pilot test survey. Specifies the information to be solicited through such survey which includes: (1) a description of any problems the respondent encounters in completing form requirements; and (2) an identification of any requirements which duplicate requirements of other forms. Directs each agency to: (1) maintain a file of survey responses; and (2) publish the problems identified through the survey and the planned agency actions to alleviate such problems. Subjects the reporting forms to the provisions of the Federal Reports Act and requires the submission of all forms to the Office of Advocacy in the Small Business Administration. Makes it the responsibility of the Office of Management and Budget to oversee the implementation of this Act and to certify that reporting forms submitted to Congress are not duplicative of existing forms.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1979
Brown Lung Disease Act of 1979 - Directs the Secretary of Labor to compile and publish a list of State workers' compensation laws found to provide adequate coverage for byssinosis ("brown lung disease", arising out of employment in a textile plant), utilizing specified criteria. Subjects such a determination to judicial review in an appropriate circuit court. Requires any claim for death or total disability due to byssinosis to be filed under the State workers' compensation law, but entitles a worker or surviving family members to claim benefits under this Act during any period when such persons are not covered by a State law providing adequate coverage. Specifies the amounts of benefits to which retired and other workers suffering from byssinosis are entitled to be paid by the Secretary. Provides that such benefit payments shall be reduced by the amount of payments received from certain other sources, such as workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, disability insurance, or a percentage of Social Security benefits. Directs the Secretary, in conjunction with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, to establish standards for determining whether a worker is, or deceased worker was, totally disabled from byssinosis. Makes every employer liable for the securing of benefits equal to or greater than those provided by this Act. Sets forth the means by which such an employer shall secure the payment of such benefits during any period in which the State workers' compensation law is not found to provide adequate coverage. Stipulates that this Act does not relieve any employer of the duty to comply with any State workers' compensation law and that any such law which provides greater benefits shall not be construed to conflict with this Act. Provides that during any period in which a State workers' compensation law is not included on the list published by the Secretary, certain provisions of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act shall be applicable. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts with and make grants to public and private agencies and organizations and individuals for the construction, purchase, and operation of fixed site and mobile clinical facilities for the analysis, examination, and treatment of respiratory and pulmonary impairments in active and inactive textile plant workers. Requires the Secretary to initiate research within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and authorizes the Secretary to make research grants to public and private agencies and organizations and individuals for the purpose of devising a simple and effective test to measure, detect, and treat respiratory and pulmonary impairments in active and inactive textile plant workers.
United States · United States Congress · 1 February 1979
Disapproves the proposed deferral of budget authority deferral D79-6 to promote and develop fishery products and research pertaining to American fisheries, as transmitted by the President to the Congress on October 2, 1978, pursuant to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
![Official portrait of Sen. Hollings, Ernest F. [D-SC]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h000725_200.jpg)