United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Authorizes the widows of former members of the armed forces of the United States, who are entitled to dependency or indemnity compensation or death compensation if the Member prior to his death was totally disabled, to use the services and facilities of post exchanges and commissaries. (Adds 10 U.S.C. 1041)
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Energy Disaster Assistance Act - States that the Governor of a State may request a determination that an energy emergency or energy disaster exists in any area in his State based upon his finding that the shortage or price of energy materials is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capability of the State and local governments affected. Provides that, during any energy emergency determined in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the President or the appropriate agency head is authorized: (1) to direct the delivery of energy supplies to the affected area; (2) to allocate energy supplies among distributors thereof in the affected area and to establish priorities for allocation of energy supplies to categories of end users; (3) to establish an energy conservation program in the affected area; (4) to make emergency energy loans to individuals, families, and public or nonprofit organizations performing essential public services; and (5) to furnish technical assistance and make loans to reestablish disrupted sources of energy supplies or to establish new sources of energy supplies in the affected area. Authorizes the President or the appropriate agency head with the approval of the President: (1) by order, to direct the head of any Federal agency to terminate any contract for the procurement of energy supplies or to suspend performance under any such contract where such action is necessary in order to provide additional energy supplies in the affected area; (2) to establish price ceilings at all levels for one or more types of energy supplies; and (3) to impose compulsory energy conservation programs. Authorizes necessary appropriations to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Provides for the coverage of clinical psychologists' services under the supplementary medical insurance benefits program established by title XVIII (Medicare) Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Allows an additional income exemption under the Internal Revenue Code for a taxpayer or his spouse who is deaf or blind (presently the exemption is only for the blind). Defines "deafness: and "deaf-blind" for the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
New American Health Services Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to make grants to the individual States for the purpose of insuring high quality comprehensive health services for immigrants residing in the United States. Provides for the establishment and support of: (1) health services projects; (2) counseling and educational programs; and (3) related evalutation efforts. Sets forth conditions which applications for grants under this Act must meet in order to receive consideration for approval. Directs that the Secretary shall not finally disapprove a State plan except after reasonable notice and opportunity for a hearing to the State. Declares that individuals who have resided in the United States for more than five years shall not be considered (aliens) immigrants for the purposes of this Act. Authorizes to be appropriated to carry out the purposes of this Act $50,000,000 for fiscal year 1976, $70,000,000 for fiscal year 1977; and $80,000,000 for fiscal year 1978.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Establishes in Congress the Joint Committee on National Security, composed of 25 members of Congress, including the Speaker, majority and minority leaders in both Houses, the chairmen and ranking minority members of the House and Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, Senate Foreign Relations, House Foreign Affairs and the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, plus 3 members each from the House and Senate. Provides that the joint committee shall have the following functions: (1) to make a continuing study of U.S. foreign, domestic and military policies and the integration thereof; (2) to study the activites of the National Security Council; and (3) to study document classification procedures. Requires an annual report to both Houses on its activities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Adoption Opportunity Act - Allows, under the Internal Revenue Code, a deduction (up to $1,000 per child) from gross income for social agency, legal, and related expenses incurred in connection with the adoption of a child by a taxpayer. Defines, for the purposes of this Act, the term "adoption expense".
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Equal Opportunity and Full Employment Act - Directs the President, with the assistance of the Council of Economic Advisors, to transmit annually a full employment and production program to the Congress. Sets forth a summary of the content to be contained in such annual report. Provides for annual Labor Reports of the President. Requires the Labor Reports to provide detailed attention on a continuing and progressively analytical basis to the changing volume and composition of the American labor supply. Renames the United States Employment Service as the United States Full Employment Service. Creates a Job Guarantee Office in the United States Full Employment Office headed by a Job Guarantee Officer whose responsibility is to provide useful and rewarding employment for any American, able and willing to work but not yet working, unable otherwise to obtain work, and applying to such office for assistance. Directs the Job Guarantee Office to carry out responsibilities under this Act upon the recommendation and approval of the local planning councils. Requires that each Job Guarantee Office in carrying out its responsibilities shall insure that among projects planned that adequate consideration be given to such individuals and groups as may face special obstacles in finding and holding useful and rewarding employment and shall provide, or have provided through the coordination of existing programs, special assistance including but not limited to counseling, training, and, where necessary, transportation and migration assistance. Provides that such individuals and groups shall include (1) those suffering from past or present discrimination or bias on the basis of sex, age, race, color, religion, or national origin; (2) older workers and retirees; (3) the physically or mentally handicapped; (4) youths to age 21; (5) potentially employable recipients of public assistance; (6) the inhabitants of depressed areas, urban and rural; (7) veterans of the Armed Forces; (8) people unemployed because of the relocation, closing, or reduced operations in industrial or military facilities; and (9) such other groups as the President or the Congress may designate from time to time. Directs that each Job Guarantee Office may, subject to the limitations specified in this Act, enter into agreements with public agencies and private organizations operating on a profit, nonprofit, or limited-profit basis. Requires such agreements to contain assurances that the agency or organization will: (1) provide an annual independent audit to the Job Guarantee Office; and (2) not discriminate on the grounds of sex, age, race, color, religion, or national origin in the administration of any program encompassed within the agreement. Directs the Job Guarantee Office to: (1) refer jobseekers to the private sector and general public sector employment placement facilities of the Full Employment Service (other than as supplemented by this Act); and (2) directly refer jobseekers for placement in positions on projects drawn from the reservoir of public service and private employment projects. Provides that anyone who presents himself or herself in person at the full Employment Office shall be considered prima facie "willing and able" to work. Provides that this stipulation specifically shall include persons with impairments of sight, hearing, movement, coordination, mental retardation, or other handicaps. Directs that this stipulation be implemented by the Job Guarantee Officer, prusuant to regulations issued by the Secretary. Establishes a Standby Job Corps which shall consist of jobseekers registered pursuant to this Act. Provides that such Corps shall be available for public service work upon projects and activities that are approved as a part of community public service work reservoirs established by community boards pursuant to this Act. Directs the Secretary, by regulation, to provide for: (1) a requirement that jobseekers registered in the Standby Job Corps maintain a status of good standing, which status shall include attendance and performance standards; and (2) a system of compensation for Corps members. Provides that no Standby Job Corps members shall be paid less than the minimum wage in effect in the area. Directs the Joint Economic Committee to: (1) annually review the activities of the executive branch under all sections of this Act; (2) regularly conduct on its own behalf, or in cooperation with or through the facilities of the appropriate legislative committees or subcommittees of the Senate and the House, public hearings in as many labor market areas as feasible; and (3) annually report upon, with its own conclusions and recommendations, the development and administration of the policies and programs mandated by this Act. Establishes a National Institute for Full Employment within the Department of Labor, under a director to be appointed by the Secretary of Labor, and to operate in continuing consultation with a National Commission for Full Employment Policy Studies. Authorizes and directs the Institute to make, or have made through grants to or contracts with individual researchers and private or public research organizations, universities, and other Government agencies, studies that shall include, but need not be limited to, such subjects as: (1) the policies and programs needed to reduce whatever inflationary pressures may result from full employment to manage any such inflationary pressures through appropriate fiscal policies and indirect and direct controls, and to protect the weaker groups in society from whatever inflationary trends cannot be avoided or controlled; (2) the identification of human potentialities that are hidden, undeveloped, or underdeveloped because of the lack of suitable job opportunities, encouragement, education, or training and of various ways of releasing such potentialities; (3) the forms of education and training needed to help provide people with the skills, knowledge, and values required by existing employment opportunities and technologies and needed to assist in developing such new types of goods, services, technologies, and employment opportunities as may better meet human needs; and (4) the policies and programs needed to substantially eliminate substandard employment, wages, and working conditions and the techniques for establishing standards for employment, wages, and working conditions in accordance with changing levels of national output and resources, and regional variations in output. Authorizes the appropriation for fiscal year 1977, and for each succeeding fiscal year of such sums as may be needed to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Provides that the charge to a household for its food stamp allotment under the Food Stamp Act of 1964 shall not exceed the lesser of (1) the level established as of January 1, 1975, or (2) 25 percent of the household's income. Provide that effective July 1, 1975, households in which all members receive supplemental security income benefits under the Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled program of the Social Security Act, or households in which all members are included in a federally aided public assistance or general assistance grant shall be certified for participation in the food stamp program under this Act. States that certification of all other households shall be based on the uniform national standards for eligibility required to be established under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Provides, under the Internal Revenue Code, that real property which is farmland, woodland, or open land and forms part of an estate may be valued, for estate tax purposes, at its value as farmland, woodland, or open land (rather than at its fair market value). Provides that real property which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places may be valued, for estate tax purposes, at its value for its existing use. Provides for the revocation of such lower valuation and recapture of unpaid tax with interest upon the conversion, sale, or rezoning of such property for another use.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Provides for the referral, under title XVI of the Social Security Act (Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled) for appropriate services provided by other State agencies, of blind or disabled children who are receiving supplemental security income benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Health Security Act - Title I: Health Security Benefits - Provides that every resident of the U.S. (and every non-resident citizen when in the U.S.) will be eligible for covered services. Permits reciprocal and "buy-in" agreements for groups of non-resident aliens, and in some cases benefits to U.S. residents when visiting in other countries. Entitles every eligible person to have payments made by the Health Security Board for covered services provided within the United States by a participating provider. Provides that all necessary professional services of physicians, wherever furnished are covered, including preventive care, with two important restrictions: (1) specialist services are covered only when performed by a qualified specialist except in emergency situations, and generally only on referral from a primary physician; and (2) psychiatric services to an ambulatory patient are covered only for active preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic or rehabilitative service with respect to mental illness. Provides that comprehensive dental services (exclusive of most orthodontic services) are covered for children under age 15, with the covered age group increasing by two years each year until all those under age 25 are covered. Provides that: (1) inpatient and outpatient hospital services and services of a home health agency are covered without arbitrary limitation; (2) pathology and radiology services are specifically included as parts of institutional services; and (3) custodial care is specifically excluded in specified institutional settings. Limits payment for skilled nursing home care to 120 days, except that this limit may be increased when the nursing home is owned or managed by a hospital and payment for care is made through the hospital's budget. Limits the psychiatric hospital benefit to 45 consecutive days of active treatment during a spell of illness. Provides coverage for two categories of drug use: prescribed medicines administered to inpatients or outpatients within participating hospitals; or to enrollees of comprehensive group practice organizations, and drugs necessary for the treatment of specified chronic illnesses or conditions requiring long or expensive therapy. Requires the Board and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to establish two lists of approved drugs, taking into account the safety, efficacy and cost of each drug. Provides a broad list of approved medicines available for use in institutions and by comprehensive health service organizations and a more restricted list which is available for use outside such organized settings. Provides that the appliances benefit is similar in concept and operation to the drug benefit, subject to a limitation on aggregate cost. Asserts that the professional services of optometrists and podiatrists are covered, subject to regulations, as are diagnostic or therapeutic services furnished by independent pathology laboratories and radiology services. States that health services furnished or paid for under a workmen's compensation law are not covered. Provices that the services of a professional practitioner are not covered if they are furnished in a hospital which is not a participating provider. Requires that participating providers meet standards established in this title or by the Board. Requires that such providers must agree to provide services without discrimination, to make no unauthorized charge to the patient for any covered service, and to furnish data necessary for utilization review by professional peers, statistical studies by the Board, and verification of information for payments. Makes professional practitioners, licensed when the program begins, eligible to practice in the State where they are licensed and requires that all newly licensed applicants for particiaption meet national standards established by the Board in addition to those required by his State. Establishes conditions of participation for general hospitals similar to those required under Medicare. States that the two requirements not found in the Medicare program are: (1) that the hospital must not dsicriminate in granting staff privileges on any grounds unrelated to professional qualifications; and (2) that it establish a pharmacy and drug therapeutics committee for supervision of hospital drug therapy. Provides that psychiatric hospitals will be eligible to participate only if the Voard finds that the hospital (or a distinct part of the hospital) is engaged in furnishing active diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative services to mentally ill patients. Establishes conditions of participation for skilled nursing homes similar to those established for extended care facilities under Medicare. Makes provisions for the participation of home health service agencies. Describes as eligible a group practice organization which undertakes to provide an enrolled population either with complete health care or with complete health security services (other than institutional services, mental health or dental services) for the maintenance of the health and care of ambulatory patients. Permits an individual practice organization sponsored by a county or other local medical society to participate as a provider of services. Authorizes the Board to deal separately with the primary care portion of a system of comprehensive health care where it is necessary to rely on arrangements with other providers. Permits the Board to contract directly with public or other nonprofit mental health centers and mental health day care services. Specifies the broad and general conditions under which independent pathology laboratories, independent radiological services, and providers of drugs, devices, appliances, equipment, or ambulance services may qualify as providers under Health Security. Requires that a participating skilled nursing home have in effect an agreement with at least one participating hospital for the transfer of patients and medical and other information as medically appropriate. Prohibits in malpractice judgments any damages to be awarded to the injured party for the cost of remedial services which he is entitled to receive under this Act. Excludes the institutions of the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration, and institutions of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare serving merchant seamen or Indians or Alaskan natives, from serving as participating providers, as well as any employee of these instititions when he is acting as an employee. Provides reimbursement for any services furnished by these institutions or agencies to eligible persons who are not a part of their normal clientele. Permits a physician, dentist, optometrist, or podiatrist, licensed in one State and meeting the national standards, to furnish Health Security benefits in any other State, the scope of his permissible practice being governed by the law of the State in which he is practicing. Grants a similar authority to other health professional and nonprofessional personnel. Establishes the Health Security Trust Fund, to receive the net assets of existing (medicare) funds taken over by the Health Security program, the yield of the Health Security taxes, and the Government's contribution from general revenues amounting to 100 percent of the yield from these taxes. Provides that three separate accounts shall be established in the Health Security Trust Fund: a Health Service Account, a Health Resources Development Account, and an Administration Account. Provides that in each of the first two years of two years of the program operation, 2 percent of the Trust Fund shall be set aside for the Health Resources Development Fund; and the allocation shall increase by 1 percent at two-year intervals to 5 percent within the next 6 years. Provides for allocation of the Health Services account among the regions of the country. Provides that the allocation to each region shall be based on the aggregate sum expended during the most recent 12-month period for covered services (with appropriate modification for estimated changes in the consumer price index, the expected number of eligible beneficiaries, and estimated changes in the number of participating providers). Provides that the Board divide the allocation to each region into funds available to pay: institutional services; physician services; dental services; furnishing of drugs; furnishing of devices, applications, and equipment; and miscellaneous services. Provides that payments for covered services provided to eligible persons by participating providers will be made from the Health Service Account in the Trust Fund. Describes the method to be used in applying, as between practitioners electing the various methods of payment fee for service, the monies available in each health service area for payment to each category of professional providers. Authorizes the Board to experiment with other methods of reimbursement so long as the experimental method does not increase the cost of service or lead to overutilization or underutilization of services. Provides that skilled nursing homes and home health agencies will be paid in the same manner as a general hospital (on an approved annual budget basis). Provides that a group practice organization will be paid for covered services, on the basis of a fixed capitation rate multiplied by the number of eligible enrollees. Contains a series of provisions for developing a continuous process of health service planning and for assisting in the recruitment, education, and training of health personnel. Authorizes special improvement grants: (1) to any public or other nonprofit health agency or institution to establish improved coordination and linkages with other providers of services, and (2) to organizations providing comprehensive ambulatory care to improve their utilization review, budget, statistical, or records and information retrieval systems, to acquire equipment needed for those purposes, or to acquire equipment useful for mass screening or for other diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Authorizes to be appropriated under the development fund part of this Act $200,000,000 beginning the fiscal year when this Act is enacted and $400,000,000 for the succeeding fiscal year. Creates an administrative structure within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare with exclusive responsibility for administration of the Health Security program. Sets forth the responsibilities and duties of the Secretary of HEW and the Board with regard to this title. Establishes a five-member full-time Health Security Board serving under the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Provides that the members shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, for five-year overlapping terms. Creates the position of an Executive Director, appointed by the Board with the approval of the Secretary. Provides that the Executive Director shall serve as secretary to the Board and shall perform such duties in the administration of the program as the Board assigns to him. Provides that the program will be administered through the regional offices of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Requires the establishment of sub-regional (service area) offices. Establishes a National Health Security Advisory Council, with the Chairman of the Board serving as the Council's Chariman and 20 additional members not in the employ of the Federal Government. Authorizes the Advisory Council to appoint professional or technical committees to assist in its functions. Provides that the Advisory Council will advise the Board on matters of general policy in the administration of the program, the formulation of regulations and the allocation of funds for services. Charges the Board with responsibility for informing the public and providers about the administration and operation of the Health Security program. Requires the Board to make a continuing study and evaluation of the program, including adequacy, quality and costs of services. Authorizes the Board directly or by contract to make detailed statistical and other studies on a national, regional, or local basis of any aspect of the title; to develop and test incentive systems for improving quality of care, methods of peer review of drug utilization and of other service performances; to develop and test systems of information retrieval, budget programs, instrumentation for multiphasic screening or patient services, reimbursement systems for drugs; and to make such other studies which it considers would improve the quality of services of administration of the program. Grants authority to the Board, in accordance with regulations, to make determinations of who are participating providers of services, determinations of eligibility, of whether services are covered, and the amount to be paid to providers. Allows a provider of services who is dissatisfied with a final Board determination to obtain a hearing before a Board panel, and judicial review of a final decision. Authorizes the Board, with the advice and assistance of the Commission on the Quality of Health Care, to issue and review regulations assuring the quality of care furnished under this Act. Requires continuing professional education by physicians, dentists, optometrists, and podiatrists. Provides for the appointment of a Deputy Secretary of HEW and an Under Secretary for Health and Science. States that no provision of this Act shall alter any contractual obligation of an employer to provide health services to his employees and their dependents. Title II: Health Security Taxes - Converts the existing Medicare hospital insurance payroll taxes into Health Security taxes, and rasises the rates to 1 percent on employees and 3.5 percent on employers. Raises the wage base for the employee tax from the present $7,800 to $15,000,000 or, if higher 150 percent of the contribution and benefit base. Broadens the definitions of covered employment to include foreign agricultural workers, employees of the U.S. and its instrumentalities (other than members of the armed forces and the President, Vice-President, and Members of Congress), employees of charitable and similar organizations, railroad employees, and (for the employee tax only) employees of States and their political subdivisions and instrumentalities. Excludes from the gross income of employees, for income tax purposes, payment by their employers of part of all of the Health Security taxes on the employees. Spells out the precise effective dates of the new payroll tax provisions. Converts the existing Medicare self-employment tax into a Health Security self-employment tax, and raises the rate to 2.5 percent, and raises the maximum taxable self-employment income from $7,800 to $15,000. Adds a new 2.5 percent Health Security tax on unearned income (unless such income is less than $400 a year), subject to the same maximum on taxable income as is applicable to the employee and self-employment taxes. Title III: Commission on the Quality of Health Care - Establishes in the Department of HEW a Commission on the Quality of Health Care, with the primary responsibility of: (1) initiating and continuing development of methods of assessing the quality of health care furnished under the Health Security Act, and (2) submitting to the Secretary and the Health Security Board its findings and recommendations. Stipulates that in carrying out its duties the Commission shall emphasize, and give first consideration to, care furnished for those illnesses and conditions which have relatively high incidence in the population and which are relatively amenable to medical or other care. Title IV: Repeal or Amendment of Other Acts - Makes various conforming amendments to the medicare, medicaid vocational rehabilitation, and Federal employees health benefits statutes to bring it into conformity with this Act. Requires that after the effective date of benefits, no State shall be required to furnish any service covered under Health Security as a part of its State plan for participation under Medicaid, and that the Federal government will have no responsibility to reimburse any State for the cost of providing a service which is covered under Health Seucrity. Provides that funds available under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act or the Maternal and Child Health title of the Social Security Act shall not be used to pay for personal health services after the effective date of benefits, except (to the extent prescribed in regulations by the Secretary of HEW) to pay for services which are more extensive than those covered under Health Security. Title V: Studies Related to Health Security - Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in consulation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Treasury to study the coverage of health services for U.S. residents in other countries. Directs the Secretary of HEW to study the feasibility and desirability of coordinating the Federal health benefit programs for merchant seamen, and Indians and Alaskan natives, and veterans and members of the Armed Forces, with the Health Security Benefit Program.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Provides a tax credit under the Internal Revenue Code for 25 percent up to $250 ($125 in the case of a married individual filing separately) of the energy conserving residential expenditures incurred by a taxpayer during the taxable year. Authorizes the taxpayer to elect to deduct up to $1000 of such expenses in lieu of the credit provided by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Authorizes Federal reimbursement to the States for the construction of specified sewage treatment works constructed with financial assistance appropriated pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control set for any fiscal year beginning July 1, 1966, and ending June 30, 1971. (Amends 86 Stat. 838).
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Constitutional Amendment - Provides for the direct popular election of the President and Vice President. Provides that each voter shall cast a single vote for two persons who shall have consented to the joining of their names as candidates for the offices of President and Vice President. States that the persons joined as candidates for President and Vice President having the greatest number of votes shall be elected President and Vice President, if such number be at least 40 percent of the total number of votes cast. Stipulates that if, after such election, none of the persons joined as candidates for President and Vice President is elected, the Congress shall assemble in special session and choose immediately, from the two pairs of persons joined as candidates for President and Vice President who received the highest numbers of votes cast in the election, one such pair by ballot. States that the Congress may by law provide for the case of the death, inability, or withdrawal of any candidate for President or Vice President before a President and Vice President have been elected, and for the case of the death of both the President-elect and Vice-President-elect.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1975
Provides that all meetings of Senate committees shall be open to the public, unless the members of such committee determine by majority vote that the matters to be discussed or the testimony to be taken involve specified matters, including the following: (1) will disclose matters necessary to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or the confidential conduct of the foreign relations of the United States; (2) will relate solely to matters of committee staff personnel or internal staff management or procedure; or (3) will tend to charge an individual with crime or misconduct, to disgrace or injure the professional standing of an individual, or otherwise to expose an individual to public contempt or obloquy, or will represent a clearly unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual.
United States · United States Congress · 14 January 1975
Provides under the Standing Rules of the Senate, that if at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the Secretary call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question of whether it is the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close. States that if that question be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators present and voting, then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.
United States · United States Congress · 14 December 1974
Expresses the Senate disapproval of the proposed deferral of budget authority to carry out the comprehensive planning grants program under section 701 of the Housing Act of 1954 (numbered D75-107), set forth in the special message transmitted by the President to the Congress on November 26, 1974, under section 1013 of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 13 December 1974
Prohibits the breeding, training, and interstate shipment of dogs intended to be used in dogfights for the purposes of sport, wagering or entertainment. Prohibits the manufacture, sale or movement of equipment to be used in shows involving dogfights, and the providing of facilities for such shows. Forbids the use of the Postal Service, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television for the purpose of promoting such shows. Provides a fine of not more than $25,000, or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, and forfeiture of dogs and equipment involved, for violation of this Act. (Adds 18 U.S.C. 48).
United States · United States Congress · 13 December 1974
International Disaster Relief Act - Expresses the policy of Congress that prompt United States assistance to alleviate human suffering caused by natural and man-made disasters abroad is an important expression of the humanitarian concern and tradition of the American people, and affirms the willingness of the United States to provide assistance for the humanitarian relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of peoples and countries affected by such disasters. Authorizes the President to furnish assistance for disaster relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction in the case of disasters that require large-scale relief and rehabilitation efforts which cannot be met adequately with the funds available for obligation for disaster relief under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. States that assistance made available under this Act shall be distributed to the maximum extent practicable under the auspices and direction of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, other international organizations or arrangements, multilateral institutions, or private voluntary agencies. Authorizes appropriations to the President, in addition to funds which may otherwise be available for such purposes, for fiscal year 1975 not to exceed $100,000,000 to assist in meeting the international relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction needs caused by the massive flooding and food shortages in the People's Republic of Bangladesh, the civil and international strife in the Republic of Cyprus, the drought and famine conditions in the nations of Africa, the hurricane damage in Honduras, and for such other international disasters that require large-scale humanitarian assistance.
United States · United States Congress · 13 December 1974
Declares it to be the sense of the Senate that: (1) a special coordinator be appointed by the President to deal with both the short and long-term hunger problem expressed at the World Food Conference; (2) the coordinator will work with the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Agriculture, the Agency for International Development and other departments and agencies as required; (3) the coordinator will give priority attention to food aid requirements and availabilities and make recommendations concerning needs, availabilities and funding sources; the (4) the coordinator will develop a long-term program to implement the resolutions of the World Food Conference in conjunction with other departments and agencies; and (5) the coordinator should periodically provide to the American people reports on progress and plans relating to the world hunger problem.
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 1974
States that the Senate disapproves the proposed deferral of budget authority to carry out the homeownership assistance program under section 235 of the National Housing Act.
United States · United States Congress · 5 December 1974
Natural Gas Agricultural Priority Act - Provides, under the Natural Gas Act, a priority system for specified agricultural uses of natural gas. Directs the Federal Power Commission to prohibit any interruption or curtailment of natural gas and take such other steps as are necessary to assure as soon as possible the availability in interstate commerce of sufficient quantities of natural gas for use as a raw material feedstock or process fuel in the production of fertilizer, animal feed grade chemicals, essential agricultural chemicals, and for use in agricultural crop drying. Defines "sufficient quantities of natural gas" for purposes of this Act. Provides that the rule implemented by the Commission shall also apply with respect to the availability of natural gas sold in intrastate commerce in any State which has not, within ninety days, adopted a rule to implement the purposes of the first provision of this Act. Directs the Commission to, by rule, prohibit boiler fuel use of natural gas and propane in interstate and intrastate commerce not contracted for prior to the date of enactment of this Act by users other than residential or small commercial users unless, upon petition by a user, the Commission determines that enumerated criteria are met.
United States · United States Congress · 4 December 1974
Provides that the price of milk shall be supported at not less than 90 percent of the parity price for the period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending March 31, 1976.
United States · United States Congress · 4 December 1974
Establishes an Office of Intergovernmental Economic Policy Coordination within the Department of the Treasury to coordinate with State, county, and local governments the formulation of economic policy. Directs the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to conduct a study to determine what changes should be made in Federal government structure to assure meaningfull participation of State, county, and local governments in (1) economic policy formulation and (2) energy policy formulation. Authorizes to be appropriated sums necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 December 1974
Intergovernmental Emergency Heating Fuel Assistance Act - Declares it to be the policy of the United States to provide financial assistance payments to the States to help them pay for assistance to low-income families who cannot afford the cost of heating their homes this winter. Authorizes the Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration to make grants to States for assisting families with annual incomes of $8,000 or less to meet the high cost of acquiring heating fuel during the present energy emergency. Authorizes appropriations of $75,000,000 for fiscal year 1975 for the purpose of making such grants. Directs the Administrator to allot to each State an amount equal to the amount appropriated under this Act multiplied by the ratio obtained by multiplying the temperature factor of the State by the number of eligible families in the State and then dividing that product by the sum of such products for all States.
United States · United States Congress · 4 December 1974
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act - Provides that, for the purposes of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970, there is a State "emergency on" indicator for a week if there is a State or National "emergency on" indicator for such a week. Provides, for the same purposes, that there is a State "emergency off" indicator for a week if there is both a State and National "emergency off" indicator for such week. States that, with respect to the period which begins January 1, 1975, no emergency compensation shall be payable after a specified time pursuant to the provisions of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 relating to the payment of extended compensation. Changes the rate of insured unemployment definitive of a national "on" indicator from 4.5 to 4 percent for all States. Provides that there shall be paid to the States 100 percent of the sharable extended compensation and sharable regular compensation paid to individuals under State law.
United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1974
Economic Impact Act - Requries the Director of the Congressional Budget Office to prepare an economic impact statement for each bill or joint resolution reported in the Senate or the House of Representatives, each amendment proposed on the floor of Congress, and each rule or regulation proposed by any Federal agency. Provides that such a statement shall cover the fiscal year in which the bill or rule is proposed and each of the five following fiscal years, or the authorized duration of the bill's provisions, and shall analyze specified economic and social factors. Directs Federal agencies to provide all necessary assistance to the Director in carrying out his duties under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 November 1974
Tax Reform and Relief Act - Title I: Tax Relief for Low-and Middle-Income Taxpayers - States that at the election of the taxpayer, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1974, there shall be allowed, as a credit, an amount equal to $175 multiplied by the number of exemptions to which the taxpayer is entitled under section 151 of the Internal Revenue Code. Requires that such credit shall not exceed the tax imposed for the taxable year. Sets forth a special rule for exemptions for the taxable year 1974. Provides that there shall be allowed to a taxpayer who is an eligible individual as a credit an amount equal to a specified percentage of the social security taxes imposed on him and his employer with respect to wages received by the taxpayer during that year. States that the amount of the credit allowable to a taxpayer shall not exceed an amount equal to 10 percent of so much of his wages as does not exceed $4,000 received by that individual during that year with respect to employment, and that the amount of the credit shall be reduced by one-fourth of the amount by which a taxpayer's income exceeds $4,000. Provides that a taxpayer may receive an advance refund of the credit allowable to him not more frequently than quarterly by filing an election for such refund with the Secretary. States that if the taxpayer elects to base his claim for refund on social security taxes imposed on him, his spouse, and their employers, the election shall be a joint election signed by the taxpayer and his spouse. Title II: Amendments to Increase Revenues - Provides for the termination of special tax treatment for a Domestic International Sales Corporation (DISC). Imposes an excise tax on the windfall profits from domestic crude oil removed from the premises on every person entitled to a deduction for depletion with respect to the crude oil. States that each person liable for such tax shall be allowed, as a credit against such tax, an amount equal to such person's plowback investment for such taxable period. Defines "windfall profit" as the excess of the removal price over the adjusted base price. Sets forth provisions and regulations governing the imposition and collection of the windfall profits tax on crude oil. Provides, for a gradual phaseout of the percentage depletion allowance for domestic oil and natural gas production. Specifies special rules governing the taxation of foreign oil and gas income. Title III: Increases Incentive for Expanded Investment - Provides for an increase in the investment tax credit for expanded investment. Defines "expanded investment" as the amount by which the qualified investment of the taxpayer for such year exceeds the average amount of qualified investment of the taxpayer per taxable year, as determined on the 3 most recent previous taxable years, determined without regard to investment credit carryovers and carrybacks.
United States · United States Congress · 25 November 1974
Directs the United States Postal Service to issue a special postage stamp commemorating the World Food Conference held in Rome November 5 through November 16, 1974.
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1974
Energy Disaster Assistance Act - States that the Governor of a State may request a determination that an energy emergency or energy disaster exists in any area in his State based upon his finding that the shortage or price of energy materials is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capability of the State and local governments affected. Provides that, during any energy emergency determined in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the President or the appropriate agency head is authorized: (1) to direct the delivery of energy supplies to the affected area; (2) to allocate energy supplies among distributors thereof in the affected area to establish priorities for allocation of energy supplies to categories of end users; (3) to establish an energy conservation program in the affected area; (4) to make emergency energy loans to individuals, families, and public or nonprofit organizations performing essential public services; and (5) to furnish technical assistance and make loans to reestablish disrupted sources of energy supplies or to establish new sources of energy supplies in the affected area. Authorizes the President or the appropriate agency head with the approval of the President: (1) by order, to direct the head of any Federal agency to terminate any contract for the procurement of energy supplies or to suspend performance under any such contract where such action is necessary in order to provide additional energy supplies in the affected area; (2) to establish price ceilings at all levels for one or more types of energy supplies; and (3) to impose compulsory energy conservation programs. Authorizes necessary appropriations to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 1974
Petrodollar Reporting Act - Establishes in the Department of the Treasury a Task Force on Petrodollar to be composed of specified Cabinet and other Federal officers. States that the Task Force shall: (1) collect and analyze data on the use, transfer, and investment of foriegn exchange earnings by oil exporting nations, particularly nations comprising the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; (2) examine the implications of the flow of revenue received from abroad by oil exporting nations from the sale of oil produced by nations who are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as the flow of such revenue affects the United States and the world and consider appropriate action to deal effectively with such implications; and (3) report to the President and the Congress not less than 4 times in each fiscal year on the findings of the Task Force together with such recommendations as the Task Force determines necessary and appropriate. Grants to the Task Force the information gathering powers necessary to carry out its functions under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 1974
Tax Equity Act - Allows a tax credit, under the Internal Revenue Code, of $170 multiplied by the number of exemptions to which the taxpayer is entitled under the personal exemptions provisions. Allows a tax credit for low-income workers equal to the applicable percentage of the social security taxes with respect to wages received. Provides for an advanced refund of tax credits to low-income workers with families. Eliminates the designation of a corporation as a Domestic International Sales Corporation (DISC) under the Internal Revenue Code. Repeals the percentage depletion allowance for foreign oil and gas wells. Repeals the deduction for intangible drilling and development expenses related to foreign oil and gas wells. Reduces the amount allowable as a foreign tax on oil and gas wells for purposes of determining the credit for such tax. Provides for separate application of the provisions relating to limitation of tax credits for foreign income, as they pertain to foreign oil-related income and other taxable income. Sets forth a formula for recapture of foreign oil-related losses. Extends the carrybacks from 1977, 1978, or 1979 of foreign taxes attributable to foreign oil-related income. Phases out the percentage depletion allowance as of 1975, with specified exceptions for domestic production under 3,000 barrels a day, and for stripper wells. Allows the 22-percent depletion for regulated and fixed-contract natural gas, with the exception of regulated natural gas where it exceeds a specified price. Allows the 22-percent depletion for geothermal energy. Increases the minimum tax for tax preferences.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 1974
Rice Act - Title I: Rice - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, under the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, to establish for each of the 1975 through 1977 crops of rice a national acreage allotment which shall be the number of acres which will produce an amount of rice equal to the estimated domestic consumption and exports (less imports) of rice for the marketing year beginning in the year in which the crop is to be produced, adjusted to maintain adequate supplies or to prevent excessive carryover stocks. Requires that the national acreage allotment shall not be less than two million acres. Directs the Secretary to allocate the national acreage allotment on the basis of the rice allotments established for the preceding crops, as equitably adjusted. Provides for reserving a portion of the rice allotment for apportionment to new rice farms and new rice producers. Sets forth criteria for reducing the rice allotment. Authorizes the Secretary to transfer for any year because of natural disaster all or a part of such rice acreage for any farm in the county or in any other nearby county on which one or more producers on the farm from which the transfer is to be made will be engaged in the production of rice and will share in the proceeds in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe. Directs the Secretary to permit the owner and operator of any farm for which a farm acreage allotment has been established to sell or lease all or any part to any other owner or operator of a farm in the same State, or to transfer all or any part of such allotment to any other farm owned or controlled by him in the same State. Title II: Rice Research - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out regional and national research programs with respect to rice for specified purposes, including: (1) to reduce fertilizer and herbicide usage in excess of production needs; (2) to develop varieties of rice more susceptible to complete fertilizer utilization; and (3) to improve the resistance of rice plants to disease and to enhance their conservation and environmental qualities. Authorizes the appropriation of up to $1,000,000 in any fiscal year to carry out such research. Title III: Miscellaneous - Provides, under the Agricultural Act of 1949, that for the 1975 through 1977 crops of rice, a cooperator shall be a producer on a farm on which a farm acreage allotment has been established or to which a producer acreage allotment has been allocated, who has set aside the acreage required under such act and who complies with the conditions of eligibility prescribed by the Secretary.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 1974
Market Efficiency Study Act - Establishes a Commission on Economic Efficiency. States that it shall be the duty of the Commission to conduct a study and investigation to determine the extent of, and to formulate recommendations for removing, all public and private barriers to an efficient market economy. Requires that in carrying out its duty with respect to public barriers, the Commission shall examine and consider the elimination, retention, or modification of: (1) direct subsidies; (2) indirect subsidies, including tax subsidies; (3) production and marketing quotas; (4) price-support programs; (5) stockpiling programs; (6) prevailing wage determination programs; (7) excessive or counterproductive regulation of transportation, communication, or fuels and resources; (8) import quotas and voluntary import curtailment agreements; (9) retail price maintenance programs; and (10) such other barriers as the Commission shall determine interfere substantially with the operation of an efficient market economy. Stipulates that in examining private barriers to free market economy the Commission should take into account the need for: (1) divestiture in or reorganization of noncompetitive industries; (2) improved enforcement and administration of antitrust laws, including the transfer of all enforcement responsibilities to an independent Federal agency; (3) the removal of artificial barriers to employment; and (4) such other barriers as the Commission shall determine interfere substantially with the operation of an efficient market economy. States that the Commission shall also make such recommendations as may be appropriate for the provision of adjustment assistance for employees who suffer economic injury as a result of the implementation of the Commission's recommendations. Authorizes appropriations of up to $3,000,000 to carry out the provisions of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 9 October 1974
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of the Interior shall offer oil and gas leases pursuant to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act only in accordance with the following specified criteria, including: (1) the Council on Environmental Quality, with the concurrence of the Review Panel of the National Academy of Sciences, has specified and evaluated all necessary environmental research for any areas to be leased; and (2) the adjacent coastal States have established or are establishing coastal zone management programs to prevent or ameliorate environmental and socioeconomic impacts from activities resulting from leasing.
United States · United States Congress · 9 October 1974
States that the United States is committed to: (1) an energy pricing, import, and tax policy; (2) adoption of specific energy legislation; (3) adoption of a national energy conservation policy; (4) adoption of an energy production policy; (5) adoption of an energy research and development program; and (6) adoption of a program of Federal, State, and local cooperation to deal with the critical economic and energy problems facing the Nation. Sets forth goals to be achieved by each policy or program. Declares that by taking the aforesaid actions, many of which can be implemented immediately by the Administration under existing legislative authority and pending amendments to the Export Administration Act, the President and the Nation can combat inflation at home, and with export control authority, and strategic reserves, bargain in cooperation with other oil consuming nations for concessions from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to alleviate a grave international crisis.
United States · United States Congress · 9 October 1974
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Federal Energy Administration should withdraw its proposed price regulation change and maintain propane gas prices at or below the level established by existing regulation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 1974
Social Services Amendments - Authorizes necessary appropriations each fiscal year for payments to States for provision of social services directed toward the goal of: (1) achieving or maintaining economic self-support to prevent, reduce, or eliminate dependency; (2) preventing or remedying neglect, abuse, or exploitation of children and adults unable to protect their own interests, or preserving, rehabilitating, or reuniting families; (3) preventing or reducing inappropriate institutional care by providing for community-based care, home-based, or other forms of less intensive care, or; (4) securing referral or admission for institutional care when other forms of care are not appropriate. Requires that 50 percent of such payments to States be for provision of services to individuals who are receiving (or are eligible to receive) aid under the Aid to Needy Families with Children, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid programs of the Social Security Act. Prohibits payments to States for aid to individuals with incomes above specified levels. Requires that expenditure by States under this Act for child day care services be for day care services which meet the Federal interagency day care requirements as approved by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Office of Economic Opportunity. Prohibits, with specified exceptions, State expenditures under this Act for services to individuals living in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, prisons, or foster homes. Prohibits such expenditures for services to individuals eligible for Medicare aid. Requires that States participating in the programs established under this Act report annually on the results of specified evaluations and audits of their participation. Allows suspension of payments to States failing to meet requirements under this Act. Requires States to provide hearings for individuals whose claims to services under this Act are denied, to restrict disclosure of information obtained on individuals pursuant to this Act, and to refrain from imposing durational residency or citizenship requirements upon individuals as a condition to participation in programs under this Act. States that comprehensive plans must be published by States setting forth their programs under this Act which will be pursued in the ensuing year. Requires that such plan include descriptions of objectives, individuals and geographic areas to be served, descriptions of implementation procedures, estimated expenditures, and services to be rendered. Requires annual evaluations of the programs under this Act by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1974
Emergency Public Service Employment Act - Authorizes to be appropriated for fiscal years 1975, 1976, and 1977 such sums as are necessary to carry out public service employment programs under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973. Makes $500,000,000 available for obligation by the Secretary of Labor when the average national rate of unemployment exceeds 4 1/2 percent for three consecutive months during any 12 month period; an additional $500,000,000 if such rate exceeds 5 percent for three consecutive months in any twelve month period; another $1,000,000,000 if such rate exceeds 5 1/2 percent under the same circumstances; and an additional $2,000,000,000 if such rate exceeds 6 percent. Provides for the allocation of funds under this Act to areas in proportion to the number of unemployed persons in such areas as compared to the number of all such persons in all areas under the jurisdiction of the applicant. Authorizes the Secretary to make such reallocations as he deems appropriate.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1974
Expresses the sense of the Senate that, pursuant to the statutory mandate that the price of milk be supported at such level as to assure the maintenance of productive capacity sufficient to meet anticipated future needs, the Secretary of Agriculture redetermine and set the support level at 80 percent of parity for the remainder of the 1974-1975 marketing year, based on the latest available data, thereby enabling milk producers to offset part of their rising production costs.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1974
Animal Fighting Prohibition Act - Expresses the findings of Congress, including that the practice of promoting for purposes of sport, wagering, or entertainment, any show, or other activity involving a fight between animals, including animals which were captured, bred, or trained for such purpose, is cruel and inhumane treatment of such animal. Makes specified acts unlawful, including for any person to: (1) capture, breed, or train, for sale or movement in commerce, any animal for use in any show or other activity involving a fight between such animal and any other animal for the purpose of sport, wagering, or entertainment; (2) manufacture for sale or movement in commerce any device or equipment for use in any show or other activity involving a fight between two or more animals; or (3) promote or participate in, for purposes of sport, wagering, or entertainment, any show or other activity involving a fight between two or more animals, if any one or more of such animals, if any one or more of such animals, or any equipment or devices used in connection therewith, was moved in commerce. Provides that any person guilty of violating any provision of this Act or any regulation issued under this Act shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $25,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
United States · United States Congress · 30 September 1974
Animal Welfare Act Amendments - Provides, under the Federal Laboratory Animal Welfare Act, that no animals shall be delivered to any intermediate handler or common carrier for transportation in commerce unless the animals are accompanied by a veterinarian's certificate certifying that the animals are sound, healthy, and in such condition that they may reasonably be expected to withstand the rigors of the intended transportation without adverse effects. States that specific animals shall not be delivered for transportation if they are less than eight weeks of age. Provides that no intermediate handler or common carrier shall participate in any practice under which the cost of such animal or its transportation is to be paid and collected upon delivery of the animal to the consignee. Imposes civil penalties for violations of this Act.
![Official portrait of Sen. Humphrey, Hubert H. [D-MN]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/h000953_200.jpg)