United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1977
Directs the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Department of Labor, to develop methods for better collection and publication of labor force characteristics relating to women in professional, technical, and managerial occupations (including a breakdown in the statistical tables of the Bureau of the Census).
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1977
National Reserves System Act - States the purpose of this Act is to establish the National Reserves System for the protection of outstanding ecological, scenic, historic, cultural, and recreational landscapes through new local-State-Federal partnerships. Establishes a National Reserves Council whose duties are to receive and evaluate proposals for feasibility studies and implement such studies, making recommendations, reviewing management programs, and coordinating Federal programs for the approval of such areas to be designated as National Reserve Planning Areas. Sets criteria for recommending such areas so designated. Requires the establishment of State and local planning and management agencies, except by written request for a waiver from a Governor, which, as single units or multijurisdictional bodies have the authority to plan, implement, and manage prospective National Reserves. Authorizes the Council to designate areas as National Reserve Planning Areas, after which financial, technical, and other assistance is to be provided. Stipulates that such assistance and services to any agency or State not exceed: (1) 75 percent of the cost of developing the management program of such prospective National Reserve; or (2) $500,000. Designates the Pine Barrens, New Jersey as a National Reserve Planning Area. Prescribes guidelines for the use of agencies in developing management programs for prospective reserves. Authorizes the Council to review, approve, and monitor such programs. Provides for the submittal of revised management programs initially disapproved. Empowers the Council and other Federal departments and agencies, as appropriate, to provide grants, loans, licenses, and permits to agencies implementing approved management programs. Allows such grants to be used in the acquisition of or interests in lands, compensation to landowners, payments in lieu of taxes to local governments, and other expenses incurred. Conveys lands acquired by the Council to such National Reserves provided the title to such lands so conveyed reverts to the United States upon notification. Establishes a National Reserves System Fund in which moneys available including such moneys from a revolving fund for interest-free loans, are without fiscal year limitation. Directs agencies managing National Reserves to review such programs and report to the Council. Authorizes the Council to withhold disbursement of funds, revert title of lands and other interests acquired with Federal funds to the United States, and retain moneys otherwise due any such State in the event that such a reserve is significantly vitiated. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 1978, and each year thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1977
Civil Rights Commission Act - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1957: (1) to impose upon the Commission on Civil Rights the duty of studying and collecting information concerning legal developments constituting a denial of the equal protection of the laws under the Constitution on account of age or handicap, and appraise Federal laws and policies with respect to such denials; and (2) to extend such Commission for five years, until the end of fiscal year 1983.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1977
Expresses the Senate's best wishes to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society of the United States of America on the occasion of its national convention to be held in San Jose, California, November 9 through November 13, 1977, and expresses renewed appreciation and tribute to the individual members of the organization and to all recipients of the Medal of Honor.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1977
Deems a certain individual to have retired on a certain date as a judge of the Tax Court of the United States, with a specified number of years of service, and deems such individual to have elected to receive retired pay under provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 1977
Omnibus Antiterrorism Act - Title I: Reorganization of Executive Office of the President - Establishes a Council to Combat Terrorism in the Executive Office of the President. Includes among the Council's functions (1) assisting the President to implement this Act, (2) assisting in the preparation of lists of countries aiding terrorist enterprises and of dangerous foreign airports, and (3) coordinating Federal efforts to combat terrorism. Directs the President to: (1) report to Congress on each act of terrorism which involves or affects United States citizens; and (2) impose sanctions against countries on the list of countries aiding terrorists and against airports on the list of dangerous foreign airports. Title II: Reorganization of the Department of State - Establishes a Bureau for Combating International Terrorism in the Department of State. Urges the President to seek international agreements which assure cooperation in combating terrorism. Lists provisions which should be given priority in negotiating such agreements. Requires the President to: (1) develop programs to insure full implementation of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation; (2) approve all defense article sales and credits made to any individual or group; and (3) include the names of all types of explosives on the United States Munitions List. Title III: Reorganization of the Department of Justice - Establishes an Office for Combating Terrorism in the Department of Justice. Directs the President to extend existing safety and security requirements to supplemental means of air transportation. Requires that all explosives contain identification and detection taggants. Title IV: Aircraft Sabotage and Piracy - Amends provisions of title 18, U.S. Code, that specify prohibited acts regarding the destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities to, among other revisions, set forth penalties for committing violence against a passenger which is likely to endanger an aircraft in service and for communicating false information which results in endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight. Sets forth penalties for a person found in the United States who has committed against or aboard a foreign aircraft an offense in violation of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation. Authorizes civil penalties for carrying an accessible weapon aboard an aircraft and for imparting or conveying information known to be false regarding one of specified crimes aboard an aircraft. Specifies minimum penalties for threatening to commit air piracy or any other of certain crimes aboard an aircraft.
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 1977
Aquaculture Policy Act - Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make a comprehensive assessment of aquaculture in the United States. Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a national aquaculture development strategy, and to furnish leadership for Federal activities relating to the development of aquaculture. Requires the Secretary to alleviate constraints on aquacultural development, furnish assistance regarding aquaculture to public and private organizations and persons, compile production data, arrange for information exchanges with foreign nations, and coordinate the national aquaculture effort. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out any function under this Act through grants to or contracts with Federal or State agencies, colleges and universities, or individuals. Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to authorize the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to insure, or reinsure insurers of, aquatic species propagated and reared in aquaculture operations. Authorizes appropriations necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 1977
Directs the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to provide chiropractic care to any eligible veteran for outpatient medical treatment upon the request of the veteran.
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 1977
Telephone Privacy Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit unsolicited commercial telephone calls to a telephone subscriber who has notified the telephone company that he does not wish to receive such calls. Directs the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe regulations specifying the manner in which a telephone subscriber shall notify the telephone company that he does not wish to receive unsolicited calls. Prescribes criminal penalties for violations of this Act. Excludes from the definition of unsolicited commercial telephone calls, those calls made in response to an express request of the individual called or in connection with an overdue debt or contractual obligation.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1977
Requests the President to issue a proclamation designating the week beginning November 13, 1977, and ending November 19, 1977, as "National Gifted and Talented Children Week."
United States · United States Congress · 3 October 1977
Designates the South Portal Federal Office Building of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare at 200 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington, D. C., as the "Hubert H. Humphrey Building."
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1977
Investment Company Development Act - Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to set the interest rate on loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to small business investment companies at three percent per annum. Authorizes the Small Business Administration to guarantee up to 75 percent of the funds advanced by small business investment companies to start small business concerns. Limits such guarantees to not more than 25 percent of the private paid-in capital of the small business investment company. Makes the Associate Administrator for investment of the SBA responsible for the administration of the small business investment program and removes any other duties. Permits small business investment companies to recognize, for accounting purposes, specified non-cash gains and the proceeds from the issuance of capital notes when such notes have a maturity of at least ten years.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1977
Minority Enterprise Venture Capital Act - Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to change the title of the Associate Administrator for Finance and Investment of the Small Business Administration to that of Associate Administrator for Investment. Sets the interest rate payable on debentures purchased by the Small Business Administration at three percent per annum and the dividend rate on preferred securities purchased by the Administration at three percent per annum. Limits the amount of preferred securities that the Administration can purchase from specified small business investment companies. Requires that any small business investment company authorized by the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 after December 31, 1977, have not less than $500,000 of private paid-in capital and surplus.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1977
Declares that the President should establish a Commission on Domestic and International Hunger and Malnutrition which should: (1) collect and generate information and resources on food, hunger, malnutrition and related concerns; (2) assess current programs affecting domestic and international hunger and malnutrition; (3) analyze and report its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, and the public; and (4) assist the President and the Congress in implementing its recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 26 September 1977
Tuition Tax Credit Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit against an individual's income tax in an amount equal to 50 percent of the sum of the amounts paid by him to educational institutions as tuition (though no more than $500 for any single individual) for the attendance of the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or any of his dependents with respect to whom he is entitled to a personal exemption.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1977
Directs the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration to provide for radio and television coverage of proceedings in the Senate Chamber during consideration of the Panama Canal Treaty and the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1977
Franchise Practices Act - Requires a franchisor to notify a franchisee at least 90 days in advance of the franchisor's intention to terminate the franchise, and to state the reasons for termination. Prohibits a franchisor from cancelling a franchise or failing to renew a franchise unless the franchisor is affecting a market area withdrawal or the franchisor has good cause for failure to renew and has given proper notice. Makes any franchisor who has violated the requirements of this Act civilly liable to the aggrieved franchisee.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 1977
Right to Financial Privacy Act - States that the purposes of this Act are to protect and preserve the confidential relationship between financial institutions and their customers and the constitutional rights of those customers, and promote commerce by prescribing policies and procedures to insure that customers have the right to challenge unwarranted disclosure of their records. Prohibits any Federal agency or employee, or any State or local government from obtaining copies of, or the information contained in, the financial records of any customer from a financial institution unless the financial records are described with particularity and: (1) such customer has authorized such disclosure in accordance with this Act; (2) such financial records are disclosed in response to an administrative subpena or summons; (3) such financial records are disclosed in response to a court order; or (4) such financial records are disclosed in response to a judicial subpena. Grants to a customer whose financial records have been subpoenaed, the right to challenge the relevancy and scope of the summons and the relationship of the records sought to the investigation from which the subpena issued. States that no financial institution may provide a Federal agency or employee, or any State or local government, copies of or the information contained in the financial records of any customer except in accordance with the requirements of this Act. Sets forth provisions governing customer authorization, administrative subpenas and summons, judicial subpenas, and search warrants. Makes the requirements of this Act inapplicable to specified disclosures including: (1) records used in making reports on returns required by the Internal Revenue Code; (2) grand jury subpenas; and (3) records required by supervisory agencies for use in the regulation of such institution. Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for violations of the provisions of this Act. Makes injunctive relief available to stop and prevent violations of this Act. Invalidates any waiver of the rights granted by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 8 September 1977
Establishes in the Senate the Office on Nominations to assist the Senate in its confirmation of nominees for executive branch departments and agencies, independent regulatory commissions, and the United States courts. Title I: Senate Office on Nominations - Declares that the Office shall be headed by a Director whose term of office shall be two years. Sets forth the procedure to be followed by the Office in investigating nominations for specified positions requiring the advice and consent of the Senate. Requires the Director to review certain investigative reports submitted by the President indicating the reasons for the selection of a particular nominee. Title II: Standards for Confirmation - Amends rule 38 of the Standing Rules of the Senate to set forth standards for the confirmation of Presidential nominees.
United States · United States Congress · 7 September 1977
Olympic Summer Games Authorization Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to provide financial assistance to State, local, or other governmental agencies for purposes of assisting in the planning, design, and construction or improvement of facilities for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial assistance for projects related to the Summer Olympic games under the authority contained in title I of the Public Works Development Act of 1965.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1977
Grants survivor benefits to dependents of present or former members of the armed forces who die before becoming entitled to retired pay for non-regular service. Stipulates that such amount be 55 percent of the retired pay to which such member would have been entitled. Adds 10 U.S.C. 1448(e).
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1977
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the President should instruct the United States delegation to the United Nations to work with the delegations of other nations at the United Nations to call for a World Assembly on Aging and a World Year on Aging not later than 1982.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1977
Regulatory Flexibility Act - Requires Federal agencies to: (1) assess the costs of private information collection and compliance which are or would be imposed by existing or proposed agency rules; (2) compare such impositions with the importance of the public policy achieved or to be achieved by such rules; and (3) determine whether such rules should apply to the same extent to individuals, and organizations of various sizes and resources. Requires, in the event that it is determined that such proposed rules, will have a substantial effect on any significant number of small businesses, that such rules be submitted to the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. Requires such Office to comment on the impact of such proposed rules on smaller enterprises. Requires such comments to be made public and available to Federal personnel responsible for reviewing such rules. Directs that proposed rules be issued in two or more parts when the analysis of such rules indicates the desirability of applying varying requirements for performance or reporting depending on the resources of the organization or individual required to comply with such rules.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1977
Amends Title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide payment for the services of optometrists related to the treatment of aphakia under the supplementary medical insurance program.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1977
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay a specified sum to a certain individual in full settlement of such individual's claims against the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 28 July 1977
National Endowment for Children's Television Act - Establishes a National Endowment for Children's Television. Authorizes such Endowment to enter into contracts and provide grants to individuals or groups engaged in upgrading children's programming. Establishes within such Endowment a National Council on Children's Television.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1977
Foreign Surveillance Prevention Act - Directs the President, whenever an individual with diplomatic immunity is engaged in electronic surveillance for a foreign power: (1) to inform certain Members of Congress; (2) to inform the targets of the surveillance unless to do so would compromise intelligence gathering by the United States; (3) to demand that such surveillance cease unless to do so would compromise intelligence gathering by the United States; and (4) to declare such individual to be persona non grata if the surveillance is not ceased and to demand that such individual leave the United States unless to do so would seriously damage national security.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the United States Tax Court may issue a reviewable declaratory judgment as to whether a precedential revenue ruling issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, which modifies a revenue ruling issued at least five years earlier, is consistent with the internal revenue laws to which such ruling relates.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat as a scholarship and to exclude from gross income any amounts received by an individual under the Armed Forces health professions scholarship program or the National Health Service Corps scholarship program.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 1977
Arson Control Assistance Act - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to make grants to programs to prevent and detect the burning of urban structures by or under the direction of their owners. Directs the Federal Bureau of Investigation to classify arson as a major crime for its Uniform Crime Reports System.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1977
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to include Hawaii in the term "Continental United States" for purposes of the regulation of consolidations and mergers of telegraph carriers.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 1977
Fair Representation for Small Business Act - Declares the finding of Congress that economic, governmental, and other pressures are mounting on small businesses, that small and medium-sized businesses should be taken into account when Federal agencies formulate policy, and such businesses are essential to the health and well-being of the Nation's economy. Requires, under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, that all advisory bodies of the Federal Government which are concerned with matters affecting the economy or business must contain a fair representation of the small business sector of the economy.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 1977
Requires the head of each Executive agency to designate at least one employee in such agency to act as liaison with the small and independent business community and the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, and to conduct an analysis of the differential effects of agency policies on new- and medium-sized independent business.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 1977
Athletic Opportunities Assistance Act - Grants paid leave to any Federal employee participating as a member of an official United States team in any world, Pan American, or Olympic competition.
United States · United States Congress · 1 July 1977
Natural Diversity Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide grants to the States for implementing State programs for maintaining landscape and other natural diversity with supporting biological data management systems. Requires each State to prepare a plan identifying, classifying, maintaining, and monitoring elements of natural diversity occurring within its boundaries in order to renew its grants. Directs each State to submit to the Secretary a priority list of sites which contain important elements of the State's natural diversity and which can be best protected through acquisition. Directs the Secretary to make matching grants for acquisition upon a finding that the site will contribute to the goals of this Act. States that the sites acquired by such grants shall be known as Diversity Preserves and that a registry of sites shall be maintained by the Secretary. Requires each Federal land management agency to establish a natural diversity program and biological data management system and to designate sites on Federal lands for entry on the registry. Directs the Secretary to prepare an annual summary assessment of the status of the nation's national diversity. Establishes the Federal Natural Diversity Office in the Department of the Interior and a technical advisory committee.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1977
Federal Criminal Diversion Act - States that Federal criminal diversion programs may include, but are not limited to, medical, educational, vocational, and social services; residence in a halfway house; other rehabilitative services; restitution to victims; and uncompensated community service. Empowers a Federal judge or magistrate to release an individual charged with a Federal crime to a Federal criminal diversion program if (1) the offense charged is either non-violent or resulted in no substantial bodily injury to victims, (2) participation in the program is recommended by the prosecuting attorney, (3) the individual waives any applicable statute of limitations and the right to speedy trial, (4) all persons injured by the offense charged agree; and (5) release is found to be not contrary to public interest. Directs that charges against a person so released be continued for one year and then dismissed unless (1) charges are dropped within that period, (2) release is terminated by the judge or magistrate because public interest requires or because the prosecuting attorney finds that the person is not fulfilling his release obligations, or (3) charges are dismissed sooner upon certification by the administrative head of the diversion program that the individual has completed the program and concurrence of the prosecuting attorney. Authorizes the chief judge of each district to appoint an advisory committee for each Federal criminal diversion program in the district to plan and review its operation. Specifies the duties of the Attorney General in implementing this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 1977
Small Business Venture Capital Act - Title I: Amendments of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 - States that the interest rate on loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to small business investment companies shall be three percent per annum. Authorizes the Small Business Administration to guarantee up to 75 percent of the funds advanced by small business investment companies to start small business concerns. Limits such guarantees to not more than 25 percent of the private paid-in capital of the small business investment company. Makes the Associate Administrator for Investment of the SBA responsible for the administration of the small business investment program and removes any other duties. Permits small business investment companies to recognize, for accounting purposes, specified non-cash gains and the proceeds from the issuance of capital notes when such notes have a maturity of at least ten years. Title II: Amendments of Securities Acts - Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to permit the issuance of securities without registration if the issuance qualifies as a limited offering as defined by this Act. Permits the sale of restricted securities without registration provided; (1) the issuer is a reporting company under the Securities Exchange Act of 1954; (2) the securities are fully paid for and held for a minimum of two years before a sale; and (3) not more than one percent of the outstanding securities of the issuer of the same class is sold in any three month period. Increases the small offering exemption from $500,000 to $3,000,000. Amends the Investment Company Act to add small business investment companies to the classes of persons excepted from the definition of "investment company" under such Act. Title III: Amendment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to provide that the prudence requirement under such Act is not violated solely because an investment may be in a venture capital organization or in a small business, provided investments of this nature do not exceed in value two percent of the market value of all assets in a defined benefit plan fund. Title IV: Amendments of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 - Sets forth a six-step corporate tax rate structure with a tax of eight percent on net income not exceeding $30,000, increasing the tax rate at eight point intervals for each additional $30,000, and a maximum rate of 48% applying to net income of $150,000, or more. States that the gain from the sale of an interest in a small concern qualifies as a non-taxable exchange provided such gain is reinvested within two years of the sale in another eligible small concern. Makes changes with respect to the computation of depreciation. Repeals the amendments pertaining to qualified stock options under section 442 of the Code as enacted by the Tax Reform Act of 1976 and reinstates the former law. Doubles the allowable deduction for any taxable year with respect to the issuance of small business stock. Increases to 25 the allowable number of shareholders of subchapter S corporations. Permits a small business investment company to be a shareholder in such corporations. Eliminates the passive income test pertaining to qualification of such corporations. Permits small business companies to elect to be taxed as regulated investment companies.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 1977
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain individuals to compute the amount of the deduction for retirement savings on the basis of the earned income of their spouses.
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 1977
Amends the Veterans' Administration Physician and Dentist Pay Comparability Act of 1975 to extend from September 30, 1977, to September 30, 1978 the authority of the Veterans' Administration to enter into special pay agreements with physicians and dentists employed in the Department of Medicine and Surgery. Permits such physicians and dentists to enter into new agreements with the Veterans' Administration for up to four years of additional service in the Department upon completion of the initial period of service.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1977
Federal Computer Systems Protection Act - Makes it a Federal crime for a person to directly or indirectly access or cause to be accessed for fraudulent purposes a computer system affecting commerce or having a connection with a Federal agency or financial institution.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1977
Requires the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force to keep the Secretary of the military department of which such individual is a member, fully and currently informed on matters considered or acted upon by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
![Official portrait of Sen. Matsunaga, Spark M. [D-HI]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/m000250_200.jpg)