United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Anti-Arson Act of 1981 - Establishes an Interagency Committee on Arson Prevention and Control to coordinate Federal anti-arson programs and to provide assistance to State and local governments for the prevention, detection, and control of arson. Directs the Committee to report to Congress on the success of its activities within 18 months of enactment. Terminates the Committee two years from the date of enactment. Requires the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to: (1) classify arson as a major crime in the Uniform Crime Reports; and (2) develop a special statistical report for arson in cooperation with the National Fire Data Center. Directs the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration to: (1) conduct a research program for the development of techniques and equipment for use by State and local fire fighting and law enforcement personnel for arson prediction, prevention, and control; (2) establish anti-arson educational and training programs for State and local government; (3) develop materials for community awareness programs; and (4) provide information relative to the prevention, prediction, occurrence, and control of arson. Authorizes appropriations for the Administration for such purpose. Amends the National Housing Act to require that FAIR (fair access to insurance requirements) plans be issued only after insurers obtain information from a prospective policyholder with respect to arson.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay a specified sum to a named individual in full satisfaction of a claim against the United States for the loss of use of certain lands through administrative error.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Makes the Federal tort claims procedure the exclusive remedy in medical malpractice actions resulting from federally authorized National Guard training activities (repeals the current provision covering such liability).
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Reye's Syndrome Act of 1981 - Amends title XI (Genetic Disease, Hemophilia Programs, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) of the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, through the National Institute of Neurological, Communicative Disorders, and Stroke, the Reye's Syndrome Coordinating Committee. Directs such Committee to: (1) make grants and enter into contracts for clinical research and treatment; and (2) establish mobile research teams. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 1982-1984 for such activities. Directs the Secretary to report to Congress within six months following the end of the Committee's authorization.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Capital Cost Recovery Act of 1981 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method for determining useful lives of business assets for purposes of computing allowable depreciation deductions. Replaces the asset depreciation range (ADR) method with a schedule of capital cost recovery periods for three classes of business property. Establishes capital cost recovery periods for the following classes of business property: (1) buildings and their structural components, ten years; (2) tangible property, five years; and (3) automobiles, taxis, and light-duty trucks (up to $100,000), three years. Permits calculation of the investment tax credit for such property without regard to the useful life of the property. Requires the recapture of depreciation amounts and investment tax credit amounts applicable to assets which are sold or otherwise disposed of prior to the expiration of the capital cost recovery period. Permits a taxpayer to deduct less than the full allowance for capital cost recovery in any taxable year. Permits a carryover to succeeding taxable years of any unused depreciation amounts. Disqualifies capital cost recovery property from the allowance for first year depreciation. Treats amounts claimed as the capital cost recovery of noncorporate lessors as an item of tax preference for purposes of the minimum tax. Adopts as an accounting practice the "half year convention" under which investments eligible for capital cost recovery treatment or the investment tax credit which are made at any time during the taxable year are deemed to be made in the middle of such year.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Declares three named individuals to have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to repeal the limitation on outside income for beneficiaries age 65 or older.
United States · United States Congress · 27 January 1981
Amends the Standing Rules of the Senate to provide that applications received in the Senate by States requesting a convention to amend the Constitution, be printed in their entirety in the Congressional Record. Directs the Committee on the Judiciary to print a list of such applications in the Record biannually, including the total number of applications received on a given subject matter.
United States · United States Congress · 23 January 1981
Directs the President, for each pay period beginning after calendar years 1981, 1982, and 1983, to increase by a specified percentage the rates of basic pay, of basic allowances for subsistence, and of basic allowances for quarters for members of the uniformed services in specified pay grades. Directs the President, when transmitting to Congress an alternative plan for adjusting the pay of Federal employees, to include a statement specifying the overall percentage of adjustments in rates of pay of the General Schedule which would have been effective without the alternative plan.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1981
Constitutional Amendment - Defines "person" to include the unborn for the purpose of the right to life guarantee. Makes such amendment inapplicable to laws permitting medical procedures required to prevent the death of the mother.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1981
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) convey by patent specified lands to Miles City, Montana; and (2) convey to Miles City and Custer County, Montana, such evidence as is necessary to remove reversionary provisions for certain public lands previously patented. Requires any document issued pursuant to such conveyances to contain a reservation to the United States of all mineral rights in such lands.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1981
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to convey by patent to Wayne Fuller, of Montana, certain land in the Gallatin National Forest upon payment of its fair market value. Requires the patent to contain a reservation to the United States of all mineral interests.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1981
Headstart Extension Act of 1981 - Amends the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to extend through fiscal year 1986 the authorization of appropriations for Headstart programs.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1981
Expresses the jubilation and relief of the Senate at the release of the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran. Expresses appreciation for the efforts of various Government officials to secure the release of the hostages. Recognizes the patriotism of the military personnel who tried to rescue them. Thanks Algeria for its help in securing the hostages' release.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Take-Home Pay Protection Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require annual inflation adjustments to the income tax tables, the zero bracket amount, the minimum income levels for which a tax return is required, the personal tax exemption, and the tax withholding schedules.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit taxpayers who do not itemize income tax deductions to claim a deduction from gross income for charitable contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exempt certain stripper well oil and independent producer oil from the windfall profit tax; (2) reduce the independent producer amount by the amount of exempt stripper well oil production; and (3) permit royalty owners to share in the independent producer oil exemption from such tax.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1981
Prohibits the issuance of any final Internal Revenue Service regulations which have the effect of increasing the rate of imputed interest with respect to: (1) loans between related organizations, trades, or businesses; or (2) deferred payments in the case of certain property sales.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include displaced homemakers (as defined by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act Amendments of 1978) as a targeted group for whom the new employee tax credit is available.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 1981
Title I: Export Trading Companies - Export Trading Company Act of 1981 - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to promote export trading companies by providing information and by facilitating contacts between producers of exportable goods and export trading companies. Authorizes any banking organization to invest specified amounts in export trading companies upon notifying, but without obtaining the prior approval of, the appropriate Federal banking agency, if such investment does not cause an export trading company to become a subsidiary of such organization. Allows greater investment by Edge Act Corporations not engaged in banking. Permits any banking organization to invest beyond such limitations with prior approval of the appropriate Federal banking agency. Requires prior notification of such agencies in specified circumstances. Sets forth further limitations on export trading companies and investments by banking organizations. Specifies factors to be taken into consideration by the banking agencies. Permits such agencies to impose conditions in approving applications to invest in export trading companies. Requires such agencies to report to the appropriate Congressional committees with their recommendations concerning implementation of this Act, related changes in U.S. law, and effects of ownership of U.S. banks by foreign banking organizations. Provides for judicial review of denial orders in the appropriate U.S. Court of Appeals. Sets forth the grounds for disapproval. Provides for remand for further consideration by the banking agency. Directs the Economic Development Administration and the Small Business Administration to give special weight to export-related benefits when considering applications for loans and guarantees by export trading companies. Authorizes up to $20,000,000 to be appropriated for initial investments and operating expenses for each of fiscal years 1981-1985. Directs the Export-Import Bank of the United States to provide loan guarantees for expansion to export trading companies or exporters to be secured by accounts receivable or inventories when adequate financing is not otherwise available. Directs the Board of Directors to try to insure that a major share of such guarantees promotes exports from small, medium-size, and minority businesses or agricultural concerns. Title II: Export Trade Associations - Export Trade Association Act of 1981- Amends the Webb-Pomerene Act to exempt the export trade, export trade activities, and methods of operation of certified export trade associations and export trading companies from the antitrust laws. Delays the effectiveness of any certificate upon the notification of the Secretary of Commerce by the Attorney General or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of disagreement with the decision to issue a certificate. Sets forth the procedure to be followed by any association, company, or export trading company seeking certification under this Act and by the Secretary in issuing such certificates. Permits automatic certification for existing associations. Provides for appeal of the Secretary's denial of certification. Authorizes the Attorney General or the FTC to bring an action to invalidate a certification. Requires the Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General and the FTC, to publish certification guidelines. Requires certified associations and export trading companies to submit annual reports to the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to establish within the Department of Commerce an Office of Export Trade. Requires such Office to report annually to the appropriate Congressional committees on all East-West trade transactions requiring validated licenses and on the role of U.S. export trading companies in such trade. Grants a temporary exemption from the Sherman Act antitrust provisions for existing associations. Requires, with specified exceptions, that all applications for certification be kept confidential. Authorizes the Secretary to require an association or trading company to modify its operation to be consistent with international obligations of the United States. Directs the President to appoint, with the Senate's advice and consent, a task force, seven years after enactment, to examine the effect of this Act and to make recommendations.
United States · United States Congress · 15 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit an income tax deduction from gross income for fees, court costs, attorney's fees, and other necessary expenses incurred in the adoption of a child. Limits the amount of such deduction to $500 for a taxable years and $3,500 for all taxable years.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Includes as creditable service for purposes of determining the amount of an individual's civil service annuity payment, any military service performed by that individual after December, 1956, regardless of that individual's eligibility for Social Security benefits for such military service.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
GI Education Assistance Act of 1981 - Title I: New GI Education Program - Establishes an educational assistance program for veterans who entered the armed forces after December 31, 1980, served on active duty for two or more years, and were honorably discharged or discharged for hardship or a service-connected disability. Entitles eligible veterans to 27 months of assistance for the first two years of active service and one month of assistance for each additional month of service. Makes such veterans eligible for educational loans. Establishes a delimiting period of ten years after discharge or release from active duty for completing a program of education unless such period is interrupted by a physical or mental disability which prevents completion. Excludes periods of capture from the delimiting period. Directs the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to pay each eligible, participating veteran the cost of tuition and a monthly subsistence allowance. Establishes an educational benefits program for persons serving on active duty who have completed six years of active duty. Requires such persons to participate for at least 12 consecutive months except as specified. Requires participants to agree to a monthly deduction from such person's military pay as a contribution to such program. Provides for a refund of such contributions upon disenrollment, discharge, release, or death. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to contribute to the fund of any participant any amount necessary to encourage persons to remain in the armed forces. Entitles each participant to 36 monthly benefit payments. Sets forth the formula for computing the amount of such payments. Permits eligible veterans to transfer any educational benefits to such veterans' spouse or children. Establishes a delimiting period of ten years after discharge or release for educational assistance benefits. Requires the Administrator and the Secretary to report to the appropriate committees of Congress on their respective plans for implementing the educational assistance benefits program. Prohibits participation in both the career service person's education assistance program and other specified educational assistance after a specified time. Title II: Educational Leave of Absences for Members of the Armed Forces - Permits the Secretary to grant any eligible member a leave of absence from such member's military duties to permit such member to pursue a program of education for up to 12 months. Sets forth the impact of such leave of absence upon the payment of basic pay, determining eligibility for retirement pay, and upon time in grade for promotion purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt a certain portion of royalty owner oil production from the windfall profit tax. Limits the amount so exempted per quarter to ten barrels per day. Requires proportionate allocation of any production in excess of ten barrels per day between tier 1 oil, tier 2, and tier 3 oil, and within any tier on the basis of removal prices. Requires allocation of the ten barrel amount among royalty owners who are members of the same related group.
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Requests the President to designate the week beginning with the Sunday preceding the fourth Thursday in November of each year as "National Family Week."
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System should reduce and institute alternative policies to restrain interest rates; (2) Congress should abolish the Federal Open Market Committee and stipulate that the Board make all final decisions concerning the money supply and interest rates; and (3) the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs should study and report on the advisability of seeking other necessary reforms of the Federal Reserve System including implementation of a dual prime rate to improve management of the monetary structure.
United States · United States Congress · 13 December 1980
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System should reduce and institute alternative policies to restrain interest rates; (2) Congress should stipulate that the Board make all final decisions concerning the money supply and interest rates; and (3) the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs should study and report on the advisability of seeking other necessary reforms of the Federal Reserve System to improve management of the monetary structure.
United States · United States Congress · 2 December 1980
Designates the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health located in Montgomery County, Maryland, as the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health. Directs the Committee on Rules and Administration to place appropriate markers or inscriptions at suitable locations within such center to commemorate and designate such building.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1980
Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service should not increase the number of digits of the zip code until: (1) the Service and the Congress have fully examined the costs, social consequences, and technical issues associated with such action; and (2) the Service has fully examined other means of improving productivity in the sorting of mail.
United States · United States Congress · 13 November 1980
Prohibits the issuance of any final Internal Revenue Service regulations which have the effect of increasing the rate of imputed interest with respect to: (1) loans between related organizations, trades, or businesses; or (2) deferred payments in the case of certain sales of property.
United States · United States Congress · 26 August 1980
Rattlesnake National Recreation Area and Wilderness Act of 1980 - Designates specified lands within the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area in Montana as the Rattlesnake Wilderness to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture. Establishes the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, Montana. Authorizes and directs the Secretary to acquire with donated or appropriated funds, by exchange, gift, or purchase, such non-Federal lands, interests, or other property within the boundaries of the Rattlesnake National Recreational Area and Rattlesnake Wilderness. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and in accordance with an agreement entered into by the Montana Power Company, the Regional Forester of the United States Forest Service, Region 1, and the State Director of the Bureau of Land Management, to consider and consummate an exchange with the owner of the private lands or interests in such lands within the boundaries of the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area and Rattlesnake Wilderness, by which the Secretary of the Interior may accept conveyance of title to these private lands and, in exchange, issue bidding rights that may be exercised in competitive coal lease sales, or in coal lease modifications, or both. Specifies that any lands so acquired shall become national forest lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture. Declares that nothing in this Act shall affect or diminish any water right which is vested under either State or Federal law at the time of enactment of this Act, nor the rights of the owner of such water right to the customary and usual access.
United States · United States Congress · 26 August 1980
Authorizes supplemental expenditures by the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs and extends the budget authority of such Committee until February 28, 1981.
United States · United States Congress · 21 August 1980
Government Management and Year-end Procurement Control Act of 1980 - Title I: Restrictions on Noncompetitive Procurement - Prohibits an executive agency from entering into any contract (with specified exceptions) through noncompetitive procedures, unless: (1) at least 45 days before issuing a solicitation to the offeror, the agency publishes in a specified Department of Commerce publication a notice of its intent to enter into such contract, the terms of the contract, the name of the offeror, and the reason for selecting the offeror; and (2) after considering the responses of any other offerors to such notice, the agency determines that the offeror originally selected has an exclusive ability to perform the contract. Prohibits an agency from using noncompetitive procedures to enter into a contract resulting from the submission of an unsolicited proposal, unless: (1) at least 60 days before entering such contract, the agency publishes a notice of its intent to enter into such contract, the terms of the contract, and the offeror; (2) the agency determines, after considering responses received on such notice, that such offeror has an exclusive ability to perform the contract; and (3) each agency employee responsible for evaluating or approving the unsolicited proposal certifies that he or she did not knowingly transmit information to the offeror which would have assisted the offeror in the timing or preparation of the proposal. Directs an agency, upon determining that an offeror does not have an exclusive ability to perform a contract, to issue a solicitation to each offeror responding to such a procurement notice and to select the most qualified offeror to perform the contract. Requires each agency which has used noncompetitive procedures to enter into a contract for a type of goods or services which the agency intends to procure again in the future, to prepare and implement a plan to increase the likelihood that competitive procedures will be used for such future procurement. Directs the agency to submit such plan to its Inspector General or the designated agency employee with audit responsibilities. Requires such employee or Inspector General to investigate the efficacy of such plan and to report the findings to the agency head and the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy. Title II: Maintenance of Procurement Information - Directs the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy to require each executive agency to transmit to the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) specified information on each agency contract in an amount exceeding $50,000, including: (1) the dates on which (a) the agency determines to enter the contract, (b) the solicitation is distributed, (c) bids must be submitted, and (d) the agency enters the contract; and (2) the number of solicitations distributed and bids received. Directs the GSA Administrator to store such information in the computer-based information system established pursuant to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act. Title III: Dissemination of Procurement Information - Requires each executive agency to transmit to the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy a procurement agenda which: (1) describes each solicitation and contract the agency intends to issue or enter into during the next fiscal year which will result in payments exceeding $50,000; and (2) identifies areas in which the agency is interested in receiving unsolicited proposals. Directs the Inspector General or agency employee responsible for audits to investigate and report to the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy on the efficacy of such agendas every two years. Title IV: Reports to Congress - Directs the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy to include in the annual report to Congress required pursuant to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act any finding of an agency's Inspector General concerning future procurement plans, maintenance of procurement information, or procurement agendas. Title V: Evaluation of Performance - Requires an agency to consider any finding of an investigation of the efficacy of an agency's future procurement plan or procurement agenda concerning a senior executive of that agency when evaluating the performance of such executive.
United States · United States Congress · 5 August 1980
Authorizes the President to negotiate agreements with foreign governments limiting exports of automobiles and trucks to the United States. Terminates such authority and any agreements pursuant to such authority on July 1, 1985. States that action taken pursuant to such agreements shall not be treated as violating U.S. laws.
United States · United States Congress · 29 July 1980
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay a specified sum to a named individual in full satisfaction of a claim against the United States arising from the loss of use of certain lands.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1980
Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to extend specified cost-of-living increases for railroad employee annuitants. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the excise tax paid by employers on employees' compensation so as to generate funds to finance such increases. Directs the Railroad Retirement Board, not later than 30 days before the beginning of a calendar year, to determine the account balance-benefit ratio for such calendar year. Directs the Board to publish a notice in the Federal Register of such ratio and of the tax rate applicable under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1980
Family Enterprise Estate and Gift Tax Equity Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the unified credit against the estate and gift taxes from $47,000 to $155,800 by specified annual increments through 1985. Increases from $175,000 to $500,000, by specified annual increments through 1985, the minimum gross estate requiring filing of a return. Repeals the existing limitations on the marital deduction for gift and estate taxes. Increases from $3,000 to $6,000 the annual gift tax exclusion. Permits disabled individuals and those receiving social security benefits to meet existing material participation requirements with respect to the special use valuation of certain farms and other real property, if an individual has materially participated in the operation of the farm or business for five out of the eight years preceding the year in which he or she becomes disabled or eligible for such benefits. Permits the spouse of a decedent to meet such requirements if the spouse has actually managed the farm or business for ten years preceding the decedent's death, or takes over active management upon the decedent's death. Permits the owner of a woodland to qualify for the special use valuation if he or she has actively managed the property for ten years prior to death. Reduces from 15 to ten years the length of time a qualified property must be held following the decedent's death before it can be disposed of without incurring a recapture of estate tax benefits. Permits active management rather than material participation as a test for qualification for the estate for spouses, children under 21, students, and disabled individuals who receive property from a decedent who qualified for special use valuation. Repeals the $500,000 limitation on the reduction of the value of qualified real property permitted for application of the special use valuation. Allows like kind exchanges of property without loss of special use valuation qualification. Allows net crop share rentals to qualify for the special use valuation as well as cash rentals. Authorizes the step-up basis of assets recaptured because of loss of the special use valuation. Repeals the requirement that an heir elect special treatment for involuntary conversions of qualified real property, thus making such treatment automatic upon such a conversion. States that gifts made within three years of a decedent's death shall be valued as of the time of transfer rather than as of the date of death. Authorizes an individual to elect to pay a gift tax rather than use the unified tax credit. Eliminates the alternative extension of time for payment of the estate tax where the estate consists largely of an interest in a closely held business. Allows installment payment election if the value of the interest in the closely held business is either 35 percent of the value of the gross estate, or 50 percent of the taxable estate. Allows payment of an installment within six months after the due date without penalty. Allows a disclaimer of an interest in property for estate tax purposes in specified circumstances where such disclaimer does not result in the passing of the interest concerned under the applicable State law.
United States · United States Congress · 2 July 1980
Amends the Agriculture Act of 1949 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to announce a set-aside of feed grain cropland by November 1 (currently November 15) and of wheat cropland by August 1 (currently August 15) of each calendar year for the crops harvested in the next calendar year.
![Official portrait of Sen. Melcher, John [D-MT]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/m000635_200.jpg)