United States · United States Congress · 15 December 1981
International Joint Venture Act of 1981 - Declares that certain provisions of the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act do not prohibit an individual or organization of the United States from participating in a joint venture which: (1) is composed of only such U.S. person and one or more foreign persons; (2) does not engage in any line of commerce in the United States in which such foreign person is already engaged; (3) is terminable by either party no later than ten years after it is formed; (4) provides for the exchange of technology; and (5) provides access to raw materials or to distribution marketing, or manufacturing facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) Americans want an early, peaceful, and popularly supported resolution of the issues that led to the imposition of martial law in Poland; (2) Americans deplore the imposition of martial law in Poland, the suspension of workers' rights, and the arrests of Solidarity leaders; (3) recent events call into question the suitability of further assistance for Poland: (4) the Polish people have the right to resolve their problems without outside interference; (5) the support of Americans for continued U.S. dealings with Poland's present government will relate to the degree to which that government avoids violence and demonstrates its respect for Solidarity and its commitment to continuing reforms; (6) the President and the Secretary of State should continue to stress this U.S. position; and (7) the Administration should consult with our allies to develop a concerted and sustained response to the threat to the democratization process in Poland.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 1981
States that the Federal Government should promote energy conservation through low-income weatherization assistance, energy conservation information programs, and funding of energy conservation research and development.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 1981
Czechoslovakian Claims Settlement Act of 1981 - Approves the Agreement between the United States and Czechoslovakia on the settlement of certain financial issues that was initialed on November 6, 1981. Authorizes the President to execute technical changes in the agreement if they are necessary to facilitate its implementation. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to cover into the Czechoslovakian Claims Fund the amount paid by Czechoslovakia to discharge the claims of U.S. nationals pursuant to the agreement. Directs the Secretary to establish two accounts in the Fund. Requires a specified minimum amount to be placed in one account. Requires such account to be used to pay certified claims by U.S. nationals for losses resulting from the nationalization or other taking of property by Czechoslovakia between January 1, 1945, and August 8, 1958. Requires the other account into which a lesser amount of the funds shall be covered to be available to pay the certified claims of U.S. nationals for similar losses which occurred between August 8, 1958, and the date on which the agreement takes effect. Authorizes the Commission to determine the validity of such claims. Requires the Secretary to invest the funds in such accounts until the Secretary needs the funds to pay awards. Requires the interest on such investments to be deposited in the accounts. Sets forth the methods of certifying claims and paying awards. Requires such awards to include accumulated interest. Requires a claimant's right to payment to lapse if specified conditions are met. Requires the provisions of this Act to cease to be effective if, within 60 days after enactment, Czechoslovakia fails to make a specified payment to the United States. Authorizes the President to keep this Act effective for an additional 30 days if the President notifies the Congress of the reasons for doing so. Directs the Secretary of State to review and report to Congress on the agreement between the United States and Czechoslovakia providing for reciprocal social security payments to residents of the two countries.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that policies of Jewish emigration discrimination and anti-Semitism are morally reprehensible. Urges the President to tell the Soviet Union that the United States opposes these policies and wants emigration restrictions on Soviet Jews removed.
United States · United States Congress · 10 December 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should instruct the U.S. delegation to the February meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to tell the Commission that the Soviet Union should stop harassing Soviet Jews and should allow its citizens to practice their religion and to emigrate. Urges the Soviet Union to comply with its human rights obligations. Urges the President to: (1) express to the Soviet Union U.S. opposition to harassment of Soviet citizens and to prohibitions of emigration; and (2) reiterate that the United States will consider the extent to which other nations honor their commitments under international law when evaluating its relations with such nations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 December 1981
Comprehensive Smoking Prevention Education Act of 1981 - Amends title XVII (Health Information and Health Promotion) of the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to inform the public of the health hazards of cigarettes through research, demonstration, and educational activities. Establishes an Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health to coordinate Federal and private activities. Requires the Committee to meet at least four times a year. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the Congress. Amends the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act to change existing label warning provisions to require cigarette packages and advertisements to carry specified warnings on a rotating basis. Makes it unlawful to manufacture, import, or package for sale cigarettes without: (1) disclosing tar, nicotine, and carbon dioxide levels on the package; and (2) providing the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services with a list of the types and quantities of chemical additives.
United States · United States Congress · 8 December 1981
Black Lung Benefits and Revenues Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 regarding eligibility and benefits on claims filed after enactment of this Act to: (1) eliminate restrictions on the Department of Labor's use of second opinion X-rays; (2) eliminate specified presumptions of black lung presence; (3) eliminate the presumption of eligibility for survivors of specified miners who died on or before March 1, 1978; (4) make only third -party affidavits sufficient to establish survivors' claims where there are no other supporting medical records; (5) limit survivors' benefits to cases where the miner died from black lung; (6) make previously determined eligible survivors' claim liable for revalidation; (7) apply excess earnings under the Social Security Act to offset specified black lung disability payments; and (8) set black lung benefit levels at 37 1/2 percent of the monthly pay for Federal employees in grade GS-2, step 1. Directs the Secretary of Labor to undertake studies of: (1) black lung disease; and (2) benefits available under such Act and under other assistance programs and to report those findings and recommendations to Congress within 18 months. Eliminates the obligation of the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund to pay retroactive benefits in cases of operator nonpayment on claims filed after enactment of this Act. Provides that interest charges shall be made at the same rate as for other overdue debts owed to the Government, including retroactive payments based on final adjudications of operator liability. Makes such Fund liable (rather than the operators) for specified reopened claims subsequently approved. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the excise tax on coal sold by a producer from: (1) 50 cents per ton to $1 per ton for coal from underground mines, and (2) 25 cents per ton to 50 cents per ton for coal from surface mines. Increases the maximum amount of such tax from 2 percent to 4 per cent of the price at which a ton of coal is sold by the producer. Terminates such increase as of December 31, 1995, or earlier if both Houses of Congress do not disapprove a recommendation of earlier cutoff by the Trustees of the Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 8 December 1981
Expresses the sense of Congress that members of the National Guard and Reserve should be granted time off from their jobs for military training, exclusive of earned vacation, and given equal consideration for job benefits and promotions as other employees.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Congress associates itself with Andrei Sakharov's hunger strike. Urges the Soviet Union to permit the fiancee of Sakharov's stepson to emigrate.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1981
Directs the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp to honor the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Provides that such stamp shall be issued in the denomination applicable to first-class mail up to one ounce in weight. Directs that such stamp shall be issued on November 11, 1982.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1981
Requests the President to designate February 22, 1982, as a day of national celebration in honor of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of George Washington.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1981
Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 1982 and 1983 for Radio Broadcasting to Cuba, Incorporated. Permits other funds to be granted if specified conditions are met. Makes the Secretary of State responsible for overseeing the funds authorized by this Act until an appropriate oversight agency is designated. Authorizes Federal agencies to provide property for and to perform administrative and technical support and services for both Radio Broadcasting to Cuba, Incorporated and the Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba. Authorizes the Secretary to accept donations on behalf of the Presidential Commission.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) express U.S. opposition to the imprisonment of Alexander Paritsky; (2) urge the Soviet Union to release him from prison, to stop harassing him and his family, and to permit him and his family to emigrate; and (3) inform the Soviet Union that the United States will consider the extent to which countries honor their commitments under international law when evaluating U.S. relations with such countries.
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States and Japan should exert maximum efforts to resist Soviet challenges to Asia; (2) Japan should make a greater contribution to its own defense; and (3) Japan's defense expenditures should be at least one percent of its gross national product.
United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1981
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1981 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to prohibit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from permitting the transfer of irradiated fuel, or special nuclear material therein, for use in a nuclear explosive device without: (1) a presidential determination that the use of such fuel is vital to national defense and security; and (2) congressional approval.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code which provide incentives for energy conservation and development of renewable energy sources should not be repealed or amended to reduce such incentives.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1981
Amends the Federal Tort Claims Act to expand Federal Government liability for the acts of its agents to include tort claims arising under the Constitution of the United States. Limits recovery for such claims to the greater of: (1) actual damages; (2) liquidated damages of $1,000; or (3) $100 per day up to a maximum of $15,000 in the case of continuing torts. Makes a tort claim resulting from a Government employee's negligent act which was within the scope of his office or employement, exclusive of any other civil action arising out of the same subject matter. Requires the substitution of the United States as the party defendant upon certification by the Attorney General that the defendant employee was acting within the scope of his employment. Makes such certification binding and conclusive. Establishes a constitutional tort remedy against the United States for an act of a Government employee which the Attorney General certifies was within the scope of such employee's office or employment. Declares that upon removal of a civil action from a State court to a U.S. district court, the United States is entitled to all defenses to which it would have been entitled if the action had originally been commenced against the United States under such Act. Directs the Attorney General, where an action results in a judgment against the United States, to forward the matter to the employing agency for further investigation or disciplinary action. Eliminates as exceptions to the Federal Tort Claims Act claims arising out of assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process. Exempts from the provisions tort claims arising from the activities of this Act: (1) the Tennessee Valley Authority; (2) the Panama Canal Company; (3) Federal land banks; (4) Federal intermediate credit banks; and (5) banks for cooperatives. Authorizes the Secretaries of State and Health and Human Services and the Administrators of Veterans' Affairs and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to provide liability insurance for employees who perform medical functions under employment conditions where the United States would not be liable for such employees' acts. Exempts U.S. employees acting within the scope of their employment from civil actions for unlawfully intercepting or disclosing wire or oral communications.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1981
Amends titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) and XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the three day prior hospitalization requirement for coverage of extended care services.
United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1981
Declares that it is the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States must manage its assets in a manner more prudent and beneficial to the interests of the American people; (2) all executive branch agencies should inventory their assets, estimate the approximate value of each asset, and identify the uses to which each asset is put; (3) the President should then identify which assets are surplus to Federal needs and should be candidates for liquidation; (4) the President should submit recommendations to Congress on any legislative and administrative revisions that may be needed to carry out such a program of liquidation in an orderly manner; (5) the receipts of this program should be used only to restrain and ultimately reduce the national debt; and (6) the Comptroller General should investigate and recommend to Congress and each agency improved processes for managing Federal assets, estimating their value, and liquidating those which are unneeded.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that any agreement for a transfer by the United States of the airborne warning and control system (AWACS) to a foreign country shall include all the requirements under the Arms Export Control Act and in the standard Letter of Offer and Acceptance, as well as specified terms and conditions. Requires that the United States immediately terminate all support for the AWACS if any of these contractual provisions are breached. Requires that only countries that promote peace and stability receive AWACS. Directs the President to certify to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the conditions specified in this Act have been met before the actual transfer of any part of the AWACS.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1981
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to give first or fourth visa preference (sons and daughters of U.S. citizens) to an alien who was fathered by a U.S. serviceman after 1950 in Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Japan, Thailand, or the Philippines. Requires a five-year financial support guarantee signed by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident sponsor. Allows the Attorney General to enforce such guarantee against the sponsor in a civil suit unless such sponsor dies or is adjudicated bankrupt.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1981
Amends titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) and XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act to require Federal agencies to give to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, upon request, the names and social security account numbers of disability or SSI benefit recipients who are inmates of penal institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1981
Expresses the support of the Senate for the growing acceptance of principles of freedom and democracy in Poland. Commends the President for extending agricultural credits and aid to Poland. Urges the President to develop a policy toward Poland commensurate with U.S. concerns, to extend additional agricultural credits to Poland, and to press other countries to assist Poland.
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 1981
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide that certain fiduciary duties under such Act shall be deemed satisfied by investments in residential housing mortgages that provide adequate security and a reasonable rate of interest. Exempts from specified prohibitions under such Act the placing, investing, or purchase of a mortgage secured by residential housing property if such investment or sale: (1) is adequately secured; (2) is made in accordance with specific provisions regarding such loans set forth in the employee benefit plan; and (3) bears a reasonable rate of interest.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 1981
Motor Vehicle Theft Law Enforcement Act of 1981 - Title I: Improved Identification for Motor Vehicle Parts and Components - Amends the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 to direct the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate a Federal motor vehicle security standard. Directs the Secretary to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before promulgating such standard, which includes the effect on domestic motor vehicle production and sales. Stipulates that the standard shall not: (1) impose additional costs upon manufacturers in excess of $10 per motor vehicle; and (2) require the identification of more than 14 parts for any motor vehicle, nine parts for any truck, and four parts for any trailer. Declares that a Federal motor vehicle standard supersedes any State or local standard. Authorizes the Secretary to conduct studies on the development of security devices and systems. Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on such devices and systems within one year of enactment. Provides for repeal of this title on a specified date. Title II: Antifencing Measures - Amends the Federal criminal code to establish penalties for removing or altering any identification number for any motor vehicle or motor vehicle part required by regulation. Requires the forfeiture of any vehicle or part which has had such number removed, with specified exceptions. Applies to the seizure and forfeiture of motor vehicles and parts those provisions of law relating to the seizure and forfeiture of vessels and merchandise under the customs laws. Establishes penalties for anyone who buys, receives, possesses, or obtains control of, with intent to sell or otherwise dispose of, any motor vehicle or motor vehicle part knowing that such identification number has been removed or altered. Designates as nonmailable matter any manipulative type device which is designed or adapted to operate, circumvent, remove, or render inoperative the ignition switch or lock, or door or trunk lock of two or more motor vehicles, or any advertisement offering the sale of such device. Title III: Importation and Exportation Measures - Establishes criminal and civil penalties for anyone who imports, exports, or attempts to import or export any self-propelled vehicle or vehicle part knowing that its identification number has been altered. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to require persons who export or attempt to export a used self-propelled vehicle to present to the appropriate customs officers the vehicle and a document describing that vehicle. Title IV: Reporting Requirements - Directs the Attorney General to establish a task force to study problems relating to the theft of off-highway mobile equipment. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a task force to study problems relating to motor vehicle titling and controls over motor vehicle salvage which may affect the motor vehicle theft problem. Directs the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Transportation and the Postmaster General, to report to Congress on the implementation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 23 September 1981
Title I: Policy - Expresses the need to establish and maintain a uniform Federal policy for the management and use of the results of federally sponsored science and technology research and development. Title II: Implementation - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to coordinate, direct, and review the implementation and administration of this policy through consultation with Federal agencies and departments. Authorizes the Secretary to assist agencies in promoting licensing, utilization, and protection of Federal inventions both here and aboard and to receive fees and royalties. Requires the Secretary to report annually to Congress on these activities, including relevent statistical data and recommendations. Terminates the authority of the Secretary under this Act seven years after enactment. Title III: Allocations of Rights-Government Contractors - Grants each agency title to any invention made under contract with that agency upon certification to the Secretary that the services of the contractor are for the operation of Federal research centers, if necessary to protect intelligence activities, or to further the policy of this Act. Requires Federal agency research contracts to: (1) require periodic written reports on the commercial utilization of the invention; (2) reserve to the United States at least an irrevocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable, paid-up license to make, use, and sell the invention; and (3) employ a single patent rights clause, detailing the time limits and obligations of each party for moving on the invention. Grants the contractor the right to retain title to the invention, subject to the right of the Federal agency to require its commercial utilization through licensing specified terms. Permits an agency to waive its rights if to do so would be in the public interest. Title IV: Miscellaneous - Makes technical and conforming amendments to specified Acts.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1981
Amends the Act which provides for selling certain lands in the District of Columbia to foreign governments and international organizations to name such Act the International Center Act. Authorizes the Secretary of State to develop for such governments and organizations or to sell, exchange, or lease to them certain property for legation or headquarters buildings. Changes the boundaries of such property. Authorizes the Administrator of General Services, upon request, to construct the buildings. Directs the Secretary to provide additional services for lands covered by this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to retain a reserve fund from the sales or lease proceeds to maintain improvements authorized by this Act and to finance development plans for other areas for chancery and diplomatic purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1981
Amends the Act which provides for selling certain lands in the District of Columbia to foreign governments and international organizations to name such Act the International Center Act. Authorizes the Secretary of State to develop for such governments and organizations or to sell, exchange, or lease to them certain property for legation or headquarters buildings. Changes the boundaries of such property. Authorizes the Administrator of General Services, upon request, to construct the buildings. Directs the Secretary to provide additional services for lands covered by this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to retain a reserve fund from the sales or lease proceeds to maintain improvements authorized by this Act and to finance development plans for other areas for chancery and diplomatic purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1981
Declares that the President of the United States, the Senate and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs should assure that the specific provisions of the Federal Reserve Act providing for agricultural, commercial, and broad regional representation on the Board of Governors are followed.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) private relief agencies embarking on a program of emergency foodstuffs for Poland are to be commended and Americans encouraged to support this effort; (2) the Senate supports the President's efforts to respond to the Polish food emergency and urges a continuation of this stance; and (3) European governments and peoples are urged to assist in relieving the Polish food emergency.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that Benedict Scott be released from prison in the Soviet Union and be allowed to emigrate. Urges the President and other officials to express at each opportunity U.S. opposition to the imprisonment of Benedict Scott.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1981
Authorizes the President to: (1) assign U.S. military personnel to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), established according to the Egyptian-Israeli protocol relating to their peace treaty; (2) provide U.S. civilian personnel to participate in the MFO; and (3) agree to U.S. contribution to the costs of the MFO. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 1982 contributions. Authorizes any Federal agency to sell, loan, or lease property to, and to perform administrative and technical services supporting, the MFO.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the President should: (1) confer on an urgent basis with other nuclear suppliers to consider tightening restrictions on dangerous nuclear trade through specified measures; (2) develop a strong and effective program for the improvement of the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards regime through specified measures; (3) formulate and urge other countries to adopt a clear policy on enhanced international restrictions on dangerous nuclear trade and on improving the international safeguards regime; (4) call for a reevaluation of world nuclear energy policy; and (5) reaffirm U.S. policy to assist other countries in meeting their energy needs with nonnuclear energy alternatives.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) reopen the nuclear suppliers conference to consider tightening restrictions on dangerous nuclear trade through specified measures; (2) propose the improvement of the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards regime through specified measures; (3) formulate and urge other countries to adopt a clear policy on enhanced international restrictions on dangerous nuclear trade and on improving the international safeguards regime; (4) start planning for a world nuclear energy policy conference; and (5) reaffirm U.S. policy to assist other countries in meeting their energy needs with nonnuclear energy alternatives.
United States · United States Congress · 8 July 1981
Act for the Implementation of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material - Amends the Federal criminal code to establish penalties for: (1) intentionally possessing or transferring any material in fact containing plutonium or uranium which causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury to any person or substantial damage to property; or (2) stealing, embezzling, or threatening to use any such material.
United States · United States Congress · 17 June 1981
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the President: (1) take action to resolve the dispute over industrial property rights recognized and protected in the Agreement on Trade Relations between the United States and Hungary; and (2) suspend extension of nondiscriminatory treatment to Hungary if settlement is not reached expeditiously.
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 1981
Amends the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 to require the bankruptcy court, in the case of a bankruptcy petition filed by, or with respect to, a person engaged in the business of operating a farm produce storage facility, within specified time limits, to: (1) identify those farm producers who have produce in storage, and those parties which have secured interests in farm produce, within such facility; (2) audit the assets of the farm produce storage facility for the purpose of determining the extent of farm produce available for distribution to such producers and secured creditors; and (3) direct the abandonment of such farm produce according to procedures set forth by this Act. Declares that such procedures shall be applied by the court solely for the purpose of effectuating abandonment of farm produce which is not property of the estate, or is of inconsequential value to the estate, and shall not be construed to limit the right of any party to seek abandonment of any other property. Prohibits distribution of farm produce ordered abandoned by the court from being delayed due to the pendency of any appeal from the orders of abandonment, except that a stay of orders may be entered under specified conditions. Makes any such stay of orders appealable as of right by any aggrieved party. Grants to any farmer who, having delivered agricultural products to a licensed warehouseman upon a contract for sale and who has not received the agreed upon payment, a lien against products or like products in the licensed facility in excess of that required to satisfy receipted or other storage obligations, title to which may be then vested in such warehouseman, to the extent of the payment agreed upon for the purchase of the product sold. Attaches such lien at the time of the formation of the contract for sale and continues it until the obligations of the warehouseman to the seller of the products are satisfied.
![Official portrait of Sen. Percy, Charles H. [R-IL]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/p000222_200.jpg)