United States · United States Congress · 9 January 1991
House Commission on Congressional Reform Act - Establishes the House Commission on Congressional Reform to develop comprehensive and impartial recommendations for the House of Representatives that would improve: (1) institutional integrity; (2) accountability to the public; (3) efficiency; (4) effectiveness; and (5) any other aspects that would serve to increase public confidence in the House. Terminates the Commission within 90 days after submission of its report to the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 1991
Federal Government Foreign Travel Accountability Act of 1991 - Prohibits the obligation or expenditure for foreign travel by Federal employees and officials (including Members of Congress) of funds not specifically appropriated for such travel. Requires such employees and officials to travel by the most economical means possible and to travel aboard U.S. commercial carriers, unless an alternative means of foreign travel is more economical. Directs Federal agency heads to designate foreign travel supervisors. Requires each supervisor and each congressional committee to: (1) approve foreign travel of employees and officials in advance; (2) establish guidelines for such travel to prevent unnecessary trips; and (3) file quarterly reports with respect to such travel which shall be made available for public inspection. Requires such reports to: (1) specify the purpose and agenda of the trip; (2) identify each such employee or official and any other person who accompanies them at Government expense; and (3) describe any determination by a supervisor or congressional committee that such travel could be accomplished by a more economical alternative means when such travel is not aboard such a carrier. Requires such reports to be destroyed six years after being filed unless they are required in an ongoing investigation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Budget Process Reform Act - Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose - Declares that the purpose of this Act is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by the Congress. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal budget process should focus the attention of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs that must be made among priorities in order to control overall levels of spending. Declares that the budget process should contain safeguards against delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the Government may be avoided. Title II: Binding Budget Law - Requires the Congress to enact a binding budget law, in the form of a joint resolution, by April 15 of the calendar year before that in which the fiscal period commences. Requires the budget law to fit on a single page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings in major functional categories. Makes it out of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any spending bill affecting spending in a major functional category unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is enacted. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to prohibit baseline budgeting. Requires the budget to include comparisons of current fiscal year and proposed subsequent fiscal year spending. Requires the President to submit to the Congress on or before the fifteenth day after a joint resolution on the budget is enacted a detailed budget for the fiscal period beginning on October 1 of the current calendar year. Title III: Enforcement Mechanics - Subtitle A: Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law - Requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate to consider any spending bill prior to the enactment of the budget law. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide to the Congress an estimate of the costs in each major functional category of any spending bill as soon as practicable after its introduction. Limits such estimates to those bills likely to result in costs of more than $10,000,000. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to consider over-budget spending bills. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive any provision of this Act. Subtitle B: Limited Enhanced Rescission Authority - Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to limit the President's rescission authority to spending that is above the limits of the budget law. Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited - Declares the intent of the Congress to end open-ended, "blank check" appropriations which typically authorize spending "such sums as may be necessary." Requires fixed-dollar appropriations for every account except social security and interest on the debt. Prohibits open-ended appropriations. Requires Executive agencies to adjust benefit levels to ensure that appropriations for entitlement programs are not exceeded. Restricts budget authority and entitlement authority to one fiscal period. Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending - Prohibits the Congress from considering any legislation which exceeds the budget ceiling unless it offsets such increased spending with an equal amount of reductions. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive such prohibition. Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism - Makes appropriations to provide for an automatic continuing resolution if for any account an appropriation for a fiscal period does not become law before the beginning of such period. Restricts legislation providing funding to the Committees on Appropriations. Title V: Protection of Social Security - Provides that no reduction in benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) shall be made as a consequence of this Act. Title VI: Timetable - Revises the timetable for the congressional budget process. Title VII: Conforming Amendments - Makes various technical and conforming amendments, including changing references to a concurrent resolution on the budget to references to a joint resolution on the budget. Title VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation - Sets forth definitions for specified terms. Title IX: Effective Date - Declares the effective date of this Act to be January 1, 1993, applicable to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1993. Applies to FY 1993 certain provisions of Federal law, including the Congressional Budget Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Permits retired members of the armed forces to be paid retirement pay concurrently with compensation for any service-connected disability if the person's entitlement to such retirement pay is based solely on: (1) age; (2) length of service; or (3) both. Reduces the amount of retirement pay, in the case of individuals receiving both types of pay, by a specified percentage of the disability compensation which decreases as the disability rating increases. Prohibits any reduction in the retirement pay of a disabled person when the disability rating is total. Expresses the sense of the Congress that, once the Federal budget deficit has been reduced, the Congress should reexamine and eliminate any offset of retired pay by a veteran's disability compensation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Amends Federal law to prohibit any State from imposing an income tax on the pension income of any individual who is not a resident or domiciliary of that State.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Tourism Policy and Export Promotion Act of 1991 - Declares it to be the national goal to increase U.S. export earnings from U.S. tourism and transportation services and to maintain a travel and tourism export surplus in order to help eliminate the overall U.S. trade deficit. Requires the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to publish on a monthly basis a statistical report on U.S. international travel receipts and payments. Requires the Secretary to: (1) identify foreign trade barriers to U.S. travel and tourism; (2) estimate the trade-distorting impact of such barriers on U.S. commerce; and (3) estimate the value of U.S. travel and tourism exports that would have been exported to a foreign country if such barriers did not exist. Requires the Secretary to submit to specified congressional committees a report on such barriers. Directs the Secretary to take appropriate action to ensure that foreign tourists are not unnecessarily delayed when entering the United States. Amends the International Trade Act of 1961 to require each annual tourism trade development plan to focus on those countries in which tourism trade development has the greatest potential for increasing travel and tourism export revenues. Declares that the Congress finds that increased efforts directed at the promotion of rural tourism will contribute to the economic development of rural America. Establishes the Rural Tourism Development Foundation. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on: (1) economic effects of the identification and promotion of scenic byways as tourist attractions; and (2) techniques for incorporating scenic byways into tourism development programs. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from making a grant for the provision of family planning methods or services unless the applicant agrees to provide complete information and counseling regarding pregnancy, and for a pregnant woman who requests information on options for an unintended pregnancy, to provide: (1) nondirective counseling on prenatal care and delivery, infant care, foster care and adoption, and termination of pregnancy; and (2) referrals for the services that are appropriate to the decision of the woman.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Recyclable Materials Technology and Markets Development Act - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) conduct a study of markets for postconsumer materials (defined as materials that have served their intended end-use by an entity other than an industrial establishment); and (2) establish an Office of Recycling Research and Information in the Department of Commerce. Requires the Director of Recycling Research and Information to: (1) make grants for studies and scientific research relating to recycling of postconsumer materials; and (2) conduct a public outreach program to provide information to secondary school students, State and local governments, and the general public. Requires each manufacturer of a recyclable product to recycle, or provide for the recycling of, increasing minimum percentages of the products manufactured during specified years. Directs the Secretary to designate a product as recyclable if it may feasibly be recycled, as determined by the Secretary. Prohibits manufacturing a product for which the prescribed recycling rate was not met for the preceding year. Provides for civil fines for violating the prohibition. Prohibits manufacturing a nonrecyclable product if a recyclable substitute is readily available. Directs the Secretary to designate a product as nonrecyclable if it is not technically or economically feasible to be recycled. Authorizes the Secretary to require nonrecyclable products to be so labeled. Provides for civil fines for violating the prohibition. Provides for recycling seals of approval for recyclable products and for products containing a certain percentage of recycled postconsumer materials.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Plastic Container Identification Act of 1991 - Prescribes labeling requirements for plastic containers in interstate commerce to indicate the type of plastic resin used to produce the container. Imposes criminal penalties for violations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
National Solid Waste Minimization Act - Declares as national goals: (1) no increase in the generation of solid waste over the level generated in the year of enactment of this Act; and (2) recycling of at least 25 percent of the municipal solid waste stream by the end of 1994 and 40 percent by the end of 2000. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to report to the Congress annually on: (1) the amount and composition of municipal solid waste generated in the United States and the methods used to manage such waste; and (2) the progress made in achieving the source reduction and recycling goals of this Act, the impediments to the attainment of such goals, and recommendations on the regulatory or legislative initiatives necessary to attain such goals. Directs the Administrator to develop a list of categories of commonly used products and packaging which are discarded into the municipal solid waste stream. Requires the Administrator, with respect to each category, to determine: (1) the percentage of recovered materials used in the manufacture of products or packaging of each category; and (2) the percentage of products or packaging of each category that is recycled upon discard. Directs the Administrator to identify categories of products or packaging that shall be targeted for regulatory action. States that such regulatory action may include either or both of the following: (1) the required use of recovered materials in the product or packaging; or (2) a ban on the use of certain materials in the product or packaging. Directs the Administrator and the Secretary of Commerce to develop a voluntary system of packaging standards with respect to materials contained within the packaging and the recyclability of the packaging upon discard. Provides that packaging that meets such standards shall be eligible to use a label indicating compliance with the standards. Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate regulations to: (1) require any products or packaging that are recyclable to be so labeled; and (2) establish requirements for labels that indicate that a product or packaging is made of recycled materials or is recyclable. Requires the Administrator to report to the Congress on the costs and difficulties encountered by States and local communities in closing landfills.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Permits certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who are retired members of the uniformed services to receive compensation concurrently with retired pay, without deduction from either.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Freedom of Choice Act of 1991 - Provides that a State may not restrict the right of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy: (1) before fetal viability; or (2) at any time, if such termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman. Allows a State to impose requirements medically necessary to protect the life or health of such women.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Civil Rights Act of 1991 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide for the burdens of proof which must be met by the various parties when an allegation of an unlawful employment practice is based on disparate impact. ( Wards Cove Packing Co. Inc. v. Atonio, 1989, held that, in cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove an employer had no business necessity for a practice with discriminatory effects.) Allows a rule barring employment based on illegal discriminatory intent. Declares that, when an employment practice is alleged to have mixed motives, an unlawful employment practice is established when it is shown that a discriminatory basis was a contributing factor, even though other factors also contributed. Bars certain types of relief and limits damages to the injury that is attributable to the unlawful practice. Provides for the finality of litigated or consent judgments or orders resolving an employment discrimination claim, barring actions (challenging an employment practice that implements and is within the scope of a judgment or order) by persons who had certain types of notice and opportunity. Modifies the time limitations within which certain actions must be taken in alleged employment discrimination cases. (In Lorance v. AT&T Technologies, the Supreme Court held that seniority plans cannot be challenged as discriminatory unless complaints are filed soon after the plans are adopted.) Declares the application of a seniority system, if the system was included in a collective bargaining agreement with discriminatory intent, an unlawful employment practice. Allows punitive damages, certain types of compensatory damages, and jury trials only in connection with certain claims of intentional discrimination under the Act or under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Allows any party, if compensatory or punitive damages are sought, to demand a jury trial. Includes expert fees and other litigation expenses in attorney's fees which may be awarded in certain circumstances. Prohibits consent orders or judgments settling a claim, or stipulations of dismissal, unless the parties or their counsel attest that a waiver of all or substantially all attorney's fees was not compelled as a condition of the settlement.( Independent Federation of Flight Attendants v. Zipes held that attorneys' fees can be recovered under Title VII against losing intervenors only if the intervenor's action is frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation.) Allows the court, in its discretion to promote fairness, in a proceeding in which a judgment or order granting relief under employment discrimination provisions is challenged, to allow the prevailing party in the original action to recover attorney's fees and costs incurred in defending the judgment or order. Extends the time limit for filing against the Government a civil action involving employment discrimination. Requires, except for prejudgment interest on compensatory damages, the same interest payment by the Government as in cases involving non-public parties. Requires all Federal civil rights laws to be interpreted broadly to provide equal opportunity and provide effective remedies. Prohibits, except as expressly provided, interpreting any Federal civil rights law to repeal or amend by implication any other such law. Prohibits using this Act as a basis for limiting civil rights laws not expressly amended by this Act. Amends Federal law to declare that: (1) for purposes of provisions relating to equal rights under the law, the right to make and enforce contracts includes the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contract; and (2) the rights protected by the amended provisions are protected against impairment by non-governmental discrimination as well as against impairment under color of State law. (In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled, in Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, that an 1866 law forbidding discrimination in contracts applies only to hiring agreements, not on-the-job bias.) Prohibits construing the amendments made by this Act to: (1) require or encourage an employer to adopt hiring or promotion quotas; or (2) affect court-ordered remedies, affirmative action, or conciliation agreements that are otherwise in accordance with the law. Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to apply equal employment opportunities provisions to the Congress, with enforcement as determined by each House of the Congress. Amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to modify requirements, including time limitations, regarding filing of a civil action. Requires the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to notify the person aggrieved if an age discrimination charge is dismissed by the Commission. Allows a civil suit to be brought within a specified time limit after the dismissal. Encourages the use of alternative means of dispute resolution to resolve disputes arising under the Acts amended by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1991 - Title I: General Requirements for Leave - Establishes certain requirements for family and medical leave for permanent employees. (Excludes from such coverage: (1) employees at worksites at which the employer employs less than 50 persons, if the total number of employees of that employer within 75 miles of that worksite is less than 50; and (2) Federal officers and employees covered under title II of this Act.) Entitles employees to 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month period because of: (1) the birth of their child; (2) the placement of a child for their adoption or foster care; (3) their care of a child, spouse, or parent who has a serious health condition; or (4) their own serious health condition which makes them unable to perform the functions of their position. Conditions such leave for the birth or placement of a child as follows: (1) the entitlement ends 12 months after the birth or placement; (2) both parents may not take such leave at the same time; and (3) such leave may not be taken intermittently unless employee and employer agree otherwise. Allows all leave to which an employee is entitled under this title: (1) to be taken on a reduced leave schedule, upon agreement with the employer; and (2) to consist of unpaid leave, except under specified conditions when substitution of certain types of paid leave may be elected or required. Declares that nothing in this Act shall require an employer to provide paid sick or medical leave in any situation in which the employer would not normally provide any such paid leave. Requires employees to: (1) give reasonable notice of the need for leave to which they are entitled under this Act, when foreseeable; and (2) make a reasonable effort to schedule medical treatment or supervision so as not to disrupt unduly the employer's operations, subject to approval of the health care provider. Allows limitation of the dual aggregate leave entitlement to 12 weeks in any 12-month period, in the case of spouses employed by the same employer, if such leave is for the birth or placement of a child or for the care of a sick parent. Sets forth conditions of certification for leave entitlements under this Act, including provisions relating to: (1) sufficient certification; (2) explanation of inability to perform job functions; (3) second opinion; (4) resolution of conflicting opinions; and (5) subsequent recertification. Sets forth employment and benefits protections relating to leave entitlements under this Act, including provisions relating to: (1) restoration to position; (2) denial of such restoration in the case of certain highly compensated employees; (3) maintenance of health benefits; and (4) no bar to agreement concerning alternative employment. Prohibits employers or other persons from interfering with employee rights under this Act or from discriminating against any individual because of participation in proceedings or inquiries under this Act. Provides for administrative enforcement of this title by the Secretary of Labor, as well as enforcement by civil action. Sets forth provisions for investigative authority, injunctive and monetary relief, attorneys' fees, and limitation of actions. Sets forth special rules concerning employees of local educational agencies, including provisions relating to intermittent leave for instructional employees, periods near the completion of an academic term, and reduction of liability. Requires employers to post notice of the pertinent provisions of this title. Requires fines for willful violations of such requirement. Directs the Secretary of Labor to prescribe regulations to carry out this title. Title II: Family Leave and Temporary Medical Leave for Civil Service Employees - Amends specified Federal law to entitle civil service employees to family and temporary medical leave for specified periods. Allows such employees up to: (1) 18 administrative workweeks in any 24-month period for family leave (i.e., leave because of the birth or placement of a child or care of a sick child or parent), but such leave may not be used at a time more than 12 months after such birth or placement; and (2) 26 administrative workweeks during any 12-month period for temporary medical leave. Provides that such leave will be without pay. Allows employees to substitute other types of paid leave for part of such leave. Provides for protection for job position and health insurance benefits of employees using such leave. Sets forth certification provisions and prohibitions against coercion. Directs the Office of Personnel Management to prescribe regulations for administration of this title which are consistent with the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Labor under title I of this Act. Title III: Commission on Leave - Establishes the Commission on Leave. Requires the Commission to report on its study of family and medical leave (which may include legislative recommendations concerning coverage of small businesses and alternative and equivalent State enforcement of this Act with respect to employees of local educational agencies) to the Congress within two years after the Commission first meets. Terminates the Commission within 30 days after its report to the Congress. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth the effect of this Act on existing laws and existing employment benefits. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to discourage employers from adopting more generous leave policies. Directs the Secretary of Labor to prescribe regulations to carry out this title within 60 days. Title V: Coverage of Congressional Employees - Applies the rights and protections under title I of this Act to employees of the House of Representatives, except for the exemption concerning highly compensated employees. Requires that the remedies and procedures under the Fair Employment Practices Resolution be applied in administering such coverage.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from diminishing existing allocations of spectrum (available radio frequencies) to the amateur radio service after January 1, 1991. Requires the FCC to provide replacement spectrum to the service for any frequency reallocation after such date.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Ovarian Cancer Research Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of the National Institutes of Health and the Director of the National Cancer Institute, to conduct or support basic research on certain aspects of ovarian cancer. Prohibits the Secretary from conducting or supporting clinical research on the same matters. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Veterans' Compensation Amendments of 1991 - Increases the rates of: (1) veterans' disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for veterans' dependents; (3) the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans; (4) dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children; and (5) supplemental dependency and indemnity compensation for disabled adult children. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to adjust administratively the rates of disability compensation payable to persons who are not in receipt of compensation for service-connected disability or death.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress and the President, prior to each fiscal year, to agree on an estimate of total receipts (except those derived from borrowing) for that fiscal year by enactment of a law devoted solely to that subject. Prohibits outlays for that year (except those for repayment of debt principal) from exceeding this amount unless the Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each House, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over receipts. Requires a three-fifths roll call vote of each House to increase the public debt. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget to the Congress. Requires the approval of a majority of the total membership of each House by roll call vote before any bill to increase revenue may become law. Waives these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect. Makes this article effective beginning with FY 1995 or with the second fiscal year after its ratification, whichever is later.
United States · United States Congress · 3 January 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.
United States · United States Congress · 27 October 1990
Budget Process Reform Act - Title I: Statement of Congressional Purpose - Declares that the purpose of this Act is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by the Congress. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Federal budget process should focus the attention of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs that must be made among priorities in order to control overall levels of spending. Declares that the budget process should contain safeguards against delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the Government may be avoided. Title II: Binding Budget Law - Requires the Congress to enact a binding budget law, in the form of a joint resolution, by April 15 of the calendar year before that in which the fiscal period commences. Requires the budget law to fit on a single page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings in major functional categories. Makes it out of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any spending bill affecting spending in a major functional category unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is enacted. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to prohibit baseline budgeting. Requires the budget to include comparisons of current fiscal year and proposed subsequent fiscal year spending. Title III: Enforcement Mechanisms - Subtitle A: Super majority Required to Break Budget Law - Requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate to consider any spending bill prior to the enactment of the budget law. Requires the Congressional Budget Office to provide to the Congress an estimate of the costs in each major functional category of any spending bill as soon as practicable after its introduction. Limits such estimates to those bills likely to result in costs of more than $10,000,000. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to consider over-budget spending bills. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive any provision of this Act. Subtitle B: Limited Enhanced Rescission Authority - Amends the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to limit the President's rescission authority to spending that is above the limits of the budget law. Subtitle C: "Blank Check" Appropriations Prohibited - Declares the intent of the Congress to end open-ended, "blank check" appropriations which typically authorize spending "such sums as may be necessary." Requires fixed-dollar appropriations for every account except social security and interest on the debt. Prohibits open-ended appropriations. Requires Executive agencies to adjust benefit levels to ensure that appropriations for entitlement programs are not exceeded. Subtitle D: "Pay As You Go" Requirement for New Spending - Prohibits the Congress from considering any legislation which exceeds the budget ceiling unless it offsets such increased spending with an equal amount of reductions. Requires a two-thirds affirmative vote in the House and the Senate to waive such prohibition. Title IV: Sustaining Mechanism - Makes appropriations to provide for an automatic continuing resolution if for any account an appropriation for a fiscal period does not become law before the beginning of such period. Restricts legislation providing funding to the Committees on Appropriations. Title V: Protection of Social Security - Provides that no reduction in benefits under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act shall be made as a consequence of this Act. Title VI: Timetable - Revises the timetable for the congressional budget process. Title VII: Conforming Amendments - Makes various technical and conforming amendments, including changing references to a concurrent resolution on the budget to references to a joint resolution on the budget. Title VIII: Definitions and Rules of Interpretation - Sets forth definitions for specified terms. Title IX: Effective Date - Declares the effective date of this Act to be January 1, 1991, applicable to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 1990
Designates the room numbered H-235 in the House of Representatives wing of the Capitol as the Lindy Claiborne Boggs Congressional Women's Reading Room.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1990
Amends Federal law to provide that regulations adopted by the Interstate Commerce Commission for freight cars owned or leased by small railroads shall apply to freight cars owned or leased by class III rail carriers and by any class II rail carrier which demonstrates to the Commission special circumstances (when the ratio of loaded freight cars to those unloaded on its line during the preceding year exceeds two to one) justifying such application.
United States · United States Congress · 16 October 1990
Salutes and congratulates the people of Poland as they commemorate the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Polish Constitution on May 3, 1991. Directs the Library of Congress to commemorate the anniversary with appropriate ceremonies.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1990
Aviation Security Improvement Act of 1990 - Title I: Aviation Security - Amends Federal law to establish an Assistant Secretary for Transportation Security and Intelligence for the development of transportation security. Requires the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to report annually to the Congress on transportation security. Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (Administrator) to report annually (currently, semiannually) to the Congress on the effectiveness of screening procedures for passengers boarding aircraft. Establishes in the FAA an Assistant Administrator for Civil Aviation Security. Requires the Assistant Administrator to review and develop measures to strengthen air transportation security, including: (1) controls over checked baggage in air transportation; (2) control over individuals with access to aircraft; (3) testing of security systems; (4) use of modern x-ray equipment; and (5) preflight screening of passengers. Directs the Administrator to establish the position of: (1) Federal Security Manager for each U.S. airport that needs one; and (2) Foreign Security Liaison officer for each such airport outside of the United States. Directs the Administrator to issue regulations that subject to employment investigation, including criminal history record checks, all air carrier personnel, and individuals applying for air carrier positions, with unescorted access to domestic and foreign aircraft or to secured areas of domestic airports serving U.S. or foreign air carriers. Directs the Administrator to prescribe standards for the hiring, continued employment, and contracting of air carrier and airport security personnel. Requires foreign air carriers to adopt and use a security program approved by the Administrator. Requires the Administrator and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct an assessment of current and potential threats to the domestic air transportation system, including the security of individual airports. Directs the Administrator to establish a program to accelerate and expand the research, development, and implementation of technologies and procedures to counteract terrorist acts against civil aviation. Requires the Administrator to: (1) complete a review of threats to civil aviation; and (2) establish a scientific advisory panel, as a subcommittee of the Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee, to review and advise on the progress of such program, including the need for long-range research programs to detect and prevent catastrophic damage to commercial aircraft by the next generation of terrorist weapons. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits the deployment or purchase of explosive detection equipment unless the Administrator certifies that it can reliably detect explosive material which can cause catastrophic damage to commercial aircraft with 60 or more passenger seats. Requires air carriers, airport operators, travel agents, and employees who receive information of a threat to civil aviation to provide such information to: (1) an official of the FAA; (2) the Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Transportation Security and Intelligence; or (3) other appropriate officials. Requires the Administrator to cancel flights in the event that passenger safety from such a threat cannot be ensured. Requires the Administrator to develop guidelines to ensure notification to the public and to the flight and cabin crews of an air carrier flight of any threats to its security. Directs the Administrator to develop guidelines for airport design and construction to allow for maximum security enhancement. Directs the heads of the agencies of the intelligence community to promulgate policies and procedures to ensure that intelligence reports concerning international terrorism are made available to other members of the intelligence community, the Department of Transportation, and the FAA. Directs the Director of Central Intelligence to designate at least one intelligence officer of the Central Intelligence Agency to serve in a senior staff position in the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation. Requires the Administrator to study whether additional requirements should be imposed to enhance the security requirements for the transportation of mail and cargo by passenger aircraft. Title II: United States Response to Terrorism Affecting Americans Abroad - Declares that the Department of State (the Department) shall be responsible for negotiating aviation security agreements with foreign countries concerning implementation of U.S. rules and regulations which affect the foreign operations of U.S. air carriers, foreign air carriers, and foreign international airports. Directs the Secretary of State to enter into negotiations for bilateral and multilateral agreements: (1) to enhance aviation security; (2) to implement the Foreign Airport Security Act and the foreign airport assessment program; and (3) to achieve improved availability of passenger manifest information. Makes the Coordinator for Counterterrorism responsible for the coordination of international aviation security for the Department. Requires the Administrator to require all U.S. air carriers to provide a passenger manifest of any flight to appropriate representatives of the Department within three hours after the carrier is notified of an aviation disaster outside the United States involving such flight. Authorizes the use of passport fees collected by the Department for the acquisition and production of machine-readable U.S. passports and visas and compatible reading equipment. Declares it to be the policy of the Department to notify promptly the families of victims of aviation disasters abroad, including timely written notice. Directs the Secretary of State to issue guidelines to provide that in the event of a disaster, particularly an aviation tragedy, involving U.S. citizens abroad, the Department will assign a specific individual, and an alternate, as the Department liaison for the family of each such citizen. Requires the Secretary to ensure that a toll-free telephone number is reserved for the use of the families of citizens who have been involved in such disasters. Requires the Secretary to institute a supplemental program of training in disaster management for all consular officers. Directs the Secretary to issue guidelines to provide in the event of an international aviation disaster involving U.S. citizens that at least: (1) one senior officer from the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Department shall be dispatched to the disaster site; and (2) one Department employee shall be dispatched to such site to provide assistance and to act as an ombudsman with foreign local authorities for the victims' families. Requires the Secretary to promulgate: (1) criteria for Department staffing of disaster sites abroad; and (2) procedures for the deployment of a crisis team. Declares it to be the policy of the Department to provide arrangements for the preparation and transport to the United States of the remains of citizens who die abroad, as well as for disposition of personal effects. Requires the Secretary to compile an assessment of the Department response to the Pan American Airways Flight 103 disaster over Lockerbie, Scotland, together with guidelines for future response to such disasters, for distribution to Embassy and consular posts abroad. Requires the Secretary to promulgate guidelines with respect to recognition for the families of U.S. citizens who are killed through acts of terrorism abroad. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should take appropriate action to increase limits on carrier liability established by the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Transportation by Air (Warsaw Convention). Directs the President to submit to the Congress a legislative proposal to authorize the United States to provide monetary and tax relief as compensation to U.S. citizens who are victims of terrorism. Exempts the victims of the Lockerbie air disaster from income tax liability for any taxable year including December 21, 1988, and the prior year. Requires the Secretary to issue regulations to establish, under the Bureau of Consular Affairs, an electronic bulletin board accessible to the general public. Authorizes appropriations for antiterrorism assistance. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize training services, including short term refresher training, with respect to antiterrorism, to be conducted, under specified circumstances, outside of the United States. Directs the Secretary of State to develop and publish guidelines for thwarting efforts by international terrorists to enlist unwitting assistance of international aviation travelers in terrorist activities. Requires the Secretary of State to publish U.S. rewards for information on international terrorist-related activities. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should take measures to utilize and train U.S. employees at U.S. airports and abroad in the detection of explosives and firearms which could threaten international civil aviation. Requires the Secretary of State to propose to the International Civil Aviation Organization the establishment of a security program which includes: (1) training for airport security personnel; (2) grants for security equipment acquisition for certain nations; and (3) expansion of canine teams in the detection of explosive devices in all airports, including passenger screening areas and nonpublic baggage assembly and processing areas.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 1990
United States Policy on Iraqi Aggression Resolution - Sets forth objectives with respect to U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf. Declares that the United States and the international community must continue to oppose Iraq's armed aggression against Kuwait. States that the United States and the international community should: (1) continue to condemn Iraq for aggression and specified human rights and terrorist offenses; and (2) hold Iraq and its leaders accountable for such actions. Supports the deployment of U.S. armed forces to the Persian Gulf region and expresses appreciation to such forces. Commends the President for his efforts to promote international consensus and cooperation in response to the Persian Gulf crisis. Declares that the United States should continue to: (1) strengthen the international consensus against Iraq's aggression; (2) obtain additional military forces and increased financial assistance from other nations in support of multinational forces deployed in the Persian Gulf; and (3) obtain international assistance for nations that have suffered financial losses as a result of support for the United Nations trade embargo against Iraq and international humanitarian assistance for foreign nationals who have fled Iraq and Kuwait. States that the United States should continue to: (1) seek international consensus to contain Iraq's conventional, chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and stop the export to Iraq of dual use technology and military components; (2) seek international consensus to address regional problems of arms proliferation and ensure that conventional weapons transfers to the region reflect legitimate security needs of the recipient nation; (3) maintain Israel's economic well-being and military advantage in the Middle East and achieve an Arab-Israeli peace settlement; and (4) promote respect for human rights and support the development of democratic institutions throughout such region. Commends the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council for their response to Iraq's aggression against Kuwait. Affirms support for specified United Nations Security Council resolutions and calls on all nations to comply with such resolutions and strengthen sanctions against Iraq. Declares that the United States and other members of the international community should continue efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to the Persian Gulf crisis. Supports the President's emphasis on diplomatic efforts, international sanctions, and negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations to achieve U.S. objectives. Sets forth findings with respect to the War Powers Resolution.
United States · United States Congress · 25 September 1990
Declares that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the full realization of the rights of women is vital and the President should seek the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted by the United Nations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1990
National Emergency Anti-Profiteering Act of 1990 - Prohibits profiteering with respect to essential commodities following a presidential declaration of a national economic emergency. Establishes criminal penalties and civil remedies for such profiteering (including disgorgement of all profits earned). Sets forth guidelines for the duration of a national economic emergency. Authorizes the Congress to terminate by passage of a joint resolution the designation of a national economic emergency or of the essential commodities with respect to which it exists. Provides for judicial review of the President's determination regarding either an emergency or essential commodities.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Violence Against Women Act of 1990 - Title I: Safe Streets for Women - Safe Streets for Women Act of 1990 - Subtitle A: Federal Penalties for Sex Crimes - Amends Federal law to require the U.S. Sentencing Commission to create or amend guidelines to provide for: (1) up to twice the term of imprisonment or fine for violation, after the first conviction, of Federal laws relating to sexual abuse or similar laws of any State or foreign country; and (2) specified minimum terms of imprisonment for aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, and abusive sexual contact. Amends the Federal criminal code to increase the penalties for sexual abuse of a minor or ward and for abusive sexual contact. Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to promulgate guidelines or amend existing guidelines to incorporate the increase in maximum penalties for aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, and sexual abuse of a minor or award. Requires that a court order restitution for violations of such Federal sexual abuse laws. Subtitle B: Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to Reduce Violent Crime Against Women - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance to make grants to areas of high intensity crime against women. Requires that the grants be used for personnel, equipment, training, technical assistance, and information systems for the more widespread apprehension, prosecution, and adjudication of persons committing violent crimes against women. Authorizes the Director to make grants to States, for use by States and their subdivisions, for purposes outlined in this Act and to reduce the rate of violent crimes against women. Authorizes the Director, in addition to the grants under this subtitle, to direct any Federal agency, with or without reimbursement, to use its authorities and resources in support of State and local assistance efforts. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Safety for Women in Public Transit and Public Parks - Directs the Secretary of Transportation, from funds authorized under existing provisions, to make capital grants for the prevention of crime and to increase security in existing and future public transportation systems. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and loans to States and local public bodies to increase the safety of public transportation through lighting, camera surveillance, security phones, or other projects. Sets the Federal share of each project at 90 percent of the net cost. Directs the Secretary to provide grants and loans to study ways to reduce violent crimes against women in public transit through better design or operation of public transit systems. Amends the Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of the Interior to provide grants for capital improvements and other measures to increase safety in public parks and recreation areas. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to: (1) direct the chief law enforcement official within the National Park Service to compile a list of areas within the national park system with the highest rates of violent crime and make recommendations for capital improvements and other measures needed to reduce the rates of violent crime, including sexual assault; and (2) obligate up to $10,000,000 to the national park system for safety measures such as increasing lighting, providing emergency telephone lines, and increasing security and law enforcement personnel. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize funding for: (1) rape prevention and education programs conducted by rape crisis centers; and (2) rape prevention demonstration projects to develop and evaluate techniques for lowering the overall incidence of rape by 20 percent by the year 2000 and for reducing the trauma and long-term impact of rape. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: National Commission on Violent Crime Against Women - Establishes the National Commission on Violent Crime Against Women to promote a national consensus on violent crime against women and to make recommendations on reducing such crime. Authorizes appropriations. Terminates the Commission after submission of its final report, subject to extension by the President for up to one year. Title II: Safe Homes for Women - Safe Homes for Women Act of 1990 - Subtitle A: Interstate Enforcement - Provides for a Federal term of imprisonment or fine, in addition to any State penalties, for any person who travels or causes another (including the intended victim) to travel in interstate commerce with intent to injure his or her spouse and who violates a law of any State concerning domestic or family violence. Provides for imprisonment and fines for interstate violation of protection orders, including increased penalties for repeated offenses and for offenses involving serious bodily injury. Mandates that a court order restitution to the victim of an offense under this Act. Requires, provided certain conditions are met, that a protection order issued by the court of one State be accorded full faith and credit by the court of another State. Subtitle B: Arrest in Spousal Abuse Cases - Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) to prohibit a State or locality from receiving a grant under existing provisions if, as a matter of policy or law, it discriminates against family violence victims by prohibiting or discouraging the arrest of persons committing family violence. Declares that proof that a State or locality permits warrantless misdemeanor arrests based on probable cause in domestic violence situations is sufficient, but not necessary, to show such nondiscrimination. Requires certification of compliance. Amends provisions of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 relating to grants for crime victim assistance to require certification that a State does not engage in such discrimination against family violence victims. Makes warrantless misdemeanor arrests sufficient to show compliance. Bars any State, locality, or group of States or localities from receiving funds under such Act without certification that it does not discriminate against victims of family violence by prohibiting or discouraging the arrest of persons committing family violence. Amends the FVPSA to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to eligible States, municipalities, or local government entities, with regard to spousal or family violence, to centralize police enforcement, tracking of cases, prosecution, and judicial responsibility. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to delegate to the Attorney General responsibility for carrying out these provisions and transfer to the Attorney General a limited amount of funds appropriated under existing provisions. Subtitle C: Funding for Shelters - Amends the FVPSA to authorize appropriations to carry out that Act, earmarking at least 60 percent of funds appropriated for State demonstration grants to prevent family violence and provide immediate shelter and related assistance. Subtitle D: Judicial Training - Directs the Attorney General, from funds appropriated under specified provisions of the FVPSA, to provide a certain amount to the State Justice Institute for developing model programs for training judges in the laws of the States on spousal abuse and family violence. Title III: Civil Rights - Declares that all persons within the United States shall have the same rights, privileges, and immunities in every State as are enjoyed by all other persons to be free from crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender (defined as rape, sexual assault, or abusive sexual contact motivated by gender-based animus). Makes any person, including a person who acts under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State, who deprives another of the rights, privileges, and immunities secured by the Constitution and laws as enumerated by this Act liable to the injured party for compensatory and punitive damages.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to exempt payments for home health services under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (Medicare) from reduction under a sequestration order.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Directs the United States Postal Service to study and report to the Congress on ways to encourage the greater use of recycled paper by mailers of third-class mail matter along with recommendations for appropriate legislation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 August 1990
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the limitations on taxable years which may be elected by a partnership, S corporation, or personal service corporation. Provides that a change of taxable year shall not be treated as a termination of an election to have a taxable year other than the required taxable year unless such change is to a required taxable year. Provides that if such entities terminate such election, then they are not eligible to make another election before five taxable years have passed, without the consent of the Secretary of the Treasury. Sets forth circumstances for making such an election without the consent of the Secretary. Provides that any loss for the short period resulting from a change in election: (1) shall not be allowed as a carryback to any preceding taxable year (and shall not be taken into account by any partner of a partnership, or shareholder of an S corporation); and (2) shall be taken into account by the entity (or partner or shareholder) ratably over the first six taxable years beginning after the short period.
United States · United States Congress · 2 August 1990
Amends the Public Health Service Act to modify the formula for determining the minimum amount of allotments to States for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) public information activities to allow the amount to be equal to the amount received by the State from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, for FY 1989 for such activities, if those receipts are greater than the amounts under the alternatives specified by existing law.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1990
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Walker Percy of Covington, Louisiana, be remembered as one of the finest writers and contributors to the culture of the United States of the 20th century.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 1990
Title I: Research - Subtitle A: Health Research Act - Women's Health Research Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health the Office of Women's Health to coordinate all activities and research of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to disease, disorders, or other health conditions that are unique to, more prevalent in, or more serious for women, or for which risk factors or interventions are different for women. Establishes in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the National Center for Women's Health Research and Development. Requires the Center, with respect to women's health research, to: (1) identify research projects conducted or supported by each agency of the NIH and of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA); (2) evaluate such projects and select those that have particular merit; (3) provide amounts to the agencies for the projects; and (4) take other actions. Requires the Director of the Center to: (1) investigate the extent to which women are being included in NIH or ADAMHA research; (2) investigate whether the projects are being carried out in accordance with policies regarding the inclusion of women; (3) coordinate NIH and ADAMHA research with respect to women's health; and (4) take other actions. Requires the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to conduct a program for clinical research in obstetrics and gynecology. Requires the Director of the Center to establish the National Women's Health Data Bank and the National Women's Health Clearinghouse. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish: (1) within the Center the National Women's Health Clinical Research Advisory Board; and (2) the Interagency Council on Women's Health Research and Development. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Clinical Trials Fairness Act - Clinical Trials Fairness Act - Amends provisions of the Public Health Service Act relating to the national research institutes and provisions relating to the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure, in conducting or supporting clinical research, that women and minority groups are included as research subjects, unless inappropriate. Requires that any project be designed and carried out so as to provide for a valid analysis of whether the research variables affect women or minorities differently than other subjects. Directs the Secretary to establish within the advisory council of each institute and each agency of ADAMHA a Clinical Research Equity Subcommittee to review all clinical research of that agency to determine whether the research is being conducted in accordance with requirements of this Act. Provides for suspension or revocation of the authority for any project the Secretary determines is not being conducted in accordance with those requirements. Defines "minority groups" to mean racial and ethnic minority groups. Requires that the technical and scientific peer review process in the institutes and ADAMHA include an evaluation of the inclusion of women and minority groups as research subjects. Subtitle C: Breast Cancer Research - Authorizes appropriations to the National Cancer Institute for breast cancer research other than research that involves treatment or clinical trials. Subtitle D: Contraceptive and Infertility Research Centers Act of 1990 - Contraception and Infertility Research Centers Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the Institute of Child Health and Human Development to make grants and enter into contracts for centers for improving methods of contraception and centers for diagnosing and treating infertility. Requires the Director, subject to appropriations, to provide for three centers on contraception and two centers on infertility. Requires each center to: (1) conduct clinical and other applied research; (2) develop training protocols for and conduct training of physicians, scientists, nurses, and other health and allied health professionals; (3) develop model continuing education programs; and (4) disseminate information to such professionals. Allows a center to use the funds to provide: (1) stipends for health and allied health professionals enrolled in the training programs; and (2) fees to individuals serving as subjects in the clinical trials. Requires each center to use the facilities of a single institution, or be formed from a consortium of cooperating institutions, meeting requirements as prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Allows support for a center to be for a period of up to five years, with extensions of one or more periods of up to five years if the center's operations have been reviewed by a peer review group and the group has so recommended. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary to establish a program of entering into agreements with health professionals, including graduate students, under which the professionals agree to conduct research with respect to contraception or infertility in consideration of the Government agreeing to repay, for each year of such service, not more than a specified amount of the principal and interest of their educational loans. Applies provisions of the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program to this program, except as inconsistent. Authorizes appropriations. Requires amounts appropriated to remain available until the end of the second fiscal year after they are appropriated. Subtitle E: Contraception and Infertility - Declares that the Congress should: (1) establish a program of research for the development of methods of contraception and methods of diagnosing and treating infertility; (2) provide adequate long-term resources for the program; (3) ensure that Federal programs with respect to sexually transmitted diseases adequately respond to the role of such diseases in infertility; (4) ensure public education on contraception and infertility; (5) establish as Federal goals the development, by the year 2010, of improved barrier methods to protect against pregnancy and diseases, new methods of contraception for use by men, a vaccine-like drug for women that prevents pregnancy for a significant period of time without other specified effects, and new and improved techniques of diagnosing and treating infertility; (6) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reestablish the Ethical Advisory Board in order to facilitate research with respect to infertility; (7) review the policies and procedures of the Food and Drug Administration with respect to expediting approval of drugs and devices for use by the public, especially with respect to contraception and infertility; and (8) determine to what extent measures can be implemented by public or private entities to resolve liability issues involved with drugs and devices concerned with contraception and infertility. Subtitle F: Women and AIDS Research Initiative - Women and AIDS Research Initiative Amendments of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Administrator of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, or both, to establish a program to conduct biomedical and behavioral research on cases of infection with the etiologic agent for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in women. Authorizes the Secretary to conduct the research directly or through grants. Specifies forms of research to be included. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes appropriations for grants for community-based clinical trials on experimental treatments for such infection for women. Allows the Director of the NIH to authorize grantees to expend the grants to provide individuals with such transportation, child care, and other incidental services as may be necessary to enable the individuals to participate as subjects in the trials. Subtitle G: Osteoporosis and Related Disorders Research - Osteoporosis and Related Bone Disorders Research, Education, and Health Services Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMSD) and the Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to expand and intensify research on osteoporosis and related bone disorders. Requires, with respect to osteoporosis and related bone disorders: (1) the NIAMSD Director to increase the number of Specialized Centers of Research; and (2) the NIA Director to increase the number of program project grants devoted to creating centers of excellence. Authorizes appropriations. Establishes in the Department of Health and Human Services the Interagency Council on Osteoporosis and Related Disorders and the Advisory Panel on Osteoporosis and Related Disorders. Authorizes appropriations for the Advisory Panel. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make up to three grants to establish model health promotion projects for community-based education on osteoporosis, with each project targeting one of these groups: young and teenage girls, midlife women, and older men and women. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the NIAMSD Director to make grants or enter into contracts to establish a Resource Center on Osteoporosis and Related Disorders to: (1) disseminate information about research results, services, and educational materials to health professionals, patients, and the public; and (2) coordinate regional training for the development of health professional resource networks. Requires grant and contract recipients to establish: (1) a central computerized information system to, among other matters, translate scientific and technical information into information readily understandable by the general public; and (2) a national toll-free telephone information line. Requires the grant or contract recipient to charge fees for providing information, but allows exceptions for individuals and organizations unable to pay. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Services - Subtitle A: Informed Consent for Breast Cancer Treatment - Breast Cancer Treatment Informed Consent Act - Requires any State receiving funds under titles V (Maternal and Child Health Block Grant) or XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act or under the preventive health service provisions of the Public Health Service Act to require any physician or surgeon licensed to practice medicine in such State to inform any breast cancer patient of alternative methods of treatment for breast cancer before such treatment is begun. Requires that the patients be informed by means of: (1) a standardized written summary in layman's language and in a language understood by the patient of alternative methods of treatment; and (2) an explanation of the treatment options described in such written summary together with the risks associated with each procedure relative to each patient's particular medical circumstances. Subtitle B: Reimbursement for Certain Nurse Practitioners Under Medicare and Medicaid - Women's Health Care Coverage Expansion Act of 1990 - Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare and Medicaid coverage of obstetrical and gynecological services furnished by nurse practitioners. Subtitle C: Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenthood Act of 1990 - Mickey Leland Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Parenthood Act of 1990 - Replaces the current title XX (Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Projects) of the Public Health Service Act with a new title on adolescent pregnancy prevention, care, and research grants. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to provide care services to pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents and prevention services to nonpregnant adolescents. Lists permissible uses for the grants. Requires that grantees charge fees for services only according to a fee schedule approved by the Secretary that bases fees on income. Prohibits a grantee from discriminating on the basis of an individual's inability to pay for services. Sets forth priorities in making the grants. Provides for the amount of a grant. Prohibits the Federal portion of the grant from exceeding 75 percent of annual program costs. Allows non-Federal contributions to be in cash or in kind. Allows the Secretary to waive the 75 percent limitation in accordance with criteria established by regulation. Sets forth descriptions and assurances which must be included in grant applications. Requires grant recipients to spend between three and ten percent to conduct, through an independent entity, an evaluation of the services supported. Directs the Secretary to coordinate Federal policies and programs providing services relating to the prevention of initial and recurrent adolescent pregnancies and providing care for pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents. Requires grant recipients to coordinate activities with other grant recipients in the same locality. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to support: (1) research concerning the societal causes and consequences of pregnancy, childbearing, and child rearing for adolescent females and males; (2) evaluative research to identify services that reduce adolescent pregnancy rates and that improve the outcome of adolescent childbearing; and (3) the dissemination of information from programs and research relating to adolescent pregnancy and parenthood. Allows research and dissemination grants to be made for one year, with renewals for four additional one-year periods. Limits the amount of a grant for direct costs, but allows: (1) additional amounts for indirect costs as the Secretary deems appropriate; and (2) the Secretary to waive the limitation. Sets forth allowed and prohibited uses of the funds. Directs the Secretary to coordinate research and dissemination activities carried out under these provisions with such activities carried out by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Directs the Secretary to establish a system for the review of applications that is substantially similar to the system for scientific peer review of the NIH. Requires the creation of a panel to review applications. Requires grants to be made from among programs the panel has determined to be of scientific merit. Authorizes appropriations for carrying out the title added by this subtitle. Prohibits use of funds for grants under this subtitle for payment for the performance of an abortion. Subtitle D: COBRA Displaced Family Amendments Act of 1990 - COBRA Displaced Family Amendments of 1990 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and the Public Health Service Act to declare that specified provisions relating to the required period of group health plan continuation coverage do not apply to the qualifying events of death, divorce, or legal separation involving a beneficiary who is 50 years old or older. Requires that coverage continue until the 23rd birthday for a beneficiary under 20 years old at the time of such an event involving a covered employee 50 years old or older. Entitles beneficiaries who have applied for, but not received, a determination of disability before the end of an 18 month period after the qualifying event to a continuation period of 29 months. Requires that notice of the option to enroll under a conversion plan be given during the 120-day period ending 60 days before the expiration of the continuation coverage. (Current law requires such notice be given during the 180-day period ending on the expiration date of the continuation coverage.) Allows continuation coverage to end on the date on which the employer or successor employer (currently, the employer) ceases to provide any group health plan to any employee. Subtitle E: Federal Employee Family-Building Act - Federal Employee Family-Building Act of 1989 - Requires any contract for health benefits for Federal employees that provides obstetrical benefits to also provide benefits for family-building procedures. Provides that payment terms or conditions under such contracts shall be no more restrictive for family-building benefits than for obstetrical benefits. Requires such contracts to provide that: (1) benefits shall consist of reimbursement for reasonable and necessary medical expenses and counseling fees directly relating to the adoption of a child; and (2) benefits shall be available in connection with obstetrical care for the biological mother and medical care for the child if, or to the extent that, the pre-adoptive or adoptive parent or parents are legally responsible for the cost of such care. Directs the Office of Personnel Management to authorize the use of sick leave for purposes relating to family-building procedures. Defines "family-building procedure" as a medical procedure to overcome infertility (including procedures to achieve pregnancy and procedures to carry pregnancy to term) and procedures relating to child adoption. Title III: Prevention - Subtitle A: Medicaid Infant Mortality Amendments of 1990 - Medicaid Infant Mortality Amendments of 1990 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to phase-in mandatory State coverage of pregnant women and infants whose family income is below 185 percent of the Federal poverty level. Deducts child and medical care costs from the income eligibility test. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to the Congress by July 1, 1991, on State error rates in determining the Medicaid eligibility of pregnant women and infants. Suspends error rate penalties attributable to such eligibility determinations made from July 1, 1989, until one year after the Secretary's report. Authorizes States to provide Medicaid coverage of prenatal home visitation services for high-risk pregnant women and/or postpartum home visitation services for high-risk infants. Excuses women, during and for 60 days after pregnancy, from a requirement to cooperate in: (1) establishing paternity regarding a child born out of wedlock; (2) obtaining support and payments. Subtitle B: Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act of 1990 - Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, to make grants to States, with regard to breast and cervical cancer, for screening, referrals and follow-up services, public information and education programs, education and training for health professionals, quality monitoring of screening, and evaluations of such activities. Sets forth preferences in making the grants and requires equitable geographical distribution. Requires matching non-Federal funds in a specified ratio. Requires that States agree to: (1) provide all of certain services by a specified date; (2) switch to any improved screening procedures which become available and are recommended for use; and (3) assure the quality of any screening procedures used. Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines for assuring the quality of mammography and cytological screening conducted under these provisions. Requires that low-income women be given priority in the provision of services. Requires that a charge for services, if any: (1) be made according to a public schedule; (2) be adjusted for income of the woman involved; and (3) not be imposed on any woman with incomes below the poverty line. Requires services to be provided throughout a State, including to members of any Indian tribe or tribal organization. Authorizes the Secretary to provide training and technical assistance. Directs the Secretary to provide for annual evaluations of programs carried out under this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Limits the number of grants made to seven in FY 1991. Subtitle C: Mammography Reimbursement Under Medicare - Part 1: Screening Mammography Medicare Coverage Act of 1989 - Screening Mammography Medicare Coverage Act of 1989 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover screening mammographies for women over age 34 under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program. Part 2: The Rose Kushner Medicare Screening Mammography Act of 1990 - Rose Kushner Medicare Screening Mammography Act of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover screening mammographies for women over age 34 at a frequency which varies on the basis of a woman's age and risk of developing breast cancer. Finances such coverage by increasing the Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) premium. Part 3: Older Women's Breast Cancer Prevention Act of 1990 - Older Women's Breast Cancer Prevention Act of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover screening mammographies for Medicare-eligible women whose last screening mammographies were performed more than 11 months previously. Determines the payment amount for such service pursuant to a fee schedule. Subtitle D: Coverage of Bone Mass Measurement Under Medicare - Medicare Bone Mass Measurement Coverage Act of 1990 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare coverage of bone mass measurements. Subtitle E: Women and AIDS Outreach and Prevention Act - Women and AIDS Outreach and Prevention Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants regarding prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other sexually transmitted diseases in women, including preventive health services, screening, providing treatment (for such diseases other than AIDS), referrals, and follow-up services. Requires that a grantee be an entity that provides health or voluntary family planning services: (1) to a significant number of low-income women; and (2) in an area with a significant number of AIDS cases in women and in newborn infants. Requires that grantees maintain the confidentiality of information on individuals, subject to complying with applicable law. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle F: Infertility Prevention Demonstration Projects of 1990 - Infertility Prevention Demonstration Projects Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants for demonstration projects for the prevention and control of the sexually transmitted disease known as chlamydia, including by providing: (1) to women services relating to counseling, screening, treatment, referrals, follow-up, and outreach; and (2) public information and education and data collection. Requires that grantees be grant recipients under specified provisions that provide preventive gynecological health care. Prohibits charging for the services or information. Authorizes appropriations. Limits the number of grants to ten in fiscal year 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1990
Financial Crimes Prosecution and Recovery Act of 1990 as Reported By the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives - Title I: Enhanced Criminal Penalties - Amends Federal criminal law to establish criminal penalties (including imprisonment) for the concealment of assets from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (acting as conservator or receiver) and the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) acting as conservator or receiver. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prohibit certain felons convicted of dishonesty or breach of trust from controlling or participating in the affairs of a depository institution for a minimum ten-year period. Amends Federal criminal law to establish criminal penalties (including imprisonment) for obstructing any examination of a financial institution. Increases to 30 years (currently, 20 years) the maximum prison term for bank fraud and embezzlement. Establishes a ten-year statute of limitations for the prosecution of racketeering offenses involving financial institutions. Extends money laundering prohibitions to include funds from specified bank crimes. Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to promulgate guidelines for increased penalties for certain bank crime convictions in which the defendant derived more than $1,000,000 in gross receipts from the offense. Provides for restoration of forfeited property and for restitution to bank crime victims. Sets forth maximum criminal fines and minimum imprisonment terms for certain continuing financial crime enterprises (i.e., certain violations committed by at least four persons acting in concert). Title II: Protecting Assets from Wrongful Disposition - Authorizes the Attorney General to obtain a court order enjoining or restraining the alienation of disposition of property obtained as a result of a banking law violation. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to set forth attachment procedures. Amends Federal bankruptcy law to provide that the trustee shall be deemed to have assumed a debtor's commitment to a Federal depository institution regulatory agency to maintain the capital of an insured depository institution (thus precluding the trustee from rejecting such commitment as an executory contract which can be avoided as a discharge in bankruptcy). Exempts a Federal depository institution regulatory agency acting as conservator for an insured depository institution from the requirement of proving reasonable reliance upon a false writing supplied by a debtor who is an institution-affiliated party. Prohibits a discharge in bankruptcy for debts resulting from the debtor's failure to fulfill a commitment to a Federal financial institution regulatory agency to maintain the capital of an insured depository institution. Exempts a Federal depository institution regulatory agency acting as conservator for an insured depository institution from the requirement of a timely nondischargeability request (including notice and hearing) when seeking to recover a debt relating to malfeasance. Declares that for specified cases of deceitful conduct, any institution-affiliated party of an insured depository institution (or credit union) shall be deemed to have been acting in a fiduciary capacity with respect to any debt owed to a Federal banking regulatory agency (thus making such debt nondischargeable in bankruptcy). Makes it a prerequisite of a bankruptcy reorganization plan that the debtor will: (1) maintain any commitment to a Federal banking regulatory agency to maintain the capital of an insured depository institution; and (2) continue to be obligated for any debt to such agency for failure to fulfill such commitment. Makes certain debts owed by an institution-affiliated party to an insured depository institution under Federal receivership nondischargeable under a consumer debt bankruptcy plan. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to empower the FDIC (acting as conservator) to avoid fraudulent conveyances by a debtor institution-affiliated party. Prohibits an insured depository institution which does not meet minimum Federal capitalization requirements from making golden parachute payments, covered benefit payments, or certain payments in anticipation of insolvency to an institution-affiliated party without prior written Federal agency approval. Cites conditions under which insured depository institutions may make golden parachute payments and covered benefits payments with FDIC approval. Amends the Federal criminal code to revise civil and criminal forfeiture guidelines for: (1) property affecting a financial institution; and (2) fraudulent offenses involving the sale of assets held by Federal banking regulatory agencies. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prohibit certain convicted felony debtors whose default to an insured financial institution in receivership will cause substantial loss from acquiring any asset of the institution (except with respect to repayment). Title III: Improved Procedures for Handling Banking-Related Cases - Amends Federal criminal law to authorize wiretaps for bank fraud and related offenses. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to set forth reciprocal assistance guidelines for foreign investigations by Federal banking agencies and investigations on behalf of foreign banking authorities. Amends the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) to extend to ten years (currently, five years) the statute of limitations for commencing a civil action for Federal bank law violations. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the National Credit Union Act to grant the FDIC, the RTC, and the NCUA subpoena authority. Title IV: Structural Reforms to Improve the Federal Response to Crimes Affecting Financial Institutions - Establishes within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General in the Department of Justice a Financial Institutions Fraud Unit, headed by a Special Counsel who shall report directly to the Deputy Attorney General. Terminates such Office five years after enactment of this Act. Empowers the Special Counsel to investigate and prosecute criminal activity involving the financial services industry. Directs the Attorney General to establish: (1) financial institutions fraud task forces; and (2) a senior interagency group to assist in identifying the most significant financial institution fraud cases, to allocate investigative and prosecutorial resources, and to expedite interagency coordination and prosecution of financial institutions fraud. Amends Federal criminal law to authorize the Secret Service (under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury) to detect and arrest persons who violate banking laws with respect to financial institutions and the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). Title V: Reporting Requirements - Directs the Attorney General to report quarterly to the Congress regarding financial institution crimes. Requires the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to present annual statistical tables to the Congress on the business imposed on the Federal courts by the savings and loan crisis. Title VI: National Commission on Financial Institution Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement - Establishes the National Commission on Financial Institution Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement to make investigations and recommendations regarding specified aspects of the savings and loan crisis. Requires the Commission to submit a final report to the President and the Congress within one year after enactment of this Act. Terminates the Commission 30 days after the submission of such final report. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Authorizations - Amends the FIRREA to authorize appropriations to the Attorney General and the Federal Court System for bank crime cases.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 1990
Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for a study and report to the Congress on: (1) mechanisms for supporting training in the environmental sciences and environmental research through an umbrella research arm, the National Institutes of the Environment, considering research in a wide variety of disciplines; (2) the current state of extramural research support and undergraduate and graduate training relevant to tropical deforestation, species extinction, ecosystem degradation, biological restoration, use of underutilized resources and sustainable resource use, economic consequences of environmental change, and the impacts of humans and the environment on one another; and (3) mechanisms that can be used to advance environmental research and training, their relationship to existing research programs, and appropriate levels and resources of funding. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 1990
State Thrift Deposit Insurance Premium Act of 1990 - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to direct the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to determine and apportion among the States the cumulative cost of Federal assistance provided to State-chartered savings associations for case resolutions. Declares as "high risk" any State whose share of State resolution costs exceeds twice its share of 1980 State deposits. Mandates that each high risk State pay to the Savings Association Insurance Fund prescribed premiums reflecting such risk. Sets forth insurance termination procedures if a State fails to pay the required premium. Requires depositor notification of such insurance termination.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 1990
Children's and Communities' Mental Health Systems Improvement Act of 1990 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to replace a subpart relating to State comprehensive mental health services plans with a subpart relating to comprehensive mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, to make grants to States for comprehensive community mental health services to children with serious emotional disturbances. Prohibits the Secretary from making a grant to a State unless the State is receiving payments under alcohol and drug abuse and mental health services block grant provisions. Requires non-Federal contributions in a specified ratio. Requires State grantees to: (1) establish and operate one or more systems, through grants or contracts, to provide specified types of mental health services to children under 21 years of age; (2) enter into a memorandum of understanding with providers of medical, educational, vocational counseling and vocational rehabilitation, and protection and advocacy services to facilitate the provision of such services without use of grant funds or non-Federal contributions made with respect to the grant; (3) provide case management services; (4) provide services in the language and cultural context that is most appropriate for the child involved; and (5) develop and implement an individualized plan of services for each child admitted to the system. Describes additional services for which a State system may provide. Prohibits the Secretary from making a grant to a State unless the State has a plan, approved by the Secretary, for the development of a State-wide system of care for community-based services for children with serious emotional disturbances. Requires that parents of children with serious emotional disturbances be included as members of the mental health planning council established under existing provisions. Requires that, if a charge is imposed for services under a grant, the charge be made according to a public schedule, adjusted to reflect the income of the family of the child, and not imposed on any child whose family has income and resources at or below the poverty line. Limits grants to States to four years. Allows a State system established under a grant to receive grant funds for two years. Directs the Secretary to provide to a State, on request: (1) technical assistance regarding grant applications; and (2) training and technical assistance on the planning, development, and operation of the systems under this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to provide the technical assistance directly or through grants or contracts. Authorizes appropriations, earmarking a specified sum for the technical assistance and training. Limits the number of grants to ten in FY 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1990
Women's Health Research Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health the Office of Women's Health to coordinate all activities and research of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to disease, disorders, or other health conditions that are unique to, more prevalent in, or more serious for women, or for which risk factors or interventions are different for women. Establishes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the National Center for Women's Health Research and Development to provide funding, from amounts appropriated under specified existing provisions and with regard to women's health research, for research conducted or supported by the NIH or the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA). Requires the Center Director to: (1) investigate the inclusion of women as subjects in clinical research conducted or supported by the NIH and ADAMHA; and (2) prepare and annually review a plan for establishing a program for clinical research in obstetrics and gynecology to be conducted by the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD). Requires the NICHHD Director to conduct the program in accordance with the plan. Requires the Center Director to establish: (1) the National Women's Health Data Bank to collect, store, analyze, retrieve, and disseminate data regarding women's health conditions; and (2) the National Women's Health Clearinghouse to disseminate information to health professionals, patients, and the public on women's health conditions. Requires the Center Director to establish within the Center the National Women's Health Clinical Research Advisory Board. Directs the Secretary to establish the Interagency Council on Women's Health Research and Development. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1990
Rural Law Enforcement Drug Act of 1990 - Makes funds available from the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund to the Attorney General for the Rural Law Enforcement Drug Grant Program. Authorizes the Attorney General to make grants of up to $50,000 each to rural law enforcement agencies in rural counties where the population does not exceed 25,000 for: (1) conduct of training programs for law enforcement officers; (2) acquisition of vehicles and communications and other equipment; (3) special prevention and education programs for children; and (4) other programs that will reduce drug use in the county. Requires the Attorney General to prescribe criteria for the allocation of grant amounts among applicants and to prescribe program requirements for such grants. Requires reports to the Attorney General describing grant activities.
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