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United States · Official source
5,049 records where Sen. Specter, Arlen [R-PA] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 9 January 2003
Provides for special minimum funding requirements for the pension plans of certain air carriers.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
National Defense Rail Act - Requires studies or assessments of: (1) security risks associated with freight and intercity passenger rail transportation; (2) security priorities; (3) rail crossing delay security issues; (4) existing rail safety regulations; (5) foreign rail transport security programs; and (6) the feasibility of passenger, baggage, and cargo screening. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to: (1) establish a national high-speed ground transportation policy; and (2) provide 100 percent financial assistance to develop and implement high-speed rail corridors according to designated priorities, including the elimination of hazards of railway-highway crossings. Requires such projects to comply with Buy American and competitive bidding requirements, and specified labor standards, including the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act. Defines the national rail passenger transportation system. Authorizes Amtrak to operate an intercity rail service or route not included in such system, as specified. Declares that nothing in this Act is intended to preclude Amtrak from restoring, improving, or developing non-high-speed intercity passenger rail service. Repeals the requirement that Amtrak be self-sufficient. Authorizes additional appropriations for Amtrak for retirement of principal and interest on its debt service, and for improving accessibility for the elderly and people with disabilities, including compliance with environmental regulations. Authorizes appropriations for the Northeast Corridor, long and short distance trains, and State-supported routes. Directs the Secretary to re-establish the Northeast Corridor Safety Committee. Revises requirements concerning the Amtrak board of directors. Requires an independent audit of Amtrak operations and the development of a five-year financial plan. Revises requirements of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 concerning loans and loan guarantees. Directs the Secretary to establish a rail passenger cooperative research program, including an advisory board.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Authorizes salary adjustments for U.S. justices and judges for FY 2003 concurrently with increases in the General Schedule of Compensation for Federal employees.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Amends the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 (which is title II of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, PL107-147) to extend the temporary extended unemployment compensation (TEUC) program for five months, through weeks of unemployment ending before June 1, 2003 (currently January 1, 2003). Provides for a transition period of continuing payments to individuals with amounts remaining in their TEUC account after May 31, 2003, for weeks beginning before August 30, 2003.
United States · United States Congress · 7 January 2003
Authorizes use of Department of Defense commissary and exchange stores by former prisoners of war who have been honorably separated from service and have a service-connected disability rated at 30 percent or more.
United States · United States Congress · 20 November 2002
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should adopt a global strategy with coordinated activities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to address the short-term humanitarian needs and long-term rural development needs of countries affected by the collapse of coffee prices. States that the President should explore measures to support and complement multilateral efforts to respond to the global coffee crisis. Urges private sector coffee buyers and roasters to work with the United States to find a solution to the crisis which is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable for all interested parties, and which addresses oversupply in the world coffee market.
United States · United States Congress · 14 November 2002
Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award a grant to Neighborhood House of St. Paul, Minnesota, to finance the construction of a new community center in St. Paul, to be known as the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building.
United States · United States Congress · 28 October 2002
Expresses condolences for the deaths of Senator Paul Wellstone, members of his family, and others aboard the plane that crashed in Minnesota.
United States · United States Congress · 17 October 2002
Resolution for the Tripling of Biomedical Research - Expresses the sense of the Senate that appropriations for the National Institutes of Health should be tripled over the ten-year period from FY 1999 to 2008.
United States · United States Congress · 10 October 2002
West Nile Virus and Arboviral Disease Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish a temporary program for West Nile Virus and related arboviral diseases, which may include grants by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to States for the prevention and control of such diseases. Directs grant funds to be used for: (1) the development, implementation, and evaluation by States and localities of community-based, comprehensive mosquito control plans; and (2) the development and implementation of programs on medical entomology, arbovirology, and other vector-borne diseases. Includes a 50 percent matching requirement for such grants. Requires 85 percent of grant funds to any State to be expended locally. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and with appropriate consultation, to develop a plan, together with standard operating procedures, to serve as a guideline for State and local mosquito control programs. Sets forth elements that such plan should include, including programs to: (1) identify new human cases of disease; and (2) provide laboratory support for testing. Sets a termination date of September 30, 2004, for the temporary program. Directs the President to expand, intensify, and enhance research for various activities, including to: (1) identify and develop methods of controlling the population of insects that transmit to humans diseases that have significant adverse health consequences (including the West Nile Virus); and (2) develop rapid screening tools for West Nile Virus in blood or organs.
United States · United States Congress · 8 October 2002
Iraqi Scientists Liberation Act of 2002 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) Iraq must give the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors complete site access; (2) inspections should include unmonitored and protected interviews with appropriate persons; and (3) key scientists, engineers, and technicians in Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs should be encouraged to leave and provide information to governments and international institutions that are committed to such programs' dismantling. Provides that whenever the Secretary of State and the Attorney General jointly determine that the admission into the United States of an eligible alien is in the public interest, the alien and any immediate family members shall be eligible for U.S. permanent residence admission. Describes such alien as one who: (1) is a scientist, engineer, or technician who has worked at any time since December 16, 1998, in an Iraqi program to produce weapons of mass destruction or the means to deliver them; (2) is in possession of critical information concerning any such program; (3) is willing to provide, or has provided, such information to inspectors of the United Nations, inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or any U.S. department, agency, or other entity; and (4) will be or has been placed in danger as a result of providing such information. Limits: (1) entrants to 500 aliens, with no limit on immediate family members; and (2) program authority to 36 months. Amends the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996 to revise the definition of "weapon of mass destruction." .
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 2002
Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to use the price of feed grains and other cash expenses as factors to determine the basic formula price for milk under milk marketing orders.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 2002
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act - Permits the Director of the National Institutes of Health (the "Director" of NIH), acting through the Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, to expand and coordinate the activities of NIH with respect to research on paralysis. Allows the Director to award grants to public or nonprofit entities to fund Christopher Reeve Paralysis Research Consortia for paralysis research. Permits the Director to solicit public input regarding paralysis research programs. Allows the Director, acting through the Director of the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development and the National Center for Rehabilitation Research and in collaboration with other agencies, to expand and coordinate the activities of NIH with respect to research with implications for enhancing daily function for persons with paralysis. Permits the Director to make grants to multicenter networks of clinical sites that will collaborate on rehabilitation intervention protocols. Permits the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to study the unique health challenges associated with paralysis and other physical disabilities to improve the quality of life and long-term health status of individuals with such conditions. Allows the Secretary to undertake direct research and to make grants. Provides for the formation of a national paralysis and physical disability quality of life plan, a hospital-based paralysis registry, and a Comprehensive Paralysis and Other Physical Disability Quality of Life Program. Allows the Secretary to convene a working group for coordinating paralysis research, public health, and rehabilitation training at the Federal level.
United States · United States Congress · 20 September 2002
Designates the month of October 2002 as Family History Month.
United States · United States Congress · 17 September 2002
Social Security Act Improvements for the Terminally Ill Act - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to eliminate the five-month waiting period in the disability insurance program for terminally ill individuals. Authorizes disability benefits for any eligible individual whose underlying impairment results in death within six months after what would have been the start of the waiting period.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2002
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Horsham, Pennsylvania, as the Victor J. Saracini Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2002
Designates the month of September 2002 as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Declares that the Federal Government has a responsibility to: (1) raise awareness about the importance of screening methods and treatment of prostate cancer; (2) increase research funding that is commensurate with the burden of the disease so that the causes of, and improved methods for screening, treating, and curing prostate cancer may be discovered; and (3) continue to consider ways for improving access to, and the quality of, health care services for detecting and treating prostate cancer.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2002
Designates October 18, 2002, as National Mammography Day.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 2002
Honoring the Passengers and Crew of United Flight 93 Act - Authorizes the President to award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to the passengers and crew of United Airlines flight 93 in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 10 September 2002
Emergency Communications and Competition Act of 2002 - Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to assign licenses in the 12.2 -12.7 gigahertz band for the provision of fixed terrestrial communications services. Prohibits: (1) granting such a license if operations would interfere with direct broadcast satellite service; or (2) such licenses from being used for the provision of personal communications or terrestrial telephony service. Requires licensees to begin providing services within five years after the license is granted. Requires each licensee to: (1) disseminate Federal, State, and local Emergency Alert System warnings to all subscribers; (2) provide immediate access of its services for national security and emergency preparedness personnel; and (3) adhere to all FCC-established access requirements, including the carriage of local television station signals, access for political candidates, and public interest programming and services. Directs the FCC to: (1) establish boundaries for license recipients that conform to existing television markets; and (2) redesignate the Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service as the Terrestrial Direct Broadcast Service.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
Requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), within 15 days after the enactment of this Act, to return to the winning bidders of spectrum auction 35 the full amount of all deposits and down payments made for licenses that the FCC has not delivered by such date. Frees each winning bidder that elects within such period to relinquish a license not yet delivered of all license obligations such bidder would otherwise have had, including the obligation to pay the full amount of its winning bid upon license delivery.
United States · United States Congress · 1 August 2002
David Jayne Medicare Homebound Modernization Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to the definition of homebound for purposes of determining Medicare eligibility for home health services. Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from disqualifying from consideration as confined to the home, based on the purpose, frequency, or duration of the absences from the home, any individual who: (1) has been certified by a physician as having a permanent and severe condition that will not improve which requires the individual to receive assistance from another individual with at least three out of five activities of daily living for the rest of the individual's life; (2) requires one or more described home health services to achieve a functional condition giving the individual the ability to leave the home; and (3) has received part-time or intermittent nursing care provided by or under the supervision of a registered professional nurse.
United States · United States Congress · 26 July 2002
Reaffirms support of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Commemorates the 15th anniversary of the enactment of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 (the Proxmire Act) on November 4, 2003.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2002
United States-Uruguay Free Trade Agreement Act - Authorizes the President to enter into a free trade agreement with Uruguay.
United States · United States Congress · 25 July 2002
Designates the week beginning September 15, 2002, as National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2002
National Constitution Center Commemorative Coin Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue one-dollar silver coins in commemoration of the opening of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, scheduled for July 4, 2003.
United States · United States Congress · 18 July 2002
Calls on Congress to consider and vote on a resolution authorizing the use of force by the U.S. armed forces against Iraq before such force is deployed against Iraq.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2002
Highlands Stewardship Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to establish the Highlands Stewardship Area in the Highlands region (an area encompassing nearly 2,000,000 acres extending from eastern Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York to northwestern Connecticut). Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish: (1) within the Department of Agriculture the Office of Highlands Stewardship to implement the strategies of the Highlands Regional Study conducted by the Forest Service in 1990 (study) and the New York-New Jersey Highlands Regional Assessment Update conducted by the Service in 2001 (update); and (2) the Highlands Stewardship Area Work Group to assist with such implementation and to advise the Office and the Secretaries on priorities for projects carried out with assistance under this Act, on land conservation partnership projects, on Highlands region research, and on policy and educational initiatives necessary to implement study and update findings. Authorizes the Office to provide financial and technical assistance to an eligible entity to carry out a project to protect, restore, preserve, promote, or interpret Area resources. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to annually designate land conservation partnership projects that are eligible to receive financial assistance under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2002
Amends rule XLII (employment practices) of the Standing Rules of the Senate to prohibit employment discrimination in the Senate based on sexual orientation.
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2002
Declares that the Senate strongly disapproves of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Newdow v. U.S. Congress. Authorizes and instructs the Senate Legal Counsel to seek to intervene in the case to defend the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance.
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2002
Youth Smoking Prevention and Public Health Protection Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to give the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Food and Drug Administration, regulatory authority over tobacco products. Sets forth criteria by which tobacco products will be deemed adulterated and/or misbranded. Sets forth health information submission and annual registration requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to adopt performance standards. Provides for notification and other remedial measures, including recalls. Requires manufacturers and importers of such products to keep records as specified. Requires premarket review of new tobacco products, as specified. Provides a right of judicial review concerning the promulgation of regulations and the denial of premarket approval. Authorizes postmarket surveillance as necessary. Authorizes the Secretary to designate reduced risk tobacco products, as specified. Requires all retail outlets for tobacco products to be treated equally with regard to advertising restrictions. Requires coordination with the Federal Trade Commission, specifically retaining to the Commission the authority to enforce certain laws concerning the advertising, sale, or distribution of tobacco products. Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) congressional review; (2) regulations; (3) preservation of State and local authority; (4) construction of current regulations; and (5) conforming amendments. Establishes a Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. Amends the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act to revise tobacco and smokeless tobacco label and advertising warning requirements. Amends the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986 to revise smokeless tobacco warning label and advertising requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2002
Declares that the Senate: (1) supports the goals of National Night Out (an event during which participants are urged to light up their homes and neighborhoods between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on August 6, 2002, to highlight the importance of community participation in crime prevention efforts); (2) recognizes that the fight against neighborhood crime and terrorism requires individuals, neighborhood crime watch organizations, schools, and community policing groups and other law enforcement officials to work together; (3) encourages neighborhood residents, crime watch organizations, and schools to participate in National Night Out activities; and (4) requests the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to participate and to make neighborhood crime prevention, community policing, and reduction of school crime important priorities of the Administration.
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2002
Amends the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make a grant to an eligible historically black college or university for the preservation and/or restoration of a building or structure listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places if the grantee agrees to provide funds derived from non-Federal sources in an amount equal to 30 percent (currently, a matching amount) of the total cost of the project. Authorizes additional appropriations for such grants.
United States · United States Congress · 10 June 2002
Commends the soldiers and airmen of the Pennsylvania National Guard for their exemplary service to the United States in the war against terrorism and other recent deployments.
United States · United States Congress · 5 June 2002
Designates the week beginning August 25, 2002, as National Fraud Against Senior Citizens Awareness Week.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 2002
Calls for Americans to observe a national moment of remembrance at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day, 2002, for members of the armed forces and civilian national security agencies.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 2002
Reducing Crime and Terrorism at America's Seaports Act of 2002 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to: (1) increase civil and criminal financial penalties for noncompliance with manifest requirements; and (2) apply them to owners of vehicles as well as operators. Prescribes criminal penalties for intentional falsification of a certificate of origin for exports. Requires persons in charge of land, air, or vessel carriers, including their agents, who must by law present a manifest to transmit certain specified identification and inventory information pursuant to an electronic data interchange system information before lading of cargo or clearance and loading of cargo. Requires shippers of waterborne cargo loading in a U.S. port (including an ocean transportation intermediary that is a nonvessel-operating common carrier) to submit a complete set of shipping documents within 72 hours before vessel departure. Subjects undocumented goods to search, seizure and forfeiture. Directs the Customs Service to develop a uniform system of securing or sealing at loading all containers originating in or destined for the United States. Prescribes a fine and a prison sentence for endangering safety at a seaport by committing an act of violence against a person at such a location or damaging the facilities. Increases penalties for theft from customs and for theft of funds earmarked for payment of customs duties, taxes, or fees. Amends the Arms Export Control Act to extend its exemption from certain prohibitions against transactions with countries supporting international terrorism to any transaction by a U.S. law enforcement agent determined by the President to be essential to U.S. national security interests or relating to an imminent threat of harm to a U.S. person or property (especially undercover investigations into unlawful arms trafficking). Directs the Attorney General to: (1) issue regulations to require carriers and port owners or operators to report certain information about cargo thefts; and (2) create a database for such reports.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 2002
Designates October 13 through 19, 2002, as National Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Week. Commits to increasing the quality of life for individuals with cystic fibrosis by promoting public knowledge and understanding in a manner that will result in earlier diagnoses, more fund raising efforts for research, and increased levels of support for cystic fibrosis sufferers and their families.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 2002
DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2002 - Directs the Attorney General to: (1) survey each law enforcement jurisdiction to assess the backlog of DNA testing of rape kit samples and other sexual assault evidence; and (2) make grants to eligible entities to carry out sexual assault examiner training and certification, develop sexual assault examiner programs, acquire or improve forensic equipment, and train law enforcement personnel in the handling of sexual assault cases. Amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to: (1) ensure that DNA testing and analysis of samples from rape kits and non-suspect cases are carried out in a timely manner; (2) reauthorize grants; (3) authorize local governments to apply for and receive grants; (4) direct the Attorney General to give priority in awarding grants to a State or local governmental unit that has a significant rape kit or non-suspect case backlog; (5) expand the scope of DNA samples subject to privacy protections; and (6) authorize appropriations to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the collection and use of DNA identification information from certain Federal offenders. Amends: (1) the Federal criminal code and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to authorize "John Doe" DNA indictments for sexual abuse (allows describing a person as an unknown individual who has a particular DNA profile if the identity of the accused or defendant is unknown); and (2) the DNA Identification Act of 1994 to authorize appropriations to the FBI to carry out a redesign of the Combined DNA Index System.
United States · United States Congress · 13 May 2002
Expresses profound gratitude for the faithful service provided by flight attendants to make air travel safe and honors their courage and dedication. Supports all flight attendants who continue to display heroism on a daily basis, as they had been doing before, during, and after September 11, 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 2002
Medicare Skilled Nursing Beneficiary Protection Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the prospective payment system for skilled nursing facility services for determining updates for FY 2003 and for FY 2004 and subsequent fiscal years.
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 2002
Designates the U.S. courthouse located at 100 Federal Plaza in Central Islip, New York, as the Alfonse M. D'Amato United States Courthouse.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
National Homeland Security and Combating Terrorism Act of 2002 - Establishes the Department of National Homeland Security to: (1) develop policies and plans for homeland security; (2) develop a National Strategy for Combating Terrorism and Homeland Security Response to counter terrorist threats; (3) plan, coordinate, and integrate Government border security, critical infrastructure protection, and emergency preparedness activities and act as the focal point regarding crises and emergency planning and response; (4) annually develop a Federal response plan for homeland security and emergency preparedness; and (5) implement a coordinating center with representatives from other Federal agencies with security responsibilities. Transfers to the Department the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Customs Service, specified law enforcement components of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Coast Guard, the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office of the Department of Commerce, the National Infrastructure Protection Center and the National Domestic Preparedness Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a specified portion of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture. Establishes: (1) within the Department Directorates of Border and Transportation Protection, Critical Infrastructure Protection, and Emergency Preparedness and Response and an Office of Science and Technology (OST); (2) an Acceleration Fund for Research and Development of Homeland Security Technologies; (3) in OST a Homeland Security Science and Technology Senior Steering Group and Coordination Committee; (4) within the Executive Office of the President the National Office for Combating Terrorism; (5) a National Combating Terrorism and Homeland Security Response Council; and (6) a National Combating Terrorism Strategy Panel. Requires development of an annual consolidated proposed National Terrorism Prevention and Response Program Budget.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
Capital Defense Counsel Standards Act of 2002 - Entitles a defendant in a State capital case who is financially unable to obtain adequate representation or investigative, expert, or other necessary services before or after judgment or in a post-conviction proceeding to appointment of one or more attorneys and provision of such services. Sets forth minimum experience requirements for prejudgment and post-judgment appointed attorneys, including five years of practice in the court in which the prosecution is to be tried or in the appellate court, three years of experience in the actual trial of felony prosecutions or in the handling of felony appeals, and being learned in the law applicable to capital cases. Requires each appointed attorney, unless replaced by similarly qualified counsel, to represent the defendant throughout every stage of available judicial proceedings. Sets forth provisions regarding ex parte communications and attorney fees and costs. Declares that failure in a Federal court proceeding to comply with this Act's procedures creates an irrebuttable presumption that the performance of petitioner's counsel was deficient. Denies a petitioner relief unless he or she shows that the result of the proceeding would have been different if such performance had not been deficient.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
Death Penalty Review Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal judicial code to require a Governor, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, the Secretary of a military branch, or any other Federal official with authority to carry out a sentence, upon notice that a party has filed a motion for a stay of execution or has filed or has been granted certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court in an appeal from a case in which the sentence is death, to suspend the execution until: (1) the Supreme Court enters a stay of execution; or (2) certiorari is acted upon and the case is disposed of by the Supreme Court. Directs the Supreme Court to: (1) treat a motion for a stay of execution as a petition for certiorari; and (2) in an appeal from a case in which the sentence is death, to issue a writ of certiorari upon the vote of at least four qualified justices. Sets forth provisions regarding State and Federal court habeas corpus proceedings. Requires a U.S. justice or judge before whom such a proceeding that involves the death sentence is pending to stay the execution until the proceeding is completed. Provides that if the issuance of such stay requires more than one judge to concur or vote on the stay, the court shall grant the stay.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
Teaching Hospital Preservation Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to maintain the indirect medical education adjustment percentage at 6.5 percent.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
Post-Conviction DNA Testing Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal criminal code to establish procedures for post-conviction DNA testing. Authorizes an individual imprisoned because of a conviction of a criminal offense in a U.S. court to make a written motion to the court for the performance of forensic DNA testing on specified evidence. Sets forth requirements regarding: (1) the substance of the motion (including an assertion of innocence of the crime if exoneration would result in a mandatory sentence reduction) and the timing of its filing (within 60 months); (2) notice to the Government, the preservation order, and appointment of counsel; (3) the order for DNA testing; (4) testing and result reporting procedures; (5) post-testing procedures where test results are inconclusive, positive, or negative or produce exculpatory evidence; and (6) finality of an order granting or denying DNA testing or a new trial. Prohibits the Government from destroying any biological material preserved if the defendant is serving a term of imprisonment following conviction in a case until the later of: (1) 60 months after enactment of this Act; or (2) the date DNA testing proceedings are completed. Directs the Attorney General to establish a system for reporting and tracking motions under this Act. Prohibits a State from denying an application for DNA testing made by a prisoner in State custody who would be eligible for such testing under Federal provisions pursuant to this Act. Authorizes a prisoner in State custody to enforce such provision in a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs medical and regional office center in Wichita, Kansas, as the Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center.
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 2002
Confidence in Criminal Justice Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal judicial code to provide for the suspension of execution of a death sentence under specified circumstances upon notice by a party that has filed a motion for a stay of execution or for certiorari with, or that has been granted certiorari by, the United States Supreme Court. Treats a motion for a stay of execution as a petition for certiorari. Requires a U.S. justice or judge before whom a habeas corpus proceeding that involves the death sentence is pending to stay the execution until the proceeding is completed. Amends the Federal criminal code to set forth provisions: (1) allowing and governing motions by imprisoned individuals for post-conviction DNA testing on specified evidence; and (2) regarding testing and reporting of test results. Prohibits the Government, for a specified period, from destroying biological material preserved if the defendant is serving a term of imprisonment following conviction in a case, with exceptions. Directs the Attorney General to establish a system for reporting and tracking motions under this Act. Prohibits a State from denying an application for DNA testing made by a prisoner in State custody who would be eligible for such testing under Federal provisions pursuant to this Act. Entitles a defendant in a criminal action in a State court that may result in punishment by death, who is financially unable to obtain adequate representation or investigative, expert, or other reasonably necessary services before or after judgment, to the appointment of one or more attorneys and the furnishing of such services. Prescribes minimum experience requirements for such defense counsel.
United States · United States Congress · 1 May 2002
Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit: (1) conducting or attempting to conduct human cloning; or (2) shipping the product of nuclear transplantation in interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of human cloning. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict practices not expressly prohibited. Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for violations and subjects any real or personal property derived from or used to commit a violation to forfeiture. Amends the Public Health Service Act to require research involving nuclear transplantation to be conducted in accordance with certain Federal standards for the protection of human subjects.