United States · United States Congress · 24 April 2002
Seniors Safety Act of 2002 - Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review and, if appropriate, amend Federal sentencing guidelines: (1) to include the age of a crime victim as an enhancement factor; and (2) with respect to health care benefit program fraud. Amends the Federal criminal code to: (1) provide increased penalties for fraud which results in serious injury or death; and (2) set penalties for fraud in relation to retirement arrangements. Directs the Federal Trade Commission to establish procedures regarding telemarketing fraud, including referrals of complaints for potential law enforcement action. Provides for the blocking or termination of telephone service associated with telemarketing fraud. Includes within Federal injunctive authority against fraudulent actions certain offenses under the Social Security Act relating to false claims and illegal kickback schemes involving Federal health care programs. Amends the Social Security Act to: (1) authorize the Attorney General to bring an action to enforce such authority; and (2) extend certain anti-fraud safeguards to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Nursing Home Resident Protection Act of 2002 - Provides civil penalties for violations that affect the health, safety, or care of individuals in a residential health care facility and result in significant harm. Amends the Controlled Substances Act to state that a defendant may not use property subject to criminal forfeiture to satisfy a restitution order, with an exception. Prohibits: (1) the use of bankruptcy proceedings to shield illegal gains from false claims brought against the Government; and (2) the debt arising from such illegal gains from being discharged in bankruptcy proceedings.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 2002
Declares that, if the Federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) for a State for FY 2002 is less than the FMAP for FY 2001, the FY 2001 FMAP shall be substituted for the State's FMAP for the last three calendar quarters of FY 2002. Declares similarly that: (1) if a State's FY 2003 FMAP is less than the FY 2002 FMAP, the FY 2002 FMAP shall be substituted for each calendar quarter of FY 2003; and (2) if a State's FY 2004 FMAP is less than the FY 2003 FMAP, the FY 2003 FMAP shall be substituted for each calendar quarter of FY 2004. Requires each eligible State for each calendar quarter for the last three calendar quarters of FY 2002 and each calendar quarter for FY 2003 through FY 2004 to be increased by 1.5 percentage points. Mandates specified FMAP increases for States with high unemployment rates, and a specified Medicaid payment cap increase for territories. Prohibits application of the FMAP increases for a State under this Act with respect to: (1) disproportionate share hospital payments under Medicaid; and (2) payments under SSA titles IV and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP).
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 2002
Kidney Disease Educational Benefits Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to provide coverage for kidney disease education services furnished, upon the managing physician's referral, to an individual with kidney disease who will require dialysis or a kidney transplant. Requires such services to: (1) impart comprehensive information regarding management, prevention, and options regarding treatment of kidney disease; and (2) ensure that such individuals have the opportunity to participate actively in the choice of therapy.
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 2002
Declares that the Senate: (1) stands in solidarity with Israel as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas; (2) remains committed to Israel's right to self-defense; and (3) will continue to assist Israel in strengthening its homeland defenses. Condemns Palestinian suicide bombings. Demands that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas. Urges: (1) all Arab states, particularly Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to declare their unqualified opposition to all forms of terrorism, particularly suicide bombing, and to act in concert with the United States to stop the violence; and (2) all parties in the region to pursue vigorous efforts to establish comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2002
Online Personal Privacy Act - Prohibits an Internet service provider, online service provider, or operator of a commercial website (provider) from collecting or disclosing personally identifiable information (name, address, and phone number) of a user unless the provider provides clear and conspicuous user notice. Requires a provider to: (1) obtain consent to the collection and disclosure of sensitive personally identifiable information (health, race, political party, religious belief, sexual orientation, social security number, or financial information); (2) provide robust notice, in addition to clear and conspicuous notice, of the opportunity to opt-out of the collection or disclosure of personally identifiable information; and (3) notify all users of a change in provider policy for the collection, use, or disclosure of sensitive or nonsensitive personally identifiable user information. Provides exceptions. Requires a provider to: (1) provide reasonable user access to personally identifiable information collected; and (2) establish and maintain procedures to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of such information. Provides for enforcement of this Act through the Federal Trade Commission, citing violations as unfair or deceptive acts or practices. Authorizes enforcement actions by both private users and States on behalf of its residents. Provides whistleblower protections for provider employees. Requires the Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate to develop regulations applying the requirements of this Act to Senate officers and employees. Applies this Act to each Federal agency that is or operates an Internet or online service or website.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2002
1993 World Trade Center Victims Compensation Act - States that the purpose of this Act is to provide compensation for victims physically injured or killed as a result of the terrorist-related bombing of the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. Directs the Attorney General, acting through the Special Master, to administer the compensation program and establish procedural and substantive rules. Establishes claimants' rights during the review process. Excludes punitive damages from compensation. Reduces compensation by the amount of collateral source compensation received, or expected to be received, by claimant as a result of the bombing. Determines submission of a claim to be a waiver of a claimant's right to file a civil action (or to be party to an action) in any Federal or State court for damages sustained as a result of the bombing. Directs the Attorney General and Special Master to promulgate certain regulations related to carrying out the Act including procedures for hearings and presentation of evidence. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include victims of the February 26, 1993, World Trade Center attack under Code provisions exempting terrorist victims from certain tax liabilities. Allows for a refund or credit which would otherwise be prevented before the close of the one-year period following enactment of the Act, provided the claim is filed before the close of such period.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2002
Arafat Accountability Act - Expresses the support of Congress for the President's efforts to achieve comprehensive peace in the State of Israel. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the United States should urge an immediate and unconditional cessation of all terrorist activities and the commencement of a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians; (2) the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) should immediately surrender to Israel for detention and prosecution those Palestinian extremists wanted by Israel for the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Zeevi; and (3) Yasser Arafat and the PLO must take immediate and concrete action to publicly condemn all acts of terrorism, confiscate and destroy the infrastructures of terrorism, and end (and urge all Arab nations to end) financial support for terrorism. Prohibits the Secretary of State (Secretary) and the Attorney General, respectively, from issuing a visa or admitting to the United States any member of the PLO or official of the PA. Permits the President to waive this prohibition in the national security interest of the United States. Directs the Secretary to prohibit the operation of a PLO or PA office in the United States from carrying out any function other than those carried out prior to the Oslo Accords. Requires the Secretary to impose travel restrictions on the senior official of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine. Requires the Secretary and the Attorney General to identify and freeze United States assets of the PLO, the PA, and Yasser Arafat. Requires the President to report to specified congressional committees on PLO terrorist activities.
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 2002
Syria Accountability Act of 2002 - Prohibits the President from exporting any item on the United States Munitions List or Commerce Control List of dual-use items in the Export Administration Regulations, providing any U.S. assistance to U.S. businesses with respect to investment or other activities, or conducting Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Trade Development Agency programs in or with respect to Syria. Directs the President to impose two or more specified sanctions against Syria. Requires maintenance of such prohibition and sanctions until the President certifies that Syria meets specified requirements, including that it: (1) does not support international terrorist groups; (2) has withdrawn all of its military personnel from Lebanon: (3) has ceased the development and deployment of ballistic missiles and biological and chemical weapons; and (4) is no longer in violation of United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 661 and subsequent relevant resolutions.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 2002
Directs the Secretary of Labor, in accordance with specified provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, to issue a final rule relating to ergonomics.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 2002
Steel Industry Consolidation and Retiree Benefits Protection Act of 2002 - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to establish a steel industry retiree benefits protection program administered by the Secretary of Commerce and the Board of Trustees of the Steel Industry Legacy Relief Trust Fund (created by this Act) to provide specified medical and death benefits to eligible steel retirees and beneficiaries. Prescribes qualifying events (acquisition, closing, election, or bankruptcy transfer) as a result of which the United States shall assume liability for the provision of steel retiree benefits for each eligible retiree and eligible beneficiary certified for participation in the retiree benefits program. Requires transfer to the Trust Fund by a qualified steel company and any applicable acquiring company of all assets which, under the terms of an applicable collective bargaining agreement, were required to be set aside under an employee benefit plan or otherwise for the provision of the steel retiree benefits. Requires contributions to the Trust Fund by such companies.
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 2002
Terrorism Victim's Access to Compensation Act of 2002 - Expresses the sense of Congress that it should be the policy of the United States: (1) to use the blocked assets of state sponsors of acts of terrorism (including their agencies and instrumentalities) under the control of the Secretary of the Treasury to pay court-ordered judgments and awards made to U.S. nationals harmed by such acts; and (2) to provide equal access to all U.S. victims of state-sponsored terrorism who have secured judgments and awards in Federal courts against state sponsors of terrorism, and assure that those judgments and awards be paid from such blocked assets. Makes such assets available for the satisfaction of judgments against terrorist parties. Prescribes guidelines for a Presidential waiver upon determination on an asset-by-asset basis that a waiver is necessary in the national security interest.
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 2002
Uterine Fibroids Research and Education Act of 2002 - Authorizes appropriations for National Institutes of Health uterine fibroid research. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out a related public awareness program.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2002
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend, through December 31, 2004, the duty on artichokes that are prepared or preserved with vinegar or acetic acid.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2002
Gun Kingpin Penalty Act - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit a person who does not have a Federal firearms license from shipping or transporting five or more firearms from one State to another during any 12-month period with intent to transfer such firearms to another unlicensed person. Imposes a fine and imprisonment for at least: (1) three years for a first violation; (2) five years for a second or subsequent violation; (3) 15 years if the violation involves more than 50 firearms; (4) ten years if an illegally transported firearm is subsequently used by the recipient, or by any person within three years, in an offense in which a person is killed or suffers serious bodily injury; and (5) 25 years if the violation involves more than 50 firearms and one of the firearms is subsequently used in such an offense. Prohibits the court from imposing a probationary sentence or suspending the sentence of a person convicted of a violation of this Act, or from making any term of imprisonment imposed for a violation run concurrently with any other term imposed on such person by a U.S. court. Makes specified firearms-related offenses predicate offenses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to hire and employ 200 personnel to enforce the amendments made by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2002
Welfare Reform and Housing Act - Amends title IV part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of the Social Security Act to authorize States to use State Family Assistance Grants to provide: (1) supplemental housing benefits to, or on behalf of, an individual to reduce or reimburse the individual's costs for housing accommodations; and (2) grants, loans, or other payments for the costs of minor rehabilitation of housing owned or rented by TANF-eligible individuals. Requires State plans to describe: (1) the primary problems that families receiving assistance and families who have recently ceased receiving assistance experience in securing and retaining adequate affordable housing; and (2) the methods adopted to identify and remedy barriers to work posed by living arrangements, housing costs, and housing locations. Requires an individual responsibility plan to include housing-related benefits or services the State or other entities will provide to overcome those barriers. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development jointly to: (1) develop a uniform data collection and matching protocol to determine the type of subsidized housing received by families receiving assistance and federally- or State-funded housing benefits; and (2) award grants for the conduct and evaluation of demonstrations of different models to provide housing with services. Requires participating States to enter into cooperation agreements with public housing agencies for economic self-sufficiency activities. Authorizes States to invite private owners of federally assisted housing to participate in cooperation agreements. Authorizes the Secretary to make housing assistance available for certain qualified aliens, including battered aliens or their children.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2002
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to extend, through December 31, 2005, the suspension of duty on certain light absorbing photo dyes.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2002
Sexual Assault Prosecution Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal criminal code to remove any statute of limitations on indictments for sexual offenses. Requires the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to develop a plan to grant voluntary awards to States to facilitate deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis of all casework evidence of unsolved crimes, with the objective of effectively expediting the analysis of all such evidence in an efficient and effective manner and to provide for the entry of DNA profiles into the Combined DNA Indexing System. Directs the FBI to develop grant criteria, including: (1) the number of unsolved crimes awaiting DNA analysis; and (2) the development of a comprehensive plan to collect and analyze DNA evidence. Sets forth award conditions regarding quality assurance standards, DNA sample and analysis availability, and a 15 percent matching requirement.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2002
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend, through December 31, 2004, the duty on artichokes that are prepared or preserved without vinegar or acetic acid.
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 2002
Dangerous Explosives Background Checks Requirement Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit a person other than a Federal explosive materials licensee or permittee from knowingly: (1) transporting, shipping, causing to be transported, or receiving explosive materials (currently, in interstate or foreign commerce, and with a specified exception based on residency in a contiguous State); or (2) distributing explosive materials to any person other than such a licensee or permittee (currently, to any such person who the distributor knows or has reasonable cause to believe does not reside in the same State). Repeals provisions permitting distribution to a resident of the State where distribution is made and in which the licensee is licensed to do business or a State contiguous thereto if permitted by the law of the State of the purchaser's residence. Prohibits a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer from transferring explosive materials to a permittee unless specified conditions are met, including that: (1) before the completion of the transfer, the licensee contacts the national instant criminal background check system; and (2) either the system provides the licensee with a unique identification number or five days (on which State offices are open) have elapsed since the licensee contacted the system and the system has not notified the licensee that the receipt of explosive materials by the transferee would violate Federal law. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) penalties; (2) immunity from liability; (3) information to be supplied to individuals determined to be ineligible to receive explosive materials; and (4) the remedy for erroneous denial of explosive materials.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2002
Medicare Safety Net Access Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to revise the payment for certain Federally qualified health center (FQHC) services furnished to an individual enrolled with a Medicare+Choice organization under Medicare part C (Medicare+Choice), allowing for supplemental reimbursement, among other changes. Amends Medicare+Choice to add additional Medicare+Choice contract requirements. Amends SSA title XI with respect to criminal penalties for acts involving Federal health care programs, particularly illegal remunerations (kickbacks). Exempts from the prohibition against such remunerations any remuneration: (1) between a FQHC (or an entity controlled by such a health center) and a Medicare+Choice organization pursuant to a specified written agreement; and (2) between a certain kind of public or nonprofit private health center entity and any individual or entity providing goods, items, services, donations, loans, or a combination, to such health center entity pursuant to an agreement, if such agreement produces a community benefit that will be used by the health center entity to maintain or increase the availability or accessibility, or enhance the quality, of services provided to a medically underserved population served by the health center entity. Amends Medicare to provide for coverage of additional FQHC services. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish standards relating to the exception for health center entity arrangements to specified anti-kickback penalties.
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 2002
Children First Act of 2002 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) exclude child care assistance from the determination of the five year limit on assistance under TANF; (2) increase funding for child care; and (3) require State TANF plans to include a certification of procedures to ensure that child care providers comply with applicable State or local health and safety standards. Raises from six years to 13 years the age of a child whose single custodial parent may refuse to engage in required work without incurring a reduction or termination of TANF under the State program. Subjects to the individual and case data reporting requirements of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 any TANF funds expended for child care, whether or not transferred to that Act, and exempts such funds from SSA reporting requirements. Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to increase the set-aside for child care quality.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2002
Alzheimer's Disease Research, Prevention, and Care Act of 2002 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to expand the purposes of the National Institute on Aging to include conducting programs regarding Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. Requires the Director of the Institute to: (1) undertake an Alzheimer's Disease Prevention Initiative, including accelerating the discovery of new risk and protective factors, rapidly identifying therapies and preventive interventions, and implementing effective prevention and treatment strategies; (2) establish and support a national consortium for cooperative clinical research regarding Alzheimer's; and (3) conduct, or make grants to conduct, research concerning early detection and diagnosis, the relationship between Alzheimer's and vascular disease, and interventions designed to help caregivers. Authorizes the Director to establish a National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center to facilitate collaboration among Alzheimer's Disease Centers and Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2002
Geriatric Care Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to payments to hospitals, rural health clinics, or Federally qualified health centers for direct graduate medical education costs and the limitation on the number of full-time-equivalent residents in allopathic and osteopathic medicine. Provides for the disregard of up to three geriatric residents in applying such limitation. Amends SSA title XVIII, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, to provide for Medicare coverage of care coordination and assessment services to an individual with a serious and disabling chronic condition.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2002
Removes, for months beginning on or after October 1, 2002, the requirement that qualifying offsetting legislation be enacted before a member or former member of the armed forces may be paid military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation concurrently without deduction. Repeals, as of such date, a special compensation program for certain severely disabled military retirees.
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 2002
Childhood Vaccine Supply Act of 2002 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require a sole manufacturer of a biological product (currently, a drug) subject to licensure to notify the Secretary of Health and Human Services no later than one year before discontinuing its manufacture. Permits a shorter notification period if the manufacturer can continue the distribution of the product involved for one year. Authorizes the Secretary to purchase pediatric and adult vaccines for national stockpiles using preventive health services project grant funds.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 2002
National Aviation Capacity Expansion Act of 2002 - Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to implement the redesign and reconstruction of Chicago O'Hare International Airport in Cook and Dupage Counties, Illinois, in accordance with a specified runway design plan, and the development of a south suburban airport in the Chicago metropolitan region, by facilitating their approval, funding, construction, and implementation. Requires an implementation plan to be prepared by the State of Illinois under the Clean Air Act for regulating emissions associated with activity at commercial service airports. Makes the Administrator's approval of an airport layout plan submitted by Chicago that includes the runway redesign plan conditional on the meeting of specified requirements. Requires the withholding of all airport grant funds for O'Hare (other than grants involving national security and safety) until January 1, 2026, unless specified conditions with respect to operations at Merrill C. Meigs Field have been met.
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 2002
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include associated development costs in the basis of any building which is part of a low-income housing project when calculating the low-income housing credit.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 2002
Declares that the Senate expresses support for the democratically elected Government and people of Colombia and deplores the continuing criminal terrorist acts by U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations in Colombia against U.S. citizens and Colombian civilians and authorities. Declares that it is the sense of the Senate that the President should transmit to Congress proposed legislation, consistent with U.S. law for the protection of human rights, to assist the Colombian Government in protecting its democracy from such terrorist organizations and the scourge of illicit narcotics.
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 2002
National Defense Rail Act - Authorizes appropriations for Amtrak security assistance. Requires studies or assessments of: (1) foreign rail transport security programs; (2) the feasibility of passenger, baggage, and cargo screening; (3) existing rail safety regulations; (4) security priorities; and (5) rail crossing delay security issues. 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 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. Authorizes additional appropriations for Amtrak for principal and interest, and environmental and Americans With Disabilities Act compliance. Repeals the requirement that Amtrak be self-sufficient. 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. 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 · 28 February 2002
National Cancer Act of 2002 - Provides a comprehensive Federal effort relating to treatments for and the prevention of cancer. Amends the Public Health Service Act to fund prevention and treatment programs of the National Cancer Institute, including translational cancer research (research needed to transform scientific discoveries into approaches and products to treat and cure cancer). Addresses issues of cancer care, including: (1) clinical trial participation; (2) workforce needs; (3) Medicare coverage; (4) protocols and guidelines; (5) National Program of Comprehensive Cancer Control Plans; (5) the supply of researchers; (6) environmental risk factors research; and (7) a colorectal cancer screening demonstration program. Requires health insurance plans covered by the Public Health Service Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide: (1) coverage for clinical trials; (2) coverage of cancer screening, including tobacco and nutrition counseling and genetic testing; and (3) patient access to benefit information. Addresses issues of managing physicians and quality of care for cancer patients covered by such plans, including designating a lead managing physician. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to regulate tobacco products. Sets forth requirements pertaining to: (1) adulteration; (2) misbranding; (3) the submission of health information; (4) annual registration and biennial inspection of processors; (5) biannual reporting of product list changes; (6) good manufacturing practices; (7) product performance standards; (8) information, notification, and other remedies; (9) records and reports; (10) premarket review; (11) judicial review; (12) postmarket surveillance; (13) reduced risk tobacco products; (14) preservation of State and local authority; and (15) equal treatment of retail outlets. Amends the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act to: (1) revise cigarette labeling, advertising, and marketing requirements; and (2) authorize the Secretary to require disclosure of tar, nicotine, and other smoke constituents on package labels and/or advertisements. Amends the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986 to revise smokeless tobacco warning label and advertising requirements.