United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1985
International Air Transportation Protection Act of 1985 - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to direct the Secretary of Transportation to revoke an air carrier's international air transportation certificate if the Secretary establishes that a hostile takeover of such air carrier has occurred, and that a sale or transfer of such certificate has occurred (or been attempted) as part of the liquidation of such air carrier (other than in the ordinary course of business). States that the Secretary is not precluded from issuing any certificate for international air transportation if the Secretary finds the applicant is willing and able to provide such transportation and such transportation is consistent with public convenience and necessity.
United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1985
Amends the Black Lung Benefits Act to direct the Secretary of Labor to reduce, within two years after enactment of this Act, the number of cases pending and awaiting review by: (1) administrative law judges to not more than 6,000; and (2) the Benefits Review Board to not more than 800. Allows such reduction to be accomplished by employing or obtaining the services of additional administrative judges and using other measures. Directs the Secretary to notify the Congress of the measures being taken to comply with this Act within 30 days after its enactment.
United States · United States Congress · 16 May 1985
Child Victim Witness Protection Act of 1985 - Amends the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 to authorize the Attorney General to make additional annual grants and other payments from the Crime Victims Fund to States for the protection of victims of child abuse. Makes a State eligible for assistance if such State has enacted statutes with respect to the investigation and adjudication of child abuse which: (1) minimize the additional trauma to the child victim; and (2) improve the chances of successful criminal prosecution or legal action. Requires that such assistance be used to implement these statutes. Establishes a formula based on State population to determine the amount of the States allotment. Requires the Attorney General to use up to $10,000,000 from the Crime Victims Fund each fiscal year for this purpose. Amends the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 to increase the level of the Crime Victims Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 14 May 1985
Space Tax Investment Equity Act of 1985 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an investment tax credit for any tangible property which is predominantly used or operated in space and which is either a qualified spacecraft (a craft predominantly used or operated in space and controlled from locations within the United States) or is used or operated upon such a spacecraft. Treats any tangible property used in space as five-year depreciable property for purposes of the accelerated cost recovery system (ACRS). Allows an income tax credit for increasing research activities for research conducted in space. Treats income derived from commercial activity in space aboard a qualified spacecraft as income derived from sources within the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 8 May 1985
Amends the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the Walsh-Healey Act to require overtime compensation only for hours of employment in excess of 40 hours in a workweek for employees of Federal Government contractors or subcontractors.
United States · United States Congress · 7 May 1985
Indexed Treasury Obligations Act of 1985 - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue between ten and 50 percent of the face amounts of Government obligations that mature in not less than five and not more than 20 years in the form of indexed obligations. Defines an "indexed obligation" as an obligation which is redeemable only at maturity for an indexed face amount of at least $1,000 on which interest payable at periodic intervals of one year or less is computed on the basis of the face amount increased by a certain inflation ratio. Requires a representative distribution of indexed obligations as determined by the Secretary to be practicable, appropriate, and consistent with prudent debt management. Directs the Secretary to prescribe terms and conditions for the sale of such obligations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1985
Expresses, on the 40th anniversary of V-E Day, the Nation's deep gratitude and recognizes the enormous debt owed to the American servicemen who fought in World War II.
United States · United States Congress · 30 April 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) ensure that U.S. officials carry out the pledge to resolve the issue of the Americans still missing and unaccounted for in Indochina; (2) work for the immediate release of any Americans still held captive and the return of the remains of those who died in Southeast Asia; and (3) make every effort to secure the further cooperation of Laos and Vietnam in resolving this issue.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1985
Metropolitan Washington Airports Transfer Act of 1985 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to transfer all authority over the Metropolitan Washington Airports (Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport, including all airport employees) to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (Airports Authority) under the terms of a 35-year lease and operations agreement set forth in this Act. Defines the Airports Authority as a single, independent airport authority to be created by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia for the purpose of operating the Metropolitan Washington Airports. Declares that the Secretary's authority to enter into a lease and agreement for such transfer shall lapse two years after enactment of this Act. Requires that basic lease and acquisition payments be sufficient to repay to the United States the hypothetical indebtedness of the Metropolitan Washington Airports to the Treasury, as determined by the Federal Aviation Administration. Requires the Airports Authority to pay to the Treasury, for deposit to the credit of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, certain costs incurred by such Fund due to the transfer of authorities under this Act. Requires that the lease of real property constituting Washington Metropolitan Airports comply with the operation and development of the Washington Metropolitan Airports as a unit and as primary airports serving the Metropolitan Washington area. Requires the Airports Authority to be a public corporate body with powers conferred upon it jointly by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia under specified guidelines which include: (1) operation of Metropolitan Washington Airports for public purposes; (2) independence from the State and local governments of Virginia and the District of Columbia; (3) authority to issue bonds; (4) acquisition of real and personal property; (5) power of eminent domain within the Commonwealth of Virginia; (6) a corporation constituted solely to operate both Metropolitan Washington Airports as primary airports serving the Metropolitan Washington area; and (7) authority to levy fees and enter into agreements. Prescribes the membership and terms of the Airport Authority's board of governors, including the appointment of: (1) five members by the Governor of Virginia; (2) three members by the Mayor of the District of Columbia; (3) two members by the Governor of Maryland; and (4) one member by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Prescribes the terms and conditions of the lease, including the continued applicability of airport regulations that: (1) the High Density Rule for Washington National Airport may only be amended for safety considerations; and (2) current nighttime noise limitation standards may not be amended. Transfers all rights, liabilities, and obligations of the Metropolitan Washington Airports to the Airports Authority. Retains the responsibility of the Federal Aviation Administration to reimburse the Employees' Compensation Fund. Authorizes the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct periodic audits of the Airports Authority's activities. Grants jurisdiction to U.S. district courts to compel compliance with the lease terms. Sets forth guidelines for the protection of Federal employee interests during the two-year period starting on the date of transfer, including: (1) retention of employees; (2) adoption of pre-transfer labor agreements; (3) credit for accrued annual and sick leave and seniority rights; (4) life and health insurance benefits; and (5) retention of pre-transfer retirement benefits. Confers upon the Airports Authority during the 35-year lease the same proprietary powers and restrictions with respect to Federal law as any other airport. Declares that the Metropolitan Washington Airports qualify as a "public airport" eligible for Federal assistance on the same basis as any comparable public airport operated by a regional authority. Grants the Commonwealth of Virginia concurrent police power authority over the Metropolitan Washington Airports, and grants the Virginia courts jurisdiction over airport land. Makes the authority of the National Capital Planning Commission inapplicable to the Airports Authority, but requires the Airports Authority to consult with such Commission and with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation before undertaking actions which would materially alter either the exterior of the Dulles Terminal or the skyline of Washington National Airport. Provides that title to all real property shall pass to the Airports Authority upon conclusion of the 35-year lease and that at the end of such lease the United States shall relinquish all jurisdiction over the Metropolitan Washington Airports to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Repeals upon lease expiration certain Acts relating to the administration and maintenance of a public airport in the vicinity of the District of Columbia.
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States should pay honor to the memories of the innocent civilians and American and Allied soldiers who died at the hands of the Nazis; (2) it is fitting and appropriate for the President, in a gesture of reconciliation, to visit the Federal Republic of Germany; (3) the President should recognize the importance of the relationship between the two countries; and (4) the President should reassess his planned itinerary for his forthcoming trip to the Federal Republic of Germany.
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1985
Amends the Davis-Bacon Act to require the Secretary of Labor to base the determination of the prevailing wage for a class of laborers or mechanics or helpers on the wage paid to 50 percent or more of the corresponding class employed on private industry projects of a character similar to the contract work in the urban or rural civil subdivision of the State in which the work is to be performed. Requires that such determination be based on a weighted average if the same wage is not paid to at least 50 percent of such corresponding class. Increases from $2,000 to $1,000,000 the threshold dollar amount subjecting certain contracts to such Act and requiring them to specify the minimum wages to be paid to laborers, mechanics, and helpers. Establishes a separate classification for helpers of laborers or mechanics, for purposes of such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 23 April 1985
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that an obligation issued by a State to finance a solid waste disposal facility shall not be treated as an obligation which is federally guaranteed for purposes of determining the tax-exempt status of the obligation.
United States · United States Congress · 23 April 1985
Amends Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to provide that, for community development block grant program purposes, any city classified as a metropolitan area central city as of FY 1983 shall retain such classification at least through the next census.
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1985
Amends the Tariff Schedules of the United States to add Afghanistan to the list of communist countries the imports from which are subject to the column two rate of duty. Prohibits granting nondiscriminatory (most-favored-nation) treatment to the products of Afghanistan. Prohibits entering into a commercial agreement with Afghanistan pursuant to the Trade Act of 1974. Prohibits Afghanistan from participating in any program under which the United States extends credit, credit guarantees, or investment guarantees.
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 1985
Authorizes the President to call a White House Conference on Library and Information Services, to be held not later than 1989, to develop recommendations for improvement of such services and their public use. Requires that the Conference be planned and conducted by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences. Authorizes the Librarian of Congress, the Director of the National Library of Medicine, and the Director of the National Agricultural Library, upon request, to detail personnel to the Commission. Requires the Conference to submit a final report to the President within 120 days following its close. Directs that the final report be made public, and within 90 days after receipt by the President, transmitted to the Congress with recommendations. Establishes an advisory committee to assist in planning and conducting the Conference. Includes among its appointed members the Secretary of Education and the Librarian of Congress. Authorizes appropriations as necessary.
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1985
Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to provide to the Soviet Union, on a reimbursable basis, equipment and services for the improvement of the United States/Soviet Union Direct Communication Link for crisis control.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 1985
American Footwear Industry Recovery Act of 1985 - Limits the imports of nonrubber footwear into the United States to 450,000,000 pairs per 12-month period for eight years. Directs the Secretary of Commerce (the Secretary) to allocate the import limitations among foreign countries, taking into consideration: (1) average levels of imports for the period 1978 through 1982; (2) findings of unfair trade practices with respect to nonrubber footwear products; (3) recent market trends; and (4) such other considerations as the Secretary deems appropriate. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury to take all necessary actions to enforce this Act. Authorizes the Secretaries to issue such implementing regulations as necessary to effect the purposes of this Act and to enforce its provisions.
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 1985
National Commission on Illiteracy Act - Establishes a National Commission on Illiteracy. Provides for Commission members to be appointed by the President and by specified congressional officers. Directs the Commission to conduct a full and complete study of the causes of illiteracy, including a study of methods of teaching reading and of methods of teacher training relating to classroom reading instruction. Directs the Commission to: (1) assess the factors which contribute to illiteracy; (2) recommend programs and policies for, and the appropriate local, State, and Federal role in, illiteracy prevention; and (3) assemble, analyze, and publicize its findings. Directs the Commission to submit to the President and the Congress: (1) such interim reports as it deems advisable; and (2) within 12 months after its first meeting, a final report of the study and investigation, with recommendations. Sets forth provisions relating to Commission administration, member compensation, and powers. Terminates the Commission 90 days after the submission of its final report. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 28 March 1985
Youth Employment Opportunity Wage Act of 1985 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to authorize employers to pay employees under 20 years of age 75 percent of the minimum wage rate between May and September of each year. Exempts such employees from special certificate requirements. Restricts such authorization to: (1) hours worked by eligible employees in compliance with applicable child labor laws; and (2) youth employed after May 1 of each year. Prohibits the removal of employees ineligible for the subminimum wage rate in order to replace them with employees who are eligible. Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Job Training Partnership Act. Directs the Secretary of Labor to monitor the implementation of this Act and to report to the Congress concerning the employment effects of this Act. Terminates such minimum wage rate exception after September 30, 1987.
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1985
Designates March 21, 1985, as Afghanistan Day. Condemns the Soviet Union for the attempted subjugation of Afghanistan. Calls upon the Soviet Union to commit itself to a negotiated political settlement for Afghanistan.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1985
Textile and Apparel Trade Enforcement Act of 1985 - Limits the total quantity of 1985 imports of textiles and textile products from a major exporting country to the lesser of an amount equal to 101 percent: (1) of the total quantity of textile products imported from such country if the total had increased by six percent annually during 1981 through 1984; or (2) if the United States has an agreement with such country providing for an annual growth rate of less than six percent, of the total quantity of such products from such country imported during 1984. Limits the total quantity of 1985 imports of textiles and textile products from an exporting country to an amount equal to the total quantity of such products imported from such country during 1984 plus: (1) 15 percent of such quantity in the case of a category that is not an import sensitive category; or (2) one percent in the case of an import sensitive category. Provides for changing the classification of a country, except for a Caribbean country, from an exporting country to a major exporting country if the total textile imports from such country equals or exceeds one and one-quarter percent of all textiles imported into the United States. Sets forth a formula for adjusting the growth of textile imports annually. Sets forth certain minimum quantities of textile imports that all countries shall be allowed to export to the United States. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to enforce this Act. Directs the Secretary, within six months of enactment of this Act, to establish an import licensing system under which an importer of textiles will be required to present an import permit as a condition of entry of such textiles. Directs the President to report to the Congress annually on the administration of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1985
Amends Federal law to authorize the Office of Personnel Management to waive certain eligibility requirements relating to enrollment of annuitants in a Federal employees health benefits plan if it would be against equity and good conscience not to enroll them.
United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1985
(Senate agreed to amend Measure as passed Senate) States that the deduction for charitable contributions should remain as currently provided for in the Federal tax code.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1985
Amends the Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act of 1982 to make permanent the authority of Federal agencies to use flexible and compressed work schedules.
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1985
Authorizes the establishment of Federal employee health benefit plans for members of employee organizations which apply within 90 days after enactment of this Act to the Office of Personnel Management for plan approval. (Current law authorizes the establishment of such plans for members of organizations which applied between December 31, 1978, and January 1, 1980.)
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1985
Drug Money Seizure Act - Amends the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury, in order to investigate the compliance of financial institutions with recordkeeping and reporting requirements with respect to monetary instruments transactions, to: (1) examine the books, papers, and records of such institutions; and (2) summon and take testimony from an institution officer or employee or other person possessing relevant reports or records. Increases the civil penalty for violations of such Act to: (1) the full amount of the transaction where the violation involves a transaction reporting requirement; or (2) $10,000 for any other violation. Creates a civil penalty of up to the amount of the transaction or account involved for any violation of a reporting or recordkeeping requirement for a transaction with a foreign financial agency.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1985
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire specified lands in Northampton County, Virginia, and establish the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. Requires the Secretary to establish training facilities on such refuge which may be leased for a fee for environmental research and education. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1985
Money Laundering Crimes Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to establish money laundering as a Federal criminal offense. Sets forth fines and penalties to be imposed against anyone who conducts transactions involving monetary instruments through a financial institution engaged in or affecting interstate commerce: (1) with the intention of carrying out specified types of unlawful activity; or (2) with knowledge that such monetary instruments represent income derived from such unlawful activity. Requires investigation of such an offense by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service, as appropriate. Establishes extraterritorial jurisdiction over such prohibited conduct.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1985
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission to maintain and enforce its rules requiring cable television systems to carry the signals of local television broadcast stations. Declares that the Commission shall retain authority to modify such rules to facilitate administration but not to alter the substance of, or principles embodied in, such rules.
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1985
Declares that the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of Health and Human Services should immediately study and report to the Congress on ways to change the benefit disparity caused by the 1977 changes in the social security benefit formula.
United States · United States Congress · 27 February 1985
Highly Erodible Land Conservation Act of 1985 - Makes persons who cultivate crops on highly erodible land ineligible for price supports, crop insurance, and other specified agricultural loans. Provides exceptions for: (1) crops produced using approved conservation methods; and (2) certain previously cultivated land. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) use the agricultural stabilization and conservation committees to help administer this Act; and (2) complete specified soil capability surveys.
United States · United States Congress · 26 February 1985
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) veterans' disability compensation payments should remain exempt from Federal income taxation; and (2) the President should reject any proposals to tax such payments.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1985
Credit Accounting Reform Act of 1985 - Amends the Federal Financing Bank Act of 1973 to require any Federal agency which makes a direct loan or guarantees any obligation after October 1, 1986, to transmit to the Federal Financing Bank the loan obligation or guarantee obligation and such information concerning the borrower as the Bank needs in order to sell the obligation or to reinsure the guarantee. Authorizes the Bank to disclose such information to the extent necessary to sell the obligation or to reinsure the guarantee. Directs the Bank, within 90 days after an agency has made a direct loan, to sell the resulting obligation to the highest bidder at a public auction. Permits the Bank to sell such an obligation through pooled participation arrangements only to the extent that such arrangements permit the proper allocation of subsidy costs to the appropriate budget account. Requires the bank to make a bid based on the Bank's estimate of the present value of the obligation being sold at each auction, and to purchase any obligation for which it submits the highest bid. Declares that such obligations shall be sold without recourse to the Government and with no Government guarantee. Directs the Bank, within 90 days after an agency guarantees any obligation, to purchase reinsurance for such guarantee from the lowest bidder at a public auction. Requires the Bank to make a bid at each such auction based on the Bank's estimate of the expected defaults on the obligation, and to reinsure a guarantee for which it submits the lowest bid. Entitles any reinsurer of such a guarantee to receive any premiums, fees, or other consideration that the borrower is required to pay for the guarantee. Requires the Bank, after October 1, 1986, to maintain assets with a market value equal to the value of its liabilities. Provides a permanent appropriation to the Bank of the amount by which its liabilities exceed its assets at the close of any fiscal year. Requires such amount to be included in the unified budget. Requires the Bank to transfer to the Treasury the amount by which its assets exceed its revenues at the close of any fiscal year. Requires such surplus amount to be treated as an on-budget miscellaneous receipt for Federal budgetary purposes. Directs the Bank to: (1) collect a fee for its costs of acting as agent for an agency in selling an obligation or reinsuring a guarantee; (2) formulate standard contracts to be used by agencies when making or guarantying loans; (3) manage its portfolio so as to minimize credit and interest rate risks: (4) invest funds and maintain reserves to cover its contingent liabilities; and (5) report to the Congress annually on all loans purchased and reinsurance contracts issued by the Bank. Requires that the amount of any subsidy for a direct loan (the excess of the amount loaned over the price at which the loan is sold) or a loan guarantee (the cost of reinsurance) made by an agency is to be treated as an outlay of such agency for Federal budgetary purposes. Permits an agency to make a direct loan or guarantee an obligation after October 1, 1986, only to the extent that an appropriation has been made to the agency for the subsidy. Declares that this Act does not change the responsibility for servicing direct loans or obligation guarantees made by an agency. Includes obligations sold by the Bank as securities that are exempt from the securities laws. Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to revise the definition of "budget authority" to include the subsidy amount for any authority to guarantee the repayment of indebtedness. Amends the Government Corporation Control Act to: (1) include the Bank as a wholly owned Government corporation for purposes of such Act; and (2) require the Controller General to audit the Bank on a calendar year basis.
United States · United States Congress · 7 February 1985
Computer Systems Protection Act of 1985 - Amends the Federal criminal code to establish penalties for knowingly accessing or attempting to access a computer with the intent to defraud, obtain another's property, deny the use of such computer, or modify or destroy another's property. Limits the kinds of computers covered by this Act to those operating in interstate or foreign commerce or operating on behalf of a financial institution. Provides lesser penalties for knowingly and without authorization accessing such computer. Lists factors to be considered in determining whether Federal jurisdiction should be exercised where jurisdiction exists concurrently with a State or local entity. Requires the Attorney General to report annually to the Congress concerning the extent of the exercise of Federal jurisdiction and report on the use of computers in the United States.
![Official portrait of Sen. Trible, Paul S., Jr. [R-VA]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/t000367_200.jpg)