Agriculture

Expressing the sense of Congress that the government should require that all tax benefits or other subsidies afforded to businesses operating in the United States as part of health care reform should be used for investment and job creation within the borders of the United States.

United States · United States Congress · 23 November 1993

Expresses the sense of the Congress that all government health care tax benefits or subsidies provided in the context of health care reform to businesses operating in the United States be in a form, such as an investment tax credit, that will ensure that the benefits or subsidies are directed toward investment in the United States to promote job creation and the competitiveness of United States industry and agriculture.

A bill to extend the suspended implementation of certain requirements of the food stamp program on Indian reservations, to suspend certain eligibility requirements for the participation of retail food stores in the food stamp program, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1993

Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act Amendments of 1991 to: (1) extend the exemption from food stamp program monthly reporting systems for households residing on Indian reservations; (2) extend requirements regarding staggered issuance of food stamp coupons; and (3) provide extended eligibility to an establishment or house-to-house trade route to accept and redeem food coupons solely because the establishment or trade route does not meet the definition of a "retail food store" under the Food Stamp Act of 1977.

Meat and Poultry Products Inspection Amendments of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1993

Meat and Poultry Products Inspection Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act to: (1) remove the intrastate distribution requirement for Federal-State cooperation; (2) authorize the use of State inspectors; and (3) expand State inspection authority.

To establish fees for communication sites on public lands.

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1993

Directs the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to assess and collect charges for utilization of radio and television communications sites located on Federal lands administered by the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management. Requires the Forest Service and Bureau to annually review and adjust such charges to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index, with limitations. Requires any site user to pay an additional amount for granting access to the site to additional users and to provide a certified list of such additional users. Directs the Secretaries to jointly establish a broad-based advisory group of representatives from the nonbroadcast communications industry and the two agencies to review and report to specified congressional committees on recommendations on acceptable criteria for determining fair market values for communications site use and next best alternative use.

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish a pilot program to evaluate the feasibility of including crop insurance based on costs of production among the types of crop insurance available under the Act.

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1993

Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish a pilot program to provide crop insurance coverage under which agricultural producers are indemnified based on their average costs of production when they sustain losses to insured commodities as a result of adverse weather and other unavoidable causes.

Dietary Supplement Regulation Moratorium Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

Dietary Supplement Regulation Moratorium Act of 1993 - Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from implementing the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 or any amendment made by such Act earlier than April 15, 1994, with respect to dietary supplements of vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, or other similar nutritional substances. Prohibits the Secretary from issuing any final regulations applicable to such substances before that date. Specifies that any such proposed regulations shall not be considered to be final regulations until that date. Makes the effective date for provisions dealing with State enforcement with respect to such substances April 30, 1994.

Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Improvement Act

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Improvement Act - Amends the Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Act of 1990 to cover seedless and not seeded limes, alter the composition of the Lime Board, increase the level of exemption from the assessment, and delay the initial date set for the referendum under the Act.

Food Safety Reform Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Transfer of Food Safety and Inspection Functions Title II: Specific Functions of the Commission After Transfer Title III: Establishment of a Liaison Office Title IV: General Provisions Food Safety Reform Act of 1993 - Title I: Transfer of Food Safety and Inspection Functions - Transfers to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) all functions of any office relating to food safety and inspection carried out by the Secretaries of Agriculture, the Interior, Commerce, and Health and Human Services (HHS), the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Authorizes the Chairman of the CPSC to: (1) delegate any of the functions transferred by this title, with exceptions; and (2) allocate or reallocate any function so transferred among CPSC officers and to establish, consolidate, alter, or discontinue such organizational entities necessary or appropriate. Title II: Specific Functions of the Commission after Transfer - Establishes the position of Executive Director of Food and Safety in CPSC, to be appointed by the Chairman. Requires the Chairman to enter into a separate memorandum of understanding with the Secretaries of HHS, Commerce, and Defense, the Administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the executive officers of State health departments, and the head of any other necessary governmental entity to carry out specified objectives respecting food safety and inspection. Requires the Chairman to prepare and submit to appropriate congressional committees a plan for: (1) the development of a comprehensive nationwide food safety database and surveillance system; and (2) the innovation and implementation of food safety and inspection techniques, including techniques of hazard analysis of critical control points, rapid pathogen detection, trace-back technology, food irradiation, and other necessary techniques. Title III: Establishment of a Liaison Office - Establishes an Office of Public Liaison within CPSC to provide information and advice regarding food safety and inspection to U.S. Public Health Service agencies, the National Academy of Sciences, State and local public health agencies, and academia and to carry out other necessary food safety and inspection activities. Title IV: General Provisions - Requires the Chairman to report to the Congress on the estimated additional cost of implementing this Act. Authorizes appropriations.

A bill to amend the National Wool Act of 1954 to provide that the reduction in the support price for wool and mohair programs do not apply to households who are participating, or are eligible to participate, in the food stamp program, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

Amends the National Wool Act of 1954 to provide that the reduction in the support price for wool and mohair and the scheduled elimination of the wool and mohair programs do not apply, until December 31, 1997, to households who are in, or eligible to be in, the food stamp program.

A bill to provide early out authority for Forest Service Employees.

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

Grants the Secretary of Agriculture authority to establish a temporary program to offer financial incentives to Forest Service employees in order to encourage them to voluntarily separate from the agency, whether by retirement or resignation, in order to avoid or minimize the need for involuntary separations. Provides for repayment of such incentives if the employee rejoins the Federal Government within a certain period of time. Limits total Forest Service outlays pursuant to the cooperative work trust funds accounts in FY 1994.

Energy and Environment Tax Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Incentives for Renewable Energy Resources Title II: Incentives to Promote Energy Conservation Energy and Environment Tax Act of 1993 - Title I: Incentives for Renewable Energy Resources - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a portion of the alcohol fuels credit to offset the tentative minimum tax. Allows the use of energy tax credits when computing the regular tax and the alternative minimum tax. Allows an alcohol fuels credit for the production of biodiesel fuel. Excludes from gross income the alcohol fuels credit attributable to biodiesels and certain ethanol-based ethers. Includes certain small wind turbine equipment as energy property for purposes of the energy credit. Title II: Incentives to Promote Energy Conservation - Allows electric or gas utilities a deduction for energy conservation expenditures. Makes certain trucks, vans, and buses ineligible for the credit for electric vehicle costs. Allows taxpayers primarily engaged in a farming-related business an investment tax credit for a percentage of: (1) the costs of agricultural environmental property; and (2) the amount allowed as a deduction for soil and water conservation expenditures. Extends the existing deduction for the cost of pollution abatement property to plants or property in operation before January 1, 1994. (Current provision only applies to plants or property in operation before January 1, 1976.)

To amend the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve and expand the school lunch and related programs under those Acts.

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

Amends the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) to make Head Start participants automatically eligible for free meals under the NSLA school lunch program and the school breakfast program of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA). Revises the child and adult care food program under NSLA. Broadens the definition of eligible institution. Provides for additional reimbursement for family or group day care home sponsoring organizations and an enhanced administrative reimbursement rate for such organizations serving rural or low-income area providers. Increases the allowable amount of startup and expansion funds. Allows expansion funds to be used for outreach to unlicensed day care homes. Extends the authorization of appropriations for such program. Adds provisions relating to information about Medicaid and the special nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC). Expands eligibility for meal supplements for the afterschool care program to youths up to age 18. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to report on demonstration projects to improve food service for homeless children. Directs the Secretary to use certain funds for nutrition counseling, assessments, and referrals for participants in such homeless demonstration program, WIC, Medicaid, and similar programs for homeless pregnant women or those at risk of becoming so, homeless mothers with newborn infants, or the guardians of boarder babies or other abandoned infants. Requires periodic reports. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) to require States to use a portion of certain increased grant funds for nutrition education and training assistance for family day care home sponsors and day care center staff.

National School Lunch Act and Child Nutrition Act of 1966 Amendments of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Amendments to National School Lunch Act Title II: Amendments to Child Nutrition Act of 1966 Title III: Effective Dates National School Lunch Act and Child Nutrition Act of 1966 Amendments of 1993 - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) and the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) to revise and reauthorize child nutrition programs. Title I: Amendments to National School Lunch Act - Amends NSLA to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to permit schools to offer low-fat yogurt (which may be required to be fortified) as a meat alternative in the school lunch program. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary to assist States through grants and other means to provide information to parents on the importance of nutrition, including parent-student education and parent visiting of school breakfast and lunch programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 103) Revises income guidelines for free lunches to increase the numbers of eligible elementary school students. (Sec. 104) Directs the Secretary to develop and make available public service advertisements that promote healthy eating habits for children. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary to award annual grants to private nonprofit educational organizations in three States to create and demonstrate food and nutrition projects that are fully integrated with elementary school curricula. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 106) Revises the summer food service program for children, expanding or making more flexible such program with respect to: (1) defining areas in which poor economic conditions exist; (2) private nonprofit organizations' number of sites and children served, and waiting period for a waiver to use a vendor; (3) second helpings; (4) single rate for operational and administrative costs; (5) offer vs. serve option; and (6) startup costs. Extends such program's authorization of appropriations. (Sec. 107) Reauthorizes the commodity distribution program. Directs the Secretary to: (1) improve overall nutritional quality of entitlement commodities provided in schools; and (2) require that nutritional content information labels be placed on packages or shipments of such entitlement commodities or otherwise provide such information. (Sec. 108) Requires that specified activities be conducted with assistance for food service management institutes and other institutions. Extends the authorization of appropriations for training, technical assistance, and food service management institutes. (Sec. 109) Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the coordinated review system under NSLA. (Sec. 110) Requires revision of menu planning guides with respect to reduction of fat and saturated fat. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on compliance with such fat guidelines as well as those for dietary fiber, sodium, and sugar in school breakfast and lunch programs. Title II: Amendments to Child Nutrition Act of 1966 - (Sec. 201) Amends CNA to provide for increased payments for State administrative expenses under CNA and NSLA programs. (Sec. 202) Increases funding and activities under the WIC breastfeeding promotion program. (Sec. 203) Expands the WIC farmers' market program. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to promote use of farmers' markets by recipients of Federal nutrition programs administered by the Secretary. Extends the authorization of appropriations for such program. (Sec. 204) Adds several authorized uses of funds under nutrition education and training programs. Extends and increases the authorization of appropriations for such programs. (Sec. 205) Revises a formula for carryover funds. Changes the name of the WIC program to the special nutrition program for women, infants, and children. Title III: Effective Dates - Sets forth effective dates.

To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve, promote, and expand the school breakfast program under that Act.

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1993

Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) to eliminate the cost basis for the severe need reimbursement rate under CNA's school breakfast program if at least 40 percent of a school's students participating in the school lunch program under the National School Lunch Act are eligible to receive meals for free or reduced prices. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to promote the school breakfast program. Extends and increases the authorization of appropriations for startup costs for the school breakfast programs. Provides for expansion of school breakfast programs through competitive grants to States.

A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide taxpayers engaged in certain agriculture-related activities a credit against income tax for property used to control environmental pollution and for soil and water conservation expenditures.

United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow taxpayers primarily engaged in a farming-related business an investment tax credit for a percentage of: (1) the costs of agricultural environmental property; and (2) the amount allowed as a deduction for soil and water conservation expenditures.

A bill to provide that the President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Chief of the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993

Directs the President to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Chief of the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture.

A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to limit the interest deduction allowed corporations and to allow a deduction for dividends paid by corporations.

United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the deduction for corporate interest payments by 20 percent. Excepts small corporations and farming businesses from such reduction. Allows corporations a deduction of 50 percent of the dividends paid during a taxable year. Limits such deduction to the amount in the qualified dividend account established by the corporation for the payment of such dividends. Prohibits the following corporations from using such deduction: (1) regulated investment companies; (2) real estate investment trusts; (3) an S corporation (certain small business corporations); (4) cooperative organizations; and (5) foreign sales corporations and domestic international sales corporations. Provides for an increase in the withholding tax on dividends paid to nonresident aliens or foreign corporations to reflect the dividend paid deduction. Requires, in the case of the acquisition of assets of a corporation by another corporation, that the acquiring corporation carryover the qualified dividend account.

To require the exchange of National Forest System lands in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho for non-Federal lands within the forest in Wyoming.

United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange specified Federal lands in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho for specified non-Federal lands within the Targhee National Forest in Wyoming.

Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1993

Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1993 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit and set penalties for intentionally: (1) injuring, intimidating, or interfering with any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction because that person is engaging in activities in an animal enterprise; or (2) damaging or destroying the property of a facility because that facility is in part or in whole such an enterprise. Defines "animal enterprise" as a commercial or academic enterprise that uses animals for food or fiber production, agriculture, research, or testing; a zoo, aquarium, circus, rodeo, or lawful competitive animal event; or any fair or similar event intended to advance agriculture. Provides for civil actions by aggrieved persons, the U.S. Attorney General, and State attorneys general. Specifies that the Congress does not intend this Act to provide exclusive remedies with respect to the conduct prohibited by it, nor to preempt the legislation of States that may provide such remedies.

Frederick Gilbert Slabach, of Mississippi, to be an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, vice Franklin Eugene Bailey, resigned.

United States · United States Senate · 18 November 1993

Omnibus Agricultural Research and Promotion Improvement Act

United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Egg Research and Consumer Protection Title II: Watermelon Research and Promotion Title III: Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Information Title IV: Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Omnibus Agricultural Research and Promotion Improvement Act - Title I: Egg Research and Consumer Information - Egg Research and Consumer Information Improvement Act - Amends the Egg Research and Consumer Information Act to increase the maximum limit on assessment payments by egg producers to egg handlers. Permits an amendment to increase the assessment only if such increase is recommended by the Egg Board and approved by egg producers in a referendum. Increases the number of hens a producer may have to remain exempt from the assessment. Title II: Watermelon Research and Promotion - Watermelon Research and Promotion Improvement Act - Amends the Watermelon Research and Promotion Act to: (1) change from two-thirds approval to a majority needed in a referendum to approve a plan; (2) revise the definitions of producers and handlers; (3) revise rulemaking procedures for changing the assessment rate; (4) to include imported watermelons within the definition of watermelon and make importers applicable to orders of the Secretary; and (5) provide for the separate consideration in a referendum of specified amendments made under this title. Title III: Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Consideration - Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Information Act - Declares it to be policy to establish, pursuant to this title, procedures to develop and finance (through assessments) an effective and coordinated program of generic promotion, consumer information, and related research designed to strengthen the cut flowers and greens industry's position in the marketplace and to maintain and expand markets for cut flowers and greens. Sets forth provisions designed to implement such policy. Title IV: Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information - Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Improvement Act - Amends the Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Act of 1990 to: (1) cover seedless and not seeded limes; (2) alter the composition of the Lime Board; (3) increase the de minimis exemption from the assessment; and (4) delay the initial referendum date.

To clarify the regulatory oversight exercised by the Rural Electrification Administration with respect to certain electric borrowers.

United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1993

Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to direct the Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), guided by private lending practices, to issue regulations for specified borrowers that minimize administrative requirements and restrictions. Provides for REA subordination or sharing of related liens.

Fiscal Year 1994 Rescission Act

United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1993

Fiscal Year 1994 Rescission Act - Rescinds certain budget authority made to the following entities: (1) the Department of Agriculture; (2) the Department of Commerce; (3) the Department of State; (4) judicial defender services; (5) the Board for International Broadcasting; (6) the United States Information Agency; (7) the Civil Corps of Engineers; (8) the Department of the Interior; (9) the Department of Energy; (10) certain economic assistance funds and military assistance funds appropriated to the President; (11) the Department of the Treasury; (12) the Department of Labor; (13) the Department of Health and Human Services; (14) the Department of Education; (15) the House of Representatives and certain congressional agencies; (16) Department of Defense military construction; (17) the Department of Transportation; (18) the General Services Administration; (19) the Department of Veterans Affairs; (20) the Department of Housing and Urban Development; (21) the Environmental Protection Agency; (22) the Federal Emergency Management Agency; (23) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; (24) the National Science Foundation; and (25) the National Service Initiative.

To eliminate segregationist language from the Second Morrill Act.

United States · United States Congress · 15 November 1993

Eliminates racially segregationalist language in the Second Morrill Act, which relates to land-grant colleges and institutions.

A bill to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Great Western Trail for potential addition to the National Trails System, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1993

Amends the National Trails System Act to designate the Great Western Scenic Trail, a system of trails to accommodate a variety of travel users in a corridor extending from the Arizona-Mexico border to the Idaho-Montana-Canada border, for study for addition to the national scenic trails system. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to study the appropriateness of motorized trail use along the Great Western Scenic Trail.

Responsibility and Empowerment Support Program Providing Employment, Child Care, and Training Act

United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: AFDC Transition and Work Program Title II: Paternity Establishment Title III: Expansion of Statutory Flexibility of States Title IV: Expansion of State and Local Flexibility Title V: Child Support Enforcement Title VI: Welfare Restrictions for Aliens Title VII: Controlling Welfare Costs Title VIII: Consolidated Block Grant to States for Food Assistance Title IX: Miscellaneous Responsibility and Empowerment Support Program Providing Employment, Child Care, and Training Act - Title I: AFDC Transition and Work Program - Amends part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) (JOBS) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to give the JOBS program the new purpose of assuring that needy families with children obtain not only the education and training needed to prepare them for a life without welfare, but the work experience as well. (Sec. 101) Requires State JOBS programs to include a transition component and a work supplementation component that: (1) are each allowed to include any State work experience program approved by the Secretary; and (2) with respect to the first component, must include the State's job search program, and, with respect to the second component, may include the State's work supplementation or community work experience program. Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of SSA title IV to revise State AFDC plan participation requirements to incorporate participation in the two JOBS program components above under specified guidelines as a requirement for qualified individuals to receive AFDC. Imposes sanctions for a qualified individual's failure to participate in the JOBS program as required under such guidelines, which include a reduction in AFDC benefits and eventual benefit termination for repeated failures. Revises the exemptions from JOBS program participation requirements. Extends to all States the option to limit AFDC-UP. Increases State JOBS program and work program participation rates with regard to, respectively, AFDC-eligible individuals and unemployed parents. Provides for additional payments to States for JOBS programs. (Sec. 102) Amends community work experience and work supplementation program provisions. Title II: Paternity Establishment - Amends SSA title IV part A to: (1) provide for denial or reduction of AFDC for children whose paternity is not established; and (2) require unmarried individuals under 19 who are eligible for AFDC and are pregnant or with dependent children under their care to reside at home in order to receive AFDC. (Sec. 203) Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to require earlier specified paternity establishment efforts by States. Expresses the encouragement of the Congress for States to develop procedures in public hospitals and clinics to facilitate the acknowledgment of paternity. (Sec. 204) Increases the paternity establishment percentage. Title III: Expansion of Statutory Flexibility of States - Amends SSA title IV part A to give States the option to: (1) convert AFDC into a block grant program; (2) exempt themselves from otherwise mandatory denial of AFDC where either parent is a minor; (3) treat families moving interstate who apply for AFDC in their new State of residence (where they have resided for less than on year) under the AFDC rules of their former State of residence; (4) reduce AFDC for parents under 21 who have dropped out of school and dependent children who, without good cause, do not maintain minimum school attendance; (5) exempt themselves from otherwise mandatory denial of AFDC for additional children; (6) modify certain AFDC income disregard rules; (7) provide for a married couple transitional benefit in cases where an AFDC recipient marries an individual who is not a parent of the recipient's child, and the resulting family would become ineligible for AFDC by reason of the marriage; (8) disregard certain savings and income of a family on AFDC designated for education, training, employability, home purchase, or residence change in determining eligibility for AFDC; and (9) condition the receipt of AFDC on the recipient's attendance at parenting and money management classes and prior approval of any action requiring a change in the educational institution attended by the recipient's dependent child. Title IV: Expansion of State and Local Flexibility -Establishes an Interagency Waiver Request Board in order to provide a focal point within the Federal Government for the development and coordination of waiver requests to improve opportunities for low-income individuals and families. (Sec. 402) Prescribes contents of applications to implement Federal assistance plans, as well as the review, approval, implementation, and evaluation processes. (Sec. 405) Requires any entity applying for plan approval to establish a Public Private Partnership Committee to advise it on plan development and implementation. Title V: Child Support Enforcement - Provides for a national system for employee reporting of any child support owed, the obligee involved, and other specified related information on W-4 forms for employer withholding and distribution of support owed, and reporting of related information to the State involved for availability to other States through the Interstate Locate Network established under this title. (Sec. 502) Makes various changes with regard to State child support order registries, the Parent Locater Service, regulations for sharing child support information, withholding orders, and noncustodial parents with child support arrearages who are receiving certain public welfare assistance. Title VI: Welfare Restrictions for Aliens - Makes aliens (except refugees, permanent residents, and certain current residents) ineligible for various specified types of public welfare assistance, including non-emergency related assistance under Medicaid, food stamps, and job training assistance. (Sec. 602) Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require State AFDC agencies to provide information on illegal aliens to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Title VII: Controlling Welfare Costs - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act), and other Federal law to establish various specified measures for controlling welfare costs, including Federal spending caps. Title VIII: Consolidated Block Grant to States for Food Assistance - Repeals the Food Stamp Act of 1977, National School Lunch Act, Commodity Distribution Reform Act and WIC Amendments of 1987, and other specified Federal laws and replaces them with a: (1) State food assistance block grant program to provide food assistance to economically disadvantaged individuals and families (eligible populations); and (2) new food coupon program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 803) Grants the Secretary of Agriculture and the Commodity Credit Corporation the authority to sell surplus commodities and foodstuffs to the States to provide food assistance to eligible populations. Title IX: Miscellaneous - Amends SSA title IV part A to require AFDC applicants and recipients to undergo any necessary substance abuse treatment as a condition of receiving AFDC. (Sec. 902) Amends SSA title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to: (1) make ineligible for SSI benefits individuals receiving SSI on the basis of a disability resulting from illegal drug addiction who continue to use illegal drugs or refuse to be tested for them; and (2) make representative payee changes. (Sec. 903) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) conduct research projects to evaluate the impact of education and training programs on the ability of individuals to end participation in the AFDC program; (2) conduct demonstration projects and report to the Congress on whether providing benefits based on need through the use of electronic cards and automatic teller machines would reduce administrative costs and fraud; and (3) establish a commission to determine the cost and feasibility of creating an interstate system to compare the social security numbers of all AFDC recipients in order to identify those recipients receiving AFDC from multiple States. (Sec. 904) Amends SSA to require State AFDC applicants to participate in job search activities while the application is pending, unless a State by law exempts itself from this requirement. (Sec. 906) Public Housing Rent Reform and Empowerment Act - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 with regard to the determination of income and rent charges. Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to allow, upon request, under certain circumstances, a public housing agency or resident management corporation to carry out a demonstration program to determine the feasibility and desirability of providing such entities with the authority to establish policies for agency-administered public housing projects, without regard to the public housing requirements of the United States Housing Act of 1937. (Sec. 907) Amends SSA title IV part A to deny AFDC for certain children who have not received appropriate medical examinations and immunizations. Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act with regard to childhood immunizations. Requires the Surgeon General to issue and periodically revise recommendations for the immunization of children under age six.

Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 8 November 1993

Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization Act of 1993 - Amends the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to authorize appropriations for the regulation of the transportation of hazardous materials. Exempts from the requirement to file a registration statement persons domiciled outside the United States who offer, solely from a location outside the United States, hazardous materials for transportation in commerce. Directs the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to make grants to Indian tribes for the development of emergency response plans with respect to the transportation of hazardous materials through Indian lands. Requires States or Indian tribes receiving such grants to ensure that such emergency planning is coordinated with emergency plans conducted by adjacent States and Indian tribes. Requires States, local governments, or Indian tribes that levy fees in connection with the transportation of hazardous materials to comply with certain disclosure requirements. Changes from annual to biennial the Secretary's periodic comprehensive report to the President (for transmittal to the Congress) on the transportation of hazardous materials. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the National Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems Program addresses the use of intelligent vehicle-highway system technologies to promote hazardous materials transportation safety. Requires the Secretary to issue final regulations under specified dockets concerning: (1) crashworthiness protection requirements for tank cars; and (2) detection and repair of cracks, pits, corrosion, lining flaws, thermal protection flaws and other defects of tank car tanks. Directs the Secretary to study the existing practices regarding the placement of cars on trains, with particular attention to the placement of cars carrying hazardous materials. Requires the Secretary to amend regulations under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act and the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 to prohibit the driver of a motor vehicle transporting hazardous materials in commerce or of any commercial vehicle from driving it onto a highway-rail grade crossing without sufficient space to drive completely through the crossing without stopping. Requires the Secretary to issue regulations to require that any document bearing on the record of duty status of a driver who operates a commercial motor vehicle: (1) be retained by the employing motor carrier for at least six months after receipt; and (2) include information indentifying the driver and vehicle. Directs the Secretary to amend the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) with respect to the acquisition of safety performance histories of new drivers employed by a motor carrier. Requires the retention of shipping papers by persons who provided them and the motor carrier required to maintain it after the hazardous material involved is no longer in transportation. Requires the Secretary to establish a toll-free "800" telephone number for transporters of hazardous materials and other individuals to report possible violations of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act or any regulation issued under this Act. Requires the Secretary to exempt farmers and retail farm suppliers from CFR hours of service requirements when they transport supplies for agricultural purposes within a 50-mile radius of their distribution point during the crop-planting season.

Food Stamp Fraud Reduction Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 8 November 1993

Food Stamp Fraud Reduction Act of 1993 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to set forth provisions for the replacement of food stamp coupons with an electronic benefits transfer system.

USDA Debarment Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1993

USDA Debarment Act of 1993 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out debarment procedures against persons materially violating nonprocurement program regulations.

North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Approval of, and General Provisions Relating to, the North American Free Trade Agreement Title II: Customs Provisions Title III: Application of Agreement to Sectors and Services Subtitle A: Safeguards Subtitle B: Agriculture Subtitle C: Intellectual Property Subtitle D: Temporary Entry of Business Persons Subtitle E: Standards Subtitle F: Corporate Average Fuel Economy Subtitle G: Government Procurement Title IV: Dispute Settlement in Antidumping and Countervailing Cases Subtitle A: Organizational, Administrative, and Procedural Provisions Regarding the Implementation of the Agreement Subtitle B: Conforming Amendments and Provisions Title V: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance and Other Provisions Subtitle A: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Performance Under the Agreement Subtitle C: Funding Subtitle D: Implementation of NAFTA Supplemental Agreements Title VI: Customs Modernization Subtitle A: Improvements in Customs Automation Program Subtitle B: National Customs Automation Program Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Amendments to the Tariff Act of 1930 Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Provisions and Consequential and Conforming Amendments to Other Laws North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act - Title I: Approval of, and General Provisions Relating to, the North American Free Trade Agreement - Declares that the Congress, pursuant to the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and the Trade Act of 1974, approves: (1) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into on December 17, 1992, with Canada and Mexico and submitted to it on November 4, 1993; and (2) the statement of administrative action proposed to implement the Agreement that was submitted to it on November 4, 1993. Sets forth conditions for entry into force of NAFTA. (Sec. 102) Declares that U.S. laws shall prevail over provisions of NAFTA that conflict. Requires the President to consult with the States in order to achieve conformity of State laws with NAFTA. Requires the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to establish within the Office of the USTR a Federal-State consultation process to address issues relating to NAFTA that directly affect the States. Prohibits any person other than the United States from having a cause of action with respect to NAFTA. (Sec. 105) Authorizes the President to establish within any U.S. agency a U.S. Section of the Secretariat to facilitate the operation of NAFTA. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 106) Requires the United States to encourage the selection of individuals with expertise in environmental issues for service on the Chapter 20 panel to hear any challenge to a U.S. or State environmental law. (Sec. 107) Sets forth provisions governing the termination or suspension of NAFTA. (Sec. 108) Declares that the congressional approval of NAFTA may not be construed as applying to any countries other than Canada and Mexico. Sets forth provisions outlining future free trade area negotiations with other foreign countries. Title II: Customs Provisions - Authorizes the President to proclaim such modifications or continuation of any duty, continuation of duty-free or excise treatment, or additional duties as are necessary to carry out specified provisions of NAFTA. (Sec. 201) Requires the President to terminate Mexico's designation as a beneficiary developing country under the Trade Act of 1974 upon entry into force of NAFTA. Prohibits the President from considering a request to accelerate the staging of duty reductions for an article for which the United States tariff phaseout period is more than ten years if such request for such article has been denied in the preceding three years. Authorizes the President to convert the base rate of certain textiles imported from Mexico to an ad valorem rate. (Sec. 202) Sets forth, for purposes of implementing tariff treatment and quantitative restrictions provided in NAFTA, rules of origin with respect to goods from NAFTA countries. (Sec. 203) Defines the term "good subject to NAFTA drawback." Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to prohibit an article manufactured in a bonded warehouse from materials that are goods subject to NAFTA drawback (refund) from being withdrawn from such warehouse for exportation to a NAFTA country without assessment of a duty on the materials in their condition and quantity, and at their weight, at the time of importation into the United States. Sets forth similar provisions with respect to articles from bonded smelting and refining warehouses. Authorizes merchandise, under specified conditions, to be cleaned, sorted, repacked, or otherwise changed in condition in bonded warehouses and be withdrawn: (1) for export to a NAFTA country if such merchandise consists of goods subject to NAFTA drawback (refund) and certain duties are assessed; and (2) without the payment of duties for export to NAFTA and, in certain cases, non-NAFTA countries. Amends the Foreign Trade Zones Act to provide that, if Canada ceases to be a NAFTA country and the U.S.-Canada Free-Trade Agreement terminates, no article manufactured or otherwise changed in condition (except a change by cleaning, testing, or repacking) shall be exported to Canada without the payment of a duty unless a certain privilege has been requested and no manipulation (change of condition) has occurred. Prohibits merchandise consisting of goods subject to NAFTA drawback that is manufactured or otherwise changed in condition from being exported to a NAFTA country without an assessment of a duty on it. Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) from, on the condition of export, refunding or reducing fees imposed under the Agricultural Adjustment Act with respect to "goods subject to NAFTA drawback" that are exported to Canada after December 31, 1995, or Mexico after December 31, 2000, for so long as they are NAFTA countries. Declares that none of the amendments made under this Act shall be considered to authorize the refund, waiver, or reduction of countervailing duties or antidumping duties imposed on an imported good. (Sec. 204) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to prohibit customs user fees with respect to goods qualifying under the rules of origin from being: (1) charged with respect to goods that qualify to be marked as Canadian goods; and (2) increased after December 31, 1993, and charged after June 29, 1999, with respect to goods that qualify to be marked as Mexican goods. (Sec. 205) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to require persons who sign a NAFTA Certificate of Origin for a good for which preferential treatment is claimed to keep and render for inspection all records relating to the origin of the good. Sets forth penalties for violation of such recordkeeping requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding incorrect and false Certificates of Origin. (Sec. 206) Authorizes the United States Customs Service to reliquidate an entry to refund excess duties paid on a good qualifying under the rules of origin under the NAFTA for which no claim for preferential tariff treatment was made or protest filed at the time of importation if the importer, within one year after the importation, files a claim that includes specified information. (Sec. 207) Revises country of origin marking requirements with respect to certain pipe and steel products and manhole rings or frames and covers from NAFTA countries to include continuous paint stenciling, or an equally permanent method of marking, as methods for satisfying such requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) adverse marking and origin determinations by the U.S. Customs Service; and (2) the judicial review of such determinations. (Sec. 209) Declares the Secretary of Commerce may authorize the U.S. Customs Service to exchange information with any government agency of a NAFTA country provided certain safeguards are met. (Sec. 210) Prohibits duties from being refunded (drawnback) on imported color cathode-ray television picture tubes, including video monitor cathode-ray tubes, when such items are nonoriginating goods and are: (1) exported to a NAFTA country; (2) used as a material in the production of other goods that are exported to a NAFTA country; or (3) substituted for by goods of the same kind and quality used as a material in the production of other goods that are exported to a NAFTA country. (Sec. 211) Requires the U.S. Customs Service to monitor television and picture tube imports for a five-year period. Directs the U.S. Customs Service to make the results of such monitoring, including verification of the rules of origin, available to the President and the USTR. Title III: Application of Agreement to Sectors and Services - Subtitle A: Safeguards - Part 1: Relief From Imports Benefitting From the Agreement - Authorizes an entity, trade association, firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers that is representative of an industry to file with the International Trade Commission (ITC) a petition requesting the adjustment of U.S. obligations under NAFTA. Requires the ITC to investigate, and make a determination, whether as a result of the reduction or elimination of a duty under NAFTA, a Canadian or Mexican article is being imported in such increased quantities as to constitute a substantial case of serious injury, or except in the case of a Canadian article, a threat of serious injury to a domestic industry producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, such article. (Sec. 303) Requires the ITC, if it makes an affirmative determination, to recommend to the President the amount of import relief that is necessary to remedy or prevent such injury. (Sec. 308) Amends the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement Implementation Act to require the Secretary to decide whether to recommend to the President the imposition of a temporary duty on Canadian fresh fruits and vegetables. (Sec. 309) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine each period of five consecutive business days in which the daily price for frozen concentrated orange juice is less than the trigger price and the first period occurring thereafter of five consecutive business days in which the daily price for frozen concentrated orange juice is greater than the trigger price. Sets forth a formula for determining the rate of duty on certain quantities of imported Mexican articles of frozen concentrated orange juice. Part 2: Relief From Imports From All Countries - Requires the ITC, if it makes an affirmative determination for import relief under the Trade Act of 1974 (or a determination which the President may treat as an affirmative determination under the Tariff Act of 1930), to also find (and report to the President) whether: (1) imports from a NAFTA country, considered individually, account for a substantial share of total imports; and (2) imports from a NAFTA country, considered individually, or, in exceptional circumstances considered collectively, contribute importantly to the serious injury, or threat of serious injury, caused by imports. (Sec. 312) Requires the President, in determining whether to take import relief action under the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to imports from a NAFTA country, to determine whether: (1) imports from such country, considered individually, account for a substantial share of total imports; or (2) imports from such a country, considered individually, or in exceptional circumstances considered collectively, contribute importantly to the serious injury, or threat of serious injury, found by the ITC. Requires the President to take specified actions with respect to such imports. Part 3: General Provisions - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize an entity representing a domestic industry that produces a citrus product that is like or directly competitive with an imported citrus product to file a request with the USTR for monitoring of such imports. Requires the ITC, upon the filing of a petition alleging import injury and a request for provisional import relief, to make a determination whether increased imports of such citrus products are a substantial cause of serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic industry producing such product. Defines "citrus product" to mean any processed oranges or grapefruit, or any orange or grapefruit juice, including concentrate. (Sec. 316) Requires the ITC, with respect to expediting an investigation concerning provisional import relief, to monitor, until January 1, 2009, imports of fresh or chilled tomatoes and peppers (other than chili peppers) as if proper requests for such monitoring have been made. (Sec. 317) Requires the ITC to adopt certain rules and procedures with respect to the release of confidential business information under the Tariff Act of 1930 and apply them in import injury investigations under NAFTA. Subtitle B: Agriculture - Amends the Meat Import Act of 1979 to redefine the term "meat articles." Authorizes the President to exclude meat articles originating in a NAFTA country, Canada, or Mexico from quantitative import limitations. (Sec. 321) Requires the President to take such action as may be necessary to ensure that imports of agricultural goods do not disrupt the orderly marketing of commodities in the United States. Declares that nothing in NAFTA reduces or eliminates: (1) any penalty required under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938; or (2) any requirement under Marketing Agreement No. 146, Regulating the Quality of Domestically Produced Peanuts, on peanuts in the domestic market, pursuant to the Agricultural Act of 1949. Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to express the sense of the Congress that the United States should request consultations in the Working Group on Emergency Action if imports of peanuts exceed the in-quota quantity under a tariff rate quota set out in NAFTA concerning whether: (1) the increased imports of peanuts constitute a substantial cause of, or contribute importantly to, serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic peanut industry; and (2) recourse under NAFTA or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to designate an office within the United States Department of Agriculture to be responsible for maintaining and disseminating data accumulated for verifying citrus, fruit, vegetable, and cut flower trade between the United States and Mexico. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a program requiring that end-use certificates be included in the documentation covering the entry into, or withdrawal from a warehouse for consumption in, the U.S. customs territory of any wheat or barley from a foreign country that requires end-use certificates of U.S. wheat or U.S. barley. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to suspend such requirements when making a determination that the program has resulted in: (1) the reduction of income to U.S. producers of agricultural products; or (2) the reduction of the competitiveness of such U.S. producers in the world export markets. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to suspend such requirements if a foreign country that requires end-use certificates for U.S. wheat and U.S. barley eliminates the requirement. Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant fellowships to individuals from NAFTA countries to study agriculture in the United States, and individuals in the United States to study agriculture in other NAFTA countries. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to public agencies or private organizations with tax-exempt status that have experience in providing emergency services to low-income migrant or seasonal farmworkers if it is determined that implementation of the NAFTA has caused such farmworkers to lose income. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare, and submit to specified congressional committees, a biennial report on the effects of the NAFTA on U.S. producers of agricultural commodities and on U.S. rural communities. Subtitle C: Intellectual Property - Amends Federal patent law to extend U.S. intellectual property protections to inventions that are made in other countries by persons who are domiciled in a NAFTA country and serving in any other country in connection with operations by or on behalf of the United States or a NAFTA country. (Sec. 332) Amends the Record Rental Amendment of 1984 to repeal a provision of such Act with respect to rental rights in sound recordings. (Sec. 333) Amends the Trademark Act of 1946 to provide that nothing in such Act shall prevent the registration before enactment of the NAFTA: (1) of a mark which, when used on or in connection with the goods of an applicant for a trademark, is primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive of them, and which became distinctive of the applicant's goods in commerce; or (2) on the supplemental register of a mark, capable of distinguishing the applicant's goods or services and not registrable on the principal register under such Act, that is declared to be unregistrable, if such mark has been in lawful use in commerce by the owner, on or in connection with any goods or services. (Sec. 334) Amends Federal copyright law to grant copyright protection to motion pictures that are first fixed or published in a NAFTA country, including any work in such pictures, that enter the U.S. public domain and are first published on or after January 1, 1978, and before March 1, 1989, even though certain required notice has not been given. Subtitle D: Temporary Entry of Business Persons - Classifies as nonimmigrants, if otherwise eligible for a visa and admissible into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, any alien trader or investor who is a citizen of Canada or Mexico, including any accompanying spouse and children of such alien. (Sec. 341) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the admittance of aliens who are citizens of Canada or Mexico, including any spouse and children of such alien, into the United States to engage in business activities as professionals. Requires the Attorney General to establish annual numerical limits on such admissions. Prohibits such aliens from being classified as nonimmigrants if there is a strike or lockout in the course of a labor dispute in the applicable occupational classification, unless such aliens establish that their entry will not adversely affect the settlement of such strike or lockout or the employment of any person involved in the strike or lockout. Subtitle E: Standards - Part 1: Standards and Measures - Amends the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to provide that nothing under such Act shall be construed to: (1) prohibit a Federal or State agency from engaging in activity related to sanitary or phytosanitary measures to protect human, animal, or plant life or health; (2) limit the authority of such agencies to determine the level of protection of human, animal, or plant life or health the agency considers appropriate; (3) prohibit a Federal agency from engaging in activity related to standards-related measures, including any such measure relating to safety, the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment or consumers; or (4) limit the authority of a Federal agency to determine the level it considers appropriate of safety or the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment or consumers. Requires the standards information center of the Department of Commerce, among other things, to make available to the public documents and information regarding: (1) general application of sanitary or phytosanitary measures by Federal or State agencies; and (2) participation of Federal and State governments and nongovernmental bodies in international and regional standardizing bodies and conformity assessment systems, and in bilateral and multilateral arrangements regarding standards-related measures. Part 2: Agricultural Standards - Amends the Federal Seed Act to declare that provisions of such Act requiring certain seeds to be stained shall not apply to alfalfa or clover seed from Mexico. (Sec. 361) Amends Federal law to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the importation: (1) of cattle, sheep, or other ruminants, and swine, from Canada or Mexico; and (2) from the British Virgin Islands into the U.S. Virgin Islands, for slaughter only, of cattle that have been infested with or exposed to ticks on being freed from such ticks. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to waive provisions requiring the inspection of imported animals for contagious diseases and infections with respect to shipments between the United States and Canada or Mexico. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the importation of cattle, sheep, other ruminants, or swine (including their embryos), or the fresh, chilled, or frozen meat of such animals, from a region that the Secretary of Agriculture has determined to be, and is likely to remain, free from rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease. Amends the Honeybee Act to authorize the importation into the United States of honeybees from Canada or Mexico if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that the region from which such honeybee originated is, and is likely to remain, free of diseases or parasites harmful to honeybees, and undesirable species or subspecies of honeybees. Amends the Poultry Products Inspection Act to require all poultry, or parts or products of poultry, that are intended as human food and imported into the United States from Canada and Mexico to meet inspection, sanitary, and processing standards that are equivalent to those in the United States. Amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to submit to specified congressional committees a report that includes, among other things, a certification by the Secretary of Agriculture that foreign plants in Canada and Mexico that export carcasses or meat or meat products have complied with requirements that are equivalent to U.S. requirements with regard to inspection and building construction standards. Requires all domestic peanut butter and peanut paste to be processed from peanuts that meet the quality standards established for peanuts under Marketing Agreement No. 146. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to a land grant college or university for the construction of a facility (to be known as the Southwest Regional Animal Health Biocontainment Facility) at such college or university to do research in animal health, disease-transmitting insects, and toxic chemicals that requires the use of biocontainment facilities and equipment. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare, and submit to specified congressional committees, annual reports on the impact of the NAFTA on the inspection of imported meat, poultry, other foods, animals, or plants. Subtitle F: Corporate Average Fuel Economy - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to provide that, for purposes of calculating the corporate average fuel economy of certain passenger automobiles, such automobiles shall be considered domestically manufactured in a model year if at least 75 percent of the manufacturer's cost is attributable to value added in the United States, Canada, or Mexico, unless the assembly of the automobile is completed in Canada or Mexico and such automobile is not imported into the United States prior to the expiration of 30 days following the end of that model year. Subtitle G: Government Procurement - Amends the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to revise provisions regarding the waiver of discriminating purchasing requirements with respect to Government contracting to apply to countries that are parties to the NAFTA. Declares that the President's authority to waive such requirements does not authorize the waiver of any small business or minority preference. Title IV: Dispute Settlement in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Cases - Subtitle A: Organizational, Administrative, and Procedural Provisions Regarding the Implementation of Chapter 19 of the Agreement - Sets forth organizational and administrative provisions regarding the selection of individuals to serve on binational panels and extraordinary challenge committees. (Sec. 402) Establishes within the interagency trade organization an interagency group, which shall be chaired by the USTR and consist of appropriate officers, to annually prepare, and submit to appropriate congressional committees, lists of individuals who are qualified to serve on such panels and committees. (Sec. 407) Authorizes an entity, including a trade association, firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers, that is representative of a U.S. industry to file with the USTR a petition requesting that the industry be appropriately identified whenever it has reason to believe that: (1) as a result of implementation of NAFTA, the industry is likely to face increased competition from subsidized imports from a NAFTA country, or such industry is likely to face increased competition from subsidized imports from any other country designated by the President as benefitting from a reduction of tariffs or other trade barriers under a trade agreement that enters into force with the United States after January 1, 1994; and (2) the industry is likely to experience a deterioration of its competitive position before more rules relating to the use of government subsidies have been developed with respect to the subject country. Requires the USTR upon receipt of a petition to decide whether to identify the industry on the basis of both the subsidization and deterioration of its competitive position. Requires the USTR, if there is an identification, to take appropriate action, including: (1) compiling and making available to the industry certain trade information; and (2) recommending to the President that the ITC commence an investigation under the Tariff Act of 1930. Subtitle B: Conforming Amendments and Provisions - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to apply provisions of such Act regarding time limits for commencing judicial review in antidumping duty and countervailing duty actions to cases involving merchandise from a free trade area (NAFTA) country. Title V: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance and Other Provisions - Subtitle A: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program - NAFTA Worker Security Act - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require a group of workers, including workers in any agricultural firm or subdivision of an agricultural firm, to be certified as eligible for adjustment assistance if the Secretary of Labor determines that a significant number of workers in such firm or subdivision have become totally or partially separated, or are threatened to become totally or partially separated, and either that: (1) the sales or production, or both, of such firm or subdivision have decreased, imports from Mexico or Canada of articles like or directly competitive with the firm's articles have increased, and such increase in imports contributed to such workers' separation or threat of separation and to the decline in the firm's sales or production; or (2) there has been a shift in production by such workers' firm or subdivision to Mexico or Canada of articles like or directly competitive with the firm's articles. (Sec. 502) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the filing of petitions for worker adjustment assistance; (2) petition findings; and (3) review of petitions by the Secretary of Labor. (Sec. 503) Prohibits a worker from receiving duplicative assistance. (Sec. 504) Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 507) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a self-employment assistance program which makes certain qualified individuals eligible to receive an allowance in lieu of regular unemployment compensation under State law in order to assist such an individual in establishing a business and becoming self-employed. Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Performance Under the Agreement - Expresses the sense of the Congress that a State, province, or other governmental entity of a NAFTA country that discriminatorily enforces sales or other taxes so as to afford protection to its domestic production or domestic service providers shall be considered in violation of the NAFTA. Requires the USTR to pursue all appropriate remedies when such discriminatory enforcement adversely affects U.S. producers of goods or U.S. service providers. (Sec. 512) Requires the President, by not later than July 1, 1997, to provide the Congress a comprehensive study on the operation and effects of NAFTA. (Sec. 513) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require the USTR, no later than 30 days after a specified report is submitted to specified congressional committees, to identify any act, policy, or practice of Canada which: (1) affects cultural industries; (2) is adopted or expanded after December 17, 1992; and (3) is actionable under the NAFTA. (Sec. 514) Requires the USTR to annually submit to specified congressional committees a report on how effective the NAFTA is on increasing U.S. exports of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts to Mexico. (Sec. 515) Amends the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to authorize and direct the Commissioner of Customs to make grants to an institution (or consortium of such institutions) to assist it in establishing in Texas a Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade in order to promote and study trade between the Western Hemisphere countries. Subtitle C: Funding - Part 1: Customs User Fees - Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to increase for FY 1994 through 1997 the customs user fees for the arrival of each passenger aboard a commercial vessel or commercial aircraft from outside the U.S. customs territory. Maintains for FY 1998 and thereafter the current five dollar customs user fee for the arrival of each passenger aboard such vessel or aircraft from a place outside the United States. Part 2: Internal Revenue Code Amendments - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the Secretary to disclose to officers and employees of the Department of the Treasury (particularly the Customs Service) certain tax information. (Sec. 523) Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations for the development of an electronic fund transfer system for the collection of depository taxes. Subtitle D: Implementation of NAFTA Supplemental Agreements - Part 1: Agreements Relating to Labor and Environment - Authorizes the United States to participate in: (1) the Commission for Labor Cooperation in accordance with the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation; (2) the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in accordance with the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation; and (3) the Border Environment Cooperation Commission in accordance with the Border Environment Cooperation Agreement. Authorizes appropriations. Part 2: North American Development Bank and Related Provisions - Authorizes the President to accept membership for the United States in the North American Development Bank. (Sec. 541) Amends Federal banking law to exempt the Bank from the securities laws with respect to the issuance of certain securities by such Bank. (Sec. 543) Authorizes the President to enter into agreements with the Bank for implementation of a community adjustment and investment program pursuant to the Border Environment Cooperation Agreement. Requires the President to establish the Community Adjustment and Investment Program Advisory Committee to provide advice to the President with respect to the implementation of such program. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Customs Modernization - Subtitle A: Improvements in Customs Enforcement - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to revise customs procedures with respect to: (1) electronic transmission of forged, altered, or false data to the United States Customs Service with regard to the entry of imported merchandise; (2) penalties for failure to declare imported controlled substances; (3) examination and detention of imported merchandise; (4) certain recordkeeping requirements; (5) examination of books and witnesses; (6) review of protests by the Customs Service; (7) a repeal of a provision relating to the reliquidation on account of fraud; (8) penalties relating to manifests, false drawback or refund claims, and for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence; (9) unlawful unloading or transshipment; (10) public access to Customs Service interpretive rulings and decisions; and (11) seizure of imported merchandise. Subtitle B: National Customs Automation Program - Directs the Secretary to establish the National Customs Automation Program which shall be an automated and electronic system for the processing of commercial imports. (Sec. 631) Provides for electronic data transmission relating to: (1) remote location filing; (2) effective date of rates of duty on imported merchandise; (3) merchandise manifests; (4) imported merchandise invoices; (5) entry and release of imported merchandise; (6) admissibility in administrative and judicial proceedings of electronically transmitted information; (7) appraisement and liquidations of imported merchandise; (8) the payment of duties; (9) abandonment and damage to imported merchandise; (10) protests of Customs Service decisions; (11) refunds and errors; (12) bonds and other security; and (13) customhouse brokers. (Sec. 632) Requires a refund (drawback) of duties (less one per cent of such duties) on articles produced in the United States with imported merchandise that have been destroyed under Customs Service supervision, provided such articles have not been used prior to such destruction. (Sec. 644) Sets forth provisions with respect to customs officers' immunity in regard to the appraisement of or collection of duties on imported merchandise. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Amendments to the Tariff Act of 1930 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary to disregard the difference, but not less than $20 (currently ten dollars), between the total estimated duties deposited with respect to imported merchandise and the total amount actually due on such merchandise. Increases specified ceiling amounts of duty-free gifts and articles. (Sec. 652) Requires masters of vessels that have visited a hovering vessel or received merchandise while outside the U.S. territorial sea to report their arrival to the nearest customs facility. Provides for the electronic transmission of vessel documentation to the Customs Service. (Sec. 653) Requires specified kinds of vessels to report to the nearest Customs Service facility within 24 hours (or other period of time as provided) after arrival at a U.S. port. (Sec. 655) Exempts from entry and clearance requirements certain passenger vessels on excursion from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the British Virgin Islands and returning, U.S. documented vessels with recreational endorsement, or (as under current law) undocumented U.S. pleasure vessels not engaged in trade, except such vessels must comply upon arrival with specified customs reporting requirements and navigation laws and must not have visited any hovering vessel. (Sec. 656) Prohibits merchandise, passengers, or baggage from being unladen from any vessel required to make entry or vehicle required to report its arrival until such entry or report of arrival is made and a permit for unlading has been issued by the Customs Service. Authorizes the issuance of such permits through electronic data transmission. (Sec. 659) Reduces from one year to six months the length of time merchandise may remain in customs custody with fees unpaid before it may be treated as unclaimed. (Sec. 662) Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe regulations for the declaration and entry of merchandise whose value does not exceed a designated amount, but not more than $2,500 (currently not greater than $1,250), or when different commercial facilitation and risk considerations that may vary for different classes or kinds of merchandise or different classes of transactions may dictate. (Sec. 663) Reduces from one year to 90 days the minimum length of time after forfeiture the Secretary must wait before selling at public auction any seized imported merchandise with a counterfeit mark. (Sec. 664) Sets forth certain recordkeeping requirements for merchandise transported by pipeline. (Sec. 665) Authorizes the withdrawal from warehouse of turbine fuel without the payment of duties provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 667) Authorizes the Customs Service to order the destruction or other appropriate disposition of vessels, vehicles, aircraft, merchandise, or baggage that has been seized under the customs laws if it determines that the expense of keeping such items is disproportionate to their value (currently applies only to items of less than $1,000 in value). (Sec. 668) Requires actions for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence, false drawback, or refund claims with respect to imported merchandise to be instituted within five years after the alleged violation or discovery of such fraud. (Sec. 669) Requires the Customs Service to be reimbursed for costs incurred in collecting fees on behalf of Government agencies. (Sec. 670) Authorizes the Secretary to settle, for no more than $50,000 in each case, claims for damage to, or loss of, privately owned property caused by an investigative or law enforcement officer of the Customs Service. (Sec. 671) Provides for the use of private collection agencies to recover money owed the United States under customs laws. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Provisions and Consequential and Conforming Amendments to Other Laws - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to exempt from such Schedule articles which are returned within 45 days after being exported from the United States as undeliverable and which have not left the custody of the carrier or foreign customs service. (Sec. 681) Declares that certain railway locomotives and railway freight cars on which no duty is owed are not subject to the entry or release requirements for imported merchandise under the Tariff Act of 1930. States that instruments of international trade, such as containers, lift vans, rail cars and locomotives, truck cabs and trailers, etc., are exempt from formal entry procedures, but must be accounted for when imported to and exported from the United States through the manifesting procedures required for international carriers. (Sec. 683) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the payment from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund of administrative expenses incurred by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Commerce, not to exceed $5 million for any fiscal year. (Sec. 684) Amends Federal law to grant the Court of International Trade exclusive jurisdiction of any civil action for review of decisions of the Customs Service that deny, suspend, or revoke accreditation of private customs laboratories. Bars the commencement of such actions unless brought within 60 days of such decisions. (Sec. 685) Authorizes the payment of certain claims against Customs Service employees out of the Department of the Treasury Forfeiture Fund. Authorizes (currently mandates) unobligated amounts in such Fund to be kept on deposit or invested in U.S. bonds. (Sec. 686) Requires U.S. and foreign vessels to obtain clearance from the Customs Service before proceeding from a U.S. port for: (1) a foreign port; (2) another U.S. port (for foreign vessels only), or (for U.S. vessels only) another U.S. port if the vessel has bonded or foreign merchandise for which entry has not been made; or (3) outside the U.S. territorial sea to visit a hovering vessel or to receive merchandise. (Sec. 687) Repeals specified provisions of Federal law. (Sec. 691) Requires the Commissioner of Customs to report to the Congress each fiscal year after FY 1994 on the collection of duties imposed under the antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to authorize the Commissioner of Customs to obtain from the operators of centralized cargo examination stations information regarding fees paid to them for the provision of services at such stations. Amends the Customs and Trade Act of 1990 to require the Commissioner of Customs to: (1) devise a methodology for estimating the level of compliance with the U.S. customs laws; and (2) evaluate the extent to which such compliance was obtained during the 12-month period preceding the 60th day before each fiscal year 1994 through 1996.

North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

United States · United States Congress · 4 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Approval of, and General Provisions Relating to, the North American Free Trade Agreement Title II: Customs Provisions Title III: Application of Agreement to Sectors and Services Subtitle A: Safeguards Subtitle B: Agriculture Subtitle C: Intellectual Property Subtitle D: Temporary Entry of Business Persons Subtitle E: Standards Subtitle F: Corporate Average Fuel Economy Subtitle G: Government Procurement Title IV: Dispute Settlement in Antidumping and Countervailing Cases Subtitle A: Organizational, Administrative, and Procedural Provisions Regarding the Implementation of the Agreement Subtitle B: Conforming Amendments and Provisions Title V: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance and Other Provisions Subtitle A: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Performance Under the Agreement Subtitle C: Funding Subtitle D: Implementation of NAFTA Supplemental Agreements Title VI: Customs Modernization Subtitle A: Improvements in Customs Enforcement Subtitle B: National Customs Automation Program Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Amendments to the Tariff Act of 1930 Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Provisions and Consequential and Conforming Amendments to Other Laws North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act - Title I: Approval of, and General Provisions Relating to, the North American Free Trade Agreement - Declares that the Congress, pursuant to the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and the Trade Act of 1974, approves: (1) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into on December 17, 1992, with Canada and Mexico and submitted to it on November 4, 1993; and (2) the statement of administrative action proposed to implement the Agreement that was submitted to it on November 4, 1993. Sets forth conditions for entry into force of NAFTA. (Sec. 102) Declares that U.S. laws shall prevail over provisions of NAFTA that conflict. Requires the President to consult with the States in order to achieve conformity of State laws with NAFTA. Requires the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to establish within the Office of the USTR a Federal-State consultation process to address issues relating to NAFTA that directly affect the States. Prohibits any person other than the United States from having a cause of action with respect to NAFTA. (Sec. 105) Authorizes the President to establish within any U.S. agency a U.S. Section of the Secretariat to facilitate the operation of NAFTA. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 106) Requires the United States to encourage the selection of individuals with expertise in environmental issues for service on the Chapter 20 panel to hear any challenge to a U.S. or State environmental law. (Sec. 107) Sets forth provisions governing the termination or suspension of NAFTA. (Sec. 108) Declares that the congressional approval of NAFTA may not be construed as applying to any countries other than Canada and Mexico. Sets forth provisions outlining future free trade area negotiations with other foreign countries. Title II: Customs Provisions - Authorizes the President to proclaim such modifications or continuation of any duty, continuation of duty-free or excise treatment, or additional duties as are necessary to carry out specified provisions of NAFTA. (Sec. 201) Requires the President to terminate Mexico's designation as a beneficiary developing country under the Trade Act of 1974 upon entry into force of NAFTA. Prohibits the President from considering a request to accelerate the staging of duty reductions for an article for which the United States tariff phaseout period is more than ten years if such request for such article has been denied in the preceding three years. Authorizes the President to convert the base rate of certain textiles imported from Mexico to an ad valorem rate. (Sec. 202) Sets forth, for purposes of implementing tariff treatment and quantitative restrictions provided in NAFTA, rules of origin with respect to goods from NAFTA countries. (Sec. 203) Defines the term "good subject to NAFTA drawback." Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to prohibit an article manufactured in a bonded warehouse from materials that are goods subject to NAFTA drawback (refund) from being withdrawn from such warehouse for exportation to a NAFTA country without assessment of a duty on the materials in their condition and quantity, and at their weight, at the time of importation into the United States. Sets forth similar provisions with respect to articles from bonded smelting and refining warehouses. Authorizes merchandise, under specified conditions, to be cleaned, sorted, repacked, or otherwise changed in condition in bonded warehouses and be withdrawn: (1) for export to a NAFTA country if such merchandise consists of goods subject to NAFTA drawback (refund) and certain duties are assessed; and (2) without the payment of duties for export to NAFTA and, in certain cases, non-NAFTA countries. Amends the Foreign Trade Zones Act to provide that, if Canada ceases to be a NAFTA country and the U.S.-Canada Free-Trade Agreement terminates, no article manufactured or otherwise changed in condition (except a change by cleaning, testing, or repacking) shall be exported to Canada without the payment of a duty unless a certain privilege has been requested and no manipulation (change of condition) has occurred. Prohibits merchandise consisting of goods subject to NAFTA drawback that is manufactured or otherwise changed in condition from being exported to a NAFTA country without an assessment of a duty on it. Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) from, on the condition of export, refunding or reducing fees imposed under the Agricultural Adjustment Act with respect to "goods subject to NAFTA drawback" that are exported to Canada after December 31, 1995, or Mexico after December 31, 2000, for so long as they are NAFTA countries. Declares that none of the amendments made under this Act shall be considered to authorize the refund, waiver, or reduction of countervailing duties or antidumping duties imposed on an imported good. (Sec. 204) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to prohibit customs user fees with respect to goods qualifying under the rules of origin from being: (1) charged with respect to goods that qualify to be marked as Canadian goods; and (2) increased after December 31, 1993, and charged after June 29, 1999, with respect to goods that qualify to be marked as Mexican goods. (Sec. 205) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to require persons who sign a NAFTA Certificate of Origin for a good for which preferential treatment is claimed to keep and render for inspection all records relating to the origin of the good. Sets forth penalties for violation of such recordkeeping requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding incorrect and false Certificates of Origin. (Sec. 206) Authorizes the United States Customs Service to reliquidate an entry to refund excess duties paid on a good qualifying under the rules of origin under the NAFTA for which no claim for preferential tariff treatment was made or protest filed at the time of importation if the importer, within one year after the importation, files a claim that includes specified information. (Sec. 207) Revises country of origin marking requirements with respect to certain pipe and steel products and manhole rings or frames and covers from NAFTA countries to include continuous paint stenciling, or an equally permanent method of marking, as methods for satisfying such requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) adverse marking and origin determinations by the U.S. Customs Service; and (2) the judicial review of such determinations. (Sec. 209) Declares the Secretary of Commerce may authorize the U.S. Customs Service to exchange information with any government agency of a NAFTA country provided certain safeguards are met. (Sec. 210) Prohibits duties from being refunded (drawnback) on imported color cathode-ray television picture tubes, including video monitor cathode-ray tubes, when such items are nonoriginating goods and are: (1) exported to a NAFTA country; (2) used as a material in the production of other goods that are exported to a NAFTA country; or (3) substituted for by goods of the same kind and quality used as a material in the production of other goods that are exported to a NAFTA country. (Sec. 211) Requires the U.S. Customs Service to monitor television and picture tube imports for a five-year period. Directs the U.S. Customs Service to make the results of such monitoring, including verification of the rules of origin, available to the President and the USTR. Title III: Application of Agreement to Sectors and Services - Subtitle A: Safeguards - Part 1: Relief From Imports Benefitting From the Agreement - Authorizes an entity, trade association, firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers that is representative of an industry to file with the International Trade Commission (ITC) a petition requesting the adjustment of U.S. obligations under NAFTA. Requires the ITC to investigate, and make a determination, whether as a result of the reduction or elimination of a duty under NAFTA, a Canadian or Mexican article is being imported in such increased quantities as to constitute a substantial case of serious injury, or except in the case of a Canadian article, a threat of serious injury to a domestic industry producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, such article. (Sec. 303) Requires the ITC, if it makes an affirmative determination, to recommend to the President the amount of import relief that is necessary to remedy or prevent such injury. (Sec. 308) Amends the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement Implementation Act to require the Secretary to decide whether to recommend to the President the imposition of a temporary duty on Canadian fresh fruits and vegetables. (Sec. 309) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine each period of five consecutive business days in which the daily price for frozen concentrated orange juice is less than the trigger price and the first period occurring thereafter of five consecutive business days in which the daily price for frozen concentrated orange juice is greater than the trigger price. Sets forth a formula for determining the rate of duty on certain quantities of imported Mexican articles of frozen concentrated orange juice. Part 2: Relief From Imports From All Countries - Requires the ITC, if it makes an affirmative determination for import relief under the Trade Act of 1974 (or a determination which the President may treat as an affirmative determination under the Tariff Act of 1930), to also find (and report to the President) whether: (1) imports from a NAFTA country, considered individually, account for a substantial share of total imports; and (2) imports from a NAFTA country, considered individually, or, in exceptional circumstances considered collectively, contribute importantly to the serious injury, or threat of serious injury, caused by imports. (Sec. 312) Requires the President, in determining whether to take import relief action under the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to imports from a NAFTA country, to determine whether: (1) imports from such country, considered individually, account for a substantial share of total imports; or (2) imports from such a country, considered individually, or in exceptional circumstances considered collectively, contribute importantly to the serious injury, or threat of serious injury, found by the ITC. Requires the President to take specified actions with respect to such imports. Part 3: General Provisions - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize an entity representing a domestic industry that produces a citrus product that is like or directly competitive with an imported citrus product to file a request with the USTR for monitoring of such imports. Requires the ITC, upon the filing of a petition alleging import injury and a request for provisional import relief, to make a determination whether increased imports of such citrus products are a substantial cause of serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic industry producing such product. Defines "citrus product" to mean any processed oranges or grapefruit, or any orange or grapefruit juice, including concentrate. (Sec. 316) Requires the ITC, with respect to expediting an investigation concerning provisional import relief, to monitor, until January 1, 2009, imports of fresh or chilled tomatoes and peppers (other than chili peppers) as if proper requests for such monitoring have been made. (Sec. 317) Requires the ITC to adopt certain rules and procedures with respect to the release of confidential business information under the Tariff Act of 1930 and apply them in import injury investigations under NAFTA. Subtitle B: Agriculture - Amends the Meat Import Act of 1979 to redefine the term "meat articles." Authorizes the President to exclude meat articles originating in a NAFTA country, Canada, or Mexico from quantitative import limitations. (Sec. 321) Requires the President to take such action as may be necessary to ensure that imports of agricultural goods do not disrupt the orderly marketing of commodities in the United States. Declares that nothing in NAFTA reduces or eliminates: (1) any penalty required under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938; or (2) any requirement under Marketing Agreement No. 146, Regulating the Quality of Domestically Produced Peanuts, on peanuts in the domestic market, pursuant to the Agricultural Act of 1949. Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to express the sense of the Congress that the United States should request consultations in the Working Group on Emergency Action if imports of peanuts exceed the in-quota quantity under a tariff rate quota set out in NAFTA concerning whether: (1) the increased imports of peanuts constitute a substantial cause of, or contribute importantly to, serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic peanut industry; and (2) recourse under NAFTA or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to designate an office within the United States Department of Agriculture to be responsible for maintaining and disseminating data accumulated for verifying citrus, fruit, vegetable, and cut flower trade between the United States and Mexico. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a program requiring that end-use certificates be included in the documentation covering the entry into, or withdrawal from a warehouse for consumption in, the U.S. customs territory of any wheat or barley from a foreign country that requires end-use certificates of U.S. wheat or U.S. barley. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to suspend such requirements when making a determination that the program has resulted in: (1) the reduction of income to U.S. producers of agricultural products; or (2) the reduction of the competitiveness of such U.S. producers in the world export markets. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to suspend such requirements if a foreign country that requires end-use certificates for U.S. wheat and U.S. barley eliminates the requirement. Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant fellowships to individuals from NAFTA countries to study agriculture in the United States, and individuals in the United States to study agriculture in other NAFTA countries. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to public agencies or private organizations with tax-exempt status that have experience in providing emergency services to low-income migrant or seasonal farmworkers if it is determined that implementation of the NAFTA has caused such farmworkers to lose income. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare, and submit to specified congressional committees, a biennial report on the effects of the NAFTA on U.S. producers of agricultural commodities and on U.S. rural communities. Subtitle C: Intellectual Property - Amends Federal patent law to extend U.S. intellectual property protections to inventions that are made in other countries by persons who are domiciled in a NAFTA country and serving in any other country in connection with operations by or on behalf of the United States or a NAFTA country. (Sec. 332) Amends the Record Rental Amendment of 1984 to repeal a provision of such Act with respect to rental rights in sound recordings. (Sec. 333) Amends the Trademark Act of 1946 to provide that nothing in such Act shall prevent the registration before enactment of the NAFTA: (1) of a mark which, when used on or in connection with the goods of an applicant for a trademark, is primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive of them, and which became distinctive of the applicant's goods in commerce; or (2) on the supplemental register of a mark, capable of distinguishing the applicant's goods or services and not registrable on the principal register under such Act, that is declared to be unregistrable, if such mark has been in lawful use in commerce by the owner, on or in connection with any goods or services. (Sec. 334) Amends Federal copyright law to grant copyright protection to motion pictures that are first fixed or published in a NAFTA country, including any work in such pictures, that enter the U.S. public domain and are first published on or after January 1, 1978, and before March 1, 1989, even though certain required notice has not been given. Subtitle D: Temporary Entry of Business Persons - Classifies as nonimmigrants, if otherwise eligible for a visa and admissible into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, any alien trader or investor who is a citizen of Canada or Mexico, including any accompanying spouse and children of such alien. (Sec. 341) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the admittance of aliens who are citizens of Canada or Mexico, including any spouse and children of such alien, into the United States to engage in business activities as professionals. Requires the Attorney General to establish annual numerical limits on such admissions. Prohibits such aliens from being classified as nonimmigrants if there is a strike or lockout in the course of a labor dispute in the applicable occupational classification, unless such aliens establish that their entry will not adversely affect the settlement of such strike or lockout or the employment of any person involved in the strike or lockout. Subtitle E: Standards - Part 1: Standards and Measures - Amends the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to provide that nothing under such Act shall be construed to: (1) prohibit a Federal or State agency from engaging in activity related to sanitary or phytosanitary measures to protect human, animal, or plant life or health; (2) limit the authority of such agencies to determine the level of protection of human, animal, or plant life or health the agency considers appropriate; (3) prohibit a Federal agency from engaging in activity related to standards-related measures, including any such measure relating to safety, the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment or consumers; or (4) limit the authority of a Federal agency to determine the level it considers appropriate of safety or the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment or consumers. Requires the standards information center of the Department of Commerce, among other things, to make available to the public documents and information regarding: (1) general application of sanitary or phytosanitary measures by Federal or State agencies; and (2) participation of Federal and State governments and nongovernmental bodies in international and regional standardizing bodies and conformity assessment systems, and in bilateral and multilateral arrangements regarding standards-related measures. Part 2: Agricultural Standards - Amends the Federal Seed Act to declare that provisions of such Act requiring certain seeds to be stained shall not apply to alfalfa or clover seed from Mexico. (Sec. 361) Amends Federal law to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the importation: (1) of cattle, sheep, or other ruminants, and swine, from Canada or Mexico; and (2) from the British Virgin Islands into the U.S. Virgin Islands, for slaughter only, of cattle that have been infested with or exposed to ticks on being freed from such ticks. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to waive provisions requiring the inspection of imported animals for contagious diseases and infections with respect to shipments between the United States and Canada or Mexico. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the importation of cattle, sheep, other ruminants, or swine (including their embryos), or the fresh, chilled, or frozen meat of such animals, from a region that the Secretary of Agriculture has determined to be, and is likely to remain, free from rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease. Amends the Honeybee Act to authorize the importation into the United States of honeybees from Canada or Mexico if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that the region from which such honeybee originated is, and is likely to remain, free of diseases or parasites harmful to honeybees, and undesirable species or subspecies of honeybees. Amends the Poultry Products Inspection Act to require all poultry, or parts or products of poultry, that are intended as human food and imported into the United States from Canada and Mexico to meet inspection, sanitary, and processing standards that are equivalent to those in the United States. Amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to submit to specified congressional committees a report that includes, among other things, a certification by the Secretary of Agriculture that foreign plants in Canada and Mexico that export carcasses or meat or meat products have complied with requirements that are equivalent to U.S. requirements with regard to inspection and building construction standards. Requires all domestic peanut butter and peanut paste to be processed from peanuts that meet the quality standards established for peanuts under Marketing Agreement No. 146. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to a land grant college or university for the construction of a facility (to be known as the Southwest Regional Animal Health Biocontainment Facility) at such college or university to do research in animal health, disease-transmitting insects, and toxic chemicals that requires the use of biocontainment facilities and equipment. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare, and submit to specified congressional committees, annual reports on the impact of the NAFTA on the inspection of imported meat, poultry, other foods, animals, or plants. Subtitle F: Corporate Average Fuel Economy - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to provide that, for purposes of calculating the corporate average fuel economy of certain passenger automobiles, such automobiles shall be considered domestically manufactured in a model year if at least 75 percent of the manufacturer's cost is attributable to value added in the United States, Canada, or Mexico, unless the assembly of the automobile is completed in Canada or Mexico and such automobile is not imported into the United States prior to the expiration of 30 days following the end of that model year. Subtitle G: Government Procurement - Amends the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to revise provisions regarding the waiver of discriminating purchasing requirements with respect to Government contracting to apply to countries that are parties to the NAFTA. Declares that the President's authority to waive such requirements does not authorize the waiver of any small business or minority preference. Title IV: Dispute Settlement in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Cases - Subtitle A: Organizational, Administrative, and Procedural Provisions Regarding the Implementation of Chapter 19 of the Agreement - Sets forth organizational and administrative provisions regarding the selection of individuals to serve on binational panels and extraordinary challenge committees. (Sec. 402) Establishes within the interagency trade organization an interagency group, which shall be chaired by the USTR and consist of appropriate officers, to annually prepare, and submit to appropriate congressional committees, lists of individuals who are qualified to serve on such panels and committees. (Sec. 407) Authorizes an entity, including a trade association, firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers, that is representative of a U.S. industry to file with the USTR a petition requesting that the industry be appropriately identified whenever it has reason to believe that: (1) as a result of implementation of NAFTA, the industry is likely to face increased competition from subsidized imports from a NAFTA country, or such industry is likely to face increased competition from subsidized imports from any other country designated by the President as benefitting from a reduction of tariffs or other trade barriers under a trade agreement that enters into force with the United States after January 1, 1994; and (2) the industry is likely to experience a deterioration of its competitive position before more rules relating to the use of government subsidies have been developed with respect to the subject country. Requires the USTR upon receipt of a petition to decide whether to identify the industry on the basis of both the subsidization and deterioration of its competitive position. Requires the USTR, if there is an identification, to take appropriate action, including: (1) compiling and making available to the industry certain trade information; and (2) recommending to the President that the ITC commence an investigation under the Tariff Act of 1930. Subtitle B: Conforming Amendments and Provisions - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to apply provisions of such Act regarding time limits for commencing judicial review in antidumping duty and countervailing duty actions to cases involving merchandise from a free trade area (NAFTA) country. Title V: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance and Other Provisions - Subtitle A: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program - NAFTA Worker Security Act - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require a group of workers, including workers in any agricultural firm or subdivision of an agricultural firm, to be certified as eligible for adjustment assistance if the Secretary of Labor determines that a significant number of workers in such firm or subdivision have become totally or partially separated, or are threatened to become totally or partially separated, and either that: (1) the sales or production, or both, of such firm or subdivision have decreased, imports from Mexico or Canada of articles like or directly competitive with the firm's articles have increased, and such increase in imports contributed to such workers' separation or threat of separation and to the decline in the firm's sales or production; or (2) there has been a shift in production by such workers' firm or subdivision to Mexico or Canada of articles like or directly competitive with the firm's articles. (Sec. 502) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the filing of petitions for worker adjustment assistance; (2) petition findings; and (3) review of petitions by the Secretary of Labor. (Sec. 503) Prohibits a worker from receiving duplicative assistance. (Sec. 504) Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 507) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a self-employment assistance program which makes certain qualified individuals eligible to receive an allowance in lieu of regular unemployment compensation under State law in order to assist such an individual in establishing a business and becoming self-employed. Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Performance Under the Agreement - Expresses the sense of the Congress that a State, province, or other governmental entity of a NAFTA country that discriminatorily enforces sales or other taxes so as to afford protection to its domestic production or domestic service providers shall be considered in violation of the NAFTA. Requires the USTR to pursue all appropriate remedies when such discriminatory enforcement adversely affects U.S. producers of goods or U.S. service providers. (Sec. 512) Requires the President, by not later than July 1, 1997, to provide the Congress a comprehensive study on the operation and effects of NAFTA. (Sec. 513) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require the USTR, no later than 30 days after a specified report is submitted to specified congressional committees, to identify any act, policy, or practice of Canada which: (1) affects cultural industries; (2) is adopted or expanded after December 17, 1992; and (3) is actionable under the NAFTA. (Sec. 514) Requires the USTR to annually submit to specified congressional committees a report on how effective the NAFTA is on increasing U.S. exports of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts to Mexico. (Sec. 515) Amends the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to authorize and direct the Commissioner of Customs to make grants to an institution (or consortium of such institutions) to assist it in establishing in Texas a Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade in order to promote and study trade between the Western Hemisphere countries. Subtitle C: Funding - Part 1: Customs User Fees - Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to increase for FY 1994 through 1997 the customs user fees for the arrival of each passenger aboard a commercial vessel or commercial aircraft from outside the U.S. customs territory. Maintains for FY 1998 and thereafter the current five dollar customs user fee for the arrival of each passenger aboard such vessel or aircraft from a place outside the United States. Part 2: Internal Revenue Code Amendments - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the Secretary to disclose to officers and employees of the Department of the Treasury (particularly the Customs Service) certain tax information. (Sec. 523) Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations for the development of an electronic fund transfer system for the collection of depository taxes. Subtitle D: Implementation of NAFTA Supplemental Agreements - Part 1: Agreements Relating to Labor and Environment - Authorizes the United States to participate in: (1) the Commission for Labor Cooperation in accordance with the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation; (2) the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in accordance with the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation; and (3) the Border Environment Cooperation Commission in accordance with the Border Environment Cooperation Agreement. Authorizes appropriations. Part 2: North American Development Bank and Related Provisions - Authorizes the President to accept membership for the United States in the North American Development Bank. (Sec. 541) Amends Federal banking law to exempt the Bank from the securities laws with respect to the issuance of certain securities by such Bank. (Sec. 543) Authorizes the President to enter into agreements with the Bank for implementation of a community adjustment and investment program pursuant to the Border Environment Cooperation Agreement. Requires the President to establish the Community Adjustment and Investment Program Advisory Committee to provide advice to the President with respect to the implementation of such program. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Customs Modernization - Subtitle A: Improvements in Customs Enforcement - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to revise customs procedures with respect to: (1) electronic transmission of forged, altered, or false data to the United States Customs Service with regard to the entry of imported merchandise; (2) penalties for failure to declare imported controlled substances; (3) examination and detention of imported merchandise; (4) certain recordkeeping requirements; (5) examination of books and witnesses; (6) review of protests by the Customs Service; (7) a repeal of a provision relating to the reliquidation on account of fraud; (8) penalties relating to manifests, false drawback or refund claims, and for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence; (9) unlawful unloading or transshipment; (10) public access to Customs Service interpretive rulings and decisions; and (11) seizure of imported merchandise. Subtitle B: National Customs Automation Program - Directs the Secretary to establish the National Customs Automation Program which shall be an automated and electronic system for the processing of commercial imports. (Sec. 631) Provides for electronic data transmission relating to: (1) remote location filing; (2) effective date of rates of duty on imported merchandise; (3) merchandise manifests; (4) imported merchandise invoices; (5) entry and release of imported merchandise; (6) admissibility in administrative and judicial proceedings of electronically transmitted information; (7) appraisement and liquidations of imported merchandise; (8) the payment of duties; (9) abandonment and damage to imported merchandise; (10) protests of Customs Service decisions; (11) refunds and errors; (12) bonds and other security; and (13) customhouse brokers. (Sec. 632) Requires a refund (drawback) of duties (less one per cent of such duties) on articles produced in the United States with imported merchandise that have been destroyed under Customs Service supervision, provided such articles have not been used prior to such destruction. (Sec. 644) Sets forth provisions with respect to customs officers' immunity in regard to the appraisement of or collection of duties on imported merchandise. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Amendments to the Tariff Act of 1930 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary to disregard the difference, but not less than $20 (currently ten dollars), between the total estimated duties deposited with respect to imported merchandise and the total amount actually due on such merchandise. Increases specified ceiling amounts of duty-free gifts and articles. (Sec. 652) Requires masters of vessels that have visited a hovering vessel or received merchandise while outside the U.S. territorial sea to report their arrival to the nearest customs facility. Provides for the electronic transmission of vessel documentation to the Customs Service. (Sec. 653) Requires specified kinds of vessels to report to the nearest Customs Service facility within 24 hours (or other period of time as provided) after arrival at a U.S. port. (Sec. 655) Exempts from entry and clearance requirements certain passenger vessels on excursion from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the British Virgin Islands and returning, U.S. documented vessels with recreational endorsement, or (as under current law) undocumented U.S. pleasure vessels not engaged in trade, except such vessels must comply upon arrival with specified customs reporting requirements and navigation laws and must not have visited any hovering vessel. (Sec. 656) Prohibits merchandise, passengers, or baggage from being unladen from any vessel required to make entry or vehicle required to report its arrival until such entry or report of arrival is made and a permit for unlading has been issued by the Customs Service. Authorizes the issuance of such permits through electronic data transmission. (Sec. 659) Reduces from one year to six months the length of time merchandise may remain in customs custody with fees unpaid before it may be treated as unclaimed. (Sec. 662) Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe regulations for the declaration and entry of merchandise whose value does not exceed a designated amount, but not more than $2,500 (currently not greater than $1,250), or when different commercial facilitation and risk considerations that may vary for different classes or kinds of merchandise or different classes of transactions may dictate. (Sec. 663) Reduces from one year to 90 days the minimum length of time after forfeiture the Secretary must wait before selling at public auction any seized imported merchandise with a counterfeit mark. (Sec. 664) Sets forth certain recordkeeping requirements for merchandise transported by pipeline. (Sec. 665) Authorizes the withdrawal from warehouse of turbine fuel without the payment of duties provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 667) Authorizes the Customs Service to order the destruction or other appropriate disposition of vessels, vehicles, aircraft, merchandise, or baggage that has been seized under the customs laws if it determines that the expense of keeping such items is disproportionate to their value (currently applies only to items of less than $1,000 in value). (Sec. 668) Requires actions for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence, false drawback, or refund claims with respect to imported merchandise to be instituted within five years after the alleged violation or discovery of such fraud. (Sec. 669) Requires the Customs Service to be reimbursed for costs incurred in collecting fees on behalf of Government agencies. (Sec. 670) Authorizes the Secretary to settle, for no more than $50,000 in each case, claims for damage to, or loss of, privately owned property caused by an investigative or law enforcement officer of the Customs Service. (Sec. 671) Provides for the use of private collection agencies to recover money owed the United States under customs laws. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Provisions and Consequential and Conforming Amendments to Other Laws - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to exempt from such Schedule articles which are returned within 45 days after being exported from the United States as undeliverable and which have not left the custody of the carrier or foreign customs service. (Sec. 681) Declares that certain railway locomotives and railway freight cars on which no duty is owed are not subject to the entry or release requirements for imported merchandise under the Tariff Act of 1930. States that instruments of international trade, such as containers, lift vans, rail cars and locomotives, truck cabs and trailers, etc., are exempt from formal entry procedures, but must be accounted for when imported to and exported from the United States through the manifesting procedures required for international carriers. (Sec. 683) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the payment from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund of administrative expenses incurred by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Commerce, not to exceed $5 million for any fiscal year. (Sec. 684) Amends Federal law to grant the Court of International Trade exclusive jurisdiction of any civil action for review of decisions of the Customs Service that deny, suspend, or revoke accreditation of private customs laboratories. Bars the commencement of such actions unless brought within 60 days of such decisions. (Sec. 685) Authorizes the payment of certain claims against Customs Service employees out of the Department of the Treasury Forfeiture Fund. Authorizes (currently mandates) unobligated amounts in such Fund to be kept on deposit or invested in U.S. bonds. (Sec. 686) Requires U.S. and foreign vessels to obtain clearance from the Customs Service before proceeding from a U.S. port for: (1) a foreign port; (2) another U.S. port (for foreign vessels only), or (for U.S. vessels only) another U.S. port if the vessel has bonded or foreign merchandise for which entry has not been made; or (3) outside the U.S. territorial sea to visit a hovering vessel or to receive merchandise. (Sec. 687) Repeals specified provisions of Federal law. (Sec. 691) Requires the Commissioner of Customs to report to the Congress each fiscal year after FY 1994 on the collection of duties imposed under the antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to authorize the Commissioner of Customs to obtain from the operators of centralized cargo examination stations information regarding fees paid to them for the provision of services at such stations. Amends the Customs and Trade Act of 1990 to require the Commissioner of Customs to: (1) devise a methodology for estimating the level of compliance with the U.S. customs laws; and (2) evaluate the extent to which such compliance was obtained during the 12-month period preceding the 60th day before each fiscal year 1994 through 1996.

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to convey lands to the City of Rolla, Missouri.

United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1993

Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to sell specified lands to the City of Rolla, Missouri.

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to ensure adequate access to retail food stores by recipients of food stamps and to maintain the integrity of the Food Stamp Program.

United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1993

Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to redefine "retail food store" for purposes of food stamp program (program) eligibility as a store that sells food for home preparation and consumption and: (1) has 50 percent of its total sales volume in staple foods (as defined by this Act); or (2) offers on a continuous basis food in each of four staple food categories, including sales of perishable foods in at least two of such categories. Permits the use of program application information by Federal or State enforcement authorities and establishes fine and imprisonment penalties for information misuse. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to use specified funds for demonstration projects aimed at coupon trafficking.

To remove a restriction on the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into agreements with other Federal agencies to acquire goods and services directly related to improving or utilizing the firefighting capability of the Forest Service and to require a report regarding the firefighting procedures of the Forest Services.

United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1993

Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) to enter into agreements with other Federal agencies to acquire firefighting goods and services without regard to certain commercial contracting provisions. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on Forest Service and Department of Agriculture firefighting capabilities and methods.

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to convey lands within the State of Missouri to local governments located within the State of Missouri.

United States · United States Congress · 3 November 1993

Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to sell certain lands in Missouri to local governments in the State.

Better Nutrition and Health for Children Act of 1994

United States · United States Congress · 2 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Title II: School Breakfast and Related Programs Title III: School Lunch and Related Programs Title IV: Program Integrity Title V: Effective Dates Better Nutrition and Health for Children Act of 1993 - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) and the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) to revise and reauthorize child nutrition programs. Title I: Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - Amends CNA to extend and increase the authorization of appropriations for the special nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC) (currently named the special supplemental food program for WIC). (Sec. 102) Increases funding and activities under the WIC breastfeeding promotion program. (Sec. 103) Expands the WIC farmers market program. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to promote use of farmers markets by recipients of Federal nutrition programs. Title II: School Breakfast and Related Programs - Amends CNA to remove certain limitations on providing milk to low-income children. (Sec. 202) Eliminates the cost basis for the severe need reimbursement rate under CNA, if at least 40 percent of a school's students participating in the school lunch program under the NSLA are eligible to receive meals for free or at reduced prices. (Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary to permit schools to offer low-fat yogurt (which may be required to be enriched) as a meat alternative in the school breakfast program. (Sec. 205) Extends and increases the authorization of appropriations for startup costs for school breakfast programs. (Sec. 206) Provides for: (1) expansion of school breakfast programs through competitive grants to States; and (2) increased payments for State administrative expenses under CNA and NSLA programs. (Sec. 208) Authorizes State agencies and school food authorities to establish more stringent rules and policies than the minimum Federal requirements under CNA and NSLA, including prohibiting or controlling sale of competitive (or junk) food throughout the school campus during the school day. Directs the Secretary to develop model language for banning sale of competitive foods of minimal nutritional value anywhere on school grounds before the end of the last lunch period. (Sec. 209) Adds several authorized uses of funds under nutrition education and training programs. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: School Lunch and Related Programs - Amends NSLA to require that school lunch program lunches offer students fluid milk, removing the requirement that there be a choice of both whole milk and unflavored lowfat milk. (Sec. 302) Directs the Secretary to permit schools to offer low-fat yogurt (which may be required to be fortified) as a meat alternative in the school lunch program. (Sec. 303) Requires various reports by the Secretary to the appropriate congressional committees on increasing consumption of healthy foods in school lunches. (Sec. 304) Directs the Secretary to assist States through grants and other means to provide information to parents on the importance of nutrition, including parent-student education and parent visiting of school breakfast and lunch programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 305) Revises income guidelines for free lunches to increase the numbers of eligible elementary school students. (Sec. 306) Allows State agencies or local food authorities to use a determination of eligibility of a child for free or reduced price meals to demonstrate the child's eligibility for benefits under other Federal, State, or local means-tested programs. (Sec. 307) Makes Head Start participants automatically eligible for free breakfasts and lunches under CNA and NSLA. (Sec. 308) Revises the formula for special assistance payments to consider the number of free meals served (currently only lunches are considered). (Sec. 309) Directs the Secretary to develop and make available public service advertisements that promote healthy eating habits for children. (Sec. 310) Establishes a program to encourage use of organically produced foods in school breakfast and lunch programs. Allows priority to be given to socially disadvantaged, very rural, or small-scale farmers or ranchers. (Sec. 311) Directs the Secretary to award annual grants to private nonprofit educational organizations in three States to create food and nutrition projects fully integrated with elementary school curricula. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 312) Revises the summer food service program for children, expanding or making it more flexible with respect to specified features. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 313) Reauthorizes the commodity distribution program. Directs the Secretary to: (1) improve overall nutritional quality of entitlement commodities provided to schools; and (2) require that nutritional content information labels be placed on packages or shipments of such entitlement commodities or otherwise provide such information. (Sec. 314) Revises the child and adult care food program. Allows expansion funds to be used for outreach to unlicensed day care homes. Authorizes appropriations. Provides for dissemination of Medicaid and WIC information in connection with such program. (Sec. 315) Makes a child automatically eligible for a free or reduced price meal supplement in afterschool care if already certified eligible for free or reduced price school breakfasts or lunches. (Sec. 316) Reauthorizes appropriations for demonstration projects to improve food service to homeless children under age six in emergency shelters. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 317) Establishes pilot programs, under the school breakfast and lunch programs, to increase: (1) offerings of fruits and vegetables; (2) consumption of low-fat dairy products and lean meats; and (3) use of fortified fluid milk, including an information program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 320) Requires that specified activities be conducted with assistance for food service management institutes and other institutions. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 321) Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the coordinated review system under NSLA. (Sec. 322) Requires revision of menu planning guides with respect to reduction of fat and saturated fat. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on compliance with such fat guidelines as well as those for dietary fiber, sodium, and sugar in school breakfast and lunch programs. (Sec. 323) Directs the Secretary to enter into a contract with a nongovernmental organization for an information clearinghouse for nongovernmental groups that assist low-income individuals or communities with food assistance or self-help or other empowering activities. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Program Integrity - Amends NSLA to set forth duties of the Secretary relating to anticompetitive activities under various child nutrition programs under CNA and NSLA, including debarment policy. (Sec. 403) Authorizes the Secretary to provide grants to State educational agencies and other State agencies that administer child nutrition programs for prevention and control of anticompetitive activities. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Effective Dates - Sets forth effective dates.

A bill to rescind certain budget authority proposed to be rescinded in special messages transmitted to the Congress by the President on November 1, 1993, in accordance with title X of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as amended.

United States · United States Congress · 2 November 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Title II: Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Title III: Energy and Water Development Title IV: Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Title V: Department of Defense Title VI: Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Title VII: General Services Title VIII: Department of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Title I: Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies - Rescinds funds made available to the Department of Agriculture for the Agricultural Research Service, the Cooperative State Research Service, the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, the Soil Conservation Service, the Farmers Home Administration, the Rural Electrification Administration, and the Food and Nutrition Service. Title II: Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies - Rescinds funds made available to: (1) the State Justice Institute; (2) the Department of Commerce for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the International Trade Administration; (3) the Small Business Administration; (4) the Department of State for the Administration of Foreign Affairs; and (5) the United States Information Agency. Title III: Energy and Water Development - Rescinds funds made available to: (1) the Department of the Army for the Civil Corps of Engineers; (2) the Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior; and (3) the Department of Energy. Title IV: Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs - Rescinds certain funds appropriated to the President for the international development assistance and international security assistance. Title V: Department of Defense - Rescinds funds appropriated to the Department of Defense for military construction. Title VI: Department of Transportation and Related Agencies - Rescinds funds made available to the Department of Transportation for the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Transit Administration. Title VII: General Services Administration - Rescinds funds made available for the Federal Buildings Fund. Title VIII: Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies - Rescinds funds made available for certain housing programs.

Government Reform and Savings Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Department of Agriculture Title II: Department of Commerce Title III: Department of Defense Title IV: Department of Energy Title V: Department of Health and Human Services Title VI: Department of Housing and Urban Development Title VII: Department of the Interior Title VIII: Miscellaneous Provisions Title IX: Department of Labor Title X: Department of State and United States Information Agency Title XI: Department of Transportation Title XII: Department of Veterans Affairs Title XIII: Human Resource Management Title XIV: Reinventing Support Services Title XV: Streamlining Management Control Title XVI: Financial Management Title XVII: Year-End Spending Government Reform and Savings Act of 1993 - Title I: Department of Agriculture - Subtitle A: Department of Agriculture Reorganization - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to reduce and reorganize the Department of Agriculture, including specified levels of personnel reduction. Subtitle B: Eliminate Federal Support for Wool and Mohair - Repeals the National Wool Act as of December 31, 1995. Reduces 1994 and 1995 wool and mohair support levels. Subtitle C: Eliminate Federal Support for Honey - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to eliminate the honey price support program as of December 31, 1995. Reduces 1994 and 1995 support levels. (Sec. 1203) Reduces honey loan forfeiture limitations. Title II: Department of Commerce - Directs the Departments of Commerce and of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to propose a single operational polar environmental and weather satellite system which meets national needs. Requires the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to submit to the Congress by a certain date an implementation plan designed to result in specified savings in budget authority and outlays between FY 1994 and 1999. Title III: Department of Defense - Subtitle A: Create Incentives for the Department of Defense to Generate Revenues - Allows the commander of a military installation, at his discretion, to credit proceeds from the sale of recyclable materials to the nonappropriated morale and welfare account of such installation for use for morale and welfare activities. Subtitle B: Closure of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences - Repeals Federal provisions establishing the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Phases out such University beginning in FY 1995, with closure no later than September 30, 1998. Subtitle C: Streamline and Reorganize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Directs the Secretary of the Army to reorganize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the reorganization and reduction of offices and the restructuring of functions in order to increase efficiency and reduce costs, with a goal of achieving $50 million in net annual savings by FY 1998. Title IV: Department of Energy - Subtitle A: Alaska Power Administration Sale Authorization Act - Alaska Power Administration Sale Authorization Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Energy, in accordance with specified purchase agreements, to sell: (1) the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project to the State of Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority; and (2) the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project to the Anchorage Municipal Light and Power, the Chugach Electric Association, Inc., and the Matanuska Electric Association Inc. Directs the Secretary to: (1) close out the Alaska Power Administration; and (2) assess alternative options for maximizing the return to the Treasury from the sale of the Alaska Power Marketing Administration before taking any of the sales action authorized by this Title. Subtitle B: Federal-Private Cogeneration of Electricity - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to modify the definition of "energy savings" to include increased efficiency from cogeneration processes for other than federally owned buildings or other federally owned facilities. Subtitle C: Power Marketing Administration Debt Buyout - Part 1: Bonneville Power Administration Debt Buyout - Bonneville Power Administration Repayment Bonds Act - Authorizes the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration to sell bonds according to prescribed procedures. (Sec. 4203) Amends the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act to authorize the Administrator to make expenditures from the Bonneville Power Administration fund to pay the financing and debt service costs of such bonds. (Sec. 4204) Amends the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act to authorize the Administrator to base power and transmission rates upon a single, combined generation and transmission repayment study which demonstrates that all indebtedness is repaid by its due date. Part 2: Other Power Marketing Administrations Debt Buyout - Power Marketing Administrations Financing Act - Sets forth procedural guidelines for the Administrators of the Southeastern, Southwestern and Western Area Power Administrations to repay the discounted present value of existing indebtedness to the United States. (Sec. 4209) Establishes a Power Marketing Administration Sinking Fund. (Sec. 4210) Authorizes each Administrator to issue revenue bonds and other instruments of indebtedness to refinance existing indebtedness. Title V: Department of Health and Human Services - Subtitle A: Increased Flexibility in Contracting for Medicare Claims Processing - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to make various changes with respect to the contractor system under Medicare, including eliminating the authority of the Railroad Retirement Board to contract for processing the Medicare claims of railroad retirees. Subtitle B: Workers' Compensation Data Exchange Pilot Projects - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct pilot projects with up to three States for studying the ways of obtaining workers' compensation data for the Secretary. Reimburses participating States out of the social security trust funds for the costs of participation. Subtitle C: Federal Clearinghouse on Death Information - Amends SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) to restructure the current program for the exchange of death information to, for example, use a Federal Clearinghouse on Death Information as the vehicle for all such exchanges and, in the case of individuals with respect to whom federally funded benefits are provided by (or through) a Federal or State agency other than under SSA, require such agency to pay a set fee to cover all costs connected with the provision of such information for them. Requires any contract requiring a State to furnish death information to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to authorize the Secretary to use such information and redisclose it to any Federal, State, or local agency in accordance with certain SSA information sharing requirements. Subtitle D: Continuing Disability Reviews - Amends SSA title II to earmark specified levels of administrative funding for continuing disability reviews of disabled beneficiaries for FY 1994 through 1999. Title VI: Department of Housing and Urban Development - Subtitle A: Multifamily Property Disposition - Amends the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 to revise provisions regarding the management and disposition of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - held multifamily properties and mortgages. Subtitle B: Merger of the Certificate and Voucher Programs - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to merge the public housing certificate and voucher programs. Subtitle C: Streamline HUD - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to carry out HUD reorganization and reduction activities. Subtitle D: Refinance Section 235 Mortgages - Amends the National Housing Act to cover mortgage refinancing costs under the lower-income family homeownership assistance program. Subtitle E: Section 8 Rents for New Construction and Rehabilitation Projects - Prohibits temporarily the adjustment of maximum monthly public housing (section 8) rents for new construction and rehabilitation projects. Title VII: Department of the Interior - Subtitle A: Improve the Federal Helium Program - Amends the Helium Act Amendments of 1960 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretary) to: (1) reduce costs and increase operational efficiencies; and (2) establish and adjust fees charged private industry for storage, transmission, and withdrawal of privately-owned helium from government storage facilities to compensate fully for all costs incurred. Directs the Secretary to: (1) avoid disruptions of the helium market when making helium sales; (2) sell helium at prices comparable to those of private industry; and (3) develop a long-term, comprehensive plan to cancel the outstanding debt owed to the Treasury by the Department of the Interior related to the Federal helium program, and improve Federal helium program operations. Subtitle B: Improve Minerals Management Service Royalty Collection - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to require the Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management Program, to develop and implement: (1) an automated business information system to provide its auditors with a lease history according to prescribed guidelines; (2) the optimum methods to identify and resolve anomalies and verify that royalties are paid correctly; (3) a more efficient and cost-effective royalty collection process; and (4) any other actions necessary to reduce royalty underpayment and increase revenue by a certain amount. Amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to prescribe penalty assessment guidelines for substantial underreporting of lease royalties. Subtitle C: Phase Out the Mineral Institute Program - Directs the Secretary to phase out the Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute Act of 1984. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits appropriations after September 30, 1998. Title VIII: Department of Justice - Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the Attorney General to: (1) assess a nominal fee against a Federal prison inmate's trust fund account for any health services provided the inmate; and (2) waive or refund all or part of such fees for good cause at any time. Declares that no inmate shall be denied health services treatment because of inability to pay a health services fee. Title IX: Department of Labor - Subtitle A: Deterrence of Fraud and Abuse in the FECA Program - Amends the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) to add provisions to deter fraud and abuse in the FECA program. Subtitle B: Enhancement of Reemployment Programs for Federal Employees Disabled in the Performance of Duty - Amends FECA to authorize the Secretary of Labor, as part of the vocational rehabilitation effort, to assist permanently disabled individuals in seeking and/or obtaining employment. Authorizes the Secretary to reimburse an employer (including a Federal employer), who was not the employer at the time of injury and who agrees to employ a disabled beneficiary, for portions of the salary, through payments from the Employees' Compensation Fund. (Sec. 9101) Authorizes the Secretary to expand the FECA Periodic Roll Management Project to all offices of the Office of Workers' Compensation Program of the Department of Labor. Subtitle C: Wage Determinations: McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act - Amends the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act and the Davis-Bacon Act to authorize the Secretary of Labor to develop and implement electronic data interchange systems to request and obtain wage determinations required under such Acts. Subtitle D: Elimination of Filing Requirement for Plan Descriptions, Summary Plan Descriptions, and Descriptions of Material Modifications to a Plan - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to eliminate certain filing requirements for routine disclosure to employee benefit plan participants and beneficiaries of plan descriptions, summary plan descriptions, and descriptions of material modifications to a plan. Provides for such disclosures by plan administrators through written requests to the Secretary of Labor. Title X: Department of State/United States Information Agency - Directs the Secretary of State to reduce costs of providing marine guard and other security at diplomatic missions overseas by a specified amount by the end of FY 1999. (Sec. 10002) Requires the Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) to improve the efficiency of USIA's public diplomacy activities and save a specified amount by the end of FY 1999. Title XI: Department of Transportation - Subtitle A: Authority to Charge Tuition for Attendance at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy - Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to require the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to impose a system of tuition and fees on individuals attending the Academy equal to an amount that is up to one-half the total operating costs of the Academy during the preceding fiscal year. Authorizes the Secretary to impose reasonable fees on cadets at the Academy for all required uniforms and textbooks. (Currently, the Academy is required to provide for such items.) Subtitle B: Reform of the Essential Air Service Program - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to provide that in order for a point to be eligible for basic essential air service it must not require a rate of subsidy per passenger in excess of $200, and may not be located fewer than 70 highway miles from the nearest hub airport or small hub airport. Decreases the amount of funds from the Airway Trust Fund for the essential air service program for FY 1994 through 1998. Authorizes amounts from such Fund for FY 1999. Subtitle C: Repeal of Authorizations for the Airway Science Program, Collegiate Training Initiative, and Air Carrier Maintenance Technician Training Facility Grant Program - Repeals all authority for: (1) the Airway Science Program; (2) the Collegiate Training Initiative; and (3) the Air Carrier Maintenance Technician Training Facility Grant Program. Title XII: Department of Veterans Affairs - Subtitle A: Remove Certain Limitations and Restrictions Contained in Veterans Law - Eliminates: (1) Department of Veterans Affairs (Department) hospital and nursing home bed capacity requirements; (2) a required increase in the number of full-time personnel in the Office of the Inspector General of the Department; (3) required reports to the Congress concerning Department administrative reorganizations; (4) the requirement of certain services and offices within the Veterans Health Administration of the Department; and (5) the requirement of a Deputy, Associate Deputy, and various assistant medical directors within the Office of the Chief Medical Director of the Department. Subtitle B: Closure of Supply Depots and Transfer of Revolving Supply Fund Money - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to: (1) phase out and close Department supply depots in Somerville, New Jersey, Hines, Illinois, and Bell, California; and (2) transfer to the General Fund of the Treasury in FY 1994 and 1995 specified amounts from the Department Revolving Supply Fund. Subtitle C: Provision of Information from the Medicare and Medicaid Coverage Data Bank to the Department of Veterans Affairs - Provides as an additional purpose of the Medicare and Medicaid Coverage Data Bank the provision of information to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs concerning the collection of payments from third parties for health care items and services furnished to veterans. Subtitle D: Veterans' Appeals Improvement Act of 1993 - Veterans' Appeals Improvement Act of 1993 - Provides for the appointment by the Chairman of the Board of Veterans Appeals of any necessary number of Deputy Vice Chairmen. Removes current limitations on the authorized period of service for acting Board members. Requires the Chairman to include in an annual report information with respect to activities of acting Board members during the previous year. (Sec. 12303) Authorizes the Chairman to decide alone, or to assign to another Board member, any matter or motion before the Board. (Current law requires a minimum three-member Board determination of such matters.) Prohibits judicial review of any such assignments. (Sec. 12304) Authorizes the Board to: (1) dismiss appeals which allege no specific error of fact or law or in which the determination being appealed has become moot; (2) remand cases for which additional developments require appropriate disposition; and (3) render a written final Board decision on issues not dismissed or remanded. Revises provisions concerning situations under which the Chairman shall exclude himself from the reconsideration of an appeal. Provides for the reconsideration of a case based on a difference of opinion as to how the evidence should be evaluated rather than on a specific error in the prior decision. (Sec. 12307) Authorizes Board member to: (1) collect medical opinions from Board employees, Department employees, or employees of other Federal departments and agencies, as long as such employees are licensed to practice medicine in any State; and (2) secure advisory medical opinions from independent medical experts when the case warrants such opinions. Requires opinions to be in writing and to be made part of the record, with an opportunity for the appellant to respond. Revises provisions concerning appellant hearing procedures. Title XIII: Human Resource Management - Subtitle A: Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1993 - Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1993 - Amends Federal civil service law to eliminate various restrictions on employee training and authorize certain Federal agencies to establish temporary programs to offer a lump sum financial incentive (the lesser of $25,000 or the amount of an employee's severance pay) to selected groups of employees in order to encourage them to voluntarily separate from an agency, whether by retirement or resignation, in order to assist agency heads in restructuring their workforce. Provides for repayment of separation incentives if any employee rejoins the Federal Government within two years. Requires Federal agencies to pay a specified contribution to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund based on the final rate of basic pay of each agency employee who retires early. (Sec. 13003) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) employment in the Executive Branch should be reduced by not less than one full-time equivalent position for each two employees who are paid voluntary separation incentives under this Act; and (2) each agency should adjust its employment levels to achieve this result. Subtitle B: SES Annual Leave Accumulation - Repeals the authorization for unlimited accumulation of annual leave by members of the Senior Executive Service. Title XIV: Reinventing Support Services - Government Information Dissemination and Printing Improvement Act of 1993 - Directs the President to establish policy for the acquisition of printing by executive agencies and promulgate appropriate Government-wide regulations. Requires such policy to ensure that the Government Printing Office (GPO) has the opportunity to compete on an equal basis for executive agency printing acquisitions. (Sec. 14005) Requires GPO to remain the mandatory source for certain executive agency printing for two years after the enactment of this Act, except that during such period executive agencies may obtain printing services costing under $2500 from other sources. (Sec. 14006) Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to develop policies and practices for agency dissemination of public information to ensure, among other things, that agencies: (1) avoid establishing, or permitting others to establish, exclusive, restricted, or other distribution arrangements that interfere with the availability of information dissemination products on a timely and equitable basis; and (2) set user charges for information dissemination products no higher than sufficient to recover the cost of dissemination, except where required by statute or specifically authorized by the Director. (Sec. 14007) Specifies Federal agency responsibilities for information dissemination. (Sec. 14008) Requires the Director of OMB to propose amendments to Federal law to ensure the distribution of government information dissemination products to depository libraries. (Sec. 14009) Requires the Director to: (1) maintain a publicly accessible comprehensive inventory of all approved Federal agency information collection requests in order to assist agencies and the public in reducing the burden of agency information and collection requests by minimizing duplication; (2) cause to be established and maintained an agency-based electronic Government Information Locator Service in order to assist agencies and the public in locating information; (3) require each agency having significant information dissemination products to establish and maintain a comprehensive inventory of such products; and (4) establish an interagency committee to develop technical standards for agency inventory systems. Abolishes the old Federal Information Locator System. Title XV: Streamlining Management Control - Authorizes the Director of OMB to publish annually in the President's Budget any recommendations for the consolidation, elimination, or adjustments in frequency and due dates of statutorily required periodic reports to the Congress or its committees. Title XVI: Financial Management - Federal Financial Management Act of 1993 - Subtitle A: Electronic Payments - Amends Federal law to require direct deposit of Federal wage, salary, and retirement payments by electronic funds transfer for recipients who begin such payments on or after January 1, 1995. Subtitle B: Franchise Funds and Innovation Funds - Authorizes the establishment of a franchise fund in an executive agency for expenses and equipment necessary for the maintenance and operations of administrative services that may be performed more advantageously on a centralized basis. Authorizes the establishment of an innovation fund in an executive agency to provide a self-sustaining source of financing to invest in projects designed to produce measurable improvements in agency efficiency and significant taxpayer savings. Requires such funds to be made available without further appropriation action by the Congress. Subtitle C: Simplifying the Management Reporting Process - Authorizes the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to publish annually in the President's budget recommendations for consolidation, elimination, or adjustments in frequency and due dates of statutorily required periodic reports of agencies to the OMB or the President and of agencies or the OMB to the Congress under any laws for which the OMB has general management or financial management responsibility. Subtitle D: Annual Financial Reports - Requires the annual financial statements of executive agencies to be audited prior to submission to OMB. Subtitle E: Strengthening Debt Collection Programs - Authorizes appropriations from debt collection payments to improve debt collection activities. (Sec. 16502) Makes provisions governing contracts for collection services inapplicable to certain claims or debts under the Social Security Act or the Internal Revenue Code. Subtitle F: Improving Department of Justice Debt Collection - Establishes a Debt Collection Fund to reimburse executive agency expenses incurred in conducting or providing support to debt collection litigation, enforcing judgments, and related activities. Subtitle G: Adjusting Civil Monetary Penalties for Inflation - Amends the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 to require adjustment to the civil monetary penalties for inflation every four years (currently, every five years). Title XVII: Year-End Spending - Limits the amount of appropriations for salaries and expenses that can remain available for successive fiscal years. Limits the amount of such carried-over funds for employee cash awards and training programs.

Dairy Promotion Program Improvement Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993

Dairy Promotion Program Improvement Act of 1993 - Amends the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to increase the membership of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (the Board) by two members who shall be representatives of dairy product importers. Requires dairy product importers to pay an assessment to the Board. Prescribes guidelines under which the Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a referendum in connection with this Act. Sets a termination date for the assessment orders for dairy product importers. Prohibits the Secretary, when required to determine the approval or disapproval of individual producers, from considering the bloc-voted approval or disapproval of any cooperative association of producers.

Emergency Cervidae Tuberculosis Protection Act

United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993

Emergency Cervidae Tuberculosis Protection Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a voluntary ten-year insurance program to compensate participating owners of domesticated cervidae (deer, elk, reindeer) for the destruction of animals injected with, or exposed to, tuberculosis. Places specified limitations on the movement of cervidae in interstate commerce.

National Dairy Promotion Reform Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993

National Dairy Promotion Reform Act of 1993 - Amends the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to mandate that members of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board be elected by a vote of producers through a process established by the Secretary of Agriculture. Prohibits the Secretary from permitting bloc voting by cooperative associations of milk producers. Provides that if the Secretary determines that the interests of a substantial number of milk producers are not being represented by a certified organization, such producers may submit their own nominations to the Board.

To recognize the importance of promoting fair trade in wheat.

United States · United States Congress · 28 October 1993

Declares that it is the sense of the Congress that the U.S. Government should take action, using existing Federal trade laws, to address the problem of Canadian wheat imports if the Secretary of Agriculture has reason to believe that wheat is being imported into the United States from Canada under such conditions and in such quantities as to tend to render ineffective, or materially interfere with, any loan, purchase, or other program or operation undertaken by the Department of Agriculture. Declares that it is the sense of the Congress that: (1) the U.S. Government should seek an immediate understanding with the Mexican Government to define certain Canadian wheat practices as unfair; (2) the United States, Canada, and Mexico should begin immediate consultations with a goal of ensuring free and fair trade in wheat throughout North America; and (3) transportation subsidies and secretive monopolistic pricing should be considered unfair trading practices.

Milk Supply Management and Nutrition Assistance Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1993

Milk Supply Management and Nutrition Assistance Act of 1993 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to establish a milk producer referendum mechanism regarding implementation of the alternative milk price support and inventory management program established by this Act. Establishes the National Milk Marketing Board to administer the alternative program. Establishes such alternative program, with milk prices to be supported at a rate set by the Board, with annual adjustments to reflect milk producers' production costs. List the factors for Board consideration.

Anthony A. Williams, of Connecticut, to be Chief Financial Officer, Department of Agriculture, vice Charles R. Hilty, resigned.

United States · United States Senate · 25 October 1993

National Dairy Promotion Reform Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 18 October 1993

National Dairy Promotion Reform Act of 1993 - Amends the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to require that National Dairy Promotion and Research Board members be elected by a vote of milk producers. Prohibits a certified organization from voting in such elections on behalf of its members (bloc voting).

Dairy Promotion Program Improvement Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 18 October 1993

Dairy Promotion Program Improvement Act of 1993 - Amends the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to increase the minimum membership of, and include dairy products importers on, the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board. Requires such importers to pay assessments to the Board. Provides for the termination of the dairy promotion and research program. Prohibits cooperative association bloc voting.

Agricultural Irrigation and Deficit Reduction Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 18 October 1993

Agricultural Irrigation and Deficit Reduction Act of 1993 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to require producers under an acreage limitation program to pay certain irrigation costs.

Federal Spending and Deficit Reduction Act of 1993

United States · United States Congress · 15 October 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Department of Defense Title II: Department of State Title III: Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Subtitle A: Commodity Programs Subtitle B: Replacement of Federal Crop Insurance with Emergency Crop Loss Assistance Subtitle C: Other Agricultural Programs Title IV: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Title V: Committee on Environment and Public Works Title VI: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Title VII: Civil Service Programs Title VIII: Committee on Finance Title IX: Reinventing Government Federal Spending and Deficit Reduction Act of 1993 - Title I: Department of Defense - Limits to $18 billion the total amount appropriated for FY 1994 through 1998 for programs managed by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. Limits the obligation of such funds to research only. (Sec. 102) Limits: (1) as of December 31, 2000, the number of nuclear warheads to be maintained by the United States (with a waiver exercised by the President under certain conditions); and (2) the total amount that may be expended by the Department of Energy for nuclear weapons research, development, and testing activities during FY 1994 through 1998. (Sec. 104) Directs the Secretary of Defense to require the secretaries of the military departments to retire at least 60,000 members of the armed forces before October, 1, 1994, under the military early retirement program. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary to carry out a study to determine the most cost effective alternatives for meeting| requirements for military family housing. (Sec. 106) Provides end strength and grade distribution limitations for civilian personnel of the Department of Defense (DOD). (Sec. 107) Directs the Secretary to consolidate and reduce the recruiting activities of the armed forces, with a waiver in the case of war or national emergency. (Sec. 108) Prohibits DOD funds from being used to operate any commissary store on or after October 1, 1996, unless determined necessary for the continued operation of such store due to its remote location or high costs of operation. Requires revenues received from store operations to be used to pay operating costs. Requires the Secretary to ensure that actions to increase a store's effectiveness of operations do not result in reduced benefits for store patrons and do not adversely affect stores that are in remote or high cost locations. Provides a phased reduction during FY 1994 through 1996 in the authorization of appropriations for commissary store operations. (Sec. 109) Authorizes military personnel to be used to perform a base operations function or to carry out a military construction project under certain conditions, with an exception if the cost of such performance is found to exceed its benefits. (Sec. 110) Directs the President to enter into negotiations with each member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and every nation with which the United States has a bilateral or multilateral defense agreement to conclude an agreement that requires each such nation to pay a significant portion of the costs of stationing U.S. military and civilian personnel and equipment in such nation. Excludes the pay and allowances of such personnel from such costs. Title II: Department of State - Requires the Secretary of State to: (1) determine which foreign affairs programs, agencies, and activities, whether within or without the jurisdiction of the Department of State, are redundant, duplicative, outmoded, or obsolete; (2) undertake actions necessary to streamline, consolidate, or eliminate those programs, agencies, or activities under the Department's jurisdiction such that funding equals a level constant in real terms (inflation-adjusted) with the funding level in 1984; and (3) report to the Congress on those programs, agencies, and activities outside the Department's jurisdiction which are redundant, outmoded, or obsolete. Title III: Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry - Subtitle A: Commodity Programs - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to reduce deficiency payments for wheat, feed grains, cotton, and rice. (Sec. 302) Reduces the base acreage eligible for deficiency payments. (Sec. 303) Increases dairy producer program contributions. (Sec. 304) Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act to revise milk marketing order provisions, including elimination of minimum regional price adjustments and parity price determinations. (Sec. 305) Repeals the National Wool Act of 1954 (eliminates the wool and mohair price support program). (Sec. 306) Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to eliminate the honey price support program. Subtitle B: Replacement of Federal Crop Insurance with Emergency Crop Loss Assistance - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to replace the Federal crop insurance program with an emergency crop loss assistance program for: (1) annual crops (program and nonprogram target crops, peanuts, sugar, and tobacco, soybeans and nonprogram crops, forage crops, and crop quality reduction payments); (2) orchards; and (3) forest crops. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Other Agricultural Programs - Repeals title I (sales) and title II (grants) of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. (Sec. 332) Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to eliminate the interest rate subsidy for Rural Electrification Administration direct loans. (Sec. 333) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to consolidate specified Department of Agriculture field offices. Title IV: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources - Amends the National Forest Management Act of 1976 to prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture from selling any timber on National Forest System lands for which sales revenues are less than the legal minimum bid. (Sec. 402) Amends the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 to preclude the use of Federal funds to: (1) support or implement a recreational activity or program; or (2) establish or maintain the National Fertilizer and Environmental Research Center. Prohibits the Board of Directors (the Board) of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from using Federal funds for stewardship activities unrelated to the power system. Authorizes the Board to develop and implement a user fee mechanism for: (1) users of TVA stewardship activities that are unrelated to the power system to cover the costs of such nonpower-related activities; and (2) users of power from the system to cover the costs of all stewardship activities. (Sec. 403) Amends specified Federal law relating to power regulation and development to mandate that all moneys received from Federal power sales be deposited in the Treasury through uniform annual payments that consist of equal amounts of principal and interest and that reflect a commencement of payments for each project with the first year in which project electric power and energy is delivered to the Secretary of Energy. (Sec. 404) Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to establish, according to prescribed guidelines, an annual domestic livestock grazing fee equal to fair market value in certain National Forest System and public domain lands within their respective jurisdictions. Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park Service, to establish a fee structure for entrance and user fees at public lands that are part of the National Park System. Title V: Committee on Environment and Public Works - Prohibits: (1) the Secretary of Transportation from carrying out, or entering into any agreement to carry out, a highway demonstration project described in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 in FY 1994 through 1998, except in the case of an agreement entered into before March 31, 1994; and (2) the expenditure of funds in such fiscal years for such a project. Rescinds: (1) any amounts set aside or otherwise made available for such projects that are not expended as a result of this title; and (2) the underlying appropriations for such amounts. Title VI: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation - (Sec. 601) Amends the Communications Act of 1934 (the Act) to subject revenues from the use of the electromagnetic spectrum pursuant to any initial license of construction permit issued after the enactment of this Act to a royalty of four percent. Subjects any licensee who knowingly or willfully submits inaccurate information or who fails to submit information required under this title to forfeiture of the license. (Sec. 602) Requires the Secretary of Transportation to develop and implement a system to require the payment of a user fee for the inland waterway transportation system to generate revenues sufficient to fully recover operation, maintenance, and construction costs. Title VII: Civil Service Programs - Amends Federal civil service law to require each Federal agency to prefund the Government share of its annuitants' Federal health insurance coverage. (Sec. 702) Repeals provisions excluding senior executives from the limitation on the accumulation of annual leave. (Sec. 703) Eliminates administratively uncontrollable overtime pay, except for law enforcement officers. Title VIII: Committee on Finance - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to impose a one dollar fee for processing paper part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) claims; and (2) reduce reimbursements for items and services not billed electronically by the amount of any such fee imposed. (Sec. 802) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a program for the issuance and sale of import licenses at public auction to administer quantitative restrictions with respect to textiles and textile products and sugar. Title IX: Reinventing Government - Provides that, in any fiscal year, any agency with budget authority appropriated in operation accounts which will be unobligated on the last day of such fiscal year, and will expire at the end of such day, may place up to 50 percent of such budget authority into an agency innovation fund to be established for specified activities for each executive agency of the Federal Government. Requires any funds transferred to one of these funds to remain available for obligation for a qualified purpose for an additional two years beyond the date the funds would otherwise have expired.

A bill to amend the National Wool Act of 1954 to reduce the subsidies that wool and mohair producers receive for the 1994 and 1995 marketing years and to eliminate the wool and mohair programs for the 1996 and subsequent marketing years, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1993

Amends the National Wool Act of 1954 to: (1) reduce wool and mohair support payments for marketing years 1994 and 1995; and (2) eliminate wool and mohair price supports beginning in 1996.

Full Employment Act for Fiscal Year 1994

United States · United States Congress · 13 October 1993

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Supplemental Appropriations for Full Employment Economy Title II: Work Hours Title III: Wages Title IV: Tax Incentives for Full Employment Title V: Entitlement Programs Full Employment Act for Fiscal Year 1994 - Title I: Supplemental Appropriations for Full Employment Economy - Makes supplemental appropriations for FY 1994 to: (1) the Department of Agriculture for watershed and flood prevention operations, rural water and waste disposal grants, the special supplemental food program, and the National Forest System; (2) the Small Business Administration for the business loans program account; (3) the Department of the Interior for the National Park System; (4) the Department of Energy for energy conservation activities; (5) the Department of Labor for training and employment services and community service employment for older Americans; (6) the Department of Health and Human Services for health resources and services, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, and children and families services programs; (7) the Department of Education for compensatory education for the disadvantaged and student financial assistance; (8) the Department of Transportation for grants-in-aid for airports, Federal-aid highways, grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, and formula grants; (9) the Department of the Treasury for Internal Revenue Service information systems; (10) the Department of Housing and Urban Development for homeless assistance and community development grants; and (11) the Environmental Protection Agency for construction grants. Title II: Work Hours - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require overtime to be paid at two times the regular hourly rate (currently, one- and one-half times). Reduces the regular 40-hour workweek to a 30-hour workweek. Title III: Wages - Establishes the minimum wage at $7 an hour. Title IV: Tax Incentives for Full Employment - Expresses the sense of the Congress that appropriate tax incentives should be provided to businesses that hire new employees, create new jobs, provide ongoing education and training for their employees, provide child care arrangements for their employees, establish health care plans for their employees, and undertake research and development. Title V: Entitlement Programs - Expresses the sense of the Congress that individuals who receive assistance under any Federal entitlement program should seek to obtain employment providing livable wages and, where appropriate, affordable child care arrangements.