Aviation

Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 of 16 December 1991 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation

European Union · European Commission · 21 December 1998

Report from the Commission on the main results of the 32nd Session of the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization and its implications for the European Community

European Union · European Commission · 25 November 1998

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 66/98 adopted by the Council on 16 November 1998 with a view to adopting Council Regulation (EC) No .../98 of ... on the registration and operation within the Community of certain types of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified and recertificated as meeting the standards of Volume I, Part II, Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, third edition (July 1993)

European Union · Council of the European Union · 16 November 1998

Opinion of Mr Advocate General Fennelly delivered on 12 November 1998. # Braathens Sverige AB v Riksskatteverket. # Reference for a preliminary ruling: Länsrätten i Dalarnas län - Sweden. # Directive 92/81/EEC - Harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on mineral oils - Mineral oils supplied for use as aviation fuel for purposes other than private pleasure flying - Exemption from the harmonised duty. # Case C-346/97.

European Union · Court of Justice of the European Union · 12 November 1998

Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Miscellaneous Trade Corrections Title II: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions; Other Trade Provisions Subtitle A: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions Subtitle B: Other Trade Provisions Title III: Amendments to Internal Revenue Code of 1986 Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 1998 - Title I: Miscellaneous Trade Corrections - Makes various specified miscellaneous technical corrections to the Trade Act of 1974 and other specified Federal law involving: (1) abolishment of the East-West Foreign Trade Board; (2) repeal of the requirement that certain small vessels departing from a foreign port, or which visited a hovering vessel, carry a certificate for the importation into the United States of alcoholic spirits; (3) repeal of the exemption of documented tugs with a Great Lakes endorsement from certain entry and clearance requirements; (4) change of general most-favored-nation (MFN) status to general or normal trade relations (NTR) status under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States; and (5) conforming amendments to obsolete references to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). (Sec. 1003) Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to allow certain entries of television receivers, monitors, and picture tubes, and combination TV-VCRs with a diagonal measurement of up to 34.29cm (currently, 33.02 cm), or 13.5 inches, to be classified as 13 inches for purposes of tariff treatment under the Schedule. Directs the Customs Service, upon proper request, to liquidate or reliquidate certain entries made on or after January 1, 1995, and before 15 days after enactment of this Act, as if such amendment applied to such entries. Title II: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions; Other Trade Provisions - Subtitle A: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide for temporary duty suspensions for: (1) specified chemicals and dyes through December 31, 2001; (2) snowboard boots with uppers of textile materials through December 31, 2001; (3) ink-jet textile printing machinery through December 31, 2001; (4) textile printing machinery through December 31, 2001; (5) substrates of synthetic quartz or synthetic fused silica imported into the United States in bulk or in forms or packages for retail sale through December 31, 2001; (6) power weaving machines (looms), shuttle type, for weaving fabrics between 30 cm and 4.9m in width, if entered without off-loom or large loom take-ups, drop wires, heddles, reeds, harness frames or beams, through December 31, 2001; (7) skating boots for use in the manufacture of in-line roller skates through December 31, 2001; (8) dual thrust chamber rocket engines, each having a maximum static sea level thrust exceeding 3,550 kN and nozzle exit diameter exceeding 127cm, through December 31, 2001; (9) certain manufacturing equipment through December 31, 2001; (10) textured rolled glass sheets through December 31, 2001; (11) certain anti-HIV drug substances through June 30, 1999; (12) certain high-performance loudspeakers not mounted in their enclosures, through December 31, 2001; (13) parts for use in the manufacture of certain high-performance loudspeakers through December 31, 2001; (14) textile doubling or twisting machines through December 31, 1998; and (15) certain polymers through December 31, 2001. (Sec. 2129) Reduces the duty on a certain dye and on certain chemicals variously through December 31, 1998, December 31, 1999, December 31, 2000, and December 31, 2001. (Sec. 2161) Reduces the duty, for December 31, 1998, and December 31, 2001, respectively, on weaving machines (looms), shuttleless type, for weaving fabrics between 30cm and 4.9m in width, entered without off-loom or large loom takeups, drop wires, heddles, reeds, harness frames, or beams. Subtitle B: Other Trade Provisions - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to extend to certain fine jewelry certain trade benefits of insular possessions of the United States. (Sec. 2401) Mandates treatment as a product of the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa, during 1999 and 2000, of any article of jewelry assembled in such territory or possession. (Sec. 2402) Provides for the tariff treatment of certain components of scientific instruments and apparatus, as well as the application of the domestic equivalency test to such components. (Sec. 2403) Directs the U.S. Customs Service to liquidate or reliquidate (refund duty on) certain entries made at Los Angeles, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana, in accordance with the final decision of the International Trade Administration for shipments entered between October 1, 1984, and December 14, 1987 (case number A- 274-001). (Sec. 2404) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide that packaging material produced in the United States (currently, any packaging material), which is used by the manufacturer or any other person on or for articles which are exported or destroyed, shall also be eligible for a refund (drawback) of 99 percent of any duty, tax, or fee imposed on the importation of such material used to manufacture or produce the packaging material. (Sec. 2405) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, by January 1, 2000, to provide for the inclusion of commercial importation data from foreign-trade zones in the National Customs Automation Program (an automated and electronic system for processing commercial importations). (Sec. 2406) Permits the deferral (until sale) of duty payment on any large yacht (a vessel exceeding 79 feet in length and used primarily for recreation or pleasure) that is imported for sale at a boat show, if the importer of record: (1) certifies to the Customs Service that it is imported for sale at a boat show in the United States; and (2) posts a bond in an amount equal to twice the amount of the duty ordinarily owed on such yacht. (Sec. 2407) Directs the appropriate customs officer to allow or deny within 30 days after the filing date any application for further review with respect to a protest to a decision of the Customs Service. Requires that any allowed protest be forwarded to the customs officer who will conduct the further review. (Sec. 2408) Authorizes the Customs Service, notwithstanding the fact that a valid protest was not filed, to reliquidate an entry to refund merchandise processing fees paid on goods qualifying under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules of origin for which no claim for preferential tariff treatment was made at the time of importation, provided that the importer meets certain conditions. (Sec. 2409) Authorizes the entry or withdrawal from a warehouse of international travel merchandise subject to a duty. (Sec. 2410) Revises requirements with respect to the five-year review by the administering authority and the International Trade Commission of countervailing duty or antidumping duty orders, notices of injury determination, or determinations to continue an order or suspension agreement. Excludes from the computation of the five-year period preceding such a review any period during which the importation of the subject merchandise is prohibited on account of U.S. imposition of certain sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or other Federal law against the country in which such merchandise originates, if that country is not a member of the World Trade Organization. (Sec. 2411) Applies the rates of duty effective after December 31, 1994, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, if lower, to certain water resistant wool trousers that were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, after December 31, 1988, and before January 1, 1995. (Sec. 2412) Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide duty-free treatment of previously imported goods for which a duty was paid if they are: (1) exported within three years after the date of such previous importation; (2) sold for exportation and exported to individuals for personal use; (3) reimported without having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means while abroad; (4) reimported as personal returns from those individuals, whether or not consolidated with other personal returns prior to reimportation; and (5) reimported by or for the account of the person who exported them from the United States within one year of such exportation. (Sec. 2413) Grants duty-free treatment, through December 31, 2002, to the personal effects of, and other equipment imported and used by, participants, their families and associated members, and officials involved in the 1999 International Special Olympics, the 1999 Women's World Cup Soccer, the 2001 International Special Olympics, the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and the 2002 Winter Paralympic Games. Declares that such articles shall be: (1) free of applicable taxes and fees; but (2) not exempt from routine customs inspections. (Sec. 2414) Directs the U.S. Customs Service, upon request, to liquidate or reliquidate (refund duty on) certain entries (filed at the port of Los Angeles) of indirect electrostatic copiers at the rate of duty that would have been applicable to such merchandise if they had been liquidated or reliquidated at a duty rate applicable to other automated data processing (ADP) thermal transfer printer units on the date of entry. (Sec. 2415) Directs the U.S. Customs Service to provide for the liquidation or reliquidation (refund) of certain entries in accordance with the provisions of Treasury Decision 86-126(M) and Customs Ruling No. 224697, dated November 17, 1994. (Sec. 2417) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize duty-free sales enterprises to be located, among other places, within a port of entry, or within 25 statute miles of a staffed port of entry, if reasonable assurance can be provided that the duty-free merchandise sold by the enterprise will be exported by individuals departing from the customs territory through an international airport located within the territory. (Sec. 2418) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to continue, indefinitely, the use of customs user fees (to the extent funds remain available after making certain reimbursements) for salaries for up to 50 full-time equivalent inspectional positions to provide preclearance customs services. Decreases from $6.50 to $5 the customs user fee charged to each passenger that arrives aboard a commercial vessel or commercial aircraft from a place outside the U.S. customs (except $1.75 shall be charged to each passenger aboard a commercial vessel that arrives from Canada, Mexico, a U.S. territory or possession, or an adjacent island). Earmarks a specified amount of certain customs user fees to the Customs Service for automated commercial systems. Directs the Commissioner of Customs to establish an advisory committee, consisting of representatives from the airline, cruise ship, and other transportation industries, to advise the Commissioner on issues related to the performance of the inspectional services of the Customs Service. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary, for a specified period, to prescribe an alternative mid-point interest accounting methodology, which may be employed by the importer, based upon aggregate data in lieu of accounting for such interest from each deposit data provided. (Sec. 2419) Allows a duty drawback (refund of duty) for methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), a finished petroleum derivative, provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 2420) Revises the methodology used to calculate the drawback (refund of duties) on the export of finished petroleum derivatives that have been manufactured with (substituted for) a qualified article which is of the same kind and quality (whether imported duty-paid or domestic). Redefines the term "qualified article" to include certain manufactured articles (primary forms), including articles of the same kind and quality, or any combination thereof, that are transferred as certified in a certificate of delivery or certificate of manufacture and delivery to an exporter in a quantity not greater than the quantity of articles purchased or exchanged for use in the manufactured article. (Sec. 2421) Directs the U.S. Customs Service, upon proper request, to: (1) liquidate or reliquidate as if the special column one duty rate applicable for Canada applied to certain entries of mueslix cereal; and (2) refund to the importer any excess duties paid with respect to such entries. (Sec. 2422) Directs the Foreign Trade Zones Board to expand Foreign Trade Zone No. 143 to include areas in the vicinity of the Chico Municipal Airport in accordance with the application submitted to the Board by the Sacramento-Yolo Port District of Sacramento, California, on March 11, 1997. (Sec. 2423) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to exempt certain woven fabrics containing silk or silk waste from the country of origin marking requirements. (Sec. 2424) Authorizes the President to: (1) determine that title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (denying nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of certain countries) should no longer apply to Mongolia; and (2) based upon such determination, extend nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to Mongolian products. (Sec. 2425) Authorizes the Commissioner of the Customs Service to establish a one-year pilot program to provide 24-hour cargo inspection service on a fee-for-service basis at a certain international airport. (Sec. 2426) Directs the Department of Defense to permit the dependent children of deceased U.S. Customs Aviation Group Supervisor Pedro J. Rodriquez attending the Antilles Consolidated School System at Ford Buchanan, Puerto Rico, to complete their primary and secondary education without cost to them or any parent or relative. Title III: Amendments To Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise provisions concerning a corporation, its shareholders, and the transferring of certain assets and liabilities.

Staten Island Aircraft Noise Correction Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 20 October 1998

Staten Island Aircraft Noise Correction Act of 1998 - Declares that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should remedy the problem it has created by formulating and implementing plans to mitigate aircraft noise over certain areas of Staten Island, New York. Directs the FAA Administrator to develop and publish a plan to investigate and test southbound departure procedures from Newark International Airport runway 22 that will result in a minimum 25 percent decrease in aircraft noise on the ground in northwestern Staten Island. Confers standing in U.S. district court upon any Staten Island resident to compel the FAA Administrator to comply with this Act.

projet de loi relatif à l'organisation de certains services au transport aérien

France · Senate · 8 October 1998

A bill to provide aviator continuation pay for military members killed in Operation Desert Shield.

United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1998

Amends the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1992 to authorize the payment of aviator continuation pay for military aviation officers who died as a result of flight operations on or after August 2, 1990 (currently January 17, 1991) in specified areas of the Arabian Peninsula, regardless of the date of the commencement of combatant activities there as specified by executive order.

Aviation Consumer Right To Know Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1998

Aviation Consumer Right To Know Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to begin implementation of the requirements contained in the notice of proposed rulemaking of the Department of Transportation, dated August 10, 1994, regarding the disclosure of code-sharing arrangements and long-term wet leases. Requires the Secretary to modify such requirements to ensure that written notice of a code-sharing arrangement or long-term wet lease is provided on ticket stock and any accompanying itinerary. Directs the Secretary to conduct a rulemaking proceeding to require: (1) a ticket agent for air transportation to disclose verbally to a prospective air ticket buyer the commissions paid to the ticket agent by all air carriers serving the markets of interest to the prospective consumer; (2) each air carrier to keep records and publish statistics concerning the possibility of redeeming frequent flyer benefits offered by the air carrier for air transportation between any of its city-pair markets; and (3) each air carrier to publish on the Internet, and update every 24 hours, the available fares for air transportation it offers on each flight scheduled for departure.

Condemning the Taliban regime and supporting a broad based government in Afghanistan.

United States · United States Congress · 8 October 1998

Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives and the Senate that the United States should: (1) publicly condemn the Taliban regime for its reprehensible atrocities against human rights, in particular, womens' rights, its embrace of international terrorism, and its willing integration into a worldwide narcotics syndicate; (2) recognize that it will be better served by a comprehensive regional strategy that addresses Afghan issues rather than its current one that relies primarily on Pakistan; (3) explore its mutual interest with other countries of the region regarding the danger of the Taliban; (4) not grant diplomatic recognition to the Taliban or assist in any way its recognition in the United Nations but rather should support the inter-Afghan dialogue efforts to form a truly representative broad- based government; (5) work to initiate through the United Nations Security Council a ban on all international commercial air travel to and from Taliban controlled Afghanistan; (6) call on the Taliban regime to permit humanitarian supplies to be delivered without interference to all regions of Afghanistan; and (7) consider those Afghans, especially known friends of the United States, fleeing political persecution from the Taliban regime to be refugees eligible for consideration for asylum. Calls for: (1) the Department of Defense to conduct a vulnerability assessment of the Taliban regime; (2) the Department of State to urge the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to protect the rights of Christians and Shiite Muslims in Pakistan and to publish a special report to the Congress on the human rights situation in Pakistan, especially as it affects religious minorities; and (3) the Department of State to report to the Congress concerning whether the Taliban, which provides a safe haven for Osama bin Laden and other terrorist organizations as well as illicit drug monies which assist these terrorists, should be added to the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the tax on commercial aviation to and from airports located on sparsely populated islands.

United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1998

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the tax on commercial aviation to and from airports located on islands having a population of 20,000 or less.

A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the tax on commercial aviation to and from airports located on sparsely populated islands.

United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1998

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the tax on commercial aviation to and from airports located on islands having a population of 20,000 or less.

Amended proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) on the registration and use within the Community of certain types of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified and recertificated as meeting the standards of Volume I, Part II, Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, third edition (July 1993)

European Union · European Commission · 30 September 1998

A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify State and local authority to regulate the placement, construction, and modification of broadcast transmission and telecommunications facilities, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1998

Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to: (1) repeal a provision which prohibits a State or local government from regulating the placement, construction, or modification of personal wireless service facilities (communications towers) on the basis of the environmental effects of frequency emissions from such facilities when such facilities comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations; (2) allow any person adversely affected by any final action or failure to act by a State or local government with respect to such facilities to commence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction within 30 days after exhaustion of any administrative remedies; (3) require that, in any action in which a person seeking to place, construct, or modify such a facility is a party, such person bear the burden of proof of its necessity; and (4) prohibit the FCC from adopting as a final rule a certain proposed rule which would preempt State and local zoning and land use restrictions on the siting, placement, and construction of broadcast station transmission facilities. Prohibits any provision of such Act from being interpreted to: (1) authorize any person to place, construct, or modify a broadcast or telecommunications tower in a manner that is inconsistent with State or local law or contrary to an official State decision if alternate technology is capable of delivering the broadcast or telecommunications signals without the use of such a tower; or (2) prohibit a State or local government from requiring a person seeking authority to locate such facilities within a local jurisdiction to produce appropriate documentation of compliance with FCC radio frequency exposure limits and aviation safety standards. Authorizes such State or local government to refuse to grant such location authority to any person who fails to produce such documentation.

Friendly Skies Restoration Act

United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1998

Friendly Skies Restoration Act - Amends Federal aviation law to define major air carrier joint venture agreements as agreements with regard to code-sharing, blocked-space arrangements, long-term wet leases of a substantial number of aircraft, or frequent flyer programs, or any other cooperative working arrangement between two or more major air carriers that affects more than ten percent of the total number of available seat miles offered by such carriers. Requires any major air carrier that has entered into such an agreement to submit to the Secretary certain information regarding it. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to allocate slots (arrival and departure spaces) at each slot-controlled airport for assignment to new entrant air carriers (carriers currently not holding slots) and limited incumbent carriers (carriers holding less than 12 slots at a particular airport). Outlines application procedures for the receipt of such slots at high density airports. Directs the Secretary to withdraw from major carriers at each airport a specified percentage of slots for auction to qualified applicants through competitive bidding, as long as the auctioned slot will or is likely to increase competition among carriers. Allows only new entrant and limited incumbent air carriers to participate in such auctions. Requires deposits in an auction trust fund. Directs the Secretary to conduct a public inquiry and submit to the Congress a report evaluating the competitive bidding process used. Provides special rules, including rules governing the resale or reversion of purchased slots. Authorizes the Secretary that has determined that an air carrier is or has engaged in an unfair method of competition with respect to air transportation on a route to require such carrier, as a condition of continued authority to provide air service, to maintain for a period not to exceed two years levels of capacity and fare pricing that are similar to that which was determined exclusionary. Sets forth a civil penalty for such violations. Authorizes the President to allow an air carrier the use of another air carrier's slot that is not being used because of a labor strike involving such carrier. Authorizes the Secretary when it is determined that a price charged or received by an air carrier for service on a noncompetitive air route, or a classification, rule, or practice affecting that price or the value of the transportation provided under that price, is or will be unreasonable, to change the price, classification, rule, or practice, or order the air carrier to stop charging or collecting the unreasonable price, classification, rule, or practice. Directs the Secretary to submit to the Congress, and make available to the public, a quarterly report: (1) containing a ranking of the ten domestic routes with the highest and lowest average costs to the passenger; and (2) ranking the large hub airports by market concentration using the Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index as a measure and identifying the market share of each airline operating at each airport. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the ability of and proposals for new entrant carriers, and carriers with less than five percent of the departures at a major hub airport, to obtain permanent gates and other airport facilities on terms substantially equivalent to the those provided to incumbent carriers.

Omnibus National Parks and Public Lands Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 15 September 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Boundary Adjustments and Related Conveyances Title II: Other Land Conveyances and Management Subtitle A: Southern Nevada Public Land Management Subtitle B: Gallatin Land Consolidation Subtitle C: Conveyance of Canyon Ferry Reservoir Properties Subtitle D: Conveyance of National Forest Lands for Public School Purposes Subtitle E: Other Conveyances Title III: Heritage Areas Subtitle A: Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor of Pennsylvania Subtitle B: Automobile National Heritage Area of Michigan Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions Title IV: Historic Areas Title V: San Rafael Swell Subtitle A: San Rafael Swell National Heritage Area Subtitle B: San Rafael Swell National Conservation Area Subtitle C: Wilderness Areas within Conservation Area Subtitle D: Other Special Management Areas within Conservation Area Subtitle E: General Management Provisions Title VI: National Parks Title VII: Reauthorizations Title VIII: Rivers and Trails Title IX: Hazardous Fuels Reduction Subtitle A: Management of Wildland-Urban Interface Areas Subtitle B: Miscellaneous Provisions Title X: Miscellaneous Provisions Title XI: Amendments and Technical Corrections to 1996 Omnibus Parks Act Subtitle A: Technical Corrections to the Omnibus Parks Act Subtitle B: Other Amendments to Omnibus Parks Act Title XII: Dutch John Federal Property Disposition and Assistance Title XIII: Reclamation Project Conveyances and Miscellaneous Provisions Subtitle A: Sly Park Dam and Reservoir, California Subtitle B: Minidoka Project, Idaho Subtitle C: Carlsbad Irrigation Project, New Mexico Subtitle D: Palmetto Bend Project, Texas Subtitle E: Wellton-Mohawk Division, Gila Project, Arizona Subtitle F: Canadian River Project, Texas Subtitle G: Clear Creek Distribution System, California Subtitle H: Pine River Project, Colorado Subtitle I: Technical Corrections and Miscellaneous Provisions Title XIV: Provisions Specific to Alaska Subtitle A: Land Exchange Near Gustavus and Related Provisions Subtitle B: Amendments to Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and Related Provisions Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions Omnibus National Parks and Public Lands Act of 1998 - Title I: Boundary Adjustments and Related Conveyances - Increases the number of acres the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) is authorized to acquire for the Fort Davis National Historic Site in Fort Davis, Texas, by 16. (Sec. 102) Authorizes the Secretary to acquire, by donation only, certain land known as Knob Creek Farm in Larue County, Kentucky. Modifies the boundary of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site to include such land. Requires the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the Farm in order to: (1) identify significant resources associated with the Farm and the early boyhood of Abraham Lincoln; (2) evaluate the threats to the long-term protection of the Farm's cultural, recreational, and natural resources; and (3) examine the incorporation of the Farm into the operations of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site and establish a strategic management plan for implementing such incorporation. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 103) Modifies the boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the State of Utah to exclude specified Federal lands and to include the East Clark Bench. Requires the Secretary to convey specified Federal lands to: (1) Garfield County School District, Utah, for use as the location for a school and for other education purposes; and (2) the State of Utah for inclusion of the lands in Kodachrome Basin State Park. Designates specified Federal lands as a utility corridor with regard to U.S. Route 89, in Kane County, Utah. (Sec. 104) Modifies the boundaries of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument to include the property known as George Washington's Boyhood Home, Ferry Farm in Stafford County, Virginia. Authorizes the Secretary to acquire no more than a less than fee interest in the property to ensure the preservation of the important cultural and natural resources associated with Ferry Farm. Requires the Secretary to submit to specified congressional committees a resource study of the property and upon completion of such study allows the Secretary to enter into agreements with the property owner or other entities for the purpose of providing programs, services, facilities, or technical assistance that further the property's preservation and public use. (Sec.105) Adjusts the boundaries of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest and the Mount Naomi Wilderness, in Utah, to exclude the parcel of lands known as the D. Hyde property to correct a faulty land survey. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) convey such parcel to Darrell Edward Hyde of Cache County, Utah; and (2) release any claims against him for trespass or unauthorized use of the parcel before its conveyance. (Sec. 106) Amends the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Establishment Act of 1990 to modify the boundaries of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. (Sec. 107) Authorizes the Secretary to convey to Provincetown, Massachusetts, specified Federal land within the Cape Cod National Seashore in exchange for specified land outside of the Seashore to allow for the establishment of a municipal facility to serve the town that is restricted to solid waste transfer and recycling facilities and for other municipal activities that are compatible with National Park Service laws and regulations. Directs the Secretary to modify the boundary of the Seashore to include the land that has been added. Extends the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission until September 26, 2008. (Sec. 108) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to make a boundary adjustment of the Hells Canyon Wilderness to exclude a specified Forest Service road (which shall continue to be part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area) so that it may continue to be used by motorized vehicles to its historical terminus at Squirrel Prairie. Title II: Other Land Conveyances and Management - Subtitle A: Southern Nevada Public Land Management - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to dispose of certain Federal lands within the area under the jurisdiction of the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in Clark County, Nevada. (Sec. 203) Allows the State of Nevada or the unit of local government in whose jurisdiction the lands are located (Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, or Henderson, Nevada) to elect to obtain the lands for local public purposes pursuant to the Recreation and Public Purposes Act (RPPA). Requires the Secretary, upon application by a unit of local government or regional governmental entity (the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Regional Flood Control District, and the Clark County Sanitation District), to issue right-of-way grants (valid in perpetuity) on Federal lands in Clark County for all facilities and systems needed for: (1) the impoundment, storage, treatment, transportation, or distribution of water (other than water from the Virgin River) or wastewater; or (2) flood control management. Waives rental or cost recovery fees with respect to such grants. Directs the Secretary to make such lands available to Clark County in accordance with the RPPA for the construction of youth activity facilities. Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) withdrawal of such lands from mining laws and from operation under the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws; and (2) joint selection of such lands for sale or exchange by the Secretary and the respective unit of local government. Provides for allocation of proceeds from the land sales and exchanges to: (1) the general education program of Nevada; (2) the Southern Nevada Water Authority; and (3) a special account in the Treasury for the acquisition of environmentally sensitive land in Nevada, capital improvements in Federal areas in Clark County and the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, development of a multispecies habitat conservation plan, parks, trails, and natural areas in Clark County, and reimbursement of costs incurred by BLM local offices in arranging sales or exchanges. Requires the Secretary to transfer the airport environs overlay district lands identified in the Interim Cooperative Management Agreement between the United States Department of the Interior-Bureau of Land Management and Clark County, dated November 4, 1992, to Clark County upon request, without consideration, and subject to specified conditions, including conditions governing proceeds from the sale or lease of such property by Clark County. (Sec. 204) Allows the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to acquire environmentally sensitive land with the owner's consent. Provides that such acquired land that is within the boundaries of a unit of the National Forest System, the National Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, the National Trails System, the National Wilderness Preservation System, or any other system or national conservation or recreation area established by Act of Congress shall: (1) become part of the unit or area without further action by the respective Secretary; and (2) be managed in accordance with all laws and regulations and land use plans applicable to the unit or area. Includes lands acquired by the Secretaries under this Act within the definition of entitlement lands with respect to Federal payments to a local unit of government in which such land is located (payments in lieu of taxes). (Sec. 206) Authorizes the Secretary, upon request by a grantee of lands within Clark County, Nevada, that are subject to a lease or patent issued under the RPPA, to transfer the reversionary interest in such lands to other non-Federal lands on an equal value basis. (Sec. 207) Requires the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to make available land in Nevada, in accordance with the RPPA, for purposes of affordable housing (housing that is assisted under the United States Housing Act of 1937) only to State and local governmental entities (including local public housing authorities). (Sec. 208) Directs the Secretary to convey, under specified conditions, to the Clark County, Nevada, Department of Aviation certain real property in Ivanpah Valley, Nevada, for the development of an airport facility and related infrastructure. Requires conveyance of small parcels over 20 years as may be required for phased construction and development. Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) the determination of the fair market value of each conveyed parcel of land; and (2) a reversionary interest in such land if the Secretary determines that the Aviation Department is not developing or progressing toward the development of the conveyed lands as an airport facility. Withdraws the conveyed lands from mineral entry under the Mining Law of 1872 and the Mineral Leasing Act. Subtitle B: Gallatin Land Consolidation - Provides for the exchange of land and other assets including certain timber harvest rights by the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior with the Big Sky Lumber Co. (BSL) for inclusion in the Gallatin National Forest and Deerlodge National Forest, Montana. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) implement a timber sale program to fund the purchase of specified (Taylor Fork) BSL land; (2) enter into specified land exchanges (Wapiti and Eightmile-West Pine); and (3) implement a restoration program for lands acquired under this Act. Encourages the Secretary to pursue a specified land exchange (section 1 of the Taylor Fork land). (Sec. 216) Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Conveyance of Canyon Ferry Reservoir Properties - Establishes the terms and conditions under which the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall convey 265 cabin sites and certain small contiguous parcels of the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) around Canyon Ferry Reservoir, Montana, to the lessees of the properties, based upon the highest bidder. Grants the Canyon Ferry Recreation Association, Incorporated, the right to match the highest bid and purchase the property. Sets forth provisions regarding terms of conveyance if the highest bidder is other than CFRA and CFRA does not match the highest bid, rights and options of existing lessees, and applicable requirements if CFRA is the highest bidder or matches the highest bid. (Sec. 225) Sets forth provisions regarding management of the Silos Recreation Area, income generated by concessions at the Area, and use of the proceeds of conveyances under this Act. (Sec. 227) Establishes the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust to acquire publicly accessible land and interests in land, easements, and conservation easements in Montana for specified purposes. (Sec. 228) Prohibits the sale of the 265 cabin sites and related BOR parcels unless and until the Board of Commissioners for Broadwater County, Montana, establishes the Canyon Ferry-Broadwater County Trust as a perpetual public trust and the Board deposits at least $3 million as the initial corpus of the Trust. Requires the Commissioners to appoint an advisory committee to establish priorities and prepare requests for the dispersement of funds from the County Trust with the Commissioners' approval. Subtitle D: Conveyance of National Forest Lands for Public School Purposes - Provides for the transfer of up to 40 acres of certain National Forest System lands to a local governmental entity for local public school purposes only. Subtitle E: Other Conveyances - Provides for an exchange of specified Federal lands administered by the El Portal Administrative Site in California in exchange for specified non-Federal lands known as the Yosemite View parcel located adjacent to the Site. (Sec. 242) Authorizes the use of specified lands in Merced County, California, for an elementary school. (Sec. 243) Issues quitclaim deeds to specified individuals to certain family property in Big Horn County, Wyoming. (Sec. 245) Ratifies the "Agreement to Exchange Utah School Trust Lands Between the State of Utah and the United States of America" and sets forth the obligations and commitments of the United States, Utah, and Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration as a matter of Federal law. Repeals Federal law providing for the exchange of Federal lands in Utah in exchange for State lands and providing additional lands within Utah for the Goshute Indian Reservation, with the exception of provisions regarding: (1) payment to Utah of a portion of a royalty payment received by the United States for certain mining and mineral interests in Utah; (2) the limit on such payment; and (3) payment in lieu of taxes for certain entitlement lands in Utah. Requires a $50 million payment to Utah upon completion of all conveyances described in the Agreement. (Sec. 246) Provides for the exchange of specified Federal lands within the Routt National Forest, Colorado, for specified non-Federal lands known as the Miles parcel located adjacent to such Forest. Adjusts the boundary of the Forest to reflect the exchange. (Sec. 247) Provides for the sale or exchange of the Rogue River National Forest administrative site. (Sec. 248) Transfers administrative jurisdiction over certain lands in Lake County, Oregon, located adjacent to or within the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Includes transferred lands within the Refuge. Withdraws such lands from the public land, mineral leasing, and mining laws. Requires BLM to retain jurisdiction over certain lands located south of the Refuge identified for cooperative management. Requires such lands that are within the Guano Creek Wilderness Study Area to be managed to maintain the values for which the Area was designated. Transfers administrative jurisdiction over other specified lands adjacent to or within the Refuge from the Fish and Wildlife Service to BLM. Removes such lands from the Refuge and designates them as public lands. (Sec. 249) Amends the Idaho Admission Act regarding school land lease or sale to provide for: (1) establishment of an earnings reserve fund; (2) authorization of a land bank fund for additional land purchases; and (3) elimination of land lease-time restrictions. (Sec. 250) Transfers certain property located in the San Joaquin Valley, California, from the administrative jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice to the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior. (Sec. 251) Conveys specified parcels of land under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service in Kern County, California to Kern County. (Sec. 252) Absolves the United States from any liability that did not already exist with respect to the transfer of specified land from the city of St. George, Utah, to the United States located within the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve in Washington County, Utah. Title III: Heritage Areas - Subtitle A: Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor of Pennsylvania - Amends the Delaware and Lehigh Navigation Canal National Heritage Corridor Act of 1988 (the Act) to change the name of the Delaware and Lehigh Navigation Canal National Heritage Corridor to the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. (Sec. 302) Includes among the Act's purposes enhancing economic development within the context of preservation. (Sec. 303) Modifies provisions regarding: (1) membership of, terms of office for, and confirmation of appointment to the Delaware and Lehigh National Corridor Commission; and (2) powers of the Commission to authorize the conveyance of real property acquired by the Commission to an appropriate nonprofit organization, to authorize the Commission to enter into cooperative agreements with a nonprofit organization, and to require any cooperative agreement to establish procedures for providing notice to the Commission of any action proposed by a nonprofit organization which may affect implementation of the Cultural Heritage and Corridor Management Plan. (Sec. 304) Authorizes the Commission to administer any grant or loan from amounts appropriated, donated, or otherwise made available to the Commission for the purpose of providing a grant or loan. (Sec. 305) Directs the Commission to implement the Plan by taking appropriate steps to preserve and interpret the cultural, natural, recreational, and scenic (currently, limited to historic) resources of the Canal and its surrounding area. (Sec. 306) Terminates the Commission ten years after the date of this Act's enactment. (Sec. 307) Requires specified actions by any Federal entity conducting or supporting activities directly affecting the historic, cultural, natural, recreational, or scenic resources of the Corridor (currently, the flow of the Canal or the natural resources of the Corridor). (Sec. 308) Reauthorizes and increases appropriations under the Act. (Sec. 309) Prohibits the Commission from interfering with private property rights or any local zoning ordinance or land use plan of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any political subdivision. (Sec. 310) Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, upon request of the Commission, to provide grants and technical assistance to the Commission or units of government, nonprofit organizations, and other persons, for development and implementation of the plan. Subtitle B: Automobile National Heritage Area of Michigan - Establishes the Automobile National Heritage Area in the State of Michigan. Authorizes the Secretary to add or remove lands from the Area in response to a request from the Automobile National Heritage Area Partnership, Inc. (a nonprofit corporation established under Michigan laws). (Sec. 314) Designates the Partnership as the management entity for the Area and authorizes it to receive amounts appropriated to carry out this Act. Provides that if a management plan for the Area is not submitted to the Secretary within the time specified in this Act, the Partnership shall cease to be authorized to receive Federal funding until such a plan is submitted. Sets forth authorized uses of, and a limitation on, such funds by the Partnership. (Sec. 315) Requires the Board of Directors of the Partnership to develop and submit to the Secretary a management plan for the Area for review and approval. (Sec. 316) Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical assistance and, subject to the availability of appropriations, grants to government units, nonprofit organizations, and other persons upon request of the Partnership, and to the Partnership, regarding the management plan and its implementation. Prohibits the Secretary, as a condition of the award of technical assistance or grants, from requiring any recipient of such technical assistance or a grant to enact or modify land use restrictions. (Sec. 317) Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to: (1) modify, enlarge, or diminish any authority of Federal, State, or local governments to regulate any use of land under any other law or regulation; (2) grant powers of zoning or land use control to the Partnership; or (3) affect or to authorize the Partnership to interfere with the rights of any person with respect to private property or any local zoning ordinance or land use plan of the State of Michigan or a political subdivision thereof. (Sec. 318) Prohibits the Secretary from making any grant or providing any assistance under this Act after September 30, 2014. (Sec. 319) Authorizes appropriations. Limits Federal funding to 50 percent of the total cost of any activity carried out with any financial assistance or grant provided under this Act. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Extends, through FY 2000, the authorization of appropriations for preservation of structures on or eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places within the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. (Sec. 322) Amends the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor Act of 1984 to extend the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor Commission to August 24, 2004. Repeals provisions granting the Commission extension authority. Title IV: Historic Areas - Requires the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park Service and in consultation with the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Midway Memorial Foundation, Inc., the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Battle of Coral Sea Association, the American Legion, or other appropriate veterans groups, respectively, and Midway Phoenix Corporation, to study and report to specified congressional committees on the suitability and feasibility of establishing Midway Atoll as a national memorial to the Battle of Midway. Requires that the report include an inventory of all known facilities and structures of historical significance on Midway Atoll and its environs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 402) Amends the National Historic Preservation Act to direct the Secretary, in order to provide a national historic light station program, to: (1) collect and disseminate information concerning such stations; (2) foster educational programs relating to the history, practice, and contribution to society of such stations; (3) sponsor or conduct research and study into the history of such stations; (4) maintain a listing of such stations; and (5) assess the effectiveness of the program regarding the conveyance of such stations. Directs the Secretary and the Administrator of General Services to establish a process for identifying and selecting an eligible entity to which a station could be conveyed for education, park, recreation, cultural, and historic preservation purposes. Requires: (1) the Secretary to review all applicants for the conveyance of a station identified as excess to an agency's needs and forward to the Administrator a single approved application for such station; and (2) the Administrator to convey such station, subject to specified conditions that include a requirement that active aids to navigation continue to be operated and maintained by the United States if considered necessary by the Administrator. Prohibits stations located within the exterior boundary of a National Park System unit or a refuge within the National Wildlife Refuge System from being conveyed or sold without the Secretary's approval. Requires: (1) a station to be offered for sale in accordance with terms developed by the Administrator if no applicants are approved for conveyance; and (2) net sale proceeds to be transferred to the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program. Requires any Federal department or agency to which a station is conveyed to maintain the station in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the Secretary's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 403) Establishes the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in New York State as an affiliated area of the National Park System. Provides that the Greene County Historical Society of Greene County, New York, shall continue to own, manage, and operate the Site. Requires the Society to administer the Site in a manner consistent with this Act and all laws generally applicable to National Park System units. Authorizes the Secretary enter into cooperative agreements with the: (1) Society to preserve the Thomas Cole House and other structures in the Site and to assist with education programs and research and interpretation of the Thomas Cole House and associated landscapes; (2) State of New York, the Society, the Thomas Cole Foundation, and other public and private entities to facilitate public understanding and enjoyment of the lives and works of the Hudson River artists through activities related to the preservation, interpretation, and use of the Site; and (3) acquire personal property and works of art associated with, and appropriate for, the interpretation of the Site and for display at the Site. Directs the Secretary, with the cooperation of the Society, to develop and submit to specified congressional committees a general management plan for the Site, including recommendations for regional wayside exhibits. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 404) Amends Federal law to include within the Valley Forge National Historical Park the Paoli Battlefield in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Authorizes appropriations to acquire Battlefield property, if a specified amount of non-Federal funds are available for the acquisition (and subsequent donation to the National Park Service) of such property. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a cooperative agreement with Malvern Borough for the Borough management of the Battlefield Addition. (Sec. 405) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements to provide to Arizona and the town of Springerville, Arizona, technical assistance to interpret, operate, and maintain the Casa Malpais National Historical Landmark and financial assistance for planning, staff training, and development of the Landmark, but not other routine operations. Provides that such agreements may also: (1) grant the Secretary, acting through the National Park Service, access to public portions of the property covered by the agreements for the purpose of interpreting the Landmark; and (2) prohibit changes or alterations to the Landmark except by mutual agreement between the Secretary and the other parties to all such agreements. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 406) Designates the Lower East Side Tenement at 97 Orchard Street, New York, New York, as a national historic site and an affiliated site of the National Park System. Requires the Secretary to coordinate the operation and interpretation of the Site with that of the Lower East Side Tenement Historic Site, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Castle Clinton National Monument. Provides that the Lower East Side Tenement Museum shall continue to own, operate, and manage the Site. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Museum to ensure the marking, interpretation, and preservation of the Site. Requires the Secretary, working with the Museum, to develop a general management plan for the Site to: (1) define the National Park Service's roles and responsibilities with regard to the interpretation and the preservation of the Site; and (2) outline how interpretation and programming for the Lower East Side Tenement Historic Site, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Castle Clinton National Monuments will be integrated and coordinated so as to enhance the stories at each of the four Sites. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 407) Gateway Visitor Center Authorization Act of 1998 - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Gateway Visitor Center Corporation to facilitate the construction and operation of the Gateway Visitor Center on Independence Mall, in Philadelphia. Authorizes: (1) the Corporation to operate the Center in cooperation with the Secretary and to provide at the Center information, interpretation, facilities, and services to visitors of Independence National Historical Park, its surrounding historic sites, the city of Philadelphia, and the region and, acting as a private nonprofit organization, to engage in activities appropriate for operation of a regional visitor center; and (2) the Secretary to undertake, at the Center, activities relating to the management of the Park. Requires revenues from activities engaged in by the Corporation to be used for the Center's operation and administration. Declares that nothing in this Act authorizes the Secretary or the Corporation to take any action in derogation of the preservation and protection of the values and resources of the Park. (Sec. 408) Establishes the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama as a unit of the National Park System. Requires the Secretary, with the full participation of Tuskegee University, to develop and submit to specified congressional committees a general management plan for the Site. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 409) Establishes the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Arkansas, as a unit of the National Park System. Requires the Secretary, within two years after funds are made available, to: (1) prepare a general management plan for the Site; and (2) prepare and transmit to specified congressional committees a National Historic Landmark Theme Study on the history of desegregation in public education. Requires the Secretary, on the basis of the study, to identify possible new national historic landmarks appropriate to this theme and prepare a list in order of importance or merit of the most appropriate sites for national historic landmark designation. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 410) Directs the Secretary to submit a resource study of the Sand Creek Massacre site in Colorado to specified congressional committees. Requires the Secretary to act through the Director of the National Park Service and consult with the State of Colorado and the tribes of the Cheyenne and Arapaho of Oklahoma, the Northern Cheyenne, and the Northern Arapaho (the Tribes). Requires the study to: (1) identify the location and extent of the massacre area and the suitability and feasibility of designating the site as a unit of the National Park System; and (2) include cost estimates for any necessary acquisition, development, operation and maintenance, and identification of alternatives for the management and protection of the area. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 411) Sets forth provisions providing for the protection and enhancement of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, including private acquisition or use of secondary and surplus land controlled by the Secretary and administered as part of the Park and which was first included in the Park in the period beginning January 1, 1972, and ending December 31, 1983. Title V: San Rafael Swell - San Rafael Swell National Heritage and Conservation Act - Subtitle: San Rafael Swell National Heritage Area - Designates the San Rafael Swell National Heritage Area in Utah. (Sec. 514) Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make grants for specified uses, but not for acquisition of real property or any interest in real property. (Sec. 515) Prescribes necessary elements of: (1) any compact with respect to the Area entered into by the Secretary, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Governor of Utah, in coordination with the Heritage Council established by this subtitle; and (2) the heritage plan setting forth the strategy to implement the goals and objectives of the Area. (Sec. 516) Establishes the Heritage Council to manage the Area and develop a heritage plan in accordance with the compact. (Sec. 517) Sets forth disclaimers with respect to land use regulation. (Sec. 518) Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle: San Rafael Swell National Conservation Area -- Establishes the San Rafael Swell National Conservation Area, which the Secretary shall manage to conserve, protect, and enhance its resources. Sec. 523) Directs the Secretary to develop a comprehensive plan for the long-range management and protection of the Conservation Area. (Sec. 525) Establishes a San Rafael Swell National Conservation Area Advisory Council. Subtitle C: Wilderness Areas within the Conservation Area - Designates the following areas within the Conservation Area as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: (1) Crack Canyon Wilderness Area; (2) Mexican Mountain Wilderness Area; (3) Muddy Creek Wilderness Area; and (4) San Rafael Reef Wilderness Area. (Sec. 533) Declares that grazing of livestock within designated wilderness areas: (1) shall be administered according to specified law and guidelines; and (2) shall not be reduced, increased, or withdrawn, except based solely on scientific analyses of range conditions. (Sec. 534) Declares that any public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management within the Conservation Area in Emery County, Utah, that is not designated as wilderness by this subtitle: (1) shall not be subject to management for preservation as wilderness; but (2) shall be managed for multiple uses and in accordance with certain land management plans. Subtitle D: Other Special Management Areas Within Conservation Area - Establishes within the Conservation Area a San Rafael Swell Desert Bighorn Sheep Management Area to provide for the prudent management of Desert Bighorn Sheep and their habitat in the Sid's Mountain area of the Conservation Area. Prescribes requirements for management and use of the Management Area. Directs the Secretary to include a management plan for the Area in the Conservation Area management plan. (Sec. 542) Directs the Secretary to designate within the Conservation Area certain semi-primitive nonmotorized use areas, which shall provide opportunities for: (1) isolation from the sights and sounds of humans (including their motorized vehicles); (2) a high degree of interaction with the natural environment; and (3) the practice of outdoor skills in settings that present moderate challenge and risk. (Sec. 543) Directs the Secretary to designate within the Conservation Area a specified scenic visual area of critical environmental concern to preserve the scenic value of the Interstate Route 70 corridor. Subtitle E: General Management Provisions - Requires the Secretary to permit domestic livestock grazing within areas of the Conservation Area where grazing was established before enactment of this Act, except in wilderness areas. (Sec. 552) Directs the Secretary to authorize the discovery of, protect, and (at the Secretary's discretion) interpret cultural or paleontological resources within the Conservation Area. (Sec. 553) Provides for the exchange of Federal lands or interests in lands with the State of Utah for any school and institutional trust lands of the State whose value or economic potential may be diminished by establishment of the Conservation Area. (Sec. 554) Declares that there is no express or implied Federal reservation of water or water rights arising from the designation of any area as part of the Conservation Area or as a wilderness or semi-primitive area under this Act. Authorizes the United States to acquire and exercise, in accordance with State law, such water rights as necessary to carry out its responsibilities on any land designated as part of the Conservation Area. (Sec. 555) Declares that nothing in this Act affects the State jurisdiction or responsibilities with respect to fish and wildlife management activities. Declares that the Congress does not intend that the designation of the Conservation Area or any wilderness or semi-primitive area lead to the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones around the area, but only within it. Provides for: (1) the set back of boundaries from roads and rights-of- way; and (2) acquisition of land from non-governmental entities by exchange or purchase only. Title VI: National Parks - Amends Federal law to include in the land and water use management plan for the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan, provisions for appropriate improvements to Alger County Road H-58. Prohibits construction of a scenic shoreline drive in the Lakeshore. (Sec. 602) Modifies the boundary of the Arches National Park, Utah, to include the Lost Spring Canyon Addition (Area). Requires the Secretary of the Interior to transfer jurisdiction over the Federal lands contained in the Area from the Bureau of Land Management to the National Park Service to be administered in accordance with the laws and regulations applicable to the Park. Continues existing grazing leases, permits, or licenses for the Area for the lifetime of the existing permittee and of any direct descendants of the permittee born before enactment of this Act. Allows the sale of such grazing lease, permit, or license, except that the term of a sold lease, permit, or license shall not exceed ten years or its retirement date, whichever occurs first. Withdraws Federal lands within the Area from the public land and mineral leasing laws. Provides that the inclusion of the Area in the Park shall not affect the operation or maintenance by the Northwest Pipeline Corporation of the natural gas pipeline that passes through the Area. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to transfer specified Federal lands to the State of Utah in exchange for specified State school trust lands, if the State offers such exchange within one year after enactment of this Act. Subjects such exchanged lands to valid existing rights. Specifies requirements to be satisfied by the State before undertaking or permitting any surface disturbing activities. Requires the State to preserve existing grazing, recreational, and wildlife uses of such lands. Permits Utah to authorize or undertake surface or mineral activities authorized by existing or future land management plans for the acquired lands. (Sec. 603) Terminates a Special Use Permit, issued by the Secretary to the Miccosukee Indian Tribe on February 1, 1973, authorizing such Tribe's use of a specified area of the northern portion of Everglades National Park, Florida. Expands the area covered by the former Permit, to be known as the Miccosukee Reserved Area (MRA). Directs the Tribe to govern its own affairs within the MRA as though it were a Federal Indian reservation. Gives the Tribe exclusive use and occupancy over the MRA in perpetuity. Confers Indian Country status on the MRA, with exclusive Federal jurisdiction. Directs the Tribe to prevent and abate any significant: (1) water quality, quantity, or distribution degradation; (2) propagation of exotic plants or animals outside the MRA; (3) hindrance to public access to Park areas outside the MRA; and (4) cumulative adverse environmental impact on the Park outside the MRA resulting from development or other activities within the MRA. Requires the Tribe to: (1) develop, publish, and implement procedures assuring adequate public notice and opportunity to comment on major tribal actions within the MRA that may have a significant cumulative adverse impact on the Everglades ecosystem; and (2) adopt and comply with water quality standards within the MRA that are at least as protective as those for the Park areas approved under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Restricts buildings within the MRA to 45 feet or two stories in height, with exceptions for: (1) a structure within the Miccosukee Government Center; and (2) certain public service structures. Authorizes the waiver of such restriction by the Secretary when appropriate. Provides other limitations, including gaming and aviation, within the MRA. Directs the Secretary and the tribal chairman to reach required agreements under this Act, authorizing the use of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Provides general authorities, including easements and access rights to Federal agents to monitor tribal compliance with this Act. States that nothing in this Act shall enhance or diminish current water rights. Authorizes the Attorney General or the Tribe to bring suit to enforce this Act. (Sec. 604) Adjusts the boundaries of the Cumberland Island Wilderness, Georgia to exclude and to include certain lands if the proposed land exchange being negotiated between the Secretary and the Nature Conservancy and High Point, Inc. is agreed to with regard to Cumberland Island National Seashore and Cumberland Island Wilderness. Excludes the main road on Cumberland Island (as described on the register of national historic places), the spur road that provides access to Plum Orchard mansion, and such limited area on each side of these roads as necessary, from the boundaries of the Cumberland Island Wilderness and the potential wilderness area. Requires the Secretary to: (1) restore Plum Orchard mansion at Cumberland Island National Seashore so that the condition of the restored mansion is at least equal to the condition of the mansion when it was donated to the United States; and (2) submit a comprehensive plan for the repair, stabilization, and restoration of the mansion to such condition. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) identify, document, and protect archaeological sites located on Federal land within the Seashore; and (2) prepare and implement a plan to preserve designated national historic sites within the Seashore. Designates, subject to valid existing rights and pre-existing uses, a specified parcel of Federal land within Cumberland Island National Seashore as wilderness and a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Adjusts the boundaries of the Cumberland Island Wilderness to include the parcel. (Sec. 605) Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Park Service, to undertake feasibility studies and report to the Congress on the establishment of National Park System units in specified areas of the islands of Maui, Lanai, Kauai, and Molokai of Hawaii (including the feasibility of extending the present National Historic Park boundaries at Kalaupapa Settlement eastward to Halawa Valley along the island's north shore). (Sec. 606) Amends the Antiquities Act to prohibit the President from issuing a proclamation designating more than 50,000 acres in a single State in a single calendar year as a national monument until 30 days after the President has transmitted the proposed proclamation to the Governor of the affected State. Provides that the proclamation shall cease to be effective two years after it is issued unless the Congress has approved it by joint resolution. (Sec. 607) Amends Federal law regarding Channel Islands National Park, California, to direct the Secretaryto grant to specified individuals rights of use and occupancy of the Gherini Ranch on Santa Cruz Island for a term of 25 years. (Sec. 608) Authorizes the Secretary to acquire up to 15 acres of land known as the Warren Property or Mount Kimble, to be included in and administered as part of Morristown National Historical Park. (Sec. 609) Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to allow the Secretary in any fiscal year to withhold from the special Treasury account established for a Federal agency 100 percent of the fees and charges (such as recreational use fees) collected by such agency in connection with any National Park System (NPS) unit at which entrance or admission fees cannot be collected by reason of deed restrictions. Requires such amounts to be retained for expenditure by the Secretary, without further appropriation, for such NPS unit. (Sec. 610) Provides for an additional map to depict lands added to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia, pursuant to this Act. Allows, after July 1, 1999, the Secretary to modify the boundaries of the Area to include other lands within 2,000 feet of each bank of the River by submitting a revised map or other boundary description to the Congress. Prohibits such revised boundaries from taking place if the Congress adopts a Joint Resolution disapproving the revision. Permits, before such date, a landowner whose land or portion thereof is within 2,000 feet of each bank of the River, to notify the Secretary that such land is not to be included within the revised boundaries of the Area. Requires the Secretary to modify the boundaries to exclude such land upon receipt of its legal description. Increases the total acreage limitation for the Area to 10,000 (currently, approximately 6,800). Repeals Federal provisions providing for exchange of Federal lands within the Area for non-Federal lands within its boundaries. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with other entities (currently, Georgia and its political subdivisions) to assure standardized acquisition, planning, design, construction, and operation of the Area. Decreases from $79.4 million to $25 million the cap on the authorization of appropriations for acquisition of land and interests in land for the Area. Authorizes the Secretary to accept the donation of funds and lands or interests in lands to carry out this Act. Requires the Secretary, within three years after enactment of this Act, to submit to specified congressional committees a revision of the general management plan for the Area. Prohibits the acquisition of lands and interests in lands under this Act without the owner's consent. Title VII: Reauthorization -Amends the National Historic Preservation Act to authorize (current law requires) the Secretary of the Interior to undertake a review of the nomination of a property for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places as a national historic landmark when an objection to such inclusion has been made. Authorizes the Secretary to administer grants (current law requires the Secretary to administer a program of matching grants-in-aid) to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. Requires a State or Indian tribe to be solely responsible for determining which professional employees are necessary to carry out its duties relating to the administration of an historic preservation program. Limits Federal properties under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol that are exempt from requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act to those properties depicted on a specified map to be kept on file in the office of the Secretary. Extends through FY 2004 funding for the Historic Preservation Fund. Requires Federal agencies: (1) prior to procuring buildings for carrying out agency responsibilities, to use historic properties available to the agency to the maximum extent feasible, especially in central business areas; and (2) when locating Federal facilities, to give first consideration to historic properties in historic districts, then to developed or undeveloped sites within such districts, and finally to historic properties outside of such districts. Requires any rehabilitation or construction undertaken pursuant to such Act to be architecturally compatible with the character of the surrounding historic district or properties. Extends through FY 2004 the budget authority for the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. (Sec. 702) Reauthorizes the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Citizen Advisory Commission until October 31, 2008. (Sec. 703) Increases from $1 million to $4 million the authorization of additional appropriations for the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route. Extends the Secretary's authority with respect to such Route until May 4, 2004. Includes the township of Woodbridge, New Jersey, as a cultural site along the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route. (Sec. 704) Amends the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 to extend, for an additional ten years, the authorization for the Upper Delaware Citizens Advisory Council. Title VIII: Rivers and Trails - Amends the National Trails System Act to provide for the establishment, as components of the National Trails System, of national discovery trails which shall be extended, continuous interstate trails located so as to provide for outdoor recreation and travel and to connect representative examples of America's trails and communities. Permits such trails to be designated on nonfederal lands, with an owner's consent. Prohibits a trail from being considered feasible and desirable for designation as a national discovery trail unless : (1) the trail links one or more areas within the boundaries of a metropolitan area and joins with other trails, tying the National Trails System to significant recreation and resources areas; (2) the trail is supported by at least one competent trailwide volunteer-based organization and has extensive local and trailwide support by the public, user groups, and affected State and local governments; (3) the trail extends and passes through more than one State and, at a minimum, is a continuous, walkable route; and (4) the appropriate Secretary obtains written consent from affected landowners before entering nonpublic lands to conduct surveys or studies of nonpublic lands. Exempts national discovery trails from Federal provisions authorizing the Secretary to use condemnation proceedings to acquire private lands without the owner's consent. Designates as a national discovery trail the 6,000-mile American Discovery Trail which shall extend from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes National Seashore in California, traveling northern and southern routes from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Denver, Colorado. Requires: (1) the Trail to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior in cooperation with at least one competent trailwide volunteer-based organization, affected land managing agencies, and State and local governments as appropriate; and (2) the responsible Secretary, within three complete fiscal years after designation of a national discovery trail, to submit a comprehensive plan for the protection, management, development, and use of the Federal portions of the trail and provide technical assistance to States, local units of government, and private landowners, as requested, for nonfederal portions of the trail. (Sec. 802) Amends the National Trails System Act to designate the Lincoln National Historic Trail (a trail of approximately 350 miles extending from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River with an extension of the water route down the River to connect with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail near Wood River, Illinois as a component of the National Trails System. Designates an extension of such water route down the Sangamon River from Beardstown to Springfield for study as an addition to such System. Amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers in Massachusetts as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Requires the segments to be: (1) administered by the Secretary through cooperative agreements between the Secretary and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its relevant political subdivisions; and (2) managed in accordance with the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Wild and Scenic River Study, River Conservation Plan which shall be deemed to satisfy the requirement for a comprehensive management plan pursuant to the Act. Requires the Director of the National Park Service to represent the Secretary in the implementation of the Conservation Plan and the provisions of the Act with respect to the segments. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 803) Requires the Secretary: (1) acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, to establish the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming, for the interpretation of the historic trails in the vicinity of Casper, including the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail, the Pony Express Trail, the Bridger Trail, the Bozeman Trail, and various Indian routes; and (2) to construct, operate, and maintain facilities for the Center. Allows the Secretary to: (1) accept, retain, and expend donations of funds, property, or services from individuals, foundations, corporations, or public entities for development and operation of the Center; (2) collect an entrance fee from visitors to the Center; and (3) use such fees for the Center's operating expenses. Authorizes appropriations. Title IX: Hazardous Fuels Reduction - Community Protection and Hazardous Fuels Reduction Act of 1998 - Subtitle A: Management of Wildland-Urban Interface Areas - Requires the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service to identify wildlife-urban interface areas (the line, area, or zone where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuel) with hazardous fuels buildups and other forest management needs. (Sec. 912) Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture or of the Interior to (temporarily) enter into forest product sales contracts in order to reduce hazardous fuels buildups in such areas, which may require the purchaser to undertake forest management projects under specified conditions in return for forest management credits. Limits such credits to $75 million per fiscal year. Subtitle B: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the Secretary concerned to issue implementing regulations within a specified time. Authorizes program appropriations. Title X: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes the Government of India to establish a memorial to honor Mahatma Gandhi on specified Federal land in the District of Columbia. Prohibits the United States from paying any expense of establishing the memorial. (Sec. 1002) National Cave and Karst Research Institute Act of 1997 - Requires the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park Service, to establish the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in the vicinity and outside the boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. Limits Federal funding to matching funds. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 1003) Establishes the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty Land Claims Commission to determine the validity of land claims arising out of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo of 1848. Authorizes to petition the Commission, on behalf of themselves and all other descendants, ten or more eligible Mexican descendants in the State of New Mexico who are also descendants of the same community land grant. Directs the Commission to establish a Community Land Grant Study Center. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 1004) Designates specified public lands in the California Desert District of the Bureau of Land Management as the Otay Mountain Wilderness. Declares that such designation: (1) shall not preclude Federal, State, or local government drug interdiction and border operations or wildland fire management operations within the Wilderness; and (2) is not intended to lead to the creation of protective buffer zones around the Wilderness. (Sec. 1005) Directs the Secretary to: (1) purchase the Wilcox Ranch in Eastern Utah; and (2) transfer the surface estate to such lands to the State of Utah for management by the State Division of Wildlife Resources for wildlife habitat and public access. Authorizes the Secretary to use not more than $5 million from the land and water conservation fund for the purchase. (Sec. 1006) Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Completion Act - Requires the Secretary to acquire, by exchange, the mineral and geothermal interests of each company (Burlington Northern, Incorporated or the Weyerhaeuser Company) in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in the State of Washington. Sets forth requirements and administrative procedures for such exchange, including requiring the Secretary, in exchange for all mineral and geothermal interests acquired from each company, to issue to each such company monetary credits with a value of $2.1 million that may be used for the payment of: (1) not more than 50 percent of the bonus or other payments made by successful bidders in any sales of mineral, oil, gas, or geothermal leases under the Mineral Leasing Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, or the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 in the contiguous 48 States; (2) not more than ten percent of the bonus or other payments made by successful bidders in any sales of such leases under such Acts; (3) not more than 50 percent of any royalty, rental, or advance royalty payment made to the United States to maintain any mineral, oil, or gas, or geothermal lease in the 48 contiguous States issued under such Acts; or (4) not more than ten percent of any royalty, rental, or advance royalty payment made to the United States to maintain any mineral, oil, or gas, or geothermal lease in Alaska issued under such Acts. Requires the Secretary to accept credits in the same manner as cash for the payments. Requires that all amounts in the form of credits accepted by the Secretary for the payments be considered to be money received for the purpose of the Mineral Leasing Act and the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970. Directs the Secretary, not later than 30 days after the completion of the required exchange with a company, to establish an exchange account for that company for the monetary credits issued to it. Permits: (1) a company to transfer or sell any credits in the company's account to another person; and (2) such credits transferred or sold to be used only by a person that is qualified to bid on, or that holds, a mineral, oil, or gas lease under the Mineral Leasing Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, or the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970. Terminates an account created for a company five years after creation. Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on: (1) all remaining privately held mineral interests within the boundaries of the Monument; and (2) a plan and a timetable by which the Secretary would propose to complete the acquisition of such interests. (Sec. 1007) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), with respect to the Emigrant Wilderness in the Stanislaus National Forest, California, to enter into an agreement with a non-Federal entity to retain, maintain, and operate at private expense 18 concrete dams and weirs at levels that applied to them before enactment of a specified Act (January 3, 1975). (Sec. 1008) Granite Watershed Enhancement and Protection Act of 1997 - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a five-year contract with a single private contractor to perform multiple resource management activities (reduction of forest fuel loads, monitoring of wildlife and water quality in the Granite watershed) on Federal lands within the Stanislaus National Forest, California, to demonstrate enhanced water quality at reduced Government cost. (Sec. 1009) Authorizes the Secretary to remove dead, downed, or severely root-sprung trees in accordance with certain alternative arrangements approved by the Council on Environmental Quality for forests and grasslands in Texas in specified National Forest areas in Colorado, Utah, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, Kentucky, and Florida. Authorizes the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior, respectively, to request Council approval of alternative tree removal arrangements in cases of catastrophic forest conditions. (Sec. 1010) Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to public lands, or the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to national forest system lands, from imposing liability without fault for fire suppression costs incurred by the United States with respect to a right-of-way if the right-of-way holder is a not-for-profit entity, including one that uses such right-of-way for electricity delivery to parties having an equity interest in the not-for-profit entity. (Sec. 1011) Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to conduct a study regarding improved outdoor recreational access for persons with disabilities. (Sec. 1012) Designates the site located directly below Inspirational Point within the San Jacinto Ranger District of the San Bernardino National Forest, California, on which communications facilities are located on August 1, 1998, to be used for communication purposes by the persons who operate such facilities until such time as such persons no longer require the use of such site and provide written notice to that effect to the Forest Service. (Sec. 1013) Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit fees from being assessed against a Federal, State, or local government agency (currently, Federal) regarding negotiations between the Secretary and persons concerning an agreement for the use of Outer Continental Shelf sand, gravel, and shell resources based on an assessment of the value of the resources and the public interest served by promoting development of them. (Sec. 1014) Subjects to the Mineral Leasing Act certain Federal reserved mineral interests conveyed by specified United States land patents. Authorizes any person who acquires a lease under the Act for such mineral interests to exercise the Federal right of entry reserved in such patents by occupying the surface required for purposes reasonably incident to exploration, extraction, and removal of the leased minerals. Prescribes permissible means of occupancy. (Sec. 1015) Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into noncompetitive oil and gas production and reclamation contracts with well operators in the Wayne National Forest (Ohio) who meet specified statutory criteria pursuant to private land mineral leases, subject to the same laws and regulations that applied to such leases. Proscribes contractual arrangements authorizing deeper completions or additional drilling. Requires contracts to require contractors to provide a Federal oil and gas bond to ensure complete and timely reclamation of the former lease tract in accordance with regulations of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service, unless the Secretary accepts in lieu thereof assurances from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, that: (1) the contractor is in compliance with specified Ohio bonding requirements; (2) the United States is entitled to receive funding under Ohio law to properly plug and restore oil and gas sites and lease tracts; and (3) at least 20 percent of Ohio State severance tax revenues have been allocated to the State of Ohio Orphan Well Fund. Declares that, in entering into any contract under this Act, the Secretary shall reserve the right to require contractor compliance with BLM and Forest Service oil and gas lease bonding requirements whenever the Secretary finds that less than 20 percent of State severance tax revenues has been allocated to such Fund. (Sec. 1016) Authorizes the Washington Interdependence Council of the District of Columbia to establish a memorial in the District to honor and commemorate the accomplishments of Benjamin Banneker. Prohibits the use of Federal funds to pay any expense for establishment of such memorial. Title XI: Amendments and Technical Corrections to 1996 Omnibus Parks Act - Subtitle A: Technical Corrections to the Omnibus Parks Act - Amends the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 (the Act) to make technical corrections to provisions concerning the: (1) Presidio of San Francisco; (2) Colonial National Historical Park; (3) Merced Irrigation District; (4) Big Thicket National Preserve; (5) Kenai Natives Association land exchange; (6) Lamprey Wild and Scenic River; (7) Vancouver National Historic Reserve; (8) Memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr.; (9) Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; (10) Great Falls Historic District, New Jersey; (11) New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park; (12) Nicodemus National Historic Site; (13) Aleutian World War II National Historic Area; (14) Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic Preservation Study; (15) Shenandoah Valley Battlefields; (16) Washita Battlefield; (17) ski area permit rental charge; (18) Glacier Bay National Park; (19) Robert J. Lagomarsino visitor center; (20) National Park Service administrative reform; (21) Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor; (22) Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve; (23) recreation lakes; (24) Fossil Forest protection; (25) Opal Creek Wilderness and Scenic Recreation Area; (26) Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area; (27) Natchez National Historical Park; (28) regulation of fishing in certain waters of Alaska;(29) National Coal Heritage Area; (30) Tennessee Civil War Heritage Area; (31) Augusta Canal National Heritage Area; (32) Essex National Heritage Area; and (33) Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor. Subtitle B: Other Amendments to Omnibus Parks Act - Amends the Act to extend, until October 27, 2003, the authority of the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Foundation to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia or its environs. Title XII: Dutch John Federal Property Disposition and Assistance - Dutch John Federal Property Disposition and Assistance Act of 1998 - Provides for the transfer or disposal of certain Federal properties at Dutch John, Utah. (Sec. 1206) Transfers lands designated for disposal from the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, to the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation (BLM), and, if appropriate, the Postal Service. Removes such lands from inclusion in the Ashley National Forest and the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to transfer administrative jurisdiction over certain lands acquired for the Central Utah Project and developed for wildlife mitigation to the Secretary. Incorporates such lands into the Ashley or Uinta National Forests. Directs the Secretary to transfer administrative jurisdiction over certain lands to the Postal Service. (Sec. 1209) Requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct appraisals to determine the fair market value of properties designated for disposal. (Sec. 1210) Conveys specified infrastructure facilities, land, and public schools to Daggett County, and certain facilities of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to the Division, without consideration. Sets forth requirements for the purchase of disposed residential properties. Bases priority in purchasing on seniority of reclamation lease or residency in Dutch John. Limits households to one residential lot. Sets forth requirements for the purchase of unoccupied lots, special use lands, and church land. Transfers all water rights to the Dutch John municipal water system to the County, subject to certain conditions. Requires the Secretary to consider issuance of a special use permit affording Flaming Gorge Reservoir public shoreline access and use within the vicinity of Dutch John in conjunction with commercial visitor facilities provided under such a permit. (Sec. 1212) Directs the Secretary, before transfer or disposal of any land that contains cultural resources and may be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, to prepare a memorandum of agreement, for review and approval by the Utah Office of Historical Preservation and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, that contains a strategy for protecting or mitigating adverse effects on cultural resources. Conveys such land to the County upon completion of actions required under the agreement. (Sec. 1213) Requires the Secretary of the Interior to provide training and transitional operating assistance to County personnel designated as successors to operators of conveyed infrastructure facilities. Provides for annual payments to the County, for up to 15 years, for purposes of defraying administrative transition costs. Makes available a limited amount of electric power and energy from the Colorado River Storage Project for the Dutch John community. (Sec. 1214) Authorizes appropriations. Title XIII: Reclamation Project Conveyances and Miscellaneous Provisions - Subtitle A: Sly Park Dam and Reservoir, California - Sly Park Unit Conveyance Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey the Sly Park Dam and Reservoir, Camp Creek Diversion Dam and Tunnel, and conduits and canals held by the United States (the project) to the El Dorado Irrigation District, California, in consideration of the District accepting the Government's obligations for the Project and subject to District payment of the net present value of the remaining repayment obligation. Requires the transfer to be completed within 180 days if no changes in project operations are expected, and within two years if the District intends to change project operations. Requires the Secretary to: (1) bear all administrative costs if transfer does not occur within the authorized period; and (2) pay one-half of such costs otherwise. (Sec. 1316) Exempts the project from application of the Reclamation Act of 1902 upon such conveyance, except that the District is required to make payments into the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund for 31 years after the enactment of the Act. Calculates the District's obligation in the same manner as Central Valley Project water contractors. Subtitle B: Minidoka Project, Idaho - Burley Irrigation District Conveyance Act - Directs the Secretary to convey to the Burley Irrigation District, Idaho, the Southside Pumping Division of the Minidoka Project, Idaho, and related water rights in consideration of the District accepting the Government's obligations for the Project. Provides transfer completion and administrative costs requirements identical to those provided under subtitle A. (Sec. 1325) Continues the right of the Minidoka Irrigation District to the joint use of the gravity portion of the Southside Canal under a current contract. Directs the Secretary to: (1) allocate to the District storage space in three area reservoirs; and (2) provide the District with reserved power. Subtitle C: Carlsbad Irrigation Project, New Mexico - Carlsbad Irrigation Project Acquired Land Conveyance Act - Directs the Secretary to convey to the Carlsbad Irrigation District, New Mexico, specified real property within the Carlsbad Project in New Mexico and all U.S. interests in Project irrigation and drainage system and related ditch rider houses, the maintenance shop and buildings, and Pecos River Flume. Provides transfer completion and administrative costs requirements identical to those provided under subtitle A. (Sec. 1336) Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide a written identification of all mineral and grazing leases in effect on Project lands; and (2) notify all leaseholders of the conveyance authorized by this title. Requires the District to assume all U.S. rights and obligations under existing mineral and grazing leases, licenses, and permits and entitles the District to any associated receipts. Requires receipts paid into the reclamation fund as Project credits to be made available for the payment of administrative costs. Subtitle D: Palmetto Bend Project, Texas - Palmetto Bend Conveyance Act - Requires the Secretary to convey the Palmetto Bend reclamation project, Texas, to the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority and the Texas Water Development Board, jointly, in consideration of their accepting the Government's obligations for the project and subject to their payment of the net present value of the remaining repayment obligation. Provides transfer completion and administrative costs requirements identical to those provided under subtitle A. (Sec. 1344) Prohibits Lake Texana from being used to wheel water originating from the Texas, Colorado River. Subtitle E : Wellton-Mohawk Division, Gila Project, Arizona - Wellton-Mohawk Division Title Transfer Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary to convey to the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District, Arizona, the Wellton-Mohawk Division, Gila Project in Arizona, in consideration of the District accepting the Government's obligations for the Project and subject to the payment of fair market value for District lands that have been withdrawn from public use for reclamation purposes. Provides transfer completion and administrative costs requirements identical to those provided under subtitle A. (Sec. 1357) Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Energy to deliver Colorado River water and Parker-Davis Project Priority Use power to the District under the terms of existing contracts. Subtitle F : Canadian River Project, Texas - Canadian River Project Prepayment Act - Authorizes prepayment of amounts due under a Bureau of Reclamation water reclamation project contract for the Canadian River Project, Texas. Directs the Secretary, upon such payment, to convey to the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority all U.S. rights and interests to the Project pipeline and related facilities authorized under such contract. Subtitle G : Clear Creek Distribution System, California - Clear Creek Distribution System Conveyance Act - Directs the Secretary to convey title to the Clear Creek Distribution System, California, to the Clear Creek Community Services District in consideration of the District accepting the Government's obligations for the System. Provides transfer completion and administrative costs requirements identical to those provided under subtitle A. Subtitle H : Pine River Project, Colorado - Vallecito Dam and Reservoir Conveyance Act - Directs the Secretary to convey to the Pine River Irrigation District, Colorado, an undivided five-sixths interest in the Pine River Project (the Vallecito Dam and Reservoir and associated interests) in consideration of the District accepting the Government's obligations under the Project. Requires the District, prior to such conveyance, to submit to the Secretary a plan to manage the Project similarly to the manner in which it was previously managed. Provides transfer completion and administrative costs requirements identical to those provided under subtitle A. Directs the Secretary, at the option of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado, to convey to the Tribe an undivided one-sixth interest in the Project, all interests in lands in such area over which the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) holds administrative jurisdiction, and associated water rights. (Sec. 1384) Directs the: (1) Secretary to submit to the District, the BIA, and the State of Colorado a description of the current condition of Vallecito Dam; and (2) District to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a flood control plan for the operation of such Dam. Provides for: (1) the transfer of certain inundated lands along the Reservoir; and (2) appropriate administrative jurisdiction over such lands after such transfer. Subtitle I: Technical Corrections and Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978 to reduce (from 60 to 30 days after the Secretary of the Interior has transmitted a report on an existing dam to the Congress) the required waiting period before the obligation of reclamation funds provided under such Act. Amends the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992 to direct the Secretary to participate in the planning, design, and construction of the: (1) Albuquerque Metropolitan Area Water Reclamation and Reuse Project; and (2) Phoenix Metropolitan Water Reclamation and Reuse Project. Adds as a purpose of the Albuquerque project to reclaim and use nonpotable surface water in the Albuquerque metropolitan area. Directs the Secretary to refund all amounts received by the United States as collections under the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 for charges that were assessed for failure to file certain certification or reporting forms. Allows certain administrative fees to be retained. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1996 to extend the period of contract repayment for: (1) the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Nueces River Authority under the Nueces River reclamation project, Texas; and (2) the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority under the Canadian River reclamation project, Texas. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts with the Solano County Water Agency, or any of its member unit contractors for water from the Solano Project, California, pursuant to the Act of February 21, 1911 (subject to a limitation on the portion of the Project that may be used) for: (1) the impounding, storage, and carriage of nonproject water for domestic, municipal, industrial, and other beneficial purposes, using any facilities associated with the Project; and (2) the exchange of water among Project contractors for such purposes, using facilities associated with the Project. Authorizes the Secretary to use otherwise available amounts to provide up to $2 million in financial assistance to the Medford Irrigation District and the Rogue River Valley Irrigation District for the design and construction of fish passage and protective facilities at North Fork Little Butte Creek Diversion Dam and South Fork Little Butte Creek Diversion Dam in the Rogue River basin, Oregon, if the Secretary determines in writing that these facilities will enhance the fish recovery efforts currently underway at the Rogue River Basin Project, Oregon. (Sec. 1392) Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to construct: (1) a temperature control device and associated monitoring facilities on Folsom Dam to be operated as part of the Central Valley Project for the benefit and propagation of fall-run chinook salmon and steelhead trout in the American River, California; and (2) such a device and facilities on existing non-Federal facilities delivering Central Valley Project water from Folsom Reservoir. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 1393) Colusa Basin Watershed Integrated Resources Management Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance for use by the Colusa Basin Drainage District, California, or by local agencies for planning, design, environmental compliance, and construction required to carry out eligible projects in the Colusa Basin Watershed to: (1) reduce the risk of damage to urban and agricultural areas from flooding or the discharge of drainage water or tailwater; (2) assist in groundwater recharge efforts to alleviate overdraft and land subsidence; (3) construct, restore or preserve wetland and riparian habitat; and (4) capture surface or stormwater for conservation, conjunctive use, and increased water supplies. Requires the Secretary to ensure that funded projects are not inconsistent with watershed protection and environmental restoration efforts being carried out under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act or the CALFED Bay-Delta Program. Directs the Secretary to require that the District and cooperating non-Federal agencies or organizations pay: (1) 25 percent of project costs; and (2) 100 percent of project operation, maintenance, and replacement and rehabilitation costs. Permits funds appropriated pursuant to this Act to be made available: (1) to fund all costs incurred for planning, design, and environmental compliance activities by the District or by local agencies in accordance with agreements with the Secretary; and (2) only to a District or a local agency that has entered into a binding agreement with the Secretary under which the District or local agency is required to pay the non-Federal share of construction costs and which governs the funding of planning, design, and compliance activities costs. Authorizes appropriations. Title XIV: Provisions Specific to Alaska - Subtitle A: Land Exchange Near Gustavus and Related Provisions - Glacier Bay National Park Boundary Adjustment Act of 1998 - Provides for: (1) an exchange of specified State lands in Alaska for specified Federal lands to be completed within six months after the issuance of a license to Gustavus Electric Company (GEC) by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the construction and operation of a hydroelectric project on such Federal lands; or (2) the exchange of other specified Alaska lands having a sufficiently equal value to satisfy State and Federal law within one year after such license is issued if the Secretary of the Interior and Alaska have not agreed on which lands Alaska will convey within such six-month period. Designates specified State lands and waters in Alaska as wilderness upon consummation of such exchange to ensure that this transaction maintains approximately the same amount of area of designated wilderness. Conditions such land exchange on: (1) FERC's having conducted economic and environmental analyses pursuant to the Federal Power Act (FPA), the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act that conclude that the construction and operation of a hydroelectric power project on such lands will not adversely impact the purposes and values of the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, will comply with the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, and can be accomplished in an economically feasible manner; (2) FERC holding at least one public meeting in Gustavus, Alaska, allowing its citizens to express their views on the proposed project; (3) FERC having determined with the concurrence of the Secretary and Alaska, the minimum amount of land necessary to construct and operate the project; (4) GEC having been granted a FERC license that requires it to submit an acceptable financing plan to FERC before project construction commences; and (5) FERC approving such plan. (Sec. 1403) Makes the FERC licensing process applicable to any application submitted by GEC to FERC for the right to construct and operate a hydropower project on specified Alaska lands. Authorizes FERC to accept and consider an application filed by GEC for construction and operation of such a project, notwithstanding FPA provisions, if submitted within three years after this Act's enactment. Provides for retention of FERC jurisdiction over any hydropower project constructed on such site. Sets forth additional provisions regarding issuance of a license for construction or operation of such a project. (Sec. 1404) Directs the Secretary to issue a special use permit to GEC to allow completion of the required analyses. Requires the Secretary to impose conditions in the permit as needed to protect the purposes and values of the Preserve. Requires the lands acquired from Alaska to be added to and administered as part of the National Park System, subject to valid existing rights. Exempts GEC from making Federal land use payments under the FPA with respect to the lands exchanged under this Act. Subtitle B: Amendments to Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and Related Provisions - Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) to include lands conveyed to a Native Corporation pursuant to an exchange authorized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) or other applicable law among lands that are exempt, as long as such lands are not developed, leased, or sold to third parties, from adverse possession claims, real property taxes, specified judgments, and involuntary distributions or conveyances related to the involuntary dissolution of a Native Corporation or Settlement Trust. Specifies that lands shall not be considered developed, leased, or sold to a third party as a result of an exchange or conveyance between or among Native Corporations and trusts, partnerships, corporations, or joint ventures (trusts) whose beneficiaries, partners, shareholders, or joint venturers (beneficiaries) are Native Corporations. Makes certain prohibitions regarding actions by a trustee inapplicable to actions by any trustee whose right, title, or interest in land arises pursuant to an agreement between or among Native Corporations and trusts whose beneficiaries are Native Corporations. (Sec. 1412) Amends ANILCA to revise the definition of "developed" to: (1) require any purposeful modification of land to be performed by a Native individual or Native Corporation; and (2) prohibit any lands previously developed by third-party trespassers from being considered to have been developed. (Sec. 1413) Amends ANCSA to authorize a Native Regional Corporation, upon request, to obtain the retained mineral estate of the Native Allotments that are totally surrounded by ANCSA land selections. Limits a Regional Corporation to a total of not more than 12,000 acres. (Sec. 1414) Amends the Alaska Land Status Technical Corrections Act of 1992 to treat the establishment of the Gold Creek account and conveyance of land, if any, as though 3,520 acres of land had been conveyed to Gold Creek Susitna Association, Incorporated, under ANCSA for which rights to subsurface estate are provided to CIRI (Cook Inlet Region Incorporated). Requires, within one year from enactment, that CIRI select 3,520 acres of subsurface estate in land from the area designated for selection by a specified document. Limits total land selections to five, each of which shall be compact and in whole sections, except when separated by unavailable land or when the remaining entitlement is less than a whole section. (Sec. 1415) Amends ANCSA to exempt certain bonds received by a household, an individual Native, or a descendant of a Native from a Native Corporation from being taken into account as an asset or resource in determining eligibility for need based Federal programs. (Sec. 1416) Amends ANCSA to include the Haida Corporation and the Haida Traditional Use Sites with respect to transferring the administration of mining claims on Regional Corporation lands and not subjecting any revenues remitted to Haida Corporation to distribution under such Act. (Sec. 1417) Amends ANCSA to exempt revenues received by a Regional Corporation from the sale of sand, gravel, stone, pumice, peat, clay, or cinder resources from the revenue sharing requirements otherwise applicable to revenues received for timber resource and subsurface estate sales. (Sec. 1418) Amends ANILCA to: (1) provide for the approval of certain protested Alaska Native allotment applications; and (2) require the Secretary, in selecting individuals to provide certain visitor services, to give preference to the Native Corporations (currently, the Native Corporation) most directly affected by the establishment or expansion of any conservation system unit by or under the provisions of such Act. Requires any allotment application which is open and pending and which is legislatively approved by this section, to be made subject to any easement, trail, or right-of-way in existence on the date of the applicant's commencement of use and occupancy. (Sec. 1420) Requires a report to the Congress concerning local hires under ANILCA and their inability to obtain competitive service positions. (Sec. 1421) Amends ANCSA to authorize and confirm the authority of a Native Corporation to provide benefits to its shareholders who are Natives or descendants of Natives or to its shareholders' immediate family members who are Natives or descendants of Natives to promote the health, education, or welfare of such shareholders or family members. Provides that eligibility for such benefits need not be based on share ownership in the Native Corporation and that such benefits may be provided on a basis other than pro rata based on share ownership. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Prohibits temporarily the Secretaries of Agriculture or the Interior from issuing or implementing any rules or regulations asserting jurisdiction or management (of fish or game resources) pursuant to title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act over the navigable waters transferred to Alaska pursuant to the Submerged Lands Act of 1953 or the Alaska Statehood Act of 1959. (Sec. 1432) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, not later than December 11, 1998, to grant Chugach Alaska Corporation a road and related easement for access to the Carbon Mountain and Katalla vicinity pursuant to conveyances under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

To direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to implement reforms to the Liaison and Familiarization Training program.

United States · United States Congress · 9 September 1998

Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to implement reforms to the Liaison and Familiarization Training Program in order to prohibit travel by FAA employees that involves: (1) travel on leave days or days off; (2) scheduled leave days off between an outgoing flight and a return flight (except for a legitimate training purpose that will not create an appearance of impropriety); or (3) foreign overseas travel for any employee in a facility that does not regulate oceanic airspace. Requires the Administrator to implement appropriate training program controls to ensure that each flight receives prior approval by supervisory personnel as meeting FAA training needs.

A resolution to express the sense of the Senate concerning actions that the President of the United States should take to resolve the dispute between the Air Line Pilots Association and Northwest Airlines.

United States · United States Congress · 2 September 1998

Expresses the sense of the Senate regarding actions that the President should take to resolve the dispute between the Air Line Pilots Association and Northwest Airlines.

Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999

United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Department of Transportation Title II: Related Agencies Title III: General Provisions Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 - Title I: Department of Transportation - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 (with specified rescissions, transfers of funds, limitations on obligations and direct loans, and liquidations of contract authorizations) for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation; (2) the Coast Guard; (3) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); (4) the Federal Highway Administration (FHA); (5) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; (6) the Federal Railroad Administration; (7) the Federal Transit Administration; (8) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation; (9) the Research and Special Programs Administration; (10) the Office of the Inspector General; and (11) the Surface Transportation Board. Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 for: (1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; and (2) the National Transportation Safety Board. Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth specified prohibitions, limitations, permissions, and mandates with respect to the use of appropriations under this Act identical or very similar to those enacted in the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105-66). (Sec. 318) Reduces the amount of funds provided in this Act for the Transportation Administrative Service Center (TASC). (Sec. 321) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to convey, without consideration, all right, title, and interest of the United States in: (1) the U.S. Coast Guard Pass Manchac Light in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, to the State of Louisiana; and (2) the Tchefuncte River Range Rear Light in Madisonville, Louisiana, to the Town of Madisonville, Louisiana. (Sec. 323) Prohibits the use of funds (as in Public Law 105-66) for employee training which: (1) does not meet identified needs for knowledge, skills, and abilities bearing directly upon the performance of official duties; (2) contains elements likely to induce high levels of emotional response or psychological stress in some participants; (3) does not require prior employee notification of the content and methods to be used in the training and written end of course evaluations; (4) contains any methods or content associated with religious or quasi-religious belief systems or "new age" belief systems; (5) is offensive to, or designed to change, participants' personal values or lifestyle outside the workplace; or (6) includes content related to human immunodeficiency virus-acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV-AIDS) other than that necessary to make employees more aware of its medical ramifications and the workplace rights of HIV-positive employees. (Sec. 327) Prohibits expenditure of funds made available under this Act by any entity that does not agree to comply with the Buy American Act. Expresses the sense of Congress that entities receiving assistance under this Act should purchase only U.S.-made equipment and products to the greatest extent practicable. Prohibits the use of funds for contracts with persons falsely labeling products as made in America. (Sec. 328) Makes receipts collected from users of fitness centers operated by or for the Department of Transportation available to support their operation and maintenance. (Sec. 329) Declares that none of the funds in this Act shall be available to implement or enforce regulations that would result in the withdrawal of a slot from an air carrier at O'Hare International Airport in excess of the total slots withdrawn from that air carrier as of October 31, 1993, if such additional slot is to be allocated to another air carrier or foreign air carrier. (Sec. 330) Prohibits the provision of essential air service to communities in the 48 contiguous States that are fewer than 70 miles from the nearest large and medium hub airport, or that require a rate of subsidy per passenger in excess of $200 unless such point is greater than 210 miles from the nearest large or medium hub airport. (Sec. 333) Rescinds unobligated balances of funds made available in previous appropriations Acts for the National Civil Aviation Review Commission and for Urban Discretionary Grants. (Sec. 334) Directs the Commandant of the Coast Guard to dispose, at fair market, of all right, title, and interest of the United States in the Coast Guard Reserve Training Facility in Jacksonville, Florida. Grants the city of Jacksonville, Florida, the right of first refusal to purchase such property. (Sec. 336) Earmarks a specified amount of FAA funds only for activities and operations of the Centennial of Flight Commission. (Sec. 337) Authorizes the Secretary to waive repayment of any Federal-aid highway funds expended on the construction of high occupancy lanes or auxiliary lanes on I-287 in the State of New Jersey. Grants such waiver provided the State of New Jersey assures the Secretary that removal of the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) restrictions on such highway is in the public interest. (Sec. 338) Makes funds in previous appropriations Acts for a railroad-highway crossing project in Augusta, Georgia, available for other street, rail, and related improvements in the vicinity of the grade crossing of the CSX railroad and 15th Street in Augusta, Georgia. (Sec. 339) Earmarks specified amounts to be available only for fire and life safety improvements to the East River and North Tunnels and the subterranean complex of Pennsylvania Station (New York City). (Sec. 340) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act by the Coast Guard to issue or enforce certain regulations under the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act, unless such regulations recognize and provide, with respect to (animal) fats, (vegetable) oils, and greases, for differences in physical, chemical, biological, and other relevant properties, and in environmental effects. (Sec. 341) Makes certain funds for emergency railroad rehabilitation and repair available for repairs resulting from natural disasters occurring from September 1996 through July 10, 1998. (Sec. 343) Directs the U.S. Coast Guard Commandant to convey to the University of South Alabama all right, title, and interest of the U.S. Government in and to a decommissioned Coast Guard vessel if certain conditions are met by the recipient. (Sec. 345) Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to increase the obligation ceiling for FY 1999 for Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs. (Sec. 346) Revises discretionary spending limits for FY 1999 and FY 2000 spending outlays in the nondefense and discretionary spending categories.

Flugverkehr in Österreich

Austria · National Council · 17 July 1998

Schriftliche Anfrage der Abgeordneten MMag. Dr. Madeleine Petrovic und Genossen an den Bundesminister für Wissenschaft und Verkehr betreffend Flugverkehr in Österreich

National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 17 July 1998

National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 1998 - Amends Federal aviation law to prohibit a commercial air tour operator from conducting commercial air tour operations over a national park or tribal lands, except in accordance with this Act, conditions prescribed for that operator by the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and with any applicable commercial air tour management plan for the park or tribal lands. (Sec. 3) Sets forth specified requirements with respect to: (1) the granting of authority to commercial air tour operators to conduct air tour operations over national parks or tribal lands, with specified exceptions; (2) establishment of commercial air tour management plans; and (3) determination of whether a flight is a commercial air tour operation. (Sec. 4) Directs the Administrator of the FAA and the Director of the National Park Service (Director) to establish, jointly, an advisory group to provide continuing advice and counsel with respect to the operation of commercial air tours over and near national parks. (Sec. 5) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to report to the Congress on the effects proposed overflight fees are likely to have on the commercial air tour industry. Directs the Administrator of the FAA and the Director to report jointly to the Congress on the effectiveness of this Act in providing incentives for the development and use of quiet aircraft technology. (Sec. 6) Exempts any unit of the National Park System, or any other land or water, located in Alaska from the requirements of this Act.

Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999

United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Department of Transportation Title II: Related Agencies Title III: General Provisions Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 - Title I: Department of Transportation - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 (with specified rescissions, transfers of funds, limitations on obligations, and liquidations of contract authorizations) for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation; (2) the Coast Guard; (3) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); (4) the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) (earmarking specified amounts for certain Intelligent Transportation System projects); (5) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; (6) the Federal Railroad Administration; (7) the Federal Transit Administration (including specified national planning and research program projects, new and existing fixed guideway systems, and buses and bus-related facilities projects); (8) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation; (9) the Research and Special Programs Administration; (10) the Office of the Inspector General; and (11) the Surface Transportation Board. Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 for: (1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; and (2) the National Transportation Safety Board. Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth specified prohibitions, limitations, permissions, and mandates with respect to the use of appropriations under this Act identical or very similar to those enacted in the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105-66). (Sec. 320) Reduces the amount of funds provided in this Act for the Transportation Administrative Service Center (TASC). (Sec. 322) Prohibits any funds under this Act from being used to impose on any federally-funded project or any applicant for any federally-funded grant or award any government-mandated conditions or requirements with regard to benefits, labor or employment practices or working conditions, which are not expressly authorized as to public works by Federal or State statutes. (Sec. 325) Prohibits any funds under this Act from being used for grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) (except that such prohibition shall not apply upon the public disclosure by Amtrak of its national average per passenger loss during the previous fiscal year for which data is available). (Sec. 328) Requires the interest produced from the investment of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund balance that is transferred and deposited into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to be transferred annually by the National Pollution Funds Center to the Denali Commission to repair or replace bulk fuel storage tanks in Alaska which are not in compliance with Federal law, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or State law. (Sec. 330) Prohibits expenditure of funds made available under this Act by any entity that does not agree to comply with the Buy American Act. Expresses the sense of Congress that entities receiving assistance under this Act should purchase only U.S.-made equipment and products to the greatest extent practicable. Prohibits the use of funds for contracts with persons falsely labeling products as made in America. (Sec. 331) Makes receipts collected from users of fitness centers operated by or for the Department of Transportation available to support their operation and maintenance. (Sec. 332) Prohibits the provision of essential air service to communities in the 48 contiguous States that are fewer than 70 highway miles from the nearest large and medium hub airport, or that require a rate of subsidy per passenger in excess of $200 unless such point is greater than 210 miles from the nearest large or medium hub airport. (Sec. 334) Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to convey to North Carolina such portion of Coast Guard Station Ocracoke, North Carolina, as the Secretary considers to be appropriate for transportation, education, environmental, or other public purposes. (Sec. 335) Declares that appropriated funds intended for highway demonstration projects, railroad-highway crossings demonstration projects or railroad relocation projects in Augusta, Georgia, are available for implementation of a project consisting of modifications and additions to streets, railroads, and related improvements in the vicinity of the grade crossing of the CSX railroad and 15th Street in Augusta, Georgia. (Sec. 336) Amends Federal transportation law to revise requirements for operating a commercial motor vehicle to authorize an individual to operate such vehicle solely within the borders of a State if the individual: (1) has passed written and driving tests to operate the vehicle that meet such minimum standards as may be prescribed by the State; and (2) has a driver's license that is not suspended, revoked, or canceled. (Currently, the Secretary may prescribe regulations providing for such operation by an individual for not more than a 90 day period). (Sec. 337) Declares that no approval from the Secretary of Transportation (other than review of the project final design) shall be required to construct additional entrances and exits between exits 57 and 58 for a pilot project to demonstrate a streamlined process for project implementation on Interstate 495 in Suffolk County, New York, provided such entrances and exits are designed, constructed or otherwise authorized by the responsible state transportation agency through the appropriate state environmental process. (Sec. 338) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to enter into agreements with the New York State Department of Transportation that would allow automotive service stations or other commercial establishments for serving motor vehicle users to be sited and constructed in the vicinity of exit 51 and either exits 66, 67, or 68 of the Long Island Expressway (Interstate 495) in Suffolk County. (Sec. 339) Amends Federal law to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to grant a temporary exemption to passenger motor vehicles from a prescribed bumper standard. (Sec. 340) Specifies funds for the Norfolk-Virginia Beach Corridor project, the Massachusetts North Shore Corridor project, the San Diego Mission Valley and Mid-Coast Corridor projects, the Hartford, Connecticut, light rail project, the Stanford, Connecticut, fixed guideway connector, and the Old Saybrook-Hartford rail extension project. (Sec. 341) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act by the Coast Guard to issue or enforce certain regulations under the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act, unless such regulations recognize and provide, with respect to (animal) fats, (vegetable) oils, and greases, for differences in physical, chemical, biological, and other relevant properties, and in environmental effects. (Sec. 343) Authorizes the use of specified funds to support a direct loan of $85 million to Reno, Nevada, for the Reno Transportation Corridor project, including the grade separation of at-grade rail lines and cross streets with a primarily below-grade corridor. (Sec. 344) Makes certain funds allocated or authorized from the highway trust fund for Miller Highway in New York City, New York, available to the State of New York, subject to the State and local planning and environmental review process. (Sec. 345) Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation, upon specified assurances from the State of New Jersey, to waive repayment of any Federal-aid highway funds expended on the construction of high occupancy vehicle lanes or auxiliary lanes on I-287 in the State of New Jersey. (Sec. 346) Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, as amended by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, to change from mandatory to discretionary the authority of the Secretary of Transportation to approve one or more substitute highway, bus transit, or light rail transit projects in lieu of construction of the I-94 East-West Transitway project in Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties, Wisconsin. Requires the Governor of Wisconsin to consult with appropriate local government officials before requesting the Secretary to approve such a substitute project. (Sec. 347) Authorizes the use of certain discretionary grants funds (hitherto available for the Virtual Transit Enterprise project) to fund any aspect of the Virtual Transit Enterprise integration of information project in South Carolina. (Sec. 348) Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to authorize Vermont to use certain pilot project funds from the Highway Trust Fund Mass Transit Account for capital improvements to, and operating assistance for, intercity passenger rail service.

Wendell H. Ford National Air Transportation System Improvement Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Authorizations Title II: Airport Improvement Program Amendments Title III: Amendments to Aviation Law Title IV: Title 49 Technical Corrections Title V: Miscellaneous Title VI: Aviation Competition Promotion Title VII: Park Overflights Title VIII: Aviation Trust Fund Amendments National Air Transportation System Improvement Act of 1998 - Title I: Authorizations - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize appropriations for FY 1999 through 2002 for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations. Earmarks amounts for: (1) wildlife hazard mitigation measures and management of the wildlife strike database of the FAA; and (2) the establishment of a university consortium to provide an air safety and security management certificate program in cooperation with the FAA and U.S. air carriers. (Sec. 102) Amends Federal aviation law to authorize appropriations for FY 1999 through 2002 for: (1) the FAA Facilities and Equipment Program; and (2) continuation through FY 1999 of the instrument landing system inventory program. Directs the Administrator of the FAA to establish life-cycle cost estimates for any air traffic control modernization project in which such costs equal or exceed $50 million. (Sec. 103) Decreases the FY 1998 authorization of appropriations for airport planning and development and noise compatibility planning programs. Reauthorizes such programs through FY 2002. Title II: Airport Improvement Program Amendments - Removes the maximum cap on airport improvement funds credited to the discretionary fund. (Sec. 202) Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a demonstration program of up to 20 projects for grants to implement innovative financing techniques for airport development projects. (Sec. 203) Limits to no more than 90 percent the Federal share of costs for certain airport projects. (Sec. 204) Increases the apportionment for airport improvement grant funds for airport noise compatibility programs. (Sec. 205) Authorizes the use of airport improvement funds apportioned to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico for any of their public airports. Authorizes the use of the supplemental apportionment of airport improvement funds for Alaska for any of its public airports. Repeals a certain limitation on the apportionment of airport improvement funds for commercial airports in Alaska. Revises the amount of certain funds apportioned to the discretionary and small airport funds. Authorizes the Secretary to distribute a certain percentage of funds from the small airport fund for grants for projects at small hub airports. Declares that an airport development project shall remain eligible for funding from the discretionary fund (subject to the availability of funds) even though the status of the airport project changes from a primary airport to a non-primary airport. Revises, for purposes of grant eligibility for airport development funds, the definition of "public-use airport" to include a privately- owned airport that, as a reliever airport, received Federal aid for airport development before October 9, 1996, but only if the Administrator of the FAA issues revised administrative guidance after July 1, 1998, for the designation of reliever airports. Repeals the eligibility of reliever airports for the issuance of a letter of intent to obligate airport development funds. Permits certain regulations promulgated by the Secretary to authorize a public agency to request waiver of a passenger facility for: (1) any class of domestic or foreign air carriers that enplane not more than specified percent of the total number of passengers enplaned annually at a airport; or (2) passengers enplaned on a flight to an airport with scheduled passenger service but fewer than 2,500 passenger boardings each year, or in a community with a population of less than 10,000 and not connected by land to the National Highway System. Grants priority (except for requests from another Federal agency or instrumentality) to a request by a public agency for surplus property for use at a public airport. Declares that the Secretary may permit the use of State highway specifications for airfield pavement construction using airport development funds at non-primary airports with runways of 5,000 feet or shorter serving aircraft that do not exceed 60,000 pounds, if the Secretary determines that: (1) safety will not be negatively affected; and (2) the life of the pavement will not be shorter than it would be if constructed using FAA standards. Prohibits an airport from seeking airport development funds for runway rehabilitation or reconstruction of any such airfield pavement constructed using State highway specifications for a period of ten years after construction is completed. (Sec. 207) Directs the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on FAA efforts to implement capacity improvements, such as precision runway monitoring systems and the time frame for implementation of such improvements. (Sec. 208) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to discourage airport sponsors and airports from using discretionary funds for lower priority projects by giving lower priority to discretionary projects they have submitted which have used entitlement funds for projects with a lower priority than the projects for which discretionary funds are being requested. (Sec. 209) Prohibits the Secretary from waiving certain required assurances with respect to the grant of airport development funds, unless the Secretary provides notice to the public not less than 30 days before issuing such waiver. (Sec. 210) Amends Federal aviation safety law to revise the term "public aircraft" to include non-government-owned aircraft transporting passengers if the aircraft is operated for prisoner transport. (Sec. 211) Authorizes the Secretary, in order to enable additional air service by an air carrier with less than 50 percent of the scheduled passenger traffic at an airport, to consider the shell of a terminal building (including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) to be an eligible airport-related project. Title III: Amendments to Aviation Law - Amends Federal aviation law to authorize the Administrator of the FAA to contract for procurement of severable services for a period that begins in one fiscal year and ends in the next fiscal year if (without regard to any option to extend it) the contract period does not exceed one year. Declares that funds available for a fiscal year may be obligated for the total amount of the contract. (Sec. 302) Amends the Airport Noise and Capacity Act to make foreign air carriers eligible for a waiver from stage three noise level requirements for certain aircraft. (Sec. 303) Authorizes the Administrator of the FAA to establish consortia of government and aviation industry representatives at airports to provide advice on matters related to aviation security and safety. (Sec. 304) Authorizes the Administrator of the FAA to enter into bilateral agreements with the aeronautical authorities of another country to exchange with that country all or part of their respective functions and duties with respect to certain domestic and foreign aircraft. (Sec. 305) Exempts from overflight fees for air traffic control and related services any overflights operated by citizens of a country contiguous to the United States if: (1) both the origin and destination of such flights are within that other country; (2) that country exempts similar categories of flights operated by U.S. citizens from such fees; and (3) that country exchanges responsibility for air traffic control services with the United States. (Sec. 306) Amends the Pilot Records Improvement Act to require an employment investigation (including a criminal history check) in the case of passenger, baggage, or property screening at airports if the Administrator of the FAA decides it is necessary to ensure air transportation security. Permits an air carrier that has not obtained information about a pilot from a foreign government or entity that has employed the pilot to allow such pilot to begin service as a pilot of certain small aircraft if the carrier has made a documented good faith attempt to obtain it. (Sec. 307) Authorizes a person to bring a civil action in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (as well as in a U.S. district court) against the United States when: (1) the person is subrogated to the rights against the U.S. Government of a party insured under the aviation insurance program under a contract between the person and such insured party; and (2) the person has paid to the insured party an amount for a covered physical damage loss. Extends Federal aviation insurance and reinsurance programs through FY 2003. Title IV: Title 49 Technical Corrections - Sets forth certain technical corrections to specified sections of Title 49 of the United States Code. Title V: Miscellaneous - Directs the Administrator of the FAA to report to specified congressional committees every three months on electronic data processing problems associated with the year 2000 within the FAA. (Sec. 502) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to require by regulation that collision avoidance equipment (TCAS II) be installed on each cargo aircraft with a payload capacity of 15,000 kilograms or more. (Sec. 503) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to initiate rulemaking to amend the regulations in part 139 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to: (1) improve runway safety areas; and (2) require the installation of precision approach path indicators. (Sec. 504) Makes applicable to other specified types of aircraft (currently exempted from them) certain requirements that commercial aircraft be outfitted with an emergency locator transmitter. (Continues to exempt from such requirements aircraft used in flight operations related to design and testing, the manufacture, preparation, and delivery of aircraft, or the aerial application of a substance on agricultural crops.) (Sec. 505) Prohibits the Administrator from issuing an airman certificate or an airframe and powerplant certificate to any person convicted of a violation of any Federal or State law relating to the installation, production, repair, or sale of a counterfeit or falsely represented aviation part or material. Directs the Administrator of the FAA to revoke such certificates issued to convicted persons. Prohibits the employment of an individual to perform a function related to the procurement, sale, production, or repair of a part or material, or the installation of a part into a civil aircraft, who has been convicted of such violations. (Sec. 506) Subjects any individual who interferes with the duties or responsibilities of the flight crew or cabin crew of a civil aircraft, or who poses an imminent threat to the safety of the aircraft or other individuals on the aircraft, to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000. (Sec. 507) Directs the Secretary to work with appropriate international organizations and aviation authorities of other nations to bring about their establishment of higher standards for accommodating handicapped passengers in air transportation, particularly with respect to foreign air carriers that code-share with domestic air carriers. (Sec. 508) Authorizes the Secretary to request the head of the department, agency, or instrumentality to convey land or airspace owned or controlled by it to a public agency for use that will complement, facilitate, or augment airport development, including the development of additional revenue from both aviation and nonaviation sources if the Secretary determines, among other things, that such property is no longer needed for aeronautical purposes, and that it will be used to generate revenue for the public airport. (Sec. 509) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to develop procedures to protect air carriers and their employees from civil enforcement action under the Flight Operations Quality Assurance program. (Sec. 510) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to identify or develop a plan to implement the wide area augmentation system (WAAS) to provide navigation and landing approach capabilities for civilian use and make a determination as to whether a backup system is necessary. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 511) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to reissue, and provide for public comment on, the notice to operators published in the Federal Register on January 2, 1998, which advised Alaska guide pilots of the applicability of part 135 of title 14, CFR, to guide pilot operations. (Sec. 513) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to establish an advanced qualification program oversight committee to give advice on the development and execution of Advanced Qualification Programs (alternative method for qualifying, training, certifying, and ensuring the competency of flight crews and other commercial aviation operations personnel (human factors training program)) for air carriers, and to encourage their adoption and implementation. (Sec. 514) Directs the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation (DOT) to initiate an independent assessment that ensures that the method for capturing and distributing overall FAA costs is appropriate and reasonable. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 515) Provides for the enforcement of whistleblower laws for FAA employees. (Sec. 516) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to report to the Congress on a plan to modernize the oceanic air traffic control system (including a budget for such program). (Sec. 517) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to report biannually to the Congress on the air transportation oversight system program announced by the FAA on May 13, 1998, in detail on the training of inspectors, the number of them using the system, air carriers subject to the system, and the budget for the system. Title VI: Aviation Competition Promotion - Directs the Secretary to establish a pilot aviation development program to provide $20 million over five years to up to 40 small communities or consortia of communities and States with inadequate access to the national transportation system to improve their access to such system. (Sec. 603) Directs the Administrator of the FAA, in order to facilitate the use of, and improve the safety at, small airports, to establish a pilot program (community-carrier air service program) to contract for Level I air traffic control services at 20 facilities not eligible for participation in the Federal Contract Tower Program. Waives the State or local contribution requirement with respect to such program. (Sec. 604) Authorizes the Secretary to obligate up to a specific amount of funds for FY 1999 through 2003 for the community-carrier air service program. (Sec. 605) Directs the Secretary to review the marketing practices of air carriers that may inhibit the availability of quality, affordable air transportation services to small and medium-sized communities. Requires the Secretary, if such practices are found to inhibit the availability of such service, to promulgate regulations to address the problem. (Sec. 606) Requires the Secretary, after receiving an application for an exemption to provide nonstop regional jet air service between a nonhub airport or a small hub airport and a high density airport, to grant or deny the exemption in accordance with established principles of safety and the promotion of competition. Authorizes the Secretary to permit: (1) an air carrier to upgrade its service under the exemption to a larger jet aircraft; and (2) an air carrier to change the nonhub airport or small hub airport for which the exemption was granted to provide the same service to a different nonhub or small hub airport if certain conditions are met. Provides for the termination of an exemption if the air carrier uses the slot for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was granted. Prohibits the Secretary from withdrawing a slot from a U.S. air carrier in order to provide a slot to a foreign air carrier unless the Secretary finds that: (1) the withdrawal of that slot from the U.S. air carrier will not adversely affect air service to nonhub airports; and (2) U.S. air carriers seeking slots at an airport in the home country of the foreign air carrier receive reciprocal treatment by the government of that country. (Sec. 607) Directs the Secretary to grant exemptions from the prohibition against the operation of aircraft nonstop between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and another airport more than 1,250 miles away (perimeter rule) to any air carrier that operates limited frequencies and aircraft on select routes between National Airport and other airports if the Secretary finds that such exemption will: (1) provide air transportation service with domestic network benefits in areas beyond the perimeter; and (2) increase competition in multiple markets. Sets forth specified requirements with respect to such exemptions. (Sec. 608) Authorizes the Secretary to grant 100 additional slots over a three-year period to air carriers to operate limited frequencies and aircraft on select routes between O'Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois, and other airports if certain conditions are met. (Sec. 609) Declares that it shall be an unfair or deceptive practice for any carrier utilizing electronically transmitted tickets to fail to notify the purchaser of a ticket's expiration date, if any. Title VII: Park Overflights - Prohibits a commercial air tour operator from conducting commercial air tour operations over a national park or tribal lands, except in accordance with this Act, conditions prescribed for that operator by the Administrator of the FAA, and with any applicable commercial air tour management plan for the park or tribal lands. (Sec. 702) Sets forth specified requirements with respect to: (1) the granting of authority to commercial air tour operators to conduct air tour operations over national parks or tribal lands, with specified exceptions; and (2) establishment of commercial air tour management plans. (Sec. 703) Directs the Administrator of the FAA and the Director of the National Park Service (Director) to establish, jointly, an advisory group to provide continuing advice and counsel with respect to the operation of commercial air tours over and near national parks. Directs the Administrator of the FAA and the Director to report jointly to the Congress on the effectiveness of this Act in providing incentives for the development and use of quiet aircraft technology. (Sec. 704) Exempts from the requirements of this Act: (1) the Grand Canyon National Park, or any Indian country within or abutting such park; or (2) any unit of the National Park System, or Indian country, located in Alaska. (Sec. 705) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to report to the Congress on the effects proposed overflight fees are likely to have on the commercial air tour industry. Title VIII: Aviation Trust Fund Amendments - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund through October 1, 2002.

A bill to protect employees of air carriers who serve as whistleblowers under applicable Federal law, or who refuse to violate an applicable law, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 8 July 1998

Provides for whistleblower protections for airline employees. (Sec. 1) Declares that no airline employee (including a contractor or subcontractor of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or of an air carrier) shall be liable: (1) for commencing, testifying at, or participating in, a proceeding conducted by the Secretary of Transportation or the Administrator of the FAA or a related action; or (2) for refusing to violate or assist in the violation of any law or regulation in the course of employment, if such refusal is based on a reasonable belief that the law would be violated. Prohibits an air carrier, contractor, or subcontractor from discriminating against such an employee. Sets forth Department of Labor complaint procedures for employees alleging discrimination (including discharge, discipline, or reassignment) in violation of this Act. Sets forth civil penalties for violation of such employee protections. Provides for judicial review for persons adversely affected by an order issued by the Secretary of Labor. (Sec. 2) Amends the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 to provide for the investigation, adjudication, and enforcement of whistleblower protections for FAA employees. (Sec. 3) Prohibits an employer from spending funds to implement or enforce certain agreements in Standard Forms 312 and 4355 of the Federal Government or any other nondisclosure policy, form, or agreement, if such policy, form, or agreement does not contain certain statements regarding employee protections with respect to certain disclosures. Authorizes a nondisclosure policy, form, or agreement that is executed by a person connected with the conduct of an intelligence or intelligence-related activity (other than a Government employee or officer) to contain provisions appropriate to the particular activity for which such document is to be used. Requires such agreement, at a minimum, to require that the person will not disclose classified information received in the course of such activity unless specifically authorized to do so by the Government. Requires such nondisclosure agreements to clarify that they do not bar disclosures to the Congress or to an authorized official of an executive agency or the Department of Justice that are essential to reporting a substantial violation of law. Authorizes an airline employee, former employee, or applicant for employment that has been discriminated against in violation of certain whistleblower protections to bring a civil action for relief in the appropriate U.S. district court.

Luftfahrtgesetz

Austria · National Council · 30 June 1998

Bericht des Verkehrsausschusses über die Regierungsvorlage (1209 d.B.): Bundesgesetz, mit dem das Luftfahrtgesetz geändert wird

Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Second Chamber, extended composition) of 25 June 1998.#British Airways plc, Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark-Norway-Sweden, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV, Air UK Ltd, Euralair international, TAT European Airlines SA and British Midland Airways Ltd v Commission of the European Communities.#State aid - Air transport - Airline company in a critical financial situation - Authorisation for an increase in capital.#Joined cases T-371/94 and T-394/94.

European Union · Court of Justice of the European Union · 25 June 1998

Wendell H. Ford National Air Transportation System Improvement Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 16 June 1998

Airport Improvement Program Reauthorization Act of 1998 - Amends Federal aviation law to reauthorize the Airport Improvement Program through FY 1999, with a specified allocation for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Facilities and Equipment Program. (Sec. 5) Authorizes appropriations for FAA operations through FY 1999. (Sec. 6) Makes specified changes to the formula for crediting airport improvement fund amounts to the discretionary fund. Revises the apportionment of airport improvement fund amounts to sponsors of primary airports and to the States for each fiscal year. Authorizes the use of airport improvement funds apportioned to Alaska, Puerto Rico, or Hawaii for any of their public airports. Authorizes the use of State-apportioned airport improvement funds for integrated airport system planning that encompasses one or more primary airports. Increases the apportionment for airport improvement funds for airport noise compatibility programs. Authorizes three percent of such funds to be set-aside for airport security, giving highest priority to the testing and evaluation of explosive detection equipment for airports. Authorizes the use of the supplemental apportionment of airport improvement funds for Alaska for any of its public airports. Repeals a certain limitation on the apportionment of airport improvement funds for commercial service airports in Alaska. Increases from 12 to 14 at any time the number of current or former military airports that may receive airport improvement funds. Revises U.S. policies regarding aviation programs to encourage the funding and use of integrated in-pavement lighting systems for runways and taxiways and other runway and taxiway incursion prevention devices. (Sec. 7) Provides that 20 percent of small airport grant funds be set-aside for each of the next five fiscal years to assist airport sponsors in meeting the safety terms in airport operating certificates. Directs the Secretary of Transportation, whenever making such grants, to notify the grant recipient that the grant's source is from the small airport fund. (Sec. 8) Authorizes the Secretary to approve not more than 20 projects in which airport improvement grant funds may be used to implement innovative financing techniques for airport development projects. (Sec. 9) Declares that the Government's share of costs shall be: (1) not more than 90 percent for airport improvement projects funded under the State block grant program; and (2) 100 percent for airport security projects funded with airport improvement funds. (Sec. 10) Authorizes the Secretary, in order to enable additional air service by an air carrier with less than 12 flights per day at an airport, to consider, when determining what is an allowable terminal development cost, the shell of a terminal building (including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and aircraft fueling facilities adjacent to an airport terminal building as nonrevenue-producing public-use areas of the airport meeting certain requirements. (Sec. 11) Makes airport improvement funds available to repay money borrowed to pay the costs for terminal development provided the Secretary decides that repayment will not defer any needed airport development project affecting safety, security, or capacity (currently, any project outside the terminal area at that airport). (Sec. 12) Requires any Federal executive branch department, agency, or instrumentality to grant priority to a request by a public agency (except another Federal executive branch department, agency, or instrumentality) for surplus property for use at a public airport. Authorizes the Secretary to waive, without charge, a term of a gift of an interest in such property after providing notice and an opportunity for public comment and other specified conditions are met. (Sec. 13) Authorizes the Secretary to obligate airport improvement funds and amounts from the airport and airway trust fund for any project to construct a new runway at an international airport. (Sec. 14) Prohibits the Administrator of the FAA from selecting a site for, or beginning construction of, the Potomac Metroplex terminal radar approach control facility in Virginia before the 90th day after a report to the Congress on the relative costs and benefits of constructing the facility on land already owned by the United States (including land located outside the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area). (Sec. 16) Revises the amount of certain funds apportioned to the discretionary and small airport funds. Authorizes the Secretary to distribute specified percentages of funds from the small airport fund for grants for projects at small hub airports, public-use airports, and certain commercial service airports. Declares that an airport development project shall remain eligible for funding from the discretionary fund (subject to the availability of funds) even though the airport's status changes from a primary to a nonprimary airport.

To amend title 49, United States Code, to extend the aviation insurance program, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 16 June 1998

Amends Federal aviation law to revise aviation insurance requirements with respect to disputed losses to authorize an insured person to bring a civil action in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (currently, only in U.S. district court) against the U.S. Government when: (1) (as currently) an insured loss is in dispute; or (2) the person is subrogated under a contract with the insured party to the insured party's rights against the U.S. Government; and (3) the person has paid to the insured party, with the Secretary of Transportation's approval, a covered amount for a physical damage loss. Extends the Secretary's authority to provide aviation insurance and reinsurance through FY 2003.

Flughafen-Bodenabfertigungsgesetz - FBG

Austria · National Council · 9 June 1998

Bericht des Verkehrsausschusses über die Regierungsvorlage (1079 d.B.): Flughafen-Bodenabfertigungsgesetz

17 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the position regarding the proposed sale of TEAM Aer Lingus to FLS Aviation; the proposals, if any, she has received from the board; when it is anticipated that the process within Aer Lingus will be completed and a Government decision required; the vote outcome she would regard as a mandate to proceed with the proposed deal in view of her stated position of worker acceptance being a precondition of this; and the variations, if any, there are of the deal being considered, including a joint venture as opposed to a total sale. [13062/98]

Ireland · Dáil Éireann · 3 June 1998

17 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the position regarding the proposed sale of TEAM Aer Lingus to FLS Aviation; the proposals, if any, she has received from the board; when it is anticipated that the process within Aer Lingus will be completed and a Government decision required; the vote outcome she would regard as a mandate to proceed with the proposed deal in view of her stated position of worker acceptance being a precondition of this; and the variations, if any, there are of the deal being considered, including a joint venture as opposed to a total sale. [13062/98]

17 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the position regarding the proposed sale of TEAM Aer Lingus to FLS Aviation; the proposals, if any, she has received from the board; when it is anticipated that the process within Aer Lingus will be completed and a Government decision required; the vote outcome she would regard as a mandate to proceed with the proposed deal in view of her stated position of worker acceptance being a precondition of this; and the variations, if any, there are of the deal being considered, including a joint venture as opposed to a total sale. [13062/98]

Ireland · Dáil Éireann · 3 June 1998

17 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the position regarding the proposed sale of TEAM Aer Lingus to FLS Aviation; the proposals, if any, she has received from the board; when it is anticipated that the process within Aer Lingus will be completed and a Government decision required; the vote outcome she would regard as a mandate to proceed with the proposed deal in view of her stated position of worker acceptance being a precondition of this; and the variations, if any, there are of the deal being considered, including a joint venture as opposed to a total sale. [13062/98]

User Fee Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 3 June 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Food and Drug Administration Fees Part A: User Fees Part B: General Provisions Title II: Medicare Administrative Fees Title III: Miscellaneous User Fees User Fee Act of 1998 - Title I: Food and Drug Administration Fees - Part A: User Fees - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish fees to cover activities of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in connection with: (1) petitions and notifications for food additives, food contact substances, and color additives; (2) applications for approval of generic drugs; (3) applications for approval of animal drugs; (4) applications for approval of medical devices; (5) the review of import inspections and export certificates for drugs, devices, and food subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; and (6) regulating entities subject to FDA oversight. Part B: General Provisions - Set forth provisions concerning, among other things: (1) fee amounts and availability; (2) assessment, publication, and reduction or waiver of fees; and (3) with respect to such fees, the FDA agency plan and reporting requirements. Title II: Medicare Administrative Fees - Amends part C (Medicare+Choice) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary to impose, to the extent provided in appropriations Acts, fees for initial Medicare+Choice contracts and annual fees for renewal of such contracts and monitoring of the ongoing operations of Medicare+Choice organizations. (Sec. 201) Directs the Secretary to establish fee amounts annually, which shall not exceed reasonably estimated costs. Allows the Secretary to provide for reduction or waiver of such fees in exceptional circumstances in the public interest. Requires such fees to be credited to the Health Care Financing Administration Program Management Account. (Sec. 202) Amends SSA title XVIII part D (Miscellaneous Provisions) to repeal the prohibition against the imposition of fees for conducting certification surveys. Requires imposition of such fees, except upon entities subject to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1998. Prohibits an entity from including such a fee as an allowable item on a cost report under SSA title XVIII or XIX (Medicaid). (Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary to establish a procedure for initial and periodic renewal of registration of individuals and entities that furnish items or services for which Medicare payment may be made and that are not otherwise subject to Medicare provisions for such procedures. Requires the Secretary, to the extent provided in appropriations Acts, to impose: (1) fees for initial agreements with service providers, and initial registrations of other entities and individuals that furnish items or services for which Medicare payment may be made; and (2) annual fees to cover the costs of renewals of agreements and registrations of such individuals and entities. Sets forth fee-related assessment limitations, crediting requirements, and cost-reporting restrictions similar to those for the other fees required by this title. (Sec. 204) Outlines requirements for new mandatory fees for review, audit, and cost settlement activities under the Medicare Integrity Program, to be credited to the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Account. (Sec. 205) Subjects certain claims to a $1 processing fee, including claims which duplicate another claim submitted by the same individual or entity, and claims which are not submitted electronically. Allows the waiver of fees in the latter case where compelling circumstances exist. Sets forth guidelines for the collection, crediting, and availability of such fees similar to the guidelines for initial Medicare+Choice contract and renewal fees. Title III: Miscellaneous User Fees - Amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to collect fees to cover costs of providing services under specified agricultural laws. (Sec. 302) Requires the Secretary of Commerce to collect fees for the provision of navigation assistance and fisheries management and enforcement services. Limits a fisheries management fee to one percent of the ex-vessel value of harvested fish with respect to which the fee is collected. (Sec. 304) Amends Federal law to increase patent fees (including maintenance fees), except fees for the filing of provisional applications for original patents. (Sec. 305) Authorizes appropriations to the International Trade Administration, to be derived from fees collected for the provision of export promotion services. (Sec. 306) Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 to increase claim maintenance fees to be paid by holders of unpatented mining claims, mills, or tunnel sites for FY 1999 and subsequent years. Increases and permanently extends location fees for such claims. Makes fees available for mining law administration program operations. (Sec. 307) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the Secretary of Labor, beginning in FY 2000, to impose fees for the filing of applications for labor certifications, employer attestations, or similar petitions required for programs relating to the provision to an alien of immigrant or nonimmigrant employment-based status. (Sec. 308) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to collect fees for the provision of navigation assistance services. (Sec. 309) Amends Federal law to require the Surface Transportation Board to prescribe a schedule of user fees for carriers subject to the Board's jurisdiction. (Sec. 310) Requires the Secretary of the Army to collect fees from applicants for permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act for: (1) evaluation of permit applications; (2) preparation of environmental impact statements in connection with permit issuance; and (3) delineation of wetlands for major developments affecting wetlands. Establishes the Army Civil Works Regulatory Program Account in the Treasury into which such fees shall be deposited. Makes the Account available to the Secretary for costs incurred in administering laws pertaining to regulation of U.S. navigable waters. (Sec. 311) Establishes in the Treasury a radiological emergency preparedness fund for offsite radiological emergency planning, preparedness, and response. Requires the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to collect fees from persons subject to radiological emergency preparedness regulations, to be deposited in such fund. (Sec. 312) Directs the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board to collect fees from air carriers to cover partial costs of aviation accident investigations. Caps such fees at $6 million per fiscal year. (Sec. 313) Amends title II (Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to authorize fees to be assessed on persons rendering services in connection with claims for benefits where their service fees are fixed or approved by the Commissioner of Social Security or determined by a court. Authorizes appropriations for administrative expenses in carrying out such title and related laws from amounts credited to a special Treasury account from such assessments. Applies service fee provisions to title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act as well. (Sec. 314) Amends Federal law to extend provisions for railroad carrier user fees through FY 2003. (Sec. 315) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to authorize an increased maximum ad valorem rate adjustment for certain customs merchandise processing. Makes fees collected in excess of the established .21 percent ad valorem to be available for expenses incurred by the Secretary of the Treasury for the National Customs Automation Program. (Sec. 316) Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to levy fees upon applicants for pesticide registration, amendments to registration, and experimental use permits to cover costs associated with application review. Provides for waivers or reductions of fees under specified circumstances. (Sec. 317) Authorizes the Administrator to assess fees from persons required to submit certain test data under the Toxic Substances Control Act without regard to dollar limitations specified in such Act. (Sec. 318) Amends the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1990 to extend the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's authority to assess certain user fees and annual charges through FY 2003. (Sec. 319) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to require the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to assess fees for examinations against insured depository institutions. Amends the Federal Reserve Act (FRA) to require (currently, authorize) fees to be assessed against banks examined (other than those examined by State authorities) upon order of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board). Amends the FDIA to reduce annual regular examination fees imposed on any State depository institution under the FDIA, FRA, or the Home Owners' Loan Act to reflect that the supervision of the institution by a State bank supervisor has reduced the need for Federal supervision. Bars the imposition of such fees on institutions with assets of less than $100 million. Directs the Federal Reserve Board to report to the Congress on: (1) total costs incurred by the Board during the preceding year attributable to examinations of bank holding companies; and (2) total amounts assessed against, and paid by, such holding companies for examinations. (Sec. 319) Extends through FY 2005 National Park Service (NPS) authority under the recreational fee demonstration program. Makes such authority available for all NPS units, except that no recreational admission fee may be charged at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Lincoln Home National Historic Site. Requires a report from the Secretary of the Interior to specified congressional committees on the program's status. (Sec. 320) Repeals the Concessions Policy Act of 1965. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to authorize, under specified conditions, private persons, corporations, or other entities to provide and operate such facilities and services as the Secretary deems necessary and appropriate in the National Park System. Authorizes the Secretary, upon request and under specified criteria, to allow such entities to provide services to park visitors through a commercial use authorization. Requires the provision of such services to have minimal impact on park resources and values and to be consistent with park purposes. Provides a two-year term limit for the provision of such services. Requires a concession contract to be awarded to the person submitting the best proposal through a competitive selection process to be established by the Secretary. Allows the award of a temporary contract to avoid interruption of services. Requires the Secretary to publish a notice of availability for a prospectus soliciting proposals for contracts for concessions at a park specifying minimum contract requirements and contract terms and conditions. Requires congressional notification of any proposed contract with anticipated annual gross receipts exceeding $5 million or of a duration of ten or more years. Prohibits the Secretary from granting a preferential right to a concessioner to: (1) renew concession contracts under this section, with exceptions; or (2) provide new or additional services at a park. Allows preferential rights of renewal to be granted for certain outfitting and guide contracts and certain contracts with annual gross receipts of under $500,000. Sets forth criteria for determining franchise fees, including fees for multiple concession contracts within a park. Requires all fees to be covered into a special Treasury account established for reallocation to National Park System units for resource management and protection, maintenance activities, interpretation, and research. Directs the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior to conduct biennial audits of concession fees. Establishes a maximum: (1) ten-year duration for a concessions contract, provided that the Secretary may award a contract for up to 20 years if determined necessary; and (2) two-year duration for a temporary contract. Requires the approval of the Secretary before a concession contract can be transferred, assigned, sold, or conveyed and sets forth conditions that preclude such conveyance. Grants possessory interest to concessioners who have commenced acquisition or construction of any structure on Federal land within a park before the enactment of this Act. Places conditions on a concessioner's rates and charges to the public. Directs the Secretary to: (1) periodically evaluate the performance of each concessioner under contract; and (2) terminate a contract if a concessioner fails, within the prescribed time, to meet minimum requirements identified in a notice of unsatisfactory performance. Grants the Comptroller General, until the expiration of five calendar years after the close of the business year for each concessioner, access to and the right to examine any pertinent books, documents, papers, and records of the concessioner related to contracts. Exempts contracts awarded by the Secretary under this section from certain provisions of Federal law relating to the leasing of U.S. buildings and properties. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 321) Amends Federal law to authorize the use of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund for costs incurred by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after FY 1999. Requires fees to be assessed for FAA services obtained outside the United States.

geplanten Flugplatz Großpetersdorf

Austria · National Council · 28 May 1998

Schriftliche Anfrage der Abgeordneten Dr. Gabriela Moser und Genossen an den Bundesminister für Landesverteidigung betreffend geplanten Flugplatz Großpetersdorf

Luftfahrtgesetz, Änderung

Austria · National Council · 27 May 1998

Bundesgesetz, mit dem das Luftfahrtgesetz geändert wird

Queens and Long Island Aircraft Noise Correction Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1998

Queens and Long Island Aircraft Noise Correction Act of 1998 - Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to develop, without compromising safety, a comprehensive plan to reduce aircraft noise in Queens and Long Island, New York. Requires such plan to include assurances that any diversion of air traffic from New Jersey will not result in an increase in aircraft noise in such areas.

Border Protection and Infrastructure Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 13 May 1998

Border Protection and Infrastructure Act of 1998 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit and set penalties for committing (or attempting to commit) a crime of violence during and in relation to: (1) eluding customs, immigration, or agriculture inspection or failing to stop at the command of an officer of customs, immigration, or animal and plant and health inspection services; or (2) an intentional violation of specified arrival, reporting, entry, or clearance requirements (provides for imposition of a death sentence if death results). Specifies that if two or more persons conspire to commit such an offense, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punishable as a principal, except that the death sentence may not be imposed. (Sec. 3) Increases the penalty for entry of goods by means of false statements. (Sec. 4) Prohibits the master, operator, or person in charge of a vessel of, or subject to the jurisdiction of, the United States from failing to obey an order to heave to that vessel upon being ordered to do so by an authorized Federal law enforcement officer. Prohibits any person on board from knowingly or willfully: (1) failing to comply with an order of such an officer in connection with the boarding of the vessel; (2) impeding or obstructing a boarding, arrest, or other law enforcement action authorized by Federal law; or (3) providing false information to such an officer during a boarding regarding the vessel's destination, origin, ownership, registration, nationality, cargo, or crew. Prohibits the pilot, operator, or person in charge of an aircraft which has crossed the U.S. border, or an aircraft subject to U.S. jurisdiction operating outside the United States, from knowingly failing to obey an order to land by such an officer who is enforcing U.S. laws relating to controlled substances or money laundering. Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to prescribe regulations governing the means by, and circumstances under which, such an officer may communicate an order to land. Authorizes a foreign nation to consent or waive objection to such enforcement of U.S. law by the United States by international agreement or, on a case-by-case basis, by radio, telephone, or similar oral or electronic means. Sets penalties for intentional violations. Authorizes seizure and forfeiture to the United States of an aircraft or vessel used in violations. (Sec. 5) Establishes civil penalties for failure to comply with vessel boarding. (Sec. 6) Directs the Attorney General to increase the number of positions for full-time, active-duty border patrol agents within the Immigration and Naturalization Service to achieve a level of 20,000 positions by FY 2003. (Sec. 7) Prohibits a U.S. Border Patrol agent, within ten miles of the U.S. international border, from ceasing pursuit of an alien suspecting of unlawfully entering the United States, or of an individual suspected of unlawfully importing a narcotic into the United States, until State or local law enforcement authorities are in pursuit of the alien or individual and have the alien or individual in their visual range. (Sec. 8) Authorizes: (1) the Border Patrol to interdict the importation of narcotics; and (2) the Attorney General to install multi-layered barriers and roads in the U.S. border vicinity to deter drug trafficking in high drug trafficking areas. Authorizes appropriations.

Department of Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999

United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Procurement Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Army Programs Subtitle C: Navy Programs Subtitle D: Air Force Programs Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations Subtitle C: Other Matters Title III: Operation and Maintenance Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations Subtitle C: Environmental Provisions Subtitle D: Counter-Drug Activities Subtitle E: Other Matters Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations Subtitle A: Active Forces Subtitle B: Reserve Forces Subtitle C: Authorization of Appropriations Title V: Military Personnel Policy Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters Subtitle C: Other Matters Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Survivor Benefits, and Related Matters Subtitle E: Other Matters Title VII: Health Care Title VIII: Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters Title IX: Department of Defense Organization and Management Title X: General Provisions Subtitle A: Financial Matters Subtitle B: Naval Vessels Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Report Requirements and Repeals Subtitle D: Other Matters Title XI: Department of Defense Civilian Personnel Title XII: Joint Warfighting Experimentation Department of Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 - Title I: Procurement - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for procurement by the armed forces of aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, and shipbuilding and conversion and for other procurement. (Sec. 104) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for: (1) defense-wide procurements; (2) reserve procurements; (3) the Defense Inspector General; (4) the chemical demilitarization program; (5) the Defense Health Program; and (6) the defense export loan guarantee program. Subtitle B: Army Programs - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, beginning with the FY 1999 program year, to enter into a multiyear contract for the procurement of the Longbow Hellfire missile, with a contract term of five years. (Sec 112) Provides required conditions prior to the award of a multiyear procurement contract for the production of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles to more than one contractor under the previous national defense authorization Act. (Sec. 113) Prohibits the obligation of funds authorized for a certain armored tank modernization kit until 30 days after the Secretary of the Army reports to the defense and appropriations committees on armored system modernization. (Sec. 114) Prohibits the obligation of funds for the procurement of reactive armor tiles until 30 days after the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) submits to the defense and appropriations committees a study of the present and future Army and Marine Corps operational requirements for such tiles. (Sec. 115) Amends the Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1986 to add certain advisory commission travel cost information to a required report on the chemical demilitarization program. (Sec. 116) Amends the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Act of 1992 to extend through FY 1999 the authority to carry out the armament retooling and manufacturing support initiative. Subtitle C: Navy Programs - Earmarks funds for the advance procurement and construction of components for the CVN-77 nuclear aircraft carrier program. (Sec. 122) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to increase the amount authorized to be excluded from certain cost limitations under the Seawolf submarine program. (Sec. 123) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy, beginning with the FY 1999 program year, to enter into a multiyear contract for the procurement of the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, with a contract term of five years. Subtitle D: Air Force Programs - Earmarks funds for certain follow-on options under the joint surveillance target attack radar system. Prohibits the availability of such funds until 30 days after the Secretary reports to the Congress on fund use. (Sec. 132) Prohibits the obligation of funds for the replacement of engines on aircraft of the Department of Defense (DOD) that are derived from Boeing 707 aircraft until the Secretary has submitted a certain analysis required under the prior defense authorization Act. (Sec. 133) Prohibits the obligation of any funds available for the F-22 aircraft program for advance procurement for the six Lot II F-22 aircraft until 30 days after the Secretary submits to the defense and appropriations committees a certification of the completion of a specified amount of flight testing for such aircraft. Requires a related flight test certification from the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. (Sec. 134) Directs the Secretary to review and report to the defense and appropriations committees on the C-130J aircraft program. Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for the armed forces for research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E). Earmarks funds for basic research and applied research projects. Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations - Prohibits more than $233 million from being obligated for the Crusader self-propelled artillery system program until 30 days after the Secretary of the Army reports to the defense and appropriations committees on an assessment of such system. (Sec. 212) Earmarks funds for RDT&E and acquisition of technologies for the transition from the CVN-77 aircraft carrier program to the CV(X) aircraft carrier program and for enhancements to the latter program. (Sec. 213) Directs the Secretary to terminate the Dark Star unmanned aerial vehicle program. Earmarks funds formerly set aside for such program for the procurement of three Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles. Requires specified prior testing of the latter vehicles. (Sec. 214) Directs the Secretary to assess and report to the Congress on the technical obstacles and operational shortcomings expected for the Airborne Laser program. Earmarks program funds, with a limitation on such funds until after the report is received. (Sec. 215) Designates as a national security priority the development of an enhanced Global Positioning System (GPS). Directs the Secretary to develop a GPS in accordance with certain congressionally-mandated priorities. Expresses the sense of the Congress that future-year defense program funding provide sufficient funds for GPS development, and that the Secretary of Transportation should provide sufficient funding to support additional civil frequencies for the GPS and other GPS civil enhancements. Requires the Secretary to submit a GPS plan to the Congress. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 to delay until the end of FY 2005 a limitation on the procurement of systems not GPS-equipped. Earmarks funds authorized under this title for an enhanced GPS. (Sec. 216) Amends Federal provisions concerning the DOD manufacturing technology program to require the sharing by DOD and non-federal sources of costs for projects carried out under such program if any of the project results are likely to have an immediate and direct commercial application. Revises related cost-sharing requirements. Requires information concerning project cost-sharing to be included in a required five-year plan for such program. (Sec. 217) Extends permanently (currently expires on September 30, 2002) the authority for the use by commercial entities of DOD major range and test facility installations. Terminates a related reporting requirement. (Sec. 218) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 to extend through FY 2001 the authority of the Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency to carry out certain prototype projects. Subtitle C: Other Matters - Urges the United States to seek to foster a climate of cooperation with Russia on matters relating to missile defense, especially in such areas as early warning. Title III: Operation and Maintenance - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for operation and maintenance (O&M) for the armed forces and specified activities and agencies of DOD. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for: (1) working capital and revolving funds; and (2) the Armed Forces Retirement Home. (Sec. 304) Authorizes the transfer of up to $150 million to FY 1999 O&M accounts from the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund. Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations - Earmarks funds authorized under this title for increasing training and related operations in support of the Special Operations Command's counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and counterterrorism activities. (Sec. 312) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct a pilot program using existing technology to determine the feasibility of tagging hydrocarbon fuels used by DOD to analyze and identify such fuels and their possible theft and misuse. Earmarks O&M funds for the pilot program. (Sec. 313) Authorizes the Secretary of each military department to carry out a pilot program to demonstrate the use of landing fees as a source of funding for the O&M of airfields of such department. Authorizes the imposition of landing fees at military airfields under the program through FY 2000. Allows fee proceeds to be used for landing field O&M. Subtitle C: Environmental Provisions - Authorizes the Secretaries of Defense and the military departments to provide for the transportation into U.S. customs territory of polychlorinated biphenyls generated by or under the control of DOD for purposes of their disposal, treatment, or storage in such customs territory. Outlines transportation and disposal requirements and limitations. (Sec. 323) Amends the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships to allow Navy submersible ships to discharge non-plastic garbage that has been compacted and weighted to ensure negative buoyancy. (Sec. 324) Authorizes the Secretary to pay up to $15,000 from the Department of Defense Base Closure Account 1990 as payment for stipulated civil penalties assessed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) against McClellan Air Force Base, California. (Sec. 326) Authorizes the Secretary to make payments to Canada in each of FY 1999 through 2008 as part of a negotiated settlement for the environmental cleanup of formerly used defense sites there. Provides funding for such payments from amounts authorized for DOD defense-wide O&M. (Sec. 327) Directs the President to notify the Congress before entering into negotiations for the ex-gratia settlement of foreign claims against the United States for environmental cleanup of former DOD installations in a foreign country. Requires such fund use to be specifically authorized by law, treaty, or international agreement. (Sec. 328) Requires activities under the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation Program to include cooperative activities on environmental matters in the Arctic region with the military departments and agencies of other countries, including the Russian Federation. Earmarks O&M funds for such Program. Prohibits funding obligation until 45 days after the Secretary submits to the defense and appropriations committees a Program plan. Subtitle D: Counter-Drug Activities - Earmarks specified O&M funds for certain support of the drug interdiction efforts of the United States Southern Command in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean areas. (Sec. 332) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to extend through FY 2004 the program authority for DOD support of certain counter-drug activities. Requires the Secretary, at least 21 days before obligating funds for the modification of a DOD facility for counter-drug purposes, to notify the defense and appropriations committees of such project and its estimated total cost. (Sec. 333) Prohibits any DOD funds authorized under this Act from being used to expand the Southwest border fence until the Secretary reports to the defense and appropriations committees on the extent to which such fence has reduced the illegal transportation of narcotics and other drugs into the United States. Subtitle E: Other Matters - Directs the Secretary to administer DOD working capital funds during FY 1999 so as to ensure that the total amount of cash balances in such funds on September 30, 1999, exceeds the total amount of such balances on September 30, 1998, by $1.3 billion. Outlines actions to be taken by the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) to achieve such increase. Authorizes the waiver of such requirement to meet a contingency operation or an operation commenced before October 1, 1998, and continuing during FY 1999. Requires a semiannual report from the Under Secretary to the defense committees on the administration of the balance increase. (Sec. 342) Requires amounts charged for depreciation of capital assets to be credited to a separate capital asset subaccount established within a working-capital fund. Directs the Secretaries of Defense and the military departments to provide for separate accounting, reporting, and auditing of funds and activities managed through working-capital funds. Allows charges for goods and services provided through such funds to include amounts for depreciation of capital assets. Requires such Secretaries to: (1) establish billing procedures to ensure that balances in working-capital funds do not exceed requirements; and (2) submit to the Congress detailed annual reports of working-capital fund account and subaccount receipts and disbursements, as well as a proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Repeals the authority to manage working-capital accounts and subaccounts through the Defense Business Operations Fund. Revises the authority of a working-capital fund to retain recovered costs of property disposals. (Sec. 344) Directs the Secretary of each military department to develop and submit to the Congress an implementation schedule for the best commercial inventory practices within such department for the acquisition and distribution of secondary supply items. Directs the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on the extent to which: (1) each Secretary has complied with such requirement; and (2) best commercial inventory practices are being implemented in the Defense Logistics Agency. (Sec. 345) Earmarks FY 1999 Navy O&M funds for the increased use of smart cards (multitechnology automated reader cards) issued throughout the Navy and Marine Corps. Directs the Secretary of the Navy to take certain steps to increase the issuance of such cards throughout such service branches. Limits procurement funds for the Joint Uniformed Services Identification card until such Secretary has made certain certifications with respect to the issuance of smart cards. Requires such Secretary to submit to the defense and appropriations committees a plan for equipping all naval operational units with smart card technology. (Sec. 346) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of Defense should initiate public-private competitions for DOD functions involving not fewer than a number of employees equivalent to 30,000 full-time employees for each of FY 1999 through 2004. Increases to 50 (currently 20) or fewer the number of DOD employees that may be affected in the conversion of a DOD function to contractor performance for which certain congressional notification and reporting requirements may be waived. (Sec. 347) Adds a competitive source selection process to required conditions for providing financial assistance for the support of additional duties assigned to the Army National Guard. (Sec. 348) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987 to repeal a prohibition on the joint military-civilian use of the Robert Gray Army Airfield at Fort Hood, Texas. Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations - Subtitle A: Active Forces - Provides the authorized end strengths for active-duty forces as of the end of FY 1999. (Sec. 402) Increases from six to seven the number of officer positions within the Joint Staff that may be excluded from annual general and flag officer limitations. Extends through FY 2002 the authority for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to designate up to 12 general and flag officer joint duty positions for exclusion from general and flag officer limitations. (Sec. 404) Repeals the requirement that minimum end strengths be sufficient to support two simultaneous major regional contingency operations. Subtitle B: Reserve Forces - Sets forth the authorized end strengths as of the end of FY 1999 for members of the Selected Reserve and reserve personnel on active duty in support of the reserves. (Sec. 413) Sets forth the authorized end strengths as of the end of FY 1999 for reserve military technicians (dual status). (Sec. 414) Excludes certain temporary active-duty general and flag officers from the annual general and flag officer limitations. (Sec. 415) Increases the number of certain reserve officers and enlisted personnel authorized to be on active duty in support of the reserves. (Sec. 416) Consolidates the end strength authorizations for active-status Naval Reserve flag officers of the Navy Medical Department Staff Corps. Subtitle C: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for military personnel. Title V: Military Personnel Policy - Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy - Repeals a requirement that the Secretary of the military department concerned convene boards to review the cases of officers determined to have failed to establish that they be retained on active duty. (Sec. 502) Provides a permanent exception to the requirement for retirement for years of service for certain Navy and Marine Corps officers designated for limited duty assignments. (Sec. 503) Denies entitlement to involuntary separation pay for an officer discharged for failure to be selected for promotion when the officer requested not to be so selected. Requires the appropriate selection board to submit to the Secretary concerned the name of any officer making such request. (Sec. 504) Increases from three to four years the authorized term of appointment for the Chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps when the Secretary of the Air Force determines that such longer term is justified. Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters - Provides for the crediting for retirement purposes of service in the higher position for a reserve officer who, after being found qualified for Federal recognition in a higher grade by an appropriate personnel board, serves in a position for which that grade is the minimum authorized grade. (Sec. 512) Allows a reserve officer who, after successfully serving on active duty in a grade above colonel or captain (Navy) for at least six months, is involuntarily transferred from active status, to be credited with satisfactory service in such position for retirement purposes. (Sec. 513) Provides eligibility for consideration for promotion for certain Army and Air Force reserve brigadier generals. (Sec. 514) Provides for the composition of selective early retirement boards for Naval Reserve rear admirals and Marine Corps Reserve major generals. (Sec. 515) Authorizes the President to order members of the Selected Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category into active duty to respond to an emergency involving the use or threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction. Authorizes the use of active-duty members of the National Guard for such purpose. Subtitle C: Other Matters - Extends through FY 2003 certain force reduction transition management and benefits authorities, including early retirement and voluntary separation incentive programs and certain time-in-grade requirements. (Sec. 523) Continues eligibility for the voluntary separation incentive program after the involuntary loss of membership in the Ready or Standby Reserve. (Sec. 524) Revises current limitations on the authority of the Secretaries concerned to set rates and waive requirements for reimbursement of expenses incurred for foreign student instruction at U.S. military service academies. (Sec. 525) Repeals a current limitation on the civilian employment of enlisted personnel when such employment interferes with the customary or regular employment of local civilians. (Sec. 527) Prohibits any DOD official from implementing any change of policy regarding the separation or integration of military personnel on the basis of gender that is within the responsibilities of the Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues before the termination of such Commission. (Sec. 528) Provides transitional compensation authority for abused dependent children of military personnel when such children reside with the spouse or former spouse of a member convicted of dependent abuse. (Sec. 529) Directs the Secretary to establish a five-year pilot program to assess whether the armed forces could better meet recruiting requirements by treating GED recipients as having graduated from high school for purposes of enlistment eligibility. Limits to 1,250 annually the number of individuals authorized to be so considered. (Sec. 530) Waives time limitations for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for certain service during World War II or Korea. Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits - Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances - Waives any FY 1999 military pay increases tied to increases in the General Schedule of Compensation for Government employees. Increases the rates of basic pay by 3.1 percent, effective January 1, 1999. (Sec. 602) Increases to $600 the monthly pay for cadets and midshipmen at the service academies. (Sec. 603) Allows a member entitled to the transportation of baggage and household effects due to a change of station to, as an alternative, reimbursement or payment of a monetary allowance in advance of a move arranged by such member. (Sec. 604) Authorizes the Superintendent of a service academy to order a cadet or midshipman suspended from duty at such academy to be placed on involuntary leave without pay. Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays - Extends through December 31, 1999, specified authorities currently scheduled to expire at the end of FY 1999 with respect to certain special pay and bonus programs within the regular and reserve armed forces. (Sec. 615) Repeals a provision which allows only ten percent of selective reenlistment bonuses paid in a fiscal year to exceed $20,000. (Sec. 616) Increases to $6,000 the maximum authorized Army enlistment bonus. (Sec. 617) Includes within the defense educational loan repayment program a person enrolled in a program of education leading to professional qualifications. Increases the educational loan amounts authorized to be repaid under such program to a maximum of $20,000 per year and $50,000 total per individual. (Sec. 618) Increases to $950 the monthly amount of basic educational assistance authorized to be paid to military personnel possessing critically short skills or specialties. (Sec. 619) Provides that the entitlement of an individual to basic educational assistance benefits shall not be affected by the receipt of an enlistment bonus. Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to pay for or provide transportation to a member as part of a program of rest and recuperation in connection with contingency operations or unusual conditions at a duty station. (Sec. 622) Authorizes payment for the temporary storage of baggage of military dependent students not taken on an annual trip to an overseas duty station of such student's sponsor. (Sec. 623) Authorizes commercial travel under Federal supply schedules for the travel of a member of the reserves to or from the location of inactive duty training. Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Survivor Benefits, and Related Matters - Considers, beginning on October 1, 2003, coverage under the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) to be paid in full when a member's pay has been reduced for such coverage for 30 years or when the member has attained 70 years of age. (Sec. 632) Provides an effective date for the court-ordered election of a spouse's or former spouse's coverage under the SBP. (Sec. 633) Provides for the recovery, care, and disposition of remains of medically retired members who die during hospitalization that began while such members were on active duty. Subtitle E: Other Matters - Excludes the Panama Canal from the definition of a U.S. territory or possession for purposes of military pay and allowance provisions. (Sec. 642) Provides Federal employees' compensation coverage for the period during which student members attend training or a practice cruise. (Sec. 643) Amends the Defense Dependents' Education Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary, or the Secretary of Transportation with respect to the Coast Guard when not operating under the Navy, to provide financial assistance to sponsors of dependents in overseas areas where defense dependent schools are not reasonably available. Title VII: Health Care - Amends the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) to provide for an inflation-indexed premium under the defense dependents' dental program. (Sec. 702) Extends through June 30, 1999, the authority for the use of personal services contracts for the provision of health care at military entrance processing stations and at other locations which are outside of military medical treatment facility areas. (Sec. 703) Provides for the automatic enrollment under TRICARE Prime (a DOD managed health care program) for each dependent of a member in grade E4 or below who is entitled to CHAMPUS medical and dental care and resides in the catchment area of a facility offering TRICARE Prime. Provides for automatic renewal of enrollments and premium payment options under such coverage. Requires such coverage to take effect no later than January 1, 1999. (Sec. 704) Provides limited continued CHAMPUS coverage, with regard to health care provided between October 1, 1998, and July 1, 1999, for persons unaware of the loss of such coverage due to their recent eligibility for Medicare. (Sec. 705) Directs the Secretary to ensure that the advanced systems developed for recording military personnel data and information include the capability to record organ and tissue donation elections. Outlines responsibilities of the military department secretaries and the Surgeon General with respect to the collection of such information. (Sec. 706) Commends and encourages continuation of the cooperative efforts of DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the delivery of medical care. Directs the DOD and VA Secretaries to jointly conduct: (1) a survey of their respective medical care beneficiary populations to identify the expectations of, requirements for, and behavior patterns of such beneficiaries with respect to medical care; and (2) a review of impediments to cooperation in the delivery of medical care. Requires the Secretary of Defense to review and report semiannually to the congressional defense and veterans' affairs committees (committees) on the TRICARE program to identify opportunities for increased program participation by the VA. Directs the Federal Pharmaceutical Steering Committee to: (1) undertake a comprehensive examination of existing pharmaceutical benefits and programs for beneficiaries of Federal medical care programs; (2) review the existing methods for contracting for and distributing medical supplies and services; and (3) report examination results to the committees. Directs the Secretaries to submit to the committees a report on the status of DOD and VA efforts to standardize physical examinations administered to determine or rate disabilities. Specifies deadlines for required reports. (Sec. 707) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to conduct three demonstration projects to assess the feasibility and advisability of providing health care under CHAMPUS to current and former military personnel and their dependents or dependents of military personnel who died while on active duty for more than 30 days, and who: (1) are 65 years old or older; (2) are entitled to hospital insurance benefits under Part A of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act; (3) are enrolled in the Medicare supplemental medical insurance program; and (4) reside in an area of a demonstration project. Requires the Secretary under one such project to permit eligible individuals to enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. Prohibits eligible individuals from being required to satisfy any FEHB eligibility criteria as a condition of enrollment. Provides for participation management under the FEHB enrollment program. Requires the Secretary, under another project, to permit eligible individuals to enroll in the TRICARE program, with an enrollment fee. Requires the Secretary, under the third project, to permit eligible individuals to participate in the mail order pharmacy benefit under the TRICARE program, with appropriate premiums, deductibles, or copayments. Requires an independent evaluation of each project. Directs the Comptroller General to review such evaluations and report review results to the defense committees. Title VIII: Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters - Authorizes the Secretary to procure articles containing para-aramid fibers and yarns manufactured in any foreign country which: (1) is a party to a defense memorandum of understanding; or (2) permits U.S. firms that manufacture such fibers and yarns to compete with foreign firms in that country. (Sec. 802) Authorizes the head of an agency to enter into a contract for travel-related services that provides for the contractor to furnish services for both official and non-official travel. Makes such provision inapplicable to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service under the Navy. (Sec. 803) Prohibits the head of a defense agency from entering into a contract for a price exceeding fair market cost in the fiscal year following a fiscal year in which DOD attains its contracting goal for participation by small disadvantaged businesses and certain minority institutions. (Sec. 804) Repeals a Federal provision requiring the Secretary to allocate available technical assistance funds equally among Defense Contract Administration Services regions. (Sec. 805) Defense Commercial Pricing Management Improvement Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations to clarify the procedures and methods used to determine the reasonableness of prices of items which are exempt from DOD requirements for the submission of certified cost or pricing data. Directs the Secretary to develop and implement procedures: (1) to ensure that a single item manager or contracting officer is responsible for negotiating and entering into all contracts for the procurement of such items from a single contractor; and (2) that provide for the collection and analysis of information on price trends for categories of such items. Requires a defense agency head or military department Secretary to address any unreasonable escalation in prices paid for such items. Requires reports concerning such procedures from the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology (Under Secretary) to the defense and appropriations committees. (Sec. 806) Directs the Secretary to revise certain procurement regulations to cover all purchases of goods and services by DOD under contracts entered into or administered by another Federal agency. (Sec. 807) Requires the Under Secretary to prescribe policies and requirements for educational programs of the defense acquisition university structure. (Sec. 808) Repeals the requirement that the Director of Acquisition Education, Training, and Career Development be located within the Office of the Under Secretary. (Sec. 809) Continues eligibility for membership in the defense acquisition corps for persons serving in a position below GS-13 due to a reduction in force, the closure or realignment of a military installation, or any reason other than for cause. (Sec. 810) Authorizes the Secretary to designate ten acquisition programs of the military departments as pilot programs on program manager responsibility for product support. Title IX: Department of Defense Organization and Management - Reduces from ten to nine the number of Assistant Secretary of Defense positions. Renames the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space and Information Superiority, with specified duties. (Sec. 903) Authorizes the Secretary to include within the National Defense University any educational institution that the Secretary considers appropriate and so designates. (Sec. 904) Provides for specified percentage reductions in the number of Federal employees and military personnel on the headquarters staffs of various DOD organizations. Allows for the waiver of the prohibition on the management of personnel by end strengths in order to achieve such reductions. Requires the Secretary to submit to the defense and appropriations committees a plan to implement such reductions. (Sec. 905) Directs the Secretary to conduct in each year in which a President is inaugurated a comprehensive examination of the defense strategy, force structure, force modernization plans, infrastructure, budget plan, and related matters with a view toward determining and expressing the U.S. defense strategy, establishing a revised defense plan for the ensuing ten years, and another for the ensuing 20 years. Directs the Secretary, immediately preceding an inaugural year, to establish a nonpartisan, independent panel to be known as the National Defense Panel to: (1) conduct a comprehensive assessment of the above strategies, structures, and plans; and (2) recommend a ten- and 20- year defense strategy after such assessment. (Sec. 906) Directs the Secretary to analyze the structures and processes of DOD for the management of its laboratories and test and evaluation centers and to develop a plan for improving such management. Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to such committees a plan and schedule for implementing a cost-based management information system for such laboratories and test centers. (Sec. 907) Directs the Secretary of each military department to administer all of its Fisher houses as nonappropriated fund instrumentalities. Provides, with respect to such instrumentality, for: (1) a system of governance; (2) the establishment of a central fund as a funding source; and (3) the acceptance of contributions and the imposition of fees for use of such houses. Requires an annual report from each Secretary on Fisher house operations. Provides transitional funding. Title X: General Provisions - Subtitle A: Financial Matters - Authorizes the Secretary, in the national interest, to transfer amounts of authorizations made available to DOD under this Division for FY 1999 between any such authorizations for that fiscal year, with a total transfer limit of $2 billion. Requires congressional notification of any such transfers. (Sec. 1002) Authorizes appropriations for DOD for FY 1999 for incremental costs of military operations in and around Bosnia and Herzegovina. Authorizes the transfer of O&M funds for such purpose. (Sec. 1003) Adjusts the amounts authorized to DOD for FY 1998 by the amount by which appropriations pursuant to such authorization were increased or decreased in the 1998 Supplemental Appropriations and Rescissions Act. (Sec. 1004) Makes funds authorized under titles II and III available for Partnership for Peace information management systems. Subtitle B: Naval Vessels - Requires: (1) the U.S.S. Iowa to be listed and maintained on the Naval Vessel Register; and (2) the U.S.S. New Jersey to be stricken from such Register. (Sec. 1012) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to enter into one or more long-term charters for three specified vessels to support the rescue, escort, and towing of submarines. (Sec. 1013) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to transfer specified vessels to foreign countries on a grant basis under provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and on a sale or lease basis under provisions of the Arms Export Control Act. Requires as a condition of such transfers that any vessel repair or refurbishment needed prior to such transfers be performed at a U.S. shipyard, including a Navy shipyard. Terminates the transfer authority two years after the enactment of this Act. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Report Requirements and Repeals - Repeals various reports and reporting requirements under Federal armed forces provisions and the National Defense Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1989. (Sec. 1022) Requires the Comptroller General to submit to the Congress an analysis of a biennial financial management improvement plan currently required to be submitted by the Secretary. (Sec. 1023) Directs the Secretary to carry out a study of the feasibility and advisability of selecting on a competitive basis the source or sources for performing DOD finance and accounting services from among private sector sources, the DOD Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), the military departments, and other Federal agencies. Requires the Secretary to perform market research in connection with the study. (Sec. 1024) Prohibits any DFAS operating location from being closed within six months after the Secretary submits to the defense committees a strategic plan for improving the financial management operations at each location. (Sec. 1025) Requires the Secretary to report to the defense committees on the inventory and control of DOD military equipment as of the end of FY 1998, addressing each military department separately. Directs the Inspector General to review the report and submit comments to such committees. (Sec. 1026) Directs the Secretary and the Director of Central Intelligence to jointly submit to the defense committees a report on the plans of DOD and the intelligence community for ensuring the continuity of performance of essential operations that are at risk of failure due to computer systems and other information and support systems that are not year 2000 compliant. (Sec. 1027) Directs the Secretary of the Navy to report to the defense committees on battleship readiness for meeting military requirements for naval surface fire support. (Sec. 1028) Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on the roles of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff in the investigation of DOD aviation accidents. (Sec. 1029) Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to the Congress a plan for guiding and expanding distance learning initiatives within DOD. (Sec. 1030) Directs the Secretary to report to the defense and appropriations committees on U.S. military involvement in major contingency operations and major ongoing operations since the end of the Persian Gulf War, including involvement in the Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Operations Southern Watch and Northern Watch. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary to provide a foreign country or any of its instrumentalities with assistance for destroying, removing, or obtaining from such country: (1) weapons of mass destruction; or (2) materials, equipment, or technology for the delivery or development of such weapons. Requires a certification from the Secretary to the defense and appropriations committees at least 15 days in advance that such materials, equipment, or technology meet specified requirements. Waives the certification requirement when compliance would compromise U.S. national security objectives. Requires annual reports concerning such activities. (Sec. 1042) Amends the Weapons of Mass Destruction Control Act of 1992 to extend through FY 1999 certain counterproliferation authorities for support of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq. (Sec. 1043) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to extend through FY 1999 a limitation concerning the retirement or dismantlement of strategic nuclear delivery systems. (Sec. 1044) Requires a report from the Secretary to the defense committees on the feasibility of initiating discussions concerning the possibility of direct-line communications between the commanders in chief of the U.S. Strategic and Space Commands and the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces. (Sec. 1045) Directs the Secretary to review and report to the defense committees on DOD policies and doctrines on chemical warfare defense. Requires the Secretary to modify such policies and doctrines in order to provide adequate protection of military personnel from low-level exposure to a chemical warfare agent. Directs the Secretary to develop and carry out a plan to establish a research program for determining the effects of chronic and low-dose exposures to such agents. (Sec. 1046) Provides for the accounting treatment of the advanced payment of military personnel. (Sec. 1047) Defines a financial institution, for purposes of the reimbursement of military and civilian DOD personnel for Federal errors in direct deposits of pay, as a bank, savings and loan association, or a credit union chartered by the U.S. Government or a State. (Sec. 1048) Directs the Secretary to conduct a pilot program on alternative notice procedures concerning the withholding or garnishment of pay of military personnel for the payment of child support or alimony under provisions of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 1049) Provides a limitation on the cost of services provided to the Defense Commissary Agency (DCA) to provide for the efficient management and operation of the commissary system. (Sec. 1050) Authorizes the Secretary to impose a charge for the collection of dishonored checks presented at commissary stores. (Sec. 1051) Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe in regulations DCA authority to meet its telecommunications requirements by obtaining services and related items under the FTS-2001 contract through a frame relay system procured for the DCA. (Sec. 1052) Authorizes service academy superintendents to accept a research grant that is awarded on a competitive basis for a research project carried out by a professor or instructor at such academy for a scientific, literary, or educational purpose. (Sec. 1053) Empowers inspectors general of the military departments with responsibilities concerning military personnel whistleblower protections. (Currently, such responsibilities exist solely under the DOD Inspector General.) Provides simplified whistleblower reporting and notice requirements. Repeals a requirement for a post-investigation interview. (Sec. 1054) Provides for the crediting of amounts recovered from claims against third parties for loss or damage to personal property of military personnel shipped or stored at Government expense. (Sec. 1055) Authorizes the Secretary to permit a dependent of a member of the armed forces to enroll in an elementary or secondary education program on a military installation within the United States while the member is assigned away from such jurisdiction on a remote or unaccompanied assignment under permanent change of station orders. Allows an enrollment to be extended for more than five years if the dependent is still eligible, space is available, and adequate arrangements are made for reimbursement of the Secretary for the costs of the educational services provided. (Sec. 1056) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to charge a fee for providing historical information to the public from the United States Army or Air Force Military History Institutes and the United States Naval or Marine Corps Historical Centers. (Sec. 1057) Requires the inspector general of an armed force to inspect the Armed Forces Retirement Home at least every three years. (Currently, the DOD Inspector General conducts such inspections at least every six years.) Requires the duty of such inspection to alternate among such inspectors general, and requires each inspection to be followed by a report to the Retirement Home Board, the Secretary, and the Congress. (Sec. 1058) Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to convey to the Collings Foundation in Stow, Massachusetts, all U.S. rights and interest to one surplus F-4 Phantom II aircraft. Requires the Foundation to alter such aircraft so that it no longer has any combat capability. (Sec. 1059) Amends the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 to state that a presidential signature shall constitute approval of vessel war risk insurance requested by the Secretary. (Sec. 1060) Requests the President to issue a proclamation designating March 1, 1999, as "United States Navy Asiatic Fleet Memorial Day." (Sec. 1061) Revises provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to: (1) redesignate the Korean Conflict as the Korean War, for purposes of a program commemorating such War; and (2) provide a limitation on expenditures under the program. (Sec. 1062) Directs the Secretary to report to the defense committees concerning the costs to DOD associated with frequency spectrum allocations. Amends the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to require any person on whose behalf a Federal entity incurs costs from the relocation of Federal frequencies to compensate the Federal entity in advance for such costs. Title XI: Department of Defense Civilian Personnel - Repeals a Federal provision requiring the Secretary to conduct a program under which qualified spouses of military personnel are given a hiring preference for DOD child care positions. (Sec. 1103) Extends through FY 2003 the authority for the DOD voluntary separation incentive pay program. (Sec. 1104) Amends Federal provisions concerning the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees' Retirement System to provide voluntary early retirement authority for DOD civilian employees who either complete 25 years of service or, after becoming 50 years of age, complete 20 years of service. Outlines voluntary separation requirements, including that: (1) such employee has not received a notice of separation for misconduct or unacceptable performance; and (2) DOD or the military department involved is undergoing a major reorganization, reduction in force, or transfer of functions. (Sec. 1105) Authorizes the Secretary, during the five-year period commencing on the date of enactment of this Act, to carry out a program of experimental use of special personnel management authority (the hiring of up to 20 individuals from outside the civil service and armed forces) to facilitate the recruitment of eminent experts in science or engineering for research and development projects administered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Limits the period of appointment (four years) and the amount of compensation to be paid to such employees. Title XII: Joint Warfighting Experimentation - Expresses the sense of the Congress supporting the initiative of the Secretary and the JCS Chairman to designate a commander of a combatant command to have the mission for joint warfighting experimentation, the development and validation of new joint warfighting concepts and capabilities, and related DOD strategy for transforming U.S. armed forces to meet future national security threats. Request such commander to have sufficient freedom of action, authority, and resources to establish and conduct the joint warfighting experimentation process. Requests: (1) continued intraservice and multiservice warfighting experimentation, and related experimentation by the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command; and (2) congressional review of the initial and annual reports on joint warfighting experimentation to determine the adequacy of the scope and pace of U.S. military forces to meet future national security challenges. (Sec. 1203) Requires an initial and annual reports from the appointed commander to the Secretary on the implementation of such experimentation. Directs the Secretary to submit such reports to the chairmen of the defense committees.

Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999

United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Division A: Department of Defense Authorizations Title I: Procurement Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Army Programs Subtitle C: Navy Programs Subtitle D: Air Force Programs Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations Subtitle C: Other Matters Title III: Operation and Maintenance Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations Subtitle C: Environmental Provisions Subtitle D: Counter-Drug Activities Subtitle E: Other Matters Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations Subtitle A: Active Forces Subtitle B: Reserve Forces Subtitle C: Authorization of Appropriations Title V: Military Personnel Policy Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters Subtitle C: Other Matters Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Survivor Benefits, and Related Matters Subtitle E: Other Matters Title VII: Health Care Title VIII: Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters Title IX: Department of Defense Organization and Management Title X: General Provisions Subtitle A: Financial Matters Subtitle B: Naval Vessels Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Report Requirements and Repeals Subtitle D: Other Matters Title XI: Department of Defense Civilian Personnel Title XII: Joint Warfighting Experimentation Division B: Military Construction Authorizations Title XXI(sic): Army Title XXII: Navy Title XXIII: Air Force Title XXIV: Defense Agencies Title XXV: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program Title XXVI: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities Title XXVII: Expiration and Extension of Authorizations Title XXVIII: General Provisions Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes Subtitle B: Real Property and Facilities Administration Subtitle C: Land Conveyances Subtitle D: Other Matters Title XXIX: Juniper Butte Range Lands Withdrawal Division C: Department of Energy National Security Authorizations and Other Authorizations Title XXXI(sic): Department of Energy National Security Programs Subtitle A: National Security Programs Authorizations Subtitle B: Recurring General Provisions Subtitle C: Program Authorizations, Restrictions, and Limitations Subtitle D: Other Matters Title XXXII: Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Title XXXIII: National Defense Stockpile Title XXXIV: Naval Petroleum Reserves Title XXXV: Panama Canal Commission National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 - Division A: Department of Defense Authorizations - Title I: Procurement - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for procurement by the armed forces of aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, and shipbuilding and conversion and for other procurement. (Sec. 104) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for: (1) defense-wide procurements; (2) reserve procurements; (3) the Defense Inspector General; (4) the chemical demilitarization program; (5) the Defense Health Program; and (6) the defense export loan guarantee program. Subtitle B: Army Programs - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, beginning with the FY 1999 program year, to enter into a multiyear contract for the procurement of the Longbow Hellfire missile, with a contract term of five years. (Sec 112) Provides required conditions prior to the award of a multiyear procurement contract for the production of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles to more than one contractor under the previous national defense authorization Act. (Sec. 113) Prohibits the obligation of funds authorized for a certain armored tank modernization kit until 30 days after the Secretary of the Army reports to the defense and appropriations committees on armored system modernization. (Sec. 114) Prohibits the obligation of funds for the procurement of reactive armor tiles until 30 days after the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) submits to the defense and appropriations committees a study of the present and future Army and Marine Corps operational requirements for such tiles. (Sec. 115) Amends the Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1986 to add certain advisory commission travel cost information to a required report on the chemical demilitarization program. (Sec. 116) Amends the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Act of 1992 to extend through FY 1999 the authority to carry out the armament retooling and manufacturing support initiative. Subtitle C: Navy Programs - Earmarks funds for the advance procurement and construction of components for the CVN-77 nuclear aircraft carrier program. (Sec. 122) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to increase the amount authorized to be excluded from certain cost limitations under the Seawolf submarine program. (Sec. 123) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy, beginning with the FY 1999 program year, to enter into a multiyear contract for the procurement of the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, with a contract term of five years. Subtitle D: Air Force Programs - Earmarks funds for certain follow-on options under the joint surveillance target attack radar system. Prohibits the availability of such funds until 30 days after the Secretary reports to the Congress on fund use. (Sec. 132) Prohibits the obligation of funds for the replacement of engines on aircraft of the Department of Defense (DOD) that are derived from Boeing 707 aircraft until the Secretary has submitted a certain analysis required under the prior defense authorization Act. (Sec. 133) Prohibits the obligation of any funds available for the F-22 aircraft program for advance procurement for the six Lot II F-22 aircraft until 30 days after the Secretary submits to the defense and appropriations committees a certification of the completion of a specified amount of flight testing for such aircraft. Requires a related flight test certification from the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. (Sec. 134) Directs the Secretary to review and report to the defense and appropriations committees on the C-130J aircraft program. Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for the armed forces for research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E). Earmarks funds for basic research and applied research projects. Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations - Prohibits more than $233 million from being obligated for the Crusader self-propelled artillery system program until 30 days after the Secretary of the Army reports to the defense and appropriations committees on an assessment of such system. (Sec. 212) Earmarks funds for RDT&E and acquisition of technologies for the transition from the CVN-77 aircraft carrier program to the CV(X) aircraft carrier program and for enhancements to the latter program. (Sec. 213) Directs the Secretary to terminate the Dark Star unmanned aerial vehicle program. Earmarks funds formerly set aside for such program for the procurement of three Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles. Requires specified prior testing of the latter vehicles. (Sec. 214) Directs the Secretary to assess and report to the Congress on the technical obstacles and operational shortcomings expected for the Airborne Laser program. Earmarks program funds, with a limitation on such funds until after the report is received. (Sec. 215) Designates as a national security priority the development of an enhanced Global Positioning System (GPS). Directs the Secretary to develop a GPS in accordance with certain congressionally-mandated priorities. Expresses the sense of the Congress that future-year defense program funding provide sufficient funds for GPS development, and that the Secretary of Transportation should provide sufficient funding to support additional civil frequencies for the GPS and other GPS civil enhancements. Requires the Secretary to submit a GPS plan to the Congress. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 to delay until the end of FY 2005 a limitation on the procurement of systems not GPS-equipped. Earmarks funds authorized under this title for an enhanced GPS. (Sec. 216) Amends Federal provisions concerning the DOD manufacturing technology program to require the sharing by DOD and non-federal sources of costs for projects carried out under such program if any of the project results are likely to have an immediate and direct commercial application. Revises related cost-sharing requirements. Requires information concerning project cost-sharing to be included in a required five-year plan for such program. (Sec. 217) Extends permanently (currently expires on September 30, 2002) the authority for the use by commercial entities of DOD major range and test facility installations. Terminates a related reporting requirement. (Sec. 218) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 to extend through FY 2001 the authority of the Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency to carry out certain prototype projects. Subtitle C: Other Matters - Urges the United States to seek to foster a climate of cooperation with Russia on matters relating to missile defense, especially in such areas as early warning. Title III: Operation and Maintenance - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for operation and maintenance (O&M) for the armed forces and specified activities and agencies of DOD. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for: (1) working capital and revolving funds; and (2) the Armed Forces Retirement Home. (Sec. 304) Authorizes the transfer of up to $150 million to FY 1999 O&M accounts from the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund. Subtitle B: Program Requirements, Restrictions, and Limitations - Earmarks funds authorized under this title for increasing training and related operations in support of the Special Operations Command's counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and counterterrorism activities. (Sec. 312) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct a pilot program using existing technology to determine the feasibility of tagging hydrocarbon fuels used by DOD to analyze and identify such fuels and their possible theft and misuse. Earmarks O&M funds for the pilot program. (Sec. 313) Authorizes the Secretary of each military department to carry out a pilot program to demonstrate the use of landing fees as a source of funding for the O&M of airfields of such department. Authorizes the imposition of landing fees at military airfields under the program through FY 2000. Allows fee proceeds to be used for landing field O&M. Subtitle C: Environmental Provisions - Authorizes the Secretaries of Defense and the military departments to provide for the transportation into U.S. customs territory of polychlorinated biphenyls generated by or under the control of DOD for purposes of their disposal, treatment, or storage in such customs territory. Outlines transportation and disposal requirements and limitations. (Sec. 323) Amends the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships to allow Navy submersible ships to discharge non-plastic garbage that has been compacted and weighted to ensure negative buoyancy. (Sec. 324) Authorizes the Secretary to pay up to $15,000 from the Department of Defense Base Closure Account 1990 as payment for stipulated civil penalties assessed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) against McClellan Air Force Base, California. (Sec. 326) Authorizes the Secretary to make payments to Canada in each of FY 1999 through 2008 as part of a negotiated settlement for the environmental cleanup of formerly used defense sites there. Provides funding for such payments from amounts authorized for DOD defense-wide O&M. (Sec. 327) Directs the President to notify the Congress before entering into negotiations for the ex-gratia settlement of foreign claims against the United States for environmental cleanup of former DOD installations in a foreign country. Requires such fund use to be specifically authorized by law, treaty, or international agreement. (Sec. 328) Requires activities under the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation Program to include cooperative activities on environmental matters in the Arctic region with the military departments and agencies of other countries, including the Russian Federation. Earmarks O&M funds for such Program. Prohibits funding obligation until 45 days after the Secretary submits to the defense and appropriations committees a Program plan. Subtitle D: Counter-Drug Activities - Earmarks specified O&M funds for certain support of the drug interdiction efforts of the United States Southern Command in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean areas. (Sec. 332) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to extend through FY 2004 the program authority for DOD support of certain counter-drug activities. Requires the Secretary, at least 21 days before obligating funds for the modification of a DOD facility for counter-drug purposes, to notify the defense and appropriations committees of such project and its estimated total cost. (Sec. 333) Prohibits any DOD funds authorized under this Act from being used to expand the Southwest border fence until the Secretary reports to the defense and appropriations committees on the extent to which such fence has reduced the illegal transportation of narcotics and other drugs into the United States. Subtitle E: Other Matters - Directs the Secretary to administer DOD working capital funds during FY 1999 so as to ensure that the total amount of cash balances in such funds on September 30, 1999, exceeds the total amount of such balances on September 30, 1998, by $1.3 billion. Outlines actions to be taken by the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) to achieve such increase. Authorizes the waiver of such requirement to meet a contingency operation or an operation commenced before October 1, 1998, and continuing during FY 1999. Requires a semiannual report from the Under Secretary to the defense committees on the administration of the balance increase. (Sec. 342) Requires amounts charged for depreciation of capital assets to be credited to a separate capital asset subaccount established within a working-capital fund. Directs the Secretaries of Defense and the military departments to provide for separate accounting, reporting, and auditing of funds and activities managed through working-capital funds. Allows charges for goods and services provided through such funds to include amounts for depreciation of capital assets. Requires such Secretaries to: (1) establish billing procedures to ensure that balances in working-capital funds do not exceed requirements; and (2) submit to the Congress detailed annual reports of working-capital fund account and subaccount receipts and disbursements, as well as a proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Repeals the authority to manage working-capital accounts and subaccounts through the Defense Business Operations Fund. Revises the authority of a working-capital fund to retain recovered costs of property disposals. (Sec. 344) Directs the Secretary of each military department to develop and submit to the Congress an implementation schedule for the best commercial inventory practices within such department for the acquisition and distribution of secondary supply items. Directs the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on the extent to which: (1) each Secretary has complied with such requirement; and (2) best commercial inventory practices are being implemented in the Defense Logistics Agency. (Sec. 345) Earmarks FY 1999 Navy O&M funds for the increased use of smart cards (multitechnology automated reader cards) issued throughout the Navy and Marine Corps. Directs the Secretary of the Navy to take certain steps to increase the issuance of such cards throughout such service branches. Limits procurement funds for the Joint Uniformed Services Identification card until such Secretary has made certain certifications with respect to the issuance of smart cards. Requires such Secretary to submit to the defense and appropriations committees a plan for equipping all naval operational units with smart card technology. (Sec. 346) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of Defense should initiate public-private competitions for DOD functions involving not fewer than a number of employees equivalent to 30,000 full-time employees for each of FY 1999 through 2004. Increases to 50 (currently 20) or fewer the number of DOD employees that may be affected in the conversion of a DOD function to contractor performance for which certain congressional notification and reporting requirements may be waived. (Sec. 347) Adds a competitive source selection process to required conditions for providing financial assistance for the support of additional duties assigned to the Army National Guard. (Sec. 348) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987 to repeal a prohibition on the joint military-civilian use of the Robert Gray Army Airfield at Fort Hood, Texas. Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations - Subtitle A: Active Forces - Provides the authorized end strengths for active-duty forces as of the end of FY 1999. (Sec. 402) Increases from six to seven the number of officer positions within the Joint Staff that may be excluded from annual general and flag officer limitations. Extends through FY 2002 the authority for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to designate up to 12 general and flag officer joint duty positions for exclusion from general and flag officer limitations. (Sec. 404) Repeals the requirement that minimum end strengths be sufficient to support two simultaneous major regional contingency operations. Subtitle B: Reserve Forces - Sets forth the authorized end strengths as of the end of FY 1999 for members of the Selected Reserve and reserve personnel on active duty in support of the reserves. (Sec. 413) Sets forth the authorized end strengths as of the end of FY 1999 for reserve military technicians (dual status). (Sec. 414) Excludes certain temporary active-duty general and flag officers from the annual general and flag officer limitations. (Sec. 415) Increases the number of certain reserve officers and enlisted personnel authorized to be on active duty in support of the reserves. (Sec. 416) Consolidates the end strength authorizations for active-status Naval Reserve flag officers of the Navy Medical Department Staff Corps. Subtitle C: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for military personnel. Title V: Military Personnel Policy - Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy - Repeals a requirement that the Secretary of the military department concerned convene boards to review the cases of officers determined to have failed to establish that they be retained on active duty. (Sec. 502) Provides a permanent exception to the requirement for retirement for years of service for certain Navy and Marine Corps officers designated for limited duty assignments. (Sec. 503) Denies entitlement to involuntary separation pay for an officer discharged for failure to be selected for promotion when the officer requested not to be so selected. Requires the appropriate selection board to submit to the Secretary concerned the name of any officer making such request. (Sec. 504) Increases from three to four years the authorized term of appointment for the Chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps when the Secretary of the Air Force determines that such longer term is justified. Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters - Provides for the crediting for retirement purposes of service in the higher position for a reserve officer who, after being found qualified for Federal recognition in a higher grade by an appropriate personnel board, serves in a position for which that grade is the minimum authorized grade. (Sec. 512) Allows a reserve officer who, after successfully serving on active duty in a grade above colonel or captain (Navy) for at least six months, is involuntarily transferred from active status, to be credited with satisfactory service in such position for retirement purposes. (Sec. 513) Provides eligibility for consideration for promotion for certain Army and Air Force reserve brigadier generals. (Sec. 514) Provides for the composition of selective early retirement boards for Naval Reserve rear admirals and Marine Corps Reserve major generals. (Sec. 515) Authorizes the President to order members of the Selected Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category into active duty to respond to an emergency involving the use or threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction. Authorizes the use of active-duty members of the National Guard for such purpose. Subtitle C: Other Matters - Extends through FY 2003 certain force reduction transition management and benefits authorities, including early retirement and voluntary separation incentive programs and certain time-in-grade requirements. (Sec. 523) Continues eligibility for the voluntary separation incentive program after the involuntary loss of membership in the Ready or Standby Reserve. (Sec. 524) Revises current limitations on the authority of the Secretaries concerned to set rates and waive requirements for reimbursement of expenses incurred for foreign student instruction at U.S. military service academies. (Sec. 525) Repeals a current limitation on the civilian employment of enlisted personnel when such employment interferes with the customary or regular employment of local civilians. (Sec. 527) Prohibits any DOD official from implementing any change of policy regarding the separation or integration of military personnel on the basis of gender that is within the responsibilities of the Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues before the termination of such Commission. (Sec. 528) Provides transitional compensation authority for abused dependent children of military personnel when such children reside with the spouse or former spouse of a member convicted of dependent abuse. (Sec. 529) Directs the Secretary to establish a five-year pilot program to assess whether the armed forces could better meet recruiting requirements by treating GED recipients as having graduated from high school for purposes of enlistment eligibility. Limits to 1,250 annually the number of individuals authorized to be so considered. (Sec. 530) Waives time limitations for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for certain service during World War II or Korea. Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits - Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances - Waives any FY 1999 military pay increases tied to increases in the General Schedule of Compensation for Government employees. Increases the rates of basic pay by 3.1 percent, effective January 1, 1999. (Sec. 602) Increases to $600 the monthly pay for cadets and midshipmen at the service academies. (Sec. 603) Allows a member entitled to the transportation of baggage and household effects due to a change of station to, as an alternative, reimbursement or payment of a monetary allowance in advance of a move arranged by such member. (Sec. 604) Authorizes the Superintendent of a service academy to order a cadet or midshipman suspended from duty at such academy to be placed on involuntary leave without pay. Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays - Extends through December 31, 1999, specified authorities currently scheduled to expire at the end of FY 1999 with respect to certain special pay and bonus programs within the regular and reserve armed forces. (Sec. 615) Repeals a provision which allows only ten percent of selective reenlistment bonuses paid in a fiscal year to exceed $20,000. (Sec. 616) Increases to $6,000 the maximum authorized Army enlistment bonus. (Sec. 617) Includes within the defense educational loan repayment program a person enrolled in a program of education leading to professional qualifications. Increases the educational loan amounts authorized to be repaid under such program to a maximum of $20,000 per year and $50,000 total per individual. (Sec. 618) Increases to $950 the monthly amount of basic educational assistance authorized to be paid to military personnel possessing critically short skills or specialties. (Sec. 619) Provides that the entitlement of an individual to basic educational assistance benefits shall not be affected by the receipt of an enlistment bonus. Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to pay for or provide transportation to a member as part of a program of rest and recuperation in connection with contingency operations or unusual conditions at a duty station. (Sec. 622) Authorizes payment for the temporary storage of baggage of military dependent students not taken on an annual trip to an overseas duty station of such student's sponsor. (Sec. 623) Authorizes commercial travel under Federal supply schedules for the travel of a member of the reserves to or from the location of inactive duty training. Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Survivor Benefits, and Related Matters - Considers, beginning on October 1, 2003, coverage under the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) to be paid in full when a member's pay has been reduced for such coverage for 30 years or when the member has attained 70 years of age. (Sec. 632) Provides an effective date for the court-ordered election of a spouse's or former spouse's coverage under the SBP. (Sec. 633) Provides for the recovery, care, and disposition of remains of medically retired members who die during hospitalization that began while such members were on active duty. Subtitle E: Other Matters - Excludes the Panama Canal from the definition of a U.S. territory or possession for purposes of military pay and allowance provisions. (Sec. 642) Provides Federal employees' compensation coverage for the period during which student members attend training or a practice cruise. (Sec. 643) Amends the Defense Dependents' Education Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary, or the Secretary of Transportation with respect to the Coast Guard when not operating under the Navy, to provide financial assistance to sponsors of dependents in overseas areas where defense dependent schools are not reasonably available. Title VII: Health Care - Amends the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) to provide for an inflation-indexed premium under the defense dependents' dental program. (Sec. 702) Extends through June 30, 1999, the authority for the use of personal services contracts for the provision of health care at military entrance processing stations and at other locations which are outside of military medical treatment facility areas. (Sec. 703) Provides for the automatic enrollment under TRICARE Prime (a DOD managed health care program) for each dependent of a member in grade E4 or below who is entitled to CHAMPUS medical and dental care and resides in the catchment area of a facility offering TRICARE Prime. Provides for automatic renewal of enrollments and premium payment options under such coverage. Requires such coverage to take effect no later than January 1, 1999. (Sec. 704) Provides limited continued CHAMPUS coverage, with regard to health care provided between October 1, 1998, and July 1, 1999, for persons unaware of the loss of such coverage due to their recent eligibility for Medicare. (Sec. 705) Directs the Secretary to ensure that the advanced systems developed for recording military personnel data and information include the capability to record organ and tissue donation elections. Outlines responsibilities of the military department secretaries and the Surgeon General with respect to the collection of such information. (Sec. 706) Commends and encourages continuation of the cooperative efforts of DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the delivery of medical care. Directs the DOD and VA Secretaries to jointly conduct: (1) a survey of their respective medical care beneficiary populations to identify the expectations of, requirements for, and behavior patterns of such beneficiaries with respect to medical care; and (2) a review of impediments to cooperation in the delivery of medical care. Requires the Secretary of Defense to review and report semiannually to the congressional defense and veterans' affairs committees (committees) on the TRICARE program to identify opportunities for increased program participation by the VA. Directs the Federal Pharmaceutical Steering Committee to: (1) undertake a comprehensive examination of existing pharmaceutical benefits and programs for beneficiaries of Federal medical care programs; (2) review the existing methods for contracting for and distributing medical supplies and services; and (3) report examination results to the committees. Directs the Secretaries to submit to the committees a report on the status of DOD and VA efforts to standardize physical examinations administered to determine or rate disabilities. Specifies deadlines for required reports. (Sec. 707) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to conduct three demonstration projects to assess the feasibility and advisability of providing health care under CHAMPUS to current and former military personnel and their dependents or dependents of military personnel who died while on active duty for more than 30 days, and who: (1) are 65 years old or older; (2) are entitled to hospital insurance benefits under Part A of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act; (3) are enrolled in the Medicare supplemental medical insurance program; and (4) reside in an area of a demonstration project. Requires the Secretary under one such project to permit eligible individuals to enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. Prohibits eligible individuals from being required to satisfy any FEHB eligibility criteria as a condition of enrollment. Provides for participation management under the FEHB enrollment program. Requires the Secretary, under another project, to permit eligible individuals to enroll in the TRICARE program, with an enrollment fee. Requires the Secretary, under the third project, to permit eligible individuals to participate in the mail order pharmacy benefit under the TRICARE program, with appropriate premiums, deductibles, or copayments. Requires an independent evaluation of each project. Directs the Comptroller General to review such evaluations and report review results to the defense committees. Title VIII: Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters - Authorizes the Secretary to procure articles containing para-aramid fibers and yarns manufactured in any foreign country which: (1) is a party to a defense memorandum of understanding; or (2) permits U.S. firms that manufacture such fibers and yarns to compete with foreign firms in that country. (Sec. 802) Authorizes the head of an agency to enter into a contract for travel-related services that provides for the contractor to furnish services for both official and non-official travel. Makes such provision inapplicable to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service under the Navy. (Sec. 803) Prohibits the head of a defense agency from entering into a contract for a price exceeding fair market cost in the fiscal year following a fiscal year in which DOD attains its contracting goal for participation by small disadvantaged businesses and certain minority institutions. (Sec. 804) Repeals a Federal provision requiring the Secretary to allocate available technical assistance funds equally among Defense Contract Administration Services regions. (Sec. 805) Defense Commercial Pricing Management Improvement Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations to clarify the procedures and methods used to determine the reasonableness of prices of items which are exempt from DOD requirements for the submission of certified cost or pricing data. Directs the Secretary to develop and implement procedures: (1) to ensure that a single item manager or contracting officer is responsible for negotiating and entering into all contracts for the procurement of such items from a single contractor; and (2) that provide for the collection and analysis of information on price trends for categories of such items. Requires a defense agency head or military department Secretary to address any unreasonable escalation in prices paid for such items. Requires reports concerning such procedures from the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology (Under Secretary) to the defense and appropriations committees. (Sec. 806) Directs the Secretary to revise certain procurement regulations to cover all purchases of goods and services by DOD under contracts entered into or administered by another Federal agency. (Sec. 807) Requires the Under Secretary to prescribe policies and requirements for educational programs of the defense acquisition university structure. (Sec. 808) Repeals the requirement that the Director of Acquisition Education, Training, and Career Development be located within the Office of the Under Secretary. (Sec. 809) Continues eligibility for membership in the defense acquisition corps for persons serving in a position below GS-13 due to a reduction in force, the closure or realignment of a military installation, or any reason other than for cause. (Sec. 810) Authorizes the Secretary to designate ten acquisition programs of the military departments as pilot programs on program manager responsibility for product support. Title IX: Department of Defense Organization and Management - Reduces from ten to nine the number of Assistant Secretary of Defense positions. Renames the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space and Information Superiority, with specified duties. (Sec. 903) Authorizes the Secretary to include within the National Defense University any educational institution that the Secretary considers appropriate and so designates. (Sec. 904) Provides for specified percentage reductions in the number of Federal employees and military personnel on the headquarters staffs of various DOD organizations. Allows for the waiver of the prohibition on the management of personnel by end strengths in order to achieve such reductions. Requires the Secretary to submit to the defense and appropriations committees a plan to implement such reductions. (Sec. 905) Directs the Secretary to conduct in each year in which a President is inaugurated a comprehensive examination of the defense strategy, force structure, force modernization plans, infrastructure, budget plan, and related matters with a view toward determining and expressing the U.S. defense strategy, establishing a revised defense plan for the ensuing ten years, and another for the ensuing 20 years. Directs the Secretary, immediately preceding an inaugural year, to establish a nonpartisan, independent panel to be known as the National Defense Panel to: (1) conduct a comprehensive assessment of the above strategies, structures, and plans; and (2) recommend a ten- and 20- year defense strategy after such assessment. (Sec. 906) Directs the Secretary to analyze the structures and processes of DOD for the management of its laboratories and test and evaluation centers and to develop a plan for improving such management. Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to such committees a plan and schedule for implementing a cost-based management information system for such laboratories and test centers. (Sec. 907) Directs the Secretary of each military department to administer all of its Fisher houses as nonappropriated fund instrumentalities. Provides, with respect to such instrumentality, for: (1) a system of governance; (2) the establishment of a central fund as a funding source; and (3) the acceptance of contributions and the imposition of fees for use of such houses. Requires an annual report from each Secretary on Fisher house operations. Provides transitional funding. Title X: General Provisions - Subtitle A: Financial Matters - Authorizes the Secretary, in the national interest, to transfer amounts of authorizations made available to DOD under this Division for FY 1999 between any such authorizations for that fiscal year, with a total transfer limit of $2 billion. Requires congressional notification of any such transfers. (Sec. 1002) Authorizes appropriations for DOD for FY 1999 for incremental costs of military operations in and around Bosnia and Herzegovina. Authorizes the transfer of O&M funds for such purpose. (Sec. 1003) Adjusts the amounts authorized to DOD for FY 1998 by the amount by which appropriations pursuant to such authorization were increased or decreased in the 1998 Supplemental Appropriations and Rescissions Act. (Sec. 1004) Makes funds authorized under titles II and III available for Partnership for Peace information management systems. Subtitle B: Naval Vessels - Requires: (1) the U.S.S. Iowa to be listed and maintained on the Naval Vessel Register; and (2) the U.S.S. New Jersey to be stricken from such Register. (Sec. 1012) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to enter into one or more long-term charters for three specified vessels to support the rescue, escort, and towing of submarines. (Sec. 1013) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to transfer specified vessels to foreign countries on a grant basis under provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and on a sale or lease basis under provisions of the Arms Export Control Act. Requires as a condition of such transfers that any vessel repair or refurbishment needed prior to such transfers be performed at a U.S. shipyard, including a Navy shipyard. Terminates the transfer authority two years after the enactment of this Act. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Report Requirements and Repeals - Repeals various reports and reporting requirements under Federal armed forces provisions and the National Defense Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1989. (Sec. 1022) Requires the Comptroller General to submit to the Congress an analysis of a biennial financial management improvement plan currently required to be submitted by the Secretary. (Sec. 1023) Directs the Secretary to carry out a study of the feasibility and advisability of selecting on a competitive basis the source or sources for performing DOD finance and accounting services from among private sector sources, the DOD Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), the military departments, and other Federal agencies. Requires the Secretary to perform market research in connection with the study. (Sec. 1024) Prohibits any DFAS operating location from being closed within six months after the Secretary submits to the defense committees a strategic plan for improving the financial management operations at each location. (Sec. 1025) Requires the Secretary to report to the defense committees on the inventory and control of DOD military equipment as of the end of FY 1998, addressing each military department separately. Directs the Inspector General to review the report and submit comments to such committees. (Sec. 1026) Directs the Secretary and the Director of Central Intelligence to jointly submit to the defense committees a report on the plans of DOD and the intelligence community for ensuring the continuity of performance of essential operations that are at risk of failure due to computer systems and other information and support systems that are not year 2000 compliant. (Sec. 1027) Directs the Secretary of the Navy to report to the defense committees on battleship readiness for meeting military requirements for naval surface fire support. (Sec. 1028) Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on the roles of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff in the investigation of DOD aviation accidents. (Sec. 1029) Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to the Congress a plan for guiding and expanding distance learning initiatives within DOD. (Sec. 1030) Directs the Secretary to report to the defense and appropriations committees on U.S. military involvement in major contingency operations and major ongoing operations since the end of the Persian Gulf War, including involvement in the Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Operations Southern Watch and Northern Watch. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary to provide a foreign country or any of its instrumentalities with assistance for destroying, removing, or obtaining from such country: (1) weapons of mass destruction; or (2) materials, equipment, or technology for the delivery or development of such weapons. Requires a certification from the Secretary to the defense and appropriations committees at least 15 days in advance that such materials, equipment, or technology meet specified requirements. Waives the certification requirement when compliance would compromise U.S. national security objectives. Requires annual reports concerning such activities. (Sec. 1042) Amends the Weapons of Mass Destruction Control Act of 1992 to extend through FY 1999 certain counterproliferation authorities for support of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq. (Sec. 1043) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to extend through FY 1999 a limitation concerning the retirement or dismantlement of strategic nuclear delivery systems. (Sec. 1044) Requires a report from the Secretary to the defense committees on the feasibility of initiating discussions concerning the possibility of direct-line communications between the commanders in chief of the U.S. Strategic and Space Commands and the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces. (Sec. 1045) Directs the Secretary to review and report to the defense committees on DOD policies and doctrines on chemical warfare defense. Requires the Secretary to modify such policies and doctrines in order to provide adequate protection of military personnel from low-level exposure to a chemical warfare agent. Directs the Secretary to develop and carry out a plan to establish a research program for determining the effects of chronic and low-dose exposures to such agents. (Sec. 1046) Provides for the accounting treatment of the advanced payment of military personnel. (Sec. 1047) Defines a financial institution, for purposes of the reimbursement of military and civilian DOD personnel for Federal errors in direct deposits of pay, as a bank, savings and loan association, or a credit union chartered by the U.S. Government or a State. (Sec. 1048) Directs the Secretary to conduct a pilot program on alternative notice procedures concerning the withholding or garnishment of pay of military personnel for the payment of child support or alimony under provisions of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 1049) Provides a limitation on the cost of services provided to the Defense Commissary Agency (DCA) to provide for the efficient management and operation of the commissary system. (Sec. 1050) Authorizes the Secretary to impose a charge for the collection of dishonored checks presented at commissary stores. (Sec. 1051) Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe in regulations DCA authority to meet its telecommunications requirements by obtaining services and related items under the FTS-2001 contract through a frame relay system procured for the DCA. (Sec. 1052) Authorizes service academy superintendents to accept a research grant that is awarded on a competitive basis for a research project carried out by a professor or instructor at such academy for a scientific, literary, or educational purpose. (Sec. 1053) Empowers inspectors general of the military departments with responsibilities concerning military personnel whistleblower protections. (Currently, such responsibilities exist solely under the DOD Inspector General.) Provides simplified whistleblower reporting and notice requirements. Repeals a requirement for a post-investigation interview. (Sec. 1054) Provides for the crediting of amounts recovered from claims against third parties for loss or damage to personal property of military personnel shipped or stored at Government expense. (Sec. 1055) Authorizes the Secretary to permit a dependent of a member of the armed forces to enroll in an elementary or secondary education program on a military installation within the United States while the member is assigned away from such jurisdiction on a remote or unaccompanied assignment under permanent change of station orders. Allows an enrollment to be extended for more than five years if the dependent is still eligible, space is available, and adequate arrangements are made for reimbursement of the Secretary for the costs of the educational services provided. (Sec. 1056) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to charge a fee for providing historical information to the public from the United States Army or Air Force Military History Institutes and the United States Naval or Marine Corps Historical Centers. (Sec. 1057) Requires the inspector general of an armed force to inspect the Armed Forces Retirement Home at least every three years. (Currently, the DOD Inspector General conducts such inspections at least every six years.) Requires the duty of such inspection to alternate among such inspectors general, and requires each inspection to be followed by a report to the Retirement Home Board, the Secretary, and the Congress. (Sec. 1058) Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to convey to the Collings Foundation in Stow, Massachusetts, all U.S. rights and interest to one surplus F-4 Phantom II aircraft. Requires the Foundation to alter such aircraft so that it no longer has any combat capability. (Sec. 1059) Amends the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 to state that a presidential signature shall constitute approval of vessel war risk insurance requested by the Secretary. (Sec. 1060) Requests the President to issue a proclamation designating March 1, 1999, as "United States Navy Asiatic Fleet Memorial Day." (Sec. 1061) Revises provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to: (1) redesignate the Korean Conflict as the Korean War, for purposes of a program commemorating such War; and (2) provide a limitation on expenditures under the program. (Sec. 1062) Directs the Secretary to report to the defense committees concerning the costs to DOD associated with frequency spectrum allocations. Amends the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to require any person on whose behalf a Federal entity incurs costs from the relocation of Federal frequencies to compensate the Federal entity in advance for such costs. Title XI: Department of Defense Civilian Personnel - Repeals a Federal provision requiring the Secretary to conduct a program under which qualified spouses of military personnel are given a hiring preference for DOD child care positions. (Sec. 1103) Extends through FY 2003 the authority for the DOD voluntary separation incentive pay program. (Sec. 1104) Amends Federal provisions concerning the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees' Retirement System to provide voluntary early retirement authority for DOD civilian employees who either complete 25 years of service or, after becoming 50 years of age, complete 20 years of service. Outlines voluntary separation requirements, including that: (1) such employee has not received a notice of separation for misconduct or unacceptable performance; and (2) DOD or the military department involved is undergoing a major reorganization, reduction in force, or transfer of functions. (Sec. 1105) Authorizes the Secretary, during the five-year period commencing on the date of enactment of this Act, to carry out a program of experimental use of special personnel management authority (the hiring of up to 20 individuals from outside the civil service and armed forces) to facilitate the recruitment of eminent experts in science or engineering for research and development projects administered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Limits the period of appointment (four years) and the amount of compensation to be paid to such employees. Title XII: Joint Warfighting Experimentation - Expresses the sense of the Congress supporting the initiative of the Secretary and the JCS Chairman to designate a commander of a combatant command to have the mission for joint warfighting experimentation, the development and validation of new joint warfighting concepts and capabilities, and related DOD strategy for transforming U.S. armed forces to meet future national security threats. Request such commander to have sufficient freedom of action, authority, and resources to establish and conduct the joint warfighting experimentation process. Requests: (1) continued intraservice and multiservice warfighting experimentation, and related experimentation by the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command; and (2) congressional review of the initial and annual reports on joint warfighting experimentation to determine the adequacy of the scope and pace of U.S. military forces to meet future national security challenges. (Sec. 1203) Requires an initial and annual reports from the appointed commander to the Secrretary on the implementation of such experimentation. Directs the Secretary to submit such reports to the chairmen of the defense committees. Division B: Military Construction Authorizations - Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 - Title XXI(sic): Army - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes such Secretary to construct or acquire family housing units, to carry out architectural planning and design activities, and to improve existing military family housing in specified amounts. Authorizes appropriations to the Army for fiscal years after 1998 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Army. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. (Sec. 2105) Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to increase the amount authorized for a military construction project at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Title XXII: Navy - Provides, with respect to the Navy, authorizations for purposes paralleling those for which authorizations are provided for the Army under the previous title. Title XXIII: Air Force - Provides, with respect to the Air Force, authorizations for purposes paralleling those for which authorizations are provided for the Army under Title XXI. Title XXIV: Defense Agencies - Authorizes the Secretary to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to improve existing military family housing units in a specified amount. (Sec. 2403) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out certain energy conservation projects. (Sec. 2404) Authorizes appropriations to DOD for fiscal years beginning after 1998 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing projects of DOD. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. (Sec. 2405) Increases amounts authorized under prior military construction authorization Acts for projects at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, Umatilla Army Depot, Oregon, and Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Virginia. Title XXV: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program - Authorizes the Secretary to make contributions for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Security Investment Program and authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1998 for such contributions. Title XXVI: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1998 for Guard and Reserve forces for acquisition, architectural and engineering services, and construction of facilities. (Sec. 2602) Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 to reduce the authorization of appropriations for Army Reserve military construction. Title XXVII: Expiration and Extension of Authorizations - Terminates all authorizations contained in titles XXI through XXVI of this Act on October 1, 2001, or the date of enactment of an Act authorizing appropriations for military construction for FY 2002, whichever is later, with exceptions. Extends certain prior-year military construction projects. Title XXVIII: General Provisions - Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes - Revises Federal provisions concerning authorized architectural and engineering services and construction design to: (1) allow such services and design without regard to whether the military construction projects themselves are authorized by law; and (2) increase from $300,000 to $500,000 the amount authorized to be expended for such services before congressional notification is required. (Sec. 2802) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to lease up to 500 family housing units in Italy and up to 800 family housing units in Korea. Subtitle B: Real Property and Facilities Administration - Increases from $200,000 to $500,000 the amount authorized to be expended by the Secretary concerned for a real property lease, acquisition, or transfer before congressional notification is required. Provides an exception to real property transaction reporting requirements in declarations of war, national emergency, major disaster, the use of riot militia, or a contingency operation. Requires such notification within 30 days after any such event. (Sec. 2813) Waives applicability of Federal property disposal regulations under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 with respect to leases entered into at military installations being closed or realigned under the base closure laws. (Sec. 2814) Authorizes the Secretary, as a condition of a lease, license, or other grant of access entered into with another Federal agency for military department property, to require such agency to remove any improvements and to restore such land to its condition before such use. Provides for cost reimbursement in lieu of such removal or restoration. Subtitle C: Land Conveyances - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to convey to: (1) the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant Reuse Authority the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant in Charlestown, Indiana; (2) Bridgton, Maine, the Army Reserve Center there; and (3) Hamilton County, Tennessee, the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Authorizes the Secretary of the: (1) Army to release all interests in the former Kennebec Arsenal in Augusta, Maine; (2) Navy to convey to the Gulf of Maine Aquarium Development Corporation in Portland, Maine, the Naval Reserve Readiness Center in Portland; and (3) Air Force to convey to McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the Lake Charles Air Force Station. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to purchase from its developer the entire 366-unit military family housing project at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, if determined to be in the best economic interests of the Air Force. (Sec. 2832) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to carry out beach replenishment in and around San Diego, California. Provides funding and cost limitations. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress 30 days in advance of any such action. Title XXIX: Juniper Butte Range Lands Withdrawal - Juniper Butte Range Land Withdrawal Act - Withdraws the Juniper Butte Range, Idaho, from all forms of appropriation under the public land, mining, and mineral and geothermal leasing laws. Reserves such land to the Air Force for a high hazard training area, dropping training ordnance, electronic warfare and tactical maneuvering and air support, and other defense-related purposes. Modifies airspace restrictions over such lands. Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to compensate individuals engaged in ranching operations for disruption to and loss of grazing on such lands and associated areas. Requires appropriate support from the Bureau of Land Management in the payment of such compensation. Allows for continued grazing until such compensation is paid. Requires such Secretary to provide to the public a map and legal description of the lands reserved. (Sec. 2906) Requires such Secretary to manage the reserved lands and to close such lands to public access in appropriate circumstances. Authorizes such Secretary to enter into leases with the State of Idaho in support of the Range and its operations. Directs such Secretary to suppress brush and range fires caused by Air Force operations. Requires such Secretary to develop an integrated natural resources management plan for the natural resources of withdrawn lands, requiring the Secretaries of the Air Force and the Interior and the governor of Idaho to enter into a memorandum of understanding for the development of the plan. Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to maintain roads and manage withdrawn and acquired mineral resources within the area of the range lands. Outlines water rights. (Sec. 2913) Terminates the withdrawal and reservation 25 years after the enactment of this Act, with relinquishment before such date under appropriate circumstances. Requires such Secretary, at least five years before such termination date, to notify the Congress and the Secretary of the Interior as to whether the Air Force has a continuing military need for such lands after the termination date. Outlines provisions concerning the environmental remediation of such lands and authorized delegation of authority by each of the Secretaries. Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that Air Force budgetary planning makes available sufficient funding to assure Air Force participation in cooperative efforts developed by the Secretary and the State of Idaho to monitor the impact of military activities on natural, cultural, and other resources and values of the withdrawn lands. (Sec. 2917) Authorizes appropriations. Division C: Department of Energy National Security Authorizations and Other Authorizations - Title XXXI(sic): Department of Energy National Security Programs - Subtitle A: National Security Programs Authorizations - Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Energy (DOE) for FY 1999 for operating expenses, capital equipment, and plant projects necessary in carrying out the following activities for national security programs: (1) weapons activities; (2) environmental restoration and waste management; (3) other defense activities; (4) defense nuclear waste disposal; and (5) defense environmental management privatization initiatives. Subtitle B: Recurring General Provisions - Prohibits the use of funds appropriated pursuant to this title for: (1) the cost of a program exceeding 110 percent of the program authorization or $1 million more than the amount authorized; or (2) programs which have not been presented to, or requested of, the Congress until the Secretary of Energy (Secretary, for purposes of this Division) transmits to the defense and appropriations committees a full statement of the action proposed and 30 days have since expired. (Sec. 3122) Places certain funding limits for general plant and construction projects of DOE. Requires congressional reports when amounts exceed such limits. (Sec. 3124) Authorizes the Secretary to transfer DOE-authorized funds: (1) to other Federal agencies for the performance of work for which such funds were authorized; or (2) between authorizations within DOE, to be merged with and available for the same purposes. Requires notification to the defense committees of any such transfers. (Sec. 3125) Directs the Secretary, before submitting a funding request for a construction project in support of a DOE national security program, to complete a conceptual design for such project. Requires a separate funding request for such designs for which the estimated cost exceeds $3 million. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out construction design services in connection with any proposed construction project if the total estimated cost for the design does not exceed $600,000. Requires specific authorization by law for designs exceeding such amount. (Sec. 3126) Authorizes the use of DOE funds for planning, design, and construction activities for any DOE national security program that must proceed expeditiously in order to protect public health and safety, meet the needs of national defense, or protect property. Requires the Secretary to report to the defense and appropriations committees when funds are so used. Makes funds for management and support and for general plant projects under this Subtitle available for all DOE national security programs. (Sec. 3129) Directs the Secretary, during FY 1999, to empower each DOE field office manager with the authority to transfer defense environmental management funds from a program or project under such office's jurisdiction to another program or project in order to address a risk to health, safety, or the environment or to assure the most efficient use of such funds at that field office. Limits such transfers to a total of $5 million per fiscal year. Directs the Secretary to notify the Congress within 30 days after any such transfer. Subtitle C: Program Authorizations, Restrictions, and Limitations - Prohibits, with specified exceptions, FY 1999 DOE funds from being obligated or expended to conduct any activities: (1) associated with international cooperative stockpile stewardship; or (2) relating to ballistic or theater missile defense. (Sec. 3133) Prohibits any person from constructing or operating a facility under contract with DOE for fabricating mixed plutonium-uranium oxide nuclear reactor fuel for use in a commercial nuclear reactor without first obtaining a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (Sec. 3134) Directs the Secretary to continue operations and maintain a high state of readiness at the F- and H-canyon facilities at the Savannah River site and to provide technical staff to operate and maintain such facilities. (Sec. 3135) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 to authorize DOE federally funded research and development centers to participate in merit-based technology research and development programs. (Sec. 3136) Earmarks funds authorized under this title for payment to the educational foundation chartered to enhance educational activities in the public schools in the vicinity of Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Repeals a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 setting forth policy under the stockpile stewardship program. (Sec. 3142) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 to increase compensation levels for scientific, engineering, and technical personnel responsible for safety at DOE nuclear facilities. (Sec. 3143) Expresses the sense of the Senate that OMB should, beginning with FY 2000, transfer the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action program from the defense 050 budget function to a non-defense discretionary budget function. Title XXXII: Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Title XXXIII: National Defense Stockpile - Authorizes the National Defense Stockpile (NDS) Manager, during FY 1999, to obligate up to $83 million of the funds in the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund (Fund) for authorized Fund uses, including the disposal of hazardous materials that are environmentally sensitive. Authorizes the NDS Manager to obligate amounts in excess of such amount 45 days after notifying the Congress that extraordinary or emergency conditions necessitate the additional obligations. (Sec. 3303) Directs the President to dispose of NDS materials. Specifies disposal limits. Title XXXIV: Naval Petroleum Reserves - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 for activities relating to the naval petroleum reserves. Title XXXV: Panama Canal Commission - Panama Canal Commission Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 - Authorizes the Panama Canal Commission to make such expenditures as necessary for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the Panama Canal for FY 1999, with specified funding limits. (Sec. 3503) Requires Commission funds to be made available for the purchase and transportation to the Republic of Panama of passenger motor vehicles, with a per vehicle cost limit of $23,000. (Sec. 3504) Requires expenditures authorized under this title to be in accordance with the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 and any laws implementing those treaties. (Sec. 3505) Authorizes the Commission to seek and accept donations to carry out Commission promotional activities. (Sec. 3506) Authorizes the Secretary of State to enter into one or more agreements under which the United States furnishes administrative services relating to Commission pension, disability, and medical benefits, as well as workmen's compensation, after December 31, 1999, and establishes appropriate procedures for providing advance funding for such services. (Sec. 3507) Repeals on December 30, 1999, current Federal provisions concerning rights of and benefits accruing to Commission employees at the Canal. (Sec. 3508) Repeals a Federal provision establishing a Commission central examining office. (Sec. 3509) Revises provisions concerning Commission liability for vessel accidents to require claimants to be covered by one or more insurance policies totaling at least $1 million against the injuries claimed. Limits Commission liability to amounts in excess of any insurance amounts recovered. (Sec. 3510) Makes a Commission employee eligible, upon request, for appointment on a noncompetitive basis to vacant positions in the competitive civil service within: (1) an area determined by the OPM Director as being within a reasonable commuting distance of the employee's residence; or (2) any Standard Federal Region designated by such employee. Outlines eligibility requirements, including U.S. citizenship and a notice of separation by reason of a reduction in force. (Sec. 3511) Provides compensation levels for members of the Commission's Board of Contract Appeals.

Amending the Fastener Quality Act to exempt from its coverage certain fasteners approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for use in aircraft.

United States · United States Congress · 11 May 1998

Amends the Fastener Quality Act to exempt from certain testing and certification requirements fasteners specifically manufactured or altered for use on an aircraft if the quality and suitability of those fasteners for that use has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Declares that such exemption shall not apply to fasteners represented by the fastener manufacturer as having been manufactured in conformance with standards or specifications established by a consensus standards organization or a Federal agency other than the FAA.

projet de loi relatif aux enquêtes techniques sur les accidents et les incidents dans l'aviation civile.

France · Senate · 6 May 1998

Communication from the Commission to the Council concerning the establishment of a Community position for the discussions and negotiations on aviation environmental issues to be addressed by the 32nd session of the General Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Montreal, from 22 September to 2 October 1998

European Union · European Commission · 6 May 1998

Aviation Bilateral Accountability Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 28 April 1998

Aviation Bilateral Accountability Act of 1998 - Amends Federal aviation law to require congressional approval, according to a specified procedure, of civil aviation agreements establishing air navigation (including air routes and services) between the United States and a foreign country.

Consumer Access to Travel Information Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 23 April 1998

Consumer Access to Travel Information Act of 1998 - Amends Federal aviation safety law policy to direct the Secretary of Transportation to consider it in the public interest, and consistent with public convenience and necessity, to ensure that consumers may obtain unbiased comparative information from travel agents and other independent sources about air transportation passenger services and fares in an efficient and convenient manner. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the availability of such information to consumers. Requires the Secretary, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, to issue a cease and desist order to any air carrier or other party engaged in any practice or policy which constitutes a predatory, unfair, or deceptive practice or unfair method of competition which restricts the widespread, convenient, and efficient access by the public to unbiased comparative air transportation passenger service and fare information or the sale, booking, or distribution of air transportation passenger services or products.

Air Service Restoration Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1998

Air Service Restoration Act - Amends Federal transportation law to establish within the Department of Transportation an Office of Aviation Development, which shall be headed by a Director, designated by the Secretary of Transportation. Requires the Director to: (1) function as a facilitator between small communities and air carriers; (2) carry out a specified airline service restoration program; (3) ensure that the Bureau of Transportation Statistics collects data on passenger information to assess the service needs of small communities; (4) coordinate efforts with other Federal, State, and local agencies to increase the viability of service to small communities and the creation of aviation development zones; and (5) recommend policies to the Secretary and the Congress that will ensure that small communities have access to quality, affordable air transportation services. Requires the Director to report annually to the Secretary and the Congress with respect to the availability of quality air transportation services to small communities. (Sec. 5) Authorizes a small community or a consortia of small communities or a State to develop an assessment of air service requirements and submit it with an air service program proposal to the Office of Aviation Development. Sets forth specified program requirements. Requires the Director to report annually to the Congress on progress in expanding commercial aviation service to smaller communities. Waives for any community approved for service during a specified period the requirement that a State or local government or person submitting a proposal to compensate an air carrier for providing air transportation be willing and able to pay 25 percent of the cost of providing such transportation. (Sec. 6) Requires the Director to establish an airline service restoration pilot program to assist communities and States with inadequate access to the national transportation system to improve such access, including facilitating better link-ups to such system. Sets forth certain requirements and eligibility criteria with respect to communities participating in the pilot program. Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in order to facilitate the use of, and improve the safety at, small airports, to establish a pilot program to contract for Level I air traffic control at 20 facilities not eligible for participation in the Federal Contract Tower Program. (Sec. 7) Authorizes the Secretary to obligate specified amounts of aviation program funds (including success bonuses) in providing enhanced air carrier service to small communities. (Sec. 8) Authorizes the Secretary, in order to facilitate air service to a small community receiving airline service restoration pilot program assistance, to require, if necessary, an air carrier that serves an essential U.S. airport facility and an air carrier that offers service in an underserved U.S. market to enter into an agreement with a qualifying air carrier that files a request with the Secretary. (Sec. 9) Amends Federal aviation law policy to require the Secretary, in the course of economic regulation, to consider ensuring that: (1) consumers in all U.S. regions, including those in small communities and rural and remote areas, have access to affordable, regularly scheduled air service; and (2) any slots given to air carriers to provide small community air service are withdrawn if the carrier fails to provide such service. (Sec. 10) Directs the Secretary to review, and promulgate regulations to address, the marketing practices of air carriers that may inhibit the availability of quality, affordable air transportation services to small and medium-sized communities.

Consumer Access to Travel Information Act of 1998

United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1998

Consumer Access to Travel Information Act of 1998 - Amends Federal aviation safety law policy to direct the Secretary of Transportation to consider it in the public interest, and consistent with public convenience and necessity, to ensure that consumers may obtain unbiased information in an efficient and convenient manner from travel agents and other independent sources about air transportation passenger services and fares. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the availability of such information to consumers. Requires the Secretary, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, to issue a cease and desist order to any air carrier or other party engaged in any practice or policy which constitutes a predatory, unfair, or deceptive practice or unfair method of competition which restricts the widespread, convenient, and efficient access by the public to unbiased comparative air transportation passenger service and fare information or the sale, booking, or distribution of air transportation passenger services or products.

Ivanpah Valley Airport Public Lands Transfer Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1998

Ivanpah Valley Airport Public Lands Transfer Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the Clark County, Nevada, Department of Aviation certain real property in Ivanpah Valley, Nevada, for the development of an airport facility and infrastructure. Requires conveyance of small parcels over 20 years as may be required for phased construction and development. Withdraws the conveyed lands from mineral entry under the Mining Law of 1872 and the Mineral Leasing Act.

Ivanpah Valley Airport Public Land Transfer Act

United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1998

Ivanpah Valley Airport Public Land Transfer Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the Clark County, Nevada, Department of Aviation certain real property in Ivanpah Valley, Nevada, for the development of an airport facility and infrastructure. Requires conveyance of small parcels over 20 years as is required for phased construction and development. Withdraws the conveyed lands from operation under the Federal mining and mineral leasing laws.

Pachtvertrag Flughafen Wels

Austria · National Council · 15 April 1998

Schriftliche Anfrage der Abgeordneten Dr. Gabriela Moser und Genossen an den Bundesminister für Finanzen betreffend Pachtvertrag Flughafen Wels

Pachtvertrag Flughafen Wels

Austria · National Council · 15 April 1998

Schriftliche Anfrage der Abgeordneten Dr. Gabriela Moser und Genossen an den Bundesminister für wirtschaftliche Angelegenheiten betreffend Pachtvertrag Flughafen Wels

Airplane Emergency Locator Act

United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1998

Airplane Emergency Locator Act - Amends Federal aviation law to make applicable to other specified types of aircraft (currently exempted from them) certain requirements that commercial aircraft be outfitted with an emergency locator transmitter. (Continues to exempt from such requirements aircraft used in flight operations related to design and testing, the manufacture, preparation, and delivery of aircraft, or the aerial application of a substance on agricultural crops.)