Defence

Operation Desert Storm Commemorative Coin Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Operation Desert Storm Commemorative Coin Act - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue one dollar and ten dollar coins emblematic of the United States military's participation in Operation Desert Storm. Prescribes guidelines for the sale of such coins, including the solicitation by the Secretary of the Treasury and the President of the United Service Organizations of bids for proposals from marketing organizations to implement a coin marketing agreement. Mandates that such agreement not indicate in any manner that any portion of the sales price to the public constitutes a tax deductible contribution. Sets forth a surcharge distribution scheme. Mandates that: (1) all amounts received from the sale of such coins be deposited in the coinage profit fund; and (2) the minting and issuing of such coins not result in any net cost to the Federal Government.

To deny funds to programs that do not allow the Secretary of Defense access to students on campuses or to certain student information for recruiting purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Prohibits Federal funds from being made available to any agency, institution, organization, or entity (agency) that denies the Secretary of Defense, for military recruitment purposes: (1) entry to campuses or access to students on campuses; or (2) access to directory information pertaining to students unless an objection has been raised to the release of such information pursuant to this Act. Requires any educational agency that releases directory information to: (1) give public notice of the categories of such information to be released; and (2) allow a reasonable period of time after such notice has been given for a student or a parent (in the case of an individual younger than 18 years of age) to inform the agency that any or all of such information should not be released without obtaining prior consent from such student or parent. Specifies that nothing in this Act shall be construed to require students to attend recruitment events.

To expand the limited prohibition against the financing, by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, of the export of defense articles or services.

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to prohibit, except under specified circumstances, the Export-Import Bank from using any of its funds or borrowing authority to extend credit for the sale of defense articles and services to any country. (Currently, only to economically less developed countries.)

To allow a claim against the United States under chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code, for damages for the death of Major Michael J. Wall.

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Allows a claim against the United States for damages for the death of a named armed forces officer.

To restore the grave marker allowance for veterans.

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse a person for the cost of acquiring a non-Government headstone or grave marker for placement in a cemetery other than a national cemetery in connection with the burial of a veteran.

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish outpatient medical services for any disability of a former prisoner of war.

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide outpatient medical services to any former prisoner of war for any disability.

Concerning the political and human rights situation in Kenya.

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Condemns: (1) the arrest and detention of Kenyan citizens for the peaceful expression of their views; and (2) the Kenyan Government's disregard of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Calls upon the Kenyan Government to: (1) end intimidation and harassment of those critical of government policies and those working for democracy in Kenya; and (2) implement safeguards to ensure freedom of the press and independence of the judiciary and to guarantee civil and human rights for individuals detained by the government. Suspends U.S. economic and military assistance to Kenya. Waives such suspension if the President certifies to the Congress that the Kenyan Government is taking steps to: (1) charge and try or release all prisoners; (2) cease physical abuse or mistreatment of prisoners; (3) restore the independence of the judiciary; and (4) restore freedoms of expression.

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President, in planning and negotiating Iraq's post-war settlements with the United States and its allies, insist that 20 percent of Iraq's future oil revenues be used to pay various costs of the Persian Gulf War.

United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991

Urges the President, in planning and negotiating Iraq's postwar settlements with the United States and its allies, to insist that 20 percent of Iraq's future oil revenues be used to pay: (1) indemnification to the United States and its allies for the costs of the military conflict; (2) the costs of rebuilding Kuwait and other countries damaged by Iraq; (3) the costs of the cleanup of the oil spill and restoration of land and wildlife; (4) the costs of extinguishing all oil well fires and the amount of Kuwait's lost revenue due to such fires; (5) reparations to individuals for suffering caused and to families who lost loved ones; and (6) money owed to companies that were not paid for completed work or were not able to fulfill contracts due to Iraq's aggression against Kuwait.

National Energy Efficiency and Development Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

National Energy Efficiency and Development Act of 1991 - Title I: Energy Policy Initiatives - Subtitle A: National Energy Strategy - Requires the first National Energy Policy Plan submitted by the President to the Congress after enactment of this Act to include a least-cost energy strategy prepared by the Secretary of Energy (Secretary). Requires such strategy to contain: (1) a comprehensive inventory of available energy and energy efficiency resources and their costs; (2) a proposed two-year program for assuring adequate supplies of such resources, along with identification of actions possible under existing Federal law; and (3) recommendations for any new Federal authority needed to achieve the purposes of this Act. Subtitle B: Director of Climate Protection - Directs the Secretary to appoint a Director of Climate Protection to: (1) serve as the Secretary's representative for interagency and multilateral policy discussions of global climate change; (2) monitor domestic and international policies for their effects on the generation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases; and (3) have the authority to participate in departmental planning activities. Title II: Measures to Improve the Energy Efficiency of the United States Economy - Subtitle A: Research and Development - Amends the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989 (REEETCA) to authorize appropriations for energy efficiency research and development. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress triennially on energy efficiency policy options. Subtitle B: Industrial Energy Efficiency - Directs the Secretary to pursue a research and development program and enter into cost-shared joint ventures to improve efficiency in energy intensive industries (such as steel, chemicals, glass, paper, and aluminum). Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to develop, directly or by contract, a voluntary national program to devise standards for energy audits and the installation of insulation in industrial facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish (and report to the Congress on): (1) a reporting system for industry to supply annual energy use and energy intensity information; and (2) voluntary energy efficiency improvement targets for energy-intensive industries. Directs the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration to expand the scope and frequency of the data it collects on energy use in the United States; and (2) report annually to the Congress on such data. Subtitle C: Efficiency in Commercial and Residential Buildings and Other Products - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NECPA) to direct the Secretary to establish a program to provide technical assistance to States and localities in updating energy efficiency provisions of residential and commercial building codes. Requires each State or locality, by four years after enactment of this Act, to certify that it has reviewed and updated such codes so that they meet or exceed the requirements of the Council of American Building Officials' Model Energy Code (CABO-MEC). Requires each State or locality, by three years after such certification, to further certify that all new residential commercial buildings built during such period meet updated code requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to promulgate procedural guidelines for, and provide technical assistance to, States which adopt residential energy efficiency rating systems. Requires all residential buildings, by five years after enactment of this Act, to have numerical energy efficiency ratings. Requires disclosure to potential purchasers of such ratings. Makes any residential building which fails to meet CABO-MEC standards ineligible for Federal mortgage financing programs. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to advise the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development on energy standards for manufactured housing; and (2) test the performance and cost-effectiveness of manufactured housing built to such standards. Creates in the Treasury the State Energy Efficiency Project Fund to provide for grants to States to undertake energy efficiency projects in State- and locally-owned buildings. Requires an annual report to the Congress on Fund activities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to provide financial and technical assistance to support the voluntary development of a national window rating program to establish energy efficiency ratings for windows and window systems. Requires the Secretary to establish such a system if no voluntary program succeeds within two years after enactment of this Act. Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prescribe labeling rules for such rating system, unless labeling is not technologically or economically feasible or is not likely to help consumers make purchasing decisions. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to set minimum energy efficiency standards for certain types of lamps, appliance motors, commercial air conditioning and heating equipment, utility distribution transformers, showerheads, and commercial office equipment. Requires: (1) the FTC to prescribe labeling for such products; and (2) manufacturers to provide labeling meeting FTC requirements. Provides for enforcement of such labeling requirements. Directs the Secretary to establish, for a five-year period, a program to train and certify energy efficiency contractors. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Federal Energy Management - Amends NECPA to require all Federal agencies to install all energy conservation measures which are cost-effective on a ten-year life-cycle cost basis. Permits such agencies to accept gas or electric utility incentives designed to encourage cost-effective energy demand management or energy conservation. Requires the Secretary to develop a simplified method of contracting for shared energy savings contract services that will reduce the administrative effort and cost on the part of the government as well as the private customers. Directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration to analyze significant energy consuming products in the Federal Supply Schedule and develop and implement a method to identify products which offer cost-effective opportunities to reduce energy consumption and costs. Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines for the transfer of up to $1,000,000 per project to encourage Federal agencies to undertake energy efficiency projects in federally owned facilities. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a financial bonus program to reward outstanding facility energy managers in Federal agencies. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the President to promulgate rules prohibiting each executive agency from acquiring any automobile with a fuel economy that is not greater than the average fuel economy for that particular model type for the previous model year. Directs the Secretary to submit to the Congress, and update every two years, a plan for demonstrating energy efficiency and renewable energy resource technologies in federally owned facilities. Amends REEETCA to require the Secretary to finance at least one joint venture for the demonstration of fuel cell technology in Federal facilities in order to accelerate commercial application of such cells. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to study and report on the use of Federal purchasing power to encourage the development of more energy efficient products. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Utility Energy Efficiency - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to direct States to require State-regulated utilities to employ a planning and selection process for new energy resources that evaluates the full range of existing and incremental resources in order to meet expected future demand at the lowest possible cost to society. Declares that the rates allowed to be charged by a State-regulated utility shall be such that: (1) the utility's investments in and expenditures for energy conservation, energy efficiency resources, and other demand-side management resources are at least as profitable as those for the construction of new generating equipment or the acquisition of other new supply-side resources; and (2) the utility is encouraged to make investments and expenditures for all cost-effective improvements in the energy efficiency of power generation and supply. States that the full cost of an energy resource shall include specified external costs associated with its use. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress and certify which States have complied with such requirements. Declares that, beginning four years after enactment of this Act, energy efficiency measures shall be considered as "qualifying facilities" eligible for certain PURPA programs in States that have not adopted procedures to meet the requirements of this Act. Directs the Western, Southwestern, and Southeastern Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) to ensure that they and their customer utilities acquire all cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. Requires each long-term firm power contract between a PMA and a customer utility to require the utility to develop and implement an energy efficiency and renewable energy program. Requires such PMAs to implement programs directly to acquire cost-effective conservation and renewable energy resources in the region in conjunction with such utility programs. Requires the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to: (1) develop a similar least-cost plan; and (2) execute similar long-term firm contracts with its customer utilities. Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to: (1) develop an office of energy efficiency to coordinate FERC's energy conservation and efficiency activities; and (2) establish procedures for expedited review of any interstate power sales conducted in accordance with the purchasing utility's least-cost energy plan. Subtitle F: Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require a producer or importer of 100,000 gallons or more per year of lubricating oil to increase annually the percentage (set by the Secretary) of recycled oil either: (1) by refining, rerefining, or reprocessing it into petroleum products (including fuels); or (2) by purchasing certain oil recycling credits. Exempts certain facilities from such requirements. Requires annual reports to specified congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to list or identify used oil as a hazardous waste for certain purposes. Subtitle G: Tire Recycling Incentives - Tire Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require tire producers or importers to increase annually the percentage (set by the EPA Administrator) of scrap tires recycled either: (1) by retreading or processing new tire products; or (2) by purchasing certain tire recycling credits. Requires the EPA Administrator to report to the Congress on scrap tire recycling. Sets forth civil penalties for violations of this subtitle. Directs the EPA Administrator to: (1) publish in the Federal Register minimum requirements for State scrap tire management and procedures under which such requirements shall be incorporated into State solid waste management plans; (2) provide for expedited review of State plans which include specified scrap tire recycling measures; and (3) establish standards to minimize health and environmental damages from the improper disposal and storage of tires. Requires such standards to provide for: (1) bans on the disposal of tires in land disposal facilities and on the intentional infliction of damage on tire casings to preclude casings from being used in retreading; (2) State inventories of scrap tire collection facilities, tire advisory boards, and scrap tire abatement plans; (3) agreements between facilities which distribute more than 1,000 tires annually and licensed tire haulers for the exclusive hauling of scrap tires by licensed haulers; and (4) prohibitions on the transportation of scrap tires by transporters without transportation identification numbers. Specifies exceptions. Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for States for the issuance of permits to scrap tire collection facilities. Requires the Administrator to promulgate guidelines for States for facility emergency plans. Requires facility owners or operators to notify the State immediately in the event of an emergency with potential offsite impacts. Requires all regulated facilities to have appropriate financial responsibility or insurance to maintain the facility for at least five years after closure. Exempts specified persons from permit requirements. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for the State to use to issue permits to scrap tire recycling facilities. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, together with the heads of agencies responsible for public lands or military installations, to implement a plan to remediate tire piles. Directs the Administrator to develop a guideline for procuring items that make use of scrap or used tires. Requires Federal departments, if the Administrator fails to promulgate such guideline, to procure items containing at least 75 percent of post-consumer scrap rubber from scrap tires if the rubber is available within a reasonable time at a reasonable price and meets performance standards. Directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to publish standards to determine the life-cycle costs and benefits of items that make use of rubber from scrap or used tires as compared with items that make use of rubber other than from scrap or used tires. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report to the Congress on: (1) direct worker environmental health effects relating to asphalt made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; (2) the recyclability of asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; and (3) the estimated life of existing asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires. Permits States to: (1) enter into consent agreements with owners and operators of scrap tire collection facilities for proper management and abatement of scrap tires; and (2) levy fines on facilities for noncompliance. Imposes fines on tire facilities and landfills for specified violations of this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle H: Insular Areas Energy Assistance - Authorizes the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to grant financial assistance to Insular area governments to carry out energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Measures to Promote the Use of Renewable Energy - Subtitle A: Renewable Energy Technology Transfers - Amends REEETCA to authorize appropriations for: (1) renewable energy research and development programs; (2) State conservation programs; (3) State research and applied technology transfer programs; (4) Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory information and publications; (5) four pilot programs to demonstrate model technology transfer and design assistance programs; (6) an advanced research and development information computer network; and (7) at least ten photovoltaic demonstration projects of at least ten megawatts in size to supply electric power to a power grid. Directs the Secretary to develop a Strategic Technology Transfer Implementation Plan for the national and international transfer of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology information. Amends the Federal Power Act and PURPA to: (1) make small biomass and hydropower production facilities specifically "eligible facilities" under such Act; and (2) define "alternative power production facility." Subtitle B: Amendments to the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) to promote the development and application in lesser-developed countries of specified renewable energy and energy efficiency resource technologies. Authorizes CORECT to establish renewable energy industry outreach offices in the Pacific Rim and in the Caribbean Basin. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the range of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies available to meet the energy needs of lesser-developed countries. Authorizes appropriations. Earmarks funds to assist U.S. manufacturers of renewable energy and energy efficient technology in exporting their products to lesser-developed countries. Title IV: Measures to Promote the Use of Alternative Motor Vehicles and Fuels - Subtitle A: Alternative Transportation Fuels - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements and joint ventures to demonstrate the feasibility (including safety of specific vehicle design) of using natural gas or other alternative fuels for mass transit. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide financial assistance to encourage the development and commercialization of natural gas and other alternative fuel use in passenger fleets, light duty, and heavy duty trucks. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a training and certification program for technicians who are responsible for vehicle installation of equipment that converts gasoline or diesel-fuel vehicles to the capability to run on natural gas or other alternative fuels. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques related to improving natural gas and other alternative fuel vehicle technology. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) institute an awareness program to educate potential purchasers of the costs, emission characteristics, and other features of alternative fuels; (2) report to the Congress on Federal purchasing policies which inhibit Federal purchase of alternative-fuel vehicles; (3) report to the Congress on how Federal, State, and local traffic control measures could promote the use of alternative-fuel vehicles; and (4) develop a plan for establishment of Federal and State trust funds to provide loans to convert vehicles to operate on alternative fuels or purchase alternative-fuel vehicles. Amends the Natural Gas Act to exclude the sale of natural gas as a vehicle fuel from the price regulation jurisdiction of FERC. Declares that a company shall not be considered a natural gas company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 solely because it distributes or sells natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel. Exempts from State regulation as a public utility (unless otherwise primarily engaged in business as such) any person or entity transporting or selling alternative vehicle fuels. Directs the Secretary to establish a fund to provide 50 percent of the cost of establishing offices of alternative fuels in State governments, as well as alternative fuel programs launched by such offices. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to study whether the use of alternative fuels in nonroad vehicles and engines would contribute substantially to reduced reliance on imported energy sources. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations requiring, where feasible, nonroad vehicles and engines to use alternative fuels if such study concludes that such use could reduce reliance on imported energy sources by ten percent nationwide within a ten-year period. Subtitle B: Alternative Fuel Fleet Requirement - Requires every person who owns, operates, leases, or otherwise controls a motor vehicle fleet of specified composition in a metropolitan statistical area of over 250,000 population which is also an EPA-classified nonattainment area to increase the percentage of alternative-fueled vehicles in such fleet by specified increments annually until it reaches 90 percent in the year 2000. Directs the Secretary to allocate credits to covered persons who exceed the required quota of alternative-fueled vehicles. Establishes administrative and civil penalties (together with appropriate enforcement procedures) for violations of the requirements or prohibitions of this subtitle. Subtitle C: Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration - Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to identify EPA-classified nonattainment areas in the United States in which the use of conventionally fueled vehicles contributes significantly to that nonattainment and in which the use of electric vehicles could contribute to attainment of applicable National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Directs the Secretary, after identifying such areas, to request applications from, and eventually select, manufacturers to develop, demonstrate, certify, manufacture, sell, warranty, and service electric vehicles in one or more of them. Requires: (1) the selected manufacturers to offer electric vehicle purchasers certain discounts; and (2) the Secretary to reimburse them the amount of such discounts. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such program. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Transportation and Energy Efficiency - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to establish average fuel economy standards for passenger automobiles and automobiles other than passenger automobiles (light trucks) for model years 1996 and thereafter. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to modify such standards, in response to a petition, according to a specified procedure. Requires the EPA Administrator to report annually to specified congressional committees on a study which: (1) examines the accuracy of fuel economy testing of passenger automobiles and light trucks; and (2) assesses the extent to which fuel economy deteriorates during the lifetime of such vehicles. Directs the Secretary of Energy to distribute at least 100 explanatory booklets each year to every dealer and additional numbers if requested. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide for a review and report to the Congress by the National Academy of Sciences on the current state of research and development in light truck fuel economy and passenger automobile fuel economy and an assessment of the potential for improving the fuel efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of passenger automobiles and light trucks. Requires the Secretary of Energy to study and report to the Congress on the future options for regulating the fuel efficiency of such vehicles beyond 2001. Provides for the judicial review of average fuel economy standards (including modifications thereof) established under this Act. Doubles the civil penalty for repeated violations of the fuel economy standard. Requires such penalty to be adjusted for inflation. Title VI: Measures to Displace Petroleum as a Vehicle Fuel - Replacement Fuels and Alternative Fuels Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to: (1) establish a program to promote the development and use of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels; and (2) prescribe the minimum percentage of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels, on an energy equivalent basis, to be sold in calendar years 1996 and 1997 by any refiner for use as a motor fuel. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to authorize the Secretary of Transportation, if the average fuel economy standard for passenger automobiles is increased above 27.5 miles per gallon for any model year, to increase the maximum increase in average fuel economy for a manufacturer attributable to dual energy and natural gas dual energy automobiles until alternative and replacement motor fuel sales indicate that such fuels are displacing conventional petroleum as a motor fuel. Sets forth civil penalties for violations of this Act and a procedure for appealing such penalties. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Measures to Promote the Use of Natural Gas - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to conduct a program of research, development, and demonstration of cofiring (of natural gas and pulverized coal), including gas reburn technologies (which reduce nitrogen oxide emissions), in electric utility units and large industrial boilers in order to determine optimal natural gas injection levels for both environmental and operational benefits. Provides for financial assistance to or cooperative agreements with public or private entities under such program. Sets the Federal shares of costs at 50 percent. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to expand the program for research, development, and demonstration for natural gas and electric heating and cooling technologies for residential and commercial buildings. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Act to direct FERC to develop an incentive formula for rates and charges for the sale or transportation of natural gas. Sets as the development goals for such formula: (1) allowing natural gas companies to earn a fair rate of return; (2) providing proper price signals to the marketplace; and (3) rewarding pipeline efficiency. Repeals FERC's authority to delay decision-making on ratemaking orders beyond the 30-day rehearing requirement without cause. Requires FERC to take final action on a rehearing application within 60 days after it is filed. Permits natural gas companies to file for FERC approval joint rates negotiated by them for the transportation of natural gas through each of their pipelines in sequence on the way to market. Exempts such rates from coverage under specified antitrust law. Declares that, in the setting of natural gas company rates, a plant shall be recognized so long as it is used and useful in discharging the company's utility business (even if it is already completely depreciated). Declares that pipeline sales rates shall be presumed just and reasonable if workably competitive alternatives exist for such sales. Sets forth conditions under which new natural gas company services (where competitive, certified services already exist) do not need a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Amends the Natural Gas Act to provide automatic abandonment of the sales obligation upon contract expiration, subject to a pipeline's right to extend. Declares that any fixed charge paid by an interstate pipeline to a first seller for gas supply security shall be recoverable on an "as-billed basis" in the pipeline's demand charges, unless FERC determines, after a hearing, that the pipeline does not offer a reasonably competitive alternative to its sales service. Requires the Secretary to condition the approval of any natural gas import application upon FERC action to redress any anti-competitive impacts on U.S. gas producers, including competitive disparities resulting from different rate designs applied to the transportation of domestic gas and imported supplies. Directs the Secretary to expand and continue, through joint ventures, a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques to increase: (1) intensive recovery of natural gas in place in discovered reservoirs or formations; and (2) economic recovery from nonconventional sources, including tight formation, Devonian shales, and geopressurized brines. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1968 to exempt from Natural Gas Act coverage and FERC jurisdiction the construction or operation of any facilities if the natural gas company constructing such facilities: (1) holds a certificate pursuant to which it has agreed to provide open access transportation service; and (2) the company agrees that such certificate shall apply to any transportation service through the new facilities. Requires all such facilities to be constructed in accordance with applicable environmental protection and safety laws and regulations, except the National Environmental Policy Act of 1978 (NEPA). Directs FERC to create an environmental review process under NEPA providing that pipeline construction projects which are confined to existing utility or highway corridors, and do not involve construction in high value wetland areas, shall be afforded a rebuttable presumption of no significant impact. Makes FERC the lead agency with primary authority for compliance with NEPA in any case where FERC authorization of the construction or operation of facilities or projects under the Natural Gas Act may be deemed a major Federal action. Amends the Natural Gas Act to grant FERC the power to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity in a two-phase process: (1) the first phase, which shall constitute a final order, involving all matters requiring FERC review and approval except environmental matters; and (2) the second phase, addressing required environmental matters only. Directs FERC to revise its environmental review procedures to allow pipelines to submit Environmental Assessments (EAs) at the time of filing for approval of proposed facilities, using general standards specified by FERC. Requires the revised procedures to presume EAs valid subject to FERC review for compliance with its own standards. Requires FERC to permit a certificate applicant to elect a contractor, consultant or other FERC designee to prepare the environmental impact statement at the applicant's expense. Requires FERC to develop procedures to ensure against conflicts of interest in such contracting. Directs the Office of Technology Assessment to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the global trends of production, usage, and transportation of natural gas and the ways in which these trends can affect domestic energy policy and the U.S. natural gas industry; and (2) State and locally imposed institutional and regulatory barriers to increase national natural gas usage. Title VIII: Tax Treatment of Energy Resources - Subtitle A: Renewable Energy Production Incentive - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a renewable energy production credit for electric power plants that operate on solar, wind, and geothermal energy. Sets the credit at two cents (inflation-adjusted annually) per kilowatt hour produced and sold by the taxpayer to an unrelated person. Applies such credit only to facilities built during taxable years 1991 through 1996. Sets forth decreasing credit allowances for 1997 through 2001. Sets the credit for geothermal properties at half the credit for other renewable energy properties. Subtitle B: Transportation - Limits the exclusion from gross income of parking provided by the taxpayer's employer to parking located on the employer's premises only. (Currently the parking may be located on or near the premises.) Requires the employer to operate such facility and restrict substantially all its use to employees. Expands the working condition fringe exclusion from gross income to include up to $75 per month of any van pooling or reimbursement for public mass transit use provided by the taxpayer's employer. Subtitle C: Buildings and Housing Tax Credits - Allows an individual a tax credit of up to $100 of qualified oil retrofit conservation expenditures ($50 in the case of a married individual filing a separate return) for the taxpayer's principal residence. Defines oil retrofit component to include: (1) flame retention burners; (2) insulation measures and water-heater wraps; (3) automatic thermostat controls; and (4) window insulation measures. Subtitle D: Utilities - Excludes from gross income the amount (if in cash) or value (if in kind) of any subsidy (rebate) provided by a public utility to a customer in connection with the purchase, installation, use, or maintenance of any energy or water conservation measure or for energy savings delivered by such measures. Denies any deduction or credit to the extent of any such subsidy excluded from gross income. Declares that this tax exclusion does not apply to any payment to a qualified cogeneration facility or qualifying small power production facility under PURPA. Subtitle E: Automobiles and Trucks - Safe and Efficient Vehicles Incentives Act of 1991 - Establishes: (1) taxes on the sale of each new motor vehicle whose fuel economy is less, or whose composite safety factor is less, than the respective sales-weighted average fuel economy or average composite safety factor of all new motor vehicles within the same class; and (2) rebates for the purchase of each new motor vehicle whose fuel economy is greater, or whose composite safety factor is greater, than the respective sales-weighted average fuel economy or composite safety factor of all new motor vehicles within the same class. Sets forth formulae for the calculation of such taxes and rebates. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to publish in the Federal Register and notify each manufacturer or importer of such formulae annually. Requires labeling boldly displaying such taxes and rebates on all vehicles for sale. Provides for collection of taxes and disbursement of rebates. Sets forth formulae for the calculation of sales-weighted average fuel economies and composite safety factors. Subtitle F: Domestic Oil and Gas Production Incentives - Removes the net income limitation on the percentage depletion allowance deduction for oil and gas wells. Allows a tax credit for up to ten percent of the qualified cost of each barrel of crude oil produced from an economically marginal well (including certain stripper wells) or recovered through a tertiary recovery method. Provides for carryback or carryforward of unused credit. Allows a tax credit for specified percentages of the taxpayer's qualified investment in crude oil and natural gas exploration and development wells. Eliminates intangible drilling costs as tax preference items. Allows deduction of specified drilling costs from the Alternative Minimum Tax calculation. Repeals the taxable income limitation on the percentage depletion allowance. Allows the carryforward of excess depletion allowances. Repeals a specified Revenue Ruling with respect to mineral sharing arrangements. Allows the nonconventional source fuels credit to offset the Alternative Minimum Tax liability. Repeals the January 1, 1993, termination date for such credit, thus making it permanent.

Persian Gulf Conflict Supplemental Authorization and Personnel Benefits Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Persian Gulf Conflict Supplemental Authorization and Personnel Benefits Act of 1991 - Title I: Authorization of Fiscal year 1991 Supplemental Appropriations for Operation Desert Storm - Authorizes supplemental appropriations for FY 1991 to the Department of Defense (DOD) for its current and future balances in the Defense Cooperation Account (Cooperation Account). Requires Cooperation Account funds to be used for: (1) incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm; and (2) replenishment of the working capital account for DOD to be known as the Persian Gulf Working Capital Account (Capital Account). Authorizes appropriations to the Capital Account for FY 1991. Requires Capital Account funds to be used for incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm, but only to the extent that funds for such use are not available in the Cooperation Account. Requires Cooperation Account funds to replenish funds used from the Capital Account. Reverts Capital Account balances to the Treasury upon its termination. Authorizes funds from both Accounts to be transferred to appropriation accounts of DOD as necessary to meet Operation Desert Storm incremental costs. Increases the transfer authority provided in current law for DOD transfers to accomodate such increased transfer authority. Requires all such transfers to comply with a congressional notice-and wait requirement. Requires monthly reports through FY 1992 on such transfers to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees (the defense committees) and to the Comptroller General. Title II: Waiver of Personnel Ceilings Affected by Operation Desert Storm - Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to waive any military personnel end strength in such department as prescribed in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991. Allows certain grade strength limitations to be suspended. Requires such Secretary to certify to the defense committees that the exercise of such authority is necessary because of personnel actions relating to Operation Desert Storm. Authorizes additional appropriations to DOD from the Cooperation Account for increases in military personnel costs for FY 1991 through 1995 resulting from the exercise of such waiver and suspension authorities. Title III: Benefits for Persons Serving in the Armed Forces During the Persian Gulf Conflict - Part A: Military Compensation and Benefits - Increases, as of August 1, 1990, the rate of special pay for duty subject to hostile fire or imminent danger. Terminates such increase 180 days after termination of the Persian Gulf War. Increases from $60 to $75 the monthly family separation allowance for the period beginning January 15, 1991, and ending at the beginning of the first month after a 180-day period after the end of the Persian Gulf conflict. Requires that the variable housing allowance being paid to reserve members called to active duty in the Persian Gulf be calculated using the rate to which the member is entitled in the area of the member's principal place of residence in lieu of a permanent duty location. Authorizes the payment of active duty special pay to reserve optometrists, veterinarians, nurse anesthetists, and certain other non-physician health care providers called or ordered to active duty in connection with activities in the Persian Gulf. Authorizes the payment of such special pay to physicians, dentists, optometrists, veterinarians, nurse anesthetists, and other non-physician health care providers who are: (1) involuntarily retained on active duty; (2) recalled to active duty; or (3) agreeing to remain on active duty for less than one year in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict. Authorizes continued payment of board certification pay to physicians, dentists, and other health care providers who have completed residency training and were scheduled for board certification or recertification, but were unable to complete such process due to a duty assignment in connection with the Persian Gulf conflict. Conditions such payments upon the completion of such certification or recertification requirements within 180 days after release from such duty assignment or such additional time thereafter as determined necessary by the Secretary of Defense. Requires foreign language proficiency pay to be paid to members assigned to duty in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict who meet all eligibility criteria for such pay except that they have not been certified by the Secretary concerned to be proficient in a foreign language necessary for national defense purposes. Conditions such payment upon the completion of such certification within 180 days after release from such duty assignment or such additional time thereafter as determined necessary by the Secretary. Establishes a death gratuity of $6,000 for all deaths resulting from injury or illness incurred during the Persian Gulf Conflict or 180 days after such conflict. Directs the Secretary to pay a death gratuity to each Servicemen's Group Life Insurance (SGLI) beneficiary of each deceased member of the armed forces who died after August 1, 1990, and before the date of enactment of this Act. Makes the amount of such death gratuity an amount equal to the SGLI coverage at the time of death. Requires the appropriate SGLI recipient to make application to the Secretary for the payment of such death gratuity within one year after the enactment of this Act. Entitles survivors of members who die as a result of injury or illness sustained while on active duty during the Persian Gulf War to payment for all accrued leave of such member. (Currently, there are limitations to the authorized build-up of such leave.) Removes the ceiling on savings deposit for service members carried in a missing person status during the Persian Gulf Conflict. Requires the payment of a basic allowance for quarters to reserve members without dependents called to active duty in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict who are unable to occupy the primary residence owned or rented by such member because of such active duty. Part B: Military Personnel Policies and Programs - Allows a retired member of the armed forces who is ordered to return to active duty in connection with Operation Desert Storm to be ordered to such active duty in the highest grade in which the member previously satisfactorily served on active duty. States that a member ordered to active duty in a grade higher than his or her retired grade shall be deemed to have been promoted to such grade. Delays until October 1, 1991, the implementation of a required increase in the annual deductible for services provided under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) in the case of dependents of active duty personnel serving or who have served in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict. Allows any health care provider furnishing health care under CHAMPUS to dependents of military personnel serving on active duty in the Persian Gulf to waive any required copayment from such dependents during the Persian Gulf Conflict. Requires the provider to certify to the Secretary of Defense that the amount charged to the Government under such waiver was not increased above the amount the provider would have charged the Government had the payment not been waived. Provides certain transitional health care benefits under CHAMPUS to reservists called to active duty in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict, and to active duty personnel involuntarily retained on active duty or voluntarily agreeing to remain on active duty for less than one year in connection with Operation Desert Storm. Provides such transitional health care for 30 days after release from active duty or the date on which the member and his or her dependents are covered by an employer-sponsored health plan. Provides such coverage for dependents of such reservists or active-duty personnel. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to remove certain fiscal year restraints in such Act concerning spending in support of the Persian Gulf Conflict. Directs the Secretary to carry out a study of DOD policies relating to the family interests and responsibilities of reserve members called to active duty and of active and reserve members deployed overseas. Requires a report on study results. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to extend to October 1, 1991, the effective date for certain reductions in inpatient mental health services to be implemented under such Act. Provides funding from the Cooperation Account to pay for the costs incurred in delaying such reductions in services. Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that armed forces policy should provide that mothers of newborn children under six months of age shall not be: (1) deployed on active duty; or (2) activated if such activation requires separation from such child, or deployed, in the case of a mother serving in the reserves. Part C: Veterans Benefits and Programs - Persian Gulf War Veterans' Benefits Act of 1991 - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to include the Persian Gulf War within the definition of "period of war" for purposes of eligibility for general veterans' benefits, veterans' pensions, and survivors' benefits for a veteran's spouse and dependents. Requires, in the case of pension eligibility of the surviving spouse of a Persian Gulf War veteran, that such spouse marry the veteran before January 1, 2001. Extends the eligibility for one-time dental care for dental conditions found to have been incurred while on active duty to those who served at least 90 days on active duty during the Persian Gulf War. Extends to such veterans a presumption of service-connection for psychosis that becomes manifest within two years from discharge from active duty and before the end of the two-year period beginning on the last day of the Persian Gulf War. Makes veterans of the Persian Gulf War and subsequent wars eligible for drugs and medicine required due to being permanently housebound or in need of regular aid and attendance. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish readjustment counseling to any veteran who served on active duty after May 7, 1975, in an area at a time during which hostilities occurred in such area. Defines "hostilities" as an armed conflict comparable to the danger members are subjected to in combat with enemy forces during a period of war. Requires the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to each submit two reports to the Congress concerning the need for rehabilitative services for military personnel participating in the Persian Gulf War who experience post-traumatic stress disorder. Increases from $50,000 to $100,000 the maximum amount of life insurance coverage available to servicemen and veterans under the SGLI and Veterans' Group Life Insurance programs. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that persons insured under either program are notified of such increase and given an opportunity to increase their coverage. Increases the monthly educational assistance benefits available to active-duty military personnel under the Montgomery GI Bill to: (1) $350 for those serving on active duty for three years or more; and (2) $275 for those serving two years on active duty. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, after FY 1993, to continue such increased rates and to further increase such rates to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index. Increases in FY 1992 and 1993 the monthly educational assistance benefits available to reserve members serving at least six years in the reserves to: (1) $170 for full-time study; (2) $128 for three-quarter-time study; and (3) $85 for half-time study. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense, after FY 1993, to continue such increased rates and to further increase such rates to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index. Authorizes veteran representatives of the Persian Gulf War to be included on the Veterans' Advisory Committee on Education. Revises veterans' reemployment rights with respect to disabled veterans to state that a person shall be considered qualified for an employment position if such person, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of such position. Requires the employer to make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of the individual disabled, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on its business. Excludes employers employing less than a certain number of personnel as of a specified date from such requirements. Requires an employer to make reasonable efforts to requalify a service member returning to his or her employment position held before such service. Makes each veteran who served on active duty for 90 days or more during the Persian Gulf War eligible for housing loan benefits under the veterans' home loan program. Part D: Federal Employee Benefits - Directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to establish a leave bank program under which: (1) employees of any executive agency may donate any unused annual leave to a leave bank established by OPM; (2) the total donated annual leave is divided equally among the annual leave accounts of employees who have been members of the armed forces serving on active duty during the Persian Gulf War and who return to civilian employment with their agencies; and (3) such participants may use such donated annual leave in the same manner as any other annual leave to their credit. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a similar program for the benefit of health-care professionals returning to employment within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Part E: Higher Education Assistance - Persian Gulf Conflict Higher Education Assistance Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial aid programs under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to ensure that men and women serving on active duty during the Persian Gulf War who are borrowers of student loans under such Act are not placed in a worse position financially in relation to those loans because of such service. Requires the Secretary to publish such waivers or modifications in the Federal Register. Expresses the sense of the Congress that all institutions offering postsecondary education should provide a full refund or credit to any reserve member serving on active duty in the Persian Gulf for the portion or period of instruction such member was unable to complete because the individual was called up for such service. Directs the Secretary of Education to report to the Congress on the implementation of this provision. Amends the Public Health Service Act to exempt members of the armed forces from required payments on loans under such Act for the training of professional health personnel for the duration of active duty during the Persian Gulf conflict. Terminates the provisions concerning student loan modifications and waivers, and interrupted education refunds or credits, as of the end of FY 1997. Part F: Programs for Farmers and Ranchers - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary, for purposes of this part), with respect to a producer on a farm who is an activated reservist (called or ordered to active duty in the Persian Gulf) during a crop year, to provide for the protection of the producer's crop acreage base for any crop to the extent necessary to provide fair and equitable treatment. Allows producers on a farm to be eligible for payments for rice or upland cotton under the Agricultural Act of 1949 without regard to minimum planting requirements of such Act if: (1) one or more of the producers is an activated reservist during any part of the crop year; and (2) the producers satisfy all other appropriate requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to provide for a temporary waiver or modification of the application of subtitles A through E of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (erodible land conservation requirements): (1) for the period during which the producer is an activated reservist; (2) if necessary to prevent undue hardship caused as a result of the producer's active duty during the Persian Gulf War or to provide equitable treatment; and (3) if the waiver or modification will not significantly detract from the purposes and objectives of such subtitles. Requires a report from the Secretary concerning temporary waivers and modifications so granted. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide relief to any borrower under any farmer program loan under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act if the borrower is an activated reservist. Directs the Secretary to modify the terms and conditions of such loans in order to alleviate conditions of distress and to assist in keeping the farm or ranch of an activated reservist in operation until his or her return. Allows the Secretary to modify loans or to take other specified action in order to maintain a farm or ranch until the reservist returns. Requires the Secretary to notify persons operating a farm or ranch of an activated reservist who is a farmer program borrower of these relief provisions. Authorizes the Secretary to provide for procedures by which the spouse or other close relative of an activated reservist may participate in, or make decisions related to, a program administered by the Secretary under the Agricultural Act of 1949 or other specified Acts concerning the operation of the activated reservist's farm or ranch. Allows the Secretary to rely on the representations of the spouse or close relative made under such procedures, under certain conditions. Directs the Secretary to conduct outreach projects in order to inform households of which a member is serving on active duty in the armed forces of possible eligibility for participation in the Food Stamp Program authorized under the Food Stamp Act of 1977. Requires the Secretary to report on the effectiveness of the outreach projects. Part G: Budget Treatment - Authorizes supplemental appropriations from the Cooperation Account for the payment of new or enhanced benefits authorized under title III of this Act for FY 1991 through 1995, with specified spending prohibitions. Authorizes appropriations from the Cooperation Account for title III costs accruing after FY 1995. Provides that certain title III benefit costs are to be considered incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm. Prohibits the payment of any title III benefit payable during FY 1991 through 1995 unless funds are specifically appropriated from the Cooperation Account for transfer to the applicable appropriations. Prohibits payment of Montgomery GI Bill rate increases during FY 1992 or 1993 unless a specific appropriation from the Cooperation Account for such purpose occurs. Title IV: Reports on Foreign Contributions and the Costs of Operation Desert Storm - Requires the Director of OMB to prepare periodic reports on the incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm and the contributions made to the United States by foreign countries to offset these costs. Requires each such report to include periodic and cumulative costs, as well as nonrecurring costs and cost offsets. Requires the Secretaries of State and the Treasury to jointly prepare periodic reports on the contributions made by foreign countries as part of the international response to the Persian Gulf Crisis. Outlines specific types of contributions to be included in such report. Requires both of the above series of reports to be submitted in unclassified form, to the extent practicable. Title V: Report on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf Conflict - Directs the Secretary of Defense to report to the congressional defense committees on the conduct of the hostilities in the Persian Gulf, including a discussion of the accomplishments and shortcomings of the armed forces in such conflict, as well as casualty information. Requires a preliminary and final report on such matters. Title VI: General Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to provide assistance to ensure that families of military personnel serving on active duty obtain needed child care services, with special focus on children of personnel serving in the Persian Gulf or otherwise deployed in connection with Operation Desert Shield. Authorizes appropriations from the Cooperation Account for such purpose. States that such funds are in addition to other funds used for child care programs for members of the armed forces. Authorizes the Secretary to provide assistance to ensure that families of military personnel serving on active duty receive educational assistance and family support services necessary to meet the needs arising out of Operation Desert Storm. Outlines provisions concerning the types of assistance, areas of assistance, and the types of educational and family support assistance to be provided. Authorizes appropriations from the Cooperation Account. Directs the Secretary of the Army to convey to Caroline County, Virginia, or the Commonwealth of Virginia all rights and interest to a parcel of land located at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. Directs the Secretary to identify the size and location of the property to be so conveyed. Outlines property conveyance conditions, and requires reversion to the United States if such property is not used for the construction and operation of a regional correctional facility. Prohibits housing certain prisoners in such correctional facility. Repeals a provision of the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 made inconsistent by such provision. States that the Congress: (1) supports and endorses national, State, and local grassroots efforts to support our servicemen and women who participated in Operation Desert Storm, as well as their families at home; (2) encourages Federal, State, and local governments, as well as private business and industry, to organize task forces intended to provide support for the families of military personnel deployed in the Persian Gulf region and to organize celebrations for returning servicemen and women; and (3) encourages those governments, businesses, and industries to include Vietnam Veteran organizations in all activities conducted for the benefit of the troops returning home from Operation Desert Storm. Amends a provision of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 relating to the filing of financial disclosure statements by certain senior Government officials to extend the time for such filing, in the case of an individual serving in the armed forces or in support of the armed forces, to a date that is the later of 180 days after the last day of the individual's: (1) service in an area; or (2) hospitalization as a result of injury received or illness contracted while serving in such area. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Army Corps of Engineers and other Federal agencies should award contracts for the rebuilding of Kuwait, and should encourage the Government of Kuwait to award such contracts, according to the following priority: (1) to U.S. firms that are committed to employing U.S. workers under the contract; (2) to other U.S. firms; and (3) to firms from allied nations that committed troops to the liberation of Kuwait during the Persian Gulf Conflict. Expresses the sense of the Congress that any U.S. firm that receives such a contract should: (1) employ U.S. citizens under such contract; and (2) provide a preference to veterans in hiring for work under such contract. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the President should take steps to provide assistance to U.S. small and minority-owned businesses seeking to be awarded contracts for the rebuilding of Kuwait; (2) the Administrator of the Small Business Administration should conduct a public information campaign to advise such businesses about becoming so involved; and (3) U.S. firms that are awarded such contracts should award subcontracts under such contracts to U.S. small and minority-owned businesses. Directs the President to submit quarterly reports with respect to contracting for the rebuilding of Kuwait. Expresses the sense of the Congress that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by any provision of law may be obligated or expended, directly or indirectly, for rebuilding Iraq while Saddam Hussein remains in power there. Directs the Secretary of Defense, as of six months after enactment of this Act, to withhold payments normally provided to a foreign nation for expenses of indirect-hire civilian DOD personnel in that nation if such nation has pledged to make contributions to the United States to assist in defraying the cost of Operation Desert Shield and has not paid the full amount so pledged. Releases amounts so withheld upon payment of the full amount pledged. Authorizes the Secretary to waive such withholding upon certification to the Congress that such waiver is in the national security interest. Requires the Secretary, in allocating to defense installations and facilities the defense acquisition workforce reductions required for FY 1991, to use considerable flexibility in order to respond to the influx of work expected to enter the defense acquisition system as a result of Operation Desert Storm. States that any installation or facility that will experience a significant workload increase during FY 1991 as a result of Operation Desert Storm activities is not required to make defense acquisition workforce reductions during FY 1991. Title VII: Miscellaneous Technical Amendments - Makes various technical, clarifying, or conforming amendments to Federal armed forces provisions, military pay and allowances provisions, National Guard provisions, and various public laws and specified Acts. Title VIII: Authorization of Supplemental Appropriations for Department of Energy National Security Programs for Fiscal Year 1991 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 for: (1) operating expenses incurred in carrying out national security programs for weapons activities production and surveillance; and (2) carrying out environmental restoration and waste management programs necessary for national security programs. States that provisions contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 concerning the applicability of recurring general provisions shall apply in the same manner to this title. Directs the Secretary of Energy to develop a program to relocate within ten years operations performed at the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado, to a replacement facility at which public health and safety can be assured. Requires a report concerning implementation of such relocation.

National Energy Efficiency and Development Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

National Energy Efficiency and Development Act of 1991 - Title I: Energy Policy Initiatives - Subtitle A: National Energy Strategy - Requires the first National Energy Policy Plan submitted by the President to the Congress after enactment of this Act to include a least-cost energy strategy prepared by the Secretary of Energy (Secretary). Requires such strategy to contain: (1) a comprehensive inventory of available energy and energy efficiency resources and their costs; (2) a proposed two-year program for assuring adequate supplies of such resources, along with identification of actions possible under existing Federal law; and (3) recommendations for any new Federal authority needed to achieve the purposes of this Act. Subtitle B: Director of Climate Protection - Directs the Secretary to appoint a Director of Climate Protection to: (1) serve as the Secretary's representative for interagency and multilateral policy discussions of global climate change; (2) monitor domestic and international policies for their effects on the generation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases; and (3) have the authority to participate in departmental planning activities. Title II: Measures to Improve the Energy Efficiency of the United States Economy - Subtitle A: Research and Development - Amends the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989 (REEETCA) to authorize appropriations for energy efficiency research and development. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress triennially on energy efficiency policy options. Subtitle B: Industrial Energy Efficiency - Directs the Secretary to pursue a research and development program and enter into cost-shared joint ventures to improve efficiency in energy intensive industries (such as steel, chemicals, glass, paper, and aluminum). Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to develop, directly or by contract, a voluntary national program to devise standards for energy audits and the installation of insulation in industrial facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish (and report to the Congress on): (1) a reporting system for industry to supply annual energy use and energy intensity information; and (2) voluntary energy efficiency improvement targets for energy-intensive industries. Directs the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration to expand the scope and frequency of the data it collects on energy use in the United States; and (2) report annually to the Congress on such data. Subtitle C: Efficiency in Commercial and Residential Buildings and Other Products - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NECPA) to direct the Secretary to establish a program to provide technical assistance to States and localities in updating energy efficiency provisions of residential and commercial building codes. Requires each State or locality, by four years after enactment of this Act, to certify that it has reviewed and updated such codes so that they meet or exceed the requirements of the Council of American Building Officials' Model Energy Code (CABO-MEC). Requires each State or locality, by three years after such certification, to further certify that all new residential commercial buildings built during such period meet updated code requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to promulgate procedural guidelines for, and provide technical assistance to, States which adopt residential energy efficiency rating systems. Requires all residential buildings, by five years after enactment of this Act, to have numerical energy efficiency ratings. Requires disclosure to potential purchasers of such ratings. Makes any residential building which fails to meet CABO-MEC standards ineligible for Federal mortgage financing programs. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to advise the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development on energy standards for manufactured housing; and (2) test the performance and cost-effectiveness of manufactured housing built to such standards. Creates in the Treasury the State Energy Efficiency Project Fund to provide for grants to States to undertake energy efficiency projects in State- and locally-owned buildings. Requires an annual report to the Congress on Fund activities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to provide financial and technical assistance to support the voluntary development of a national window rating program to establish energy efficiency ratings for windows and window systems. Requires the Secretary to establish such a system if no voluntary program succeeds within two years after enactment of this Act. Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prescribe labeling rules for such rating system, unless labeling is not technologically or economically feasible, or is not likely to help consumers make purchasing decisions. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to set minimum energy efficiency standards for certain types of lamps, appliance motors, commercial air conditioning and heating equipment, utility distribution transformers, showerheads, and commercial office equipment. Requires: (1) the FTC to prescribe labeling for such products; and (2) manufacturers to provide labeling meeting FTC requirements. Provides for enforcement of such labeling requirements. Directs the Secretary to establish, for a five-year period, a program to train and certify energy efficiency contractors. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Federal Energy Management - Amends NECPA to require all Federal agencies to install all energy conservation measures which are cost-effective on a ten-year life-cycle cost basis. Permits such agencies to accept gas or electric utility incentives designed to encourage cost-effective energy demand management or energy conservation. Requires the Secretary to develop a simplified method of contracting for shared energy savings contract services that will reduce the administrative effort and cost on the part of the government as well as the private customers. Directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration to analyze significant energy consuming products in the Federal Supply Schedule and develop and implement a method to identify products which offer cost-effective opportunities to reduce energy consumption and costs. Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines for the transfer of up to $1,000,000 per project to encourage Federal agencies to undertake energy efficiency projects in federally owned facilities. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a financial bonus program to reward outstanding facility energy managers in Federal agencies. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the President to promulgate rules prohibiting each executive agency from acquiring any automobile with a fuel economy that is not greater than the average fuel economy for that particular model type for the previous model year. Directs the Secretary to submit to the Congress, and update every two years, a plan for demonstrating energy efficiency and renewable energy resource technologies in federally owned facilities. Amends REEETCA to require the Secretary to finance at least one joint venture for the demonstration of fuel cell technology in Federal facilities in order to accelerate commercial application of such cells. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to study and report on the use of Federal purchasing power to encourage the development of more energy efficient products. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Utility Energy Efficiency - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to direct States to require State-regulated utilities to employ a planning and selection process for new energy resources that evaluates the full range of existing and incremental resources in order to meet expected future demand at the lowest possible cost to society. Declares that the rates allowed to be charged by a State-regulated utility shall be such that: (1) the utility's investments in and expenditures for energy conservation, energy efficiency resources, and other demand-side management resources are at least as profitable as those for the construction of new generating equipment or the acquisition of other new supply-side resources; and (2) the utility is encouraged to make investments and expenditures for all cost-effective improvements in the energy efficiency of power generation and supply. States that the full cost of an energy resource shall include specified external costs associated with its use. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress and certify which States have complied with such requirements. Declares that, beginning four years after enactment of this Act, energy efficiency measures shall be considered as "qualifying facilities" eligible for certain PURPA programs in States that have not adopted procedures to meet the requirements of this Act. Directs the Western, Southwestern, and Southeastern Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) to ensure that they and their customer utilities acquire all cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. Requires each long-term firm power contract between a PMA and a customer utility to require the utility to develop and implement an energy efficiency and renewable energy program. Requires such PMAs to implement programs directly to acquire cost-effective conservation and renewable energy resources in the region in conjunction with such utility programs. Requires the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to: (1) develop a similar least-cost plan; and (2) execute similar long-term firm contracts with its customer utilities. Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to: (1) develop an office of energy efficiency to coordinate FERC's energy conservation and efficiency activities; and (2) establish procedures for expedited review of any interstate power sales conducted in accordance with the purchasing utility's least-cost energy plan. Subtitle F: Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require a producer or importer of 100,000 gallons or more per year of lubricating oil to increase annually the percentage (set by the Secretary) of recycled oil either: (1) by refining, rerefining, or reprocessing it into petroleum products (including fuels); or (2) by purchasing certain oil recycling credits. Exempts certain facilities from such requirements. Requires annual reports to specified congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to list or identify used oil as a hazardous waste for certain purposes. Subtitle G: Tire Recycling Incentives - Tire Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require tire producers or importers to increase annually the percentage (set by the EPA Administrator) of scrap tires recycled either: (1) by retreading or processing new tire products; or (2) by purchasing certain tire recycling credits. Requires the EPA Administrator to report to the Congress on scrap tire recycling. Sets forth civil penalties for violations of this subtitle. Directs the EPA Administrator to: (1) publish in the Federal Register minimum requirements for State scrap tire management and procedures under which such requirements shall be incorporated into State solid waste management plans; (2) provide for expedited review of State plans which include specified scrap tire recycling measures; and (3) establish standards to minimize health and environmental damages from the improper disposal and storage of tires. Requires such standards to provide for: (1) bans on the disposal of tires in land disposal facilities and on the intentional infliction of damage on tire casings to preclude casings from being used in retreading; (2) State inventories of scrap tire collection facilities, tire advisory boards, and scrap tire abatement plans; (3) agreements between facilities which distribute more than 1,000 tires annually and licensed tire haulers for the exclusive hauling of scrap tires by licensed haulers; and (4) prohibitions on the transportation of scrap tires by transporters without transportation identification numbers, with specified exceptions. Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for States for the issuance of permits to scrap tire collection facilities. Requires the Administrator to promulgate guidelines for States for facility emergency plans. Requires facility owners or operators to notify the State immediately in the event of an emergency with potential offsite impacts. Requires all regulated facilities to have appropriate financial responsibility or insurance to maintain the facility for at least five years after closure. Exempts specified persons from permit requirements. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for the State to use to issue permits to scrap tire recycling facilities. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, together with the heads of agencies responsible for public lands or military installations, to implement a plan to remediate tire piles. Directs the Administrator to develop a guideline for procuring items that make use of scrap or used tires. Requires Federal departments, if the Administrator fails to promulgate such guideline, to procure items containing at least 75 percent of post-consumer scrap rubber from scrap tires if the rubber is available within a reasonable amount of time at a reasonable price and meets performance standards. Directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to publish standards to determine the life-cycle costs and benefits of items that make use of rubber from scrap or used tires as compared with items that make use of rubber from other sources. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to determine and report to the Congress on: (1) direct worker environmental health effects relating to asphalt made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; (2) the recyclability of asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; and (3) the estimated life of existing asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires. Permits States to: (1) enter into consent agreements with owners and operators of scrap tire collection facilities for proper management and abatement of scrap tires; and (2) levy fines on facilities for noncompliance. Imposes fines on tire facilities and landfills for specified violations of this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle H: Insular Areas Energy Assistance - Authorizes the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to grant financial assistance to Insular area governments to carry out energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Measures to Promote the Use of Renewable Energy - Subtitle A: Renewable Energy Technology Transfers - Amends REEETCA to authorize appropriations for: (1) renewable energy research and development programs; (2) State conservation programs; (3) State research and applied technology transfer programs; (4) Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory information and publications; (5) four pilot programs to demonstrate model technology transfer and design assistance programs; (6) an advanced research and development information computer network; and (7) at least ten photovoltaic demonstration projects of at least ten megawatts in size to supply electric power to a power grid. Directs the Secretary to develop a Strategic Technology Transfer Implementation Plan for the national and international transfer of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology information. Amends the Federal Power Act and PURPA to: (1) make small biomass and hydropower production facilities specifically "eligible facilities" under such Act; and (2) define "alternative power production facility." Subtitle B: Amendments to the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) to promote the development and application in lesser-developed countries of specified renewable energy and energy efficiency resource technologies. Authorizes CORECT to establish renewable energy industry outreach offices in the Pacific Rim and in the Caribbean Basin. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the range of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies available to meet the energy needs of lesser-developed countries. Authorizes appropriations. Earmarks funds to assist U.S. manufacturers of renewable energy and energy efficient technology in exporting their products to lesser-developed countries. Title IV: Measures to Promote the Use of Alternative Motor Vehicles and Fuels - Subtitle A: Alternative Transportation Fuels - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements and joint ventures to demonstrate the feasibility (including safety of specific vehicle design) of using natural gas or other alternative fuels for mass transit. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide financial assistance to encourage the development and commercialization of natural gas and other alternative fuel use in passenger fleets, light duty trucks, and heavy duty trucks. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a training and certification program for technicians who are responsible for vehicle installation of equipment that converts gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicles to the capability to run on natural gas or other alternative fuels. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques related to improving natural gas and other alternative fueled vehicle technology. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) institute an awareness program to educate potential purchasers of the costs, emission characteristics, and other features of alternative fuels; (2) report to the Congress on Federal purchasing policies which inhibit Federal purchase of alternative-fueled vehicles; (3) report to the Congress on how Federal, State, and local traffic control measures could promote the use of alternative-fueled vehicles; and (4) develop a plan for establishment of Federal and State trust funds to provide loans to convert vehicles to operate on alternative fuels or purchase alternative-fueled vehicles. Amends the Natural Gas Act to exclude the sale of natural gas as a vehicle fuel from the price regulation jurisdiction of FERC. Declares that a company shall not be considered a natural gas company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 solely because it distributes or sells natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel. Exempts from State regulation as a public utility (unless otherwise primarily engaged in business as such) any person or entity transporting or selling alternative vehicle fuels. Directs the Secretary to establish a fund to provide 50 percent of the cost of establishing offices of alternative fuels in State governments, as well as alternative fuel programs launched by such offices. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to study whether the use of alternative fuels in nonroad vehicles and engines would contribute substantially to reduced reliance on imported energy sources. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations requiring, where feasible, nonroad vehicles and engines to use alternative fuels if such study concludes that such use could reduce reliance on imported energy sources by ten percent nationwide within a ten-year period. Subtitle B: Alternative Fuel Fleet Requirement - Requires every person who owns, operates, leases, or otherwise controls a motor vehicle fleet of specified composition in a metropolitan statistical area of over 250,000 population which is also an EPA-classified nonattainment area to increase the percentage of alternative-fueled vehicles in such fleet by specified increments annually until it reaches 90 percent in the year 2000. Directs the Secretary to allocate credits to covered persons who exceed the required quota of alternative-fueled vehicles. Establishes administrative and civil penalties (together with appropriate enforcement procedures) for violations of this subtitle. Subtitle C: Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration - Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to identify EPA-classified nonattainment areas in the United States in which the use of conventionally fueled vehicles contributes significantly to that nonattainment and in which the use of electric vehicles could contribute to attainment of applicable National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Directs the Secretary, after identifying such areas, to select manufacturers to sell and service electric vehicles in such areas. Requires: (1) the selected manufacturers to offer electric vehicle purchasers certain discounts; and (2) the Secretary to reimburse them the amount of such discounts. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such program. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Transportation and Energy Efficiency - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to establish average fuel economy standards for passenger automobiles and light trucks for model years 1996 and thereafter. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to modify such standards, according to a specified procedure. Requires the EPA Administrator to report annually to specified congressional committees on a study which: (1) examines the accuracy of fuel economy testing of passenger automobiles and light trucks; and (2) assesses the extent to which fuel economy deteriorates during the lifetime of such vehicles. Directs the Secretary of Energy to distribute at least 100 explanatory booklets each year to every dealer and additional numbers if requested. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide for a review and report to the Congress by the National Academy of Sciences on the current state of research and development in light truck fuel economy and passenger automobile fuel economy and an assessment of the potential for improving the fuel efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of passenger automobiles and light trucks. Requires the Secretary of Energy to study and report to the Congress on the future options for regulating the fuel efficiency of such vehicles beyond 2001. Provides for the judicial review of average fuel economy standards (including modifications thereof) established under this Act. Doubles the civil penalty for repeated violations of the fuel economy standard. Requires such penalty to be adjusted for inflation. Title VI: Measures to Displace Petroleum as a Vehicle Fuel - Replacement Fuels and Alternative Fuels Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to: (1) establish a program to promote the development and use of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels; and (2) prescribe the minimum percentage of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels on an energy equivalent basis, to be sold in calendar years 1996 and 1997 by any refiner for use as a motor fuel. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to authorize the Secretary of Transportation, if the average fuel economy standard for passenger automobiles is increased above 27.5 miles per gallon for any model year, to increase the maximum increase in average fuel economy for a manufacturer attributable to dual energy and natural gas dual energy automobiles until alternative and replacement motor fuel sales indicate that such fuels are displacing conventional petroleum as a motor fuel. Sets forth civil penalties for violation of this Act and a procedure for appealing such penalties. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Measures to Promote the Use of Natural Gas - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to conduct a program of research, development, and demonstration of cofiring (of natural gas and pulverized coal), including gas reburn technologies (which reduce nitrogen oxide emissions), in electric utility units and large industrial boilers in order to determine optimal natural gas injection levels for both environmental and operational benefits. Provides for financial assistance to or cooperative agreements with public or private entities under such program. Sets the Federal shares of costs at 50 percent. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to expand the program for research, development, and demonstration for natural gas and electric heating and cooling technologies for residential and commercial buildings. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Act to direct FERC to develop an incentive formula for rates and charges for the sale or transportation of natural gas. Sets as the development goals for such formula: (1) allowing natural gas companies to earn a fair rate of return; (2) providing proper price signals to the marketplace; and (3) rewarding pipeline efficiency. Repeals FERC's authority to delay decision-making on ratemaking orders beyond the 30-day rehearing requirement without cause. Requires FERC to take final action on a rehearing application within 60 days after it is filed. Permits natural gas companies to file for FERC approval joint rates negotiated by them for the transportation of natural gas through each of their pipelines in sequence on the way to market. Exempts such rates from coverage under specified antitrust law. Declares that pipeline sales rates shall be presumed just and reasonable if workably competitive alternatives exist for such sales. Sets forth conditions under which new natural gas company services (where competitive, certified services already exist) do not need a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Amends the Natural Gas Act to provide automatic abandonment of the sales obligation upon contract expiration, subject to a pipeline's right to extend. Declares that any fixed charge paid by an interstate pipeline to a first seller for gas supply security shall be recoverable on an "as-billed basis" in the pipeline's demand charges, unless FERC determines, after a hearing, that the pipeline does not offer a reasonably competitive alternative to its sales service. Requires the Secretary to condition the approval of any natural gas import application upon FERC action to redress any anti-competitive impacts on U.S. gas producers, including competitive disparities resulting from different rate designs applied to the transportation of domestic gas and imported supplies. Directs the Secretary to expand and continue, through joint ventures, a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques to increase: (1) intensive recovery of natural gas in place in discovered reservoirs or formations; and (2) economic recovery from nonconventional sources, including tight formation, Devonian shales, and geopressurized brines. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1968 to exempt from Natural Gas Act coverage and FERC jurisdiction the construction or operation of any facilities if the natural gas company constructing such facilities: (1) holds a certificate pursuant to which it has agreed to provide open access transportation service; and (2) the company agrees that such certificate shall apply to any transportation service through the new facilities. Requires all such facilities to be constructed in accordance with applicable environmental protection and safety laws and regulations, except the National Environmental Policy Act of 1978 (NEPA). Directs FERC to create an environmental review process under NEPA providing that pipeline construction projects which are confined to existing utility or highway corridors, and do not involve construction in high value wetland areas, shall be afforded a rebuttable presumption of no significant impact. Makes FERC the lead agency with primary authority for compliance with NEPA in any case where FERC authorization of the construction or operation of facilities or projects under the Natural Gas Act may be deemed a major Federal action. Amends the Natural Gas Act to grant FERC the power to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity in a two-phase process: (1) the first phase, which shall constitute a final order, involving all matters requiring FERC review and approval except environmental matters; and (2) the second phase, addressing required environmental matters only. Directs FERC to revise its environmental review procedures to allow pipelines to submit Environmental Assessments (EAs) at the time of filing for approval of proposed facilities, using general standards specified by FERC. Requires the revised procedures to presume EAs valid subject to FERC review for compliance with its own standards. Requires FERC to permit a certificate applicant to elect a contractor, consultant or other FERC designee to prepare the environmental impact statement at the applicant's expense. Requires FERC to develop procedures to ensure against conflicts of interest in such contracting. Directs the Office of Technology Assessment to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the global trends of production, usage, and transportation of natural gas and the ways in which these trends can affect domestic energy policy and the U.S. natural gas industry; and (2) State and locally imposed institutional and regulatory barriers to increase national natural gas usage.

A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should seek to negotiate a new base rights agreement with the Government of Panama to permit the United States Armed Forces to remain in Panama beyond December 31, 1999, and to permit the United States to act independently to continue to protect the Panama Canal.

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) negotiate a new base rights agreement with the Government of Panama to allow the permanent stationing of U.S. military forces in Panama beyond 1999 and to ensure that the United States will be able to act independently to maintain the security and operation of the Panama Canal; and (2) consult with the Congress throughout such negotiations.

Federal Alternative Fuel Fleet Act

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Federal Alternative Fuel Fleet Act - Requires a certain percentage of motor vehicles acquired by the Federal Government for use in a metropolitan or consolidated metropolitan statistical area with a 1990 population of more than 250,000 to be alternative fuel vehicles by specified dates. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from considering the fuel economy of such alternative fuel vehicles with respect to the enforcement of fuel economy standards under such Act. Prescribes circumstances under which alternative fuels shall be offered for sale to the public. Mandates that the incremental costs of alternative fuel vehicles shall not be applied to any calculation with respect to a limitation under law on the maximum cost of individual vehicles which may be acquired by the United States. Requires the Secretary of Defense to study the feasibility of increasing the use of alternative fuel vehicles in the Department of Defense's motor vehicle fleet. Authorizes appropriations.

Comprehensive Energy Policy Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Comprehensive Energy Policy Act of 1991 - Title I: Conservation and Energy Efficiency in the Electricity Sector - Subtitle A: Electricity and Utilities - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to declare that the rates charged by a State-regulated electric utility shall be such that its net income after implementation of cost effective conservation measures is at least as high as it would have been if such measures had not been implemented. Directs the Tennessee Valley Authority to use least-cost planning in its decision-making regarding increased electric power demand. Requires unregulated utilities to initiate or expand efforts to ensure that cost-effective energy efficiency is pursued by customer utilities. Sets forth energy efficiency guidelines for unregulated utilities. Requires unregulated utilities to submit an annual energy efficiency status report to the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary). Authorizes the Secretary to provide energy efficiency and conservation grants to State regulatory authorities upon their submission of an energy efficiency and conservation plan. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Residential, Commercial, and Federal Energy Use - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to direct the Secretary to establish a technical assistance program for States and localities to update the energy efficiency provisions of residential and commercial building codes. Mandates certification by each State that it has updated its residential and commercial building energy codes. Directs the Secretary to establish a task force to advise in the development of the energy efficiency update program. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to promulgate procedures that may be used by governmental entities and the private sector to assign efficiency ratings to residential buildings. Requires the Secretary to implement a technical assistance program utilizing energy efficiency rating systems based on such promulgated procedures. Directs the Secretary to report to the President and the Congress on such procedures and State actions to implement them. Authorizes appropriations. Sets a deadline by which each Federal agency must: (1) install energy conservation measures in Federal buildings with a specified payback period; (2) submit a list of projects to the Secretary which meet such payback criterion; and (3) have substantially completed at least 25 percent of such projects or as many as would account for 25 percent of total energy savings. Directs the Secretary to develop guidelines for the selection of energy service contractors by Federal agencies. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish the Federal Energy Efficiency Fund to provide grants to Federal agencies to enable them to meet energy conservation requirements in Federal buildings; and (2) report annually to the Congress on progress. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes Federal agency participation in energy conservation programs conducted by gas or electric utilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a financial bonus program to reward outstanding facility energy managers in Federal agencies; (2) study the monetary value of the environmental benefits resulting from energy efficiency improvements in Federal buildings; (3) establish a program to install in Federal buildings commercial energy efficiency technologies developed by entities receiving Federal financial research and development assistance; and (4) disseminate an evaluation of each energy efficiency technology included in the program. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator of the General Services Administration to: (1) issue guidelines to Federal Product Schedule users to encourage their purchase of preferred energy efficient models based upon a life-cycle-cost-benefit analysis; (2) provide assistance to manufacturers whose energy efficient products are not listed on the Federal Product Schedule to encourage inclusion of their products on it; and (3) submit a status report to the Congress on manufacturers on the Schedule. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Standards and Information - Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide financial assistance to support a voluntary national window rating program to develop energy ratings and labels for windows and window systems; (2) develop voluntary national standards for industrial insulation; (3) review and report to the Congress on energy audit procedures in commercial, agricultural, and industrial sectors; (4) establish test procedures and develop energy conservation standards for lamps, appliance motors, and small package air conditioners; (5) evaluate for the Congress the feasibility of requiring electric lights and utility distribution transformers to meet minimum energy efficiency levels (and the possible replacement of existing transformers); and (6) submit to the Congress a program plan for promoting the early introduction of high-efficiency appliances by utilities and appliance manufacturers. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exclude from gross income the value of energy and water conservation subsidies provided by a public utility to a customer; and (2) restore the tax credit for energy conservation expenditures on oil-heated homes. Title II: Conservation in the Transportation Sector - Subtitle A: Alternative Fuels - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation when amending fuel economy standards: (1) not to consider the fuel economy of alcohol-powered automobiles or natural gas-powered automobiles; but (2) to consider dual energy automobiles and natural gas dual energy automobiles to be operated exclusively on gasoline or diesel fuel. Sets forth acquisition and credit allocation guidelines for owners, operators and lessees of fleets of alternative fuel vehicles. Prescribes civil and administrative penalties for noncompliance with this Act. Subtitle B: Natural Gas as a Transportation Fuel - Amends the Natural Gas Act to state that its provisions shall not apply to a person solely because such person sells or transports natural gas for subsequent use as a fuel in transportation vehicles. Preempts any State regulation prior to January 1, 1989, with respect to natural gas transportation in closed containers, or the sale of natural gas for use as a fuel in transportation vehicles. Declares that a company shall not be considered a gas utility company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 solely because it distributes or sells natural gas as a fuel for transportation vehicles. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to define a "high-priority user" as any person who uses natural gas as a fuel in transportation vehicles. Subtitle C: Fuel Economy - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation to amend the average fuel economy standard to levels which the Secretary determines are the maximum feasible average fuel economy level for model years beginning after model year 1996. Extends from ten to 30 days the period during which the Secretary of Energy may provide the Secretary of Transportation with written comments on the level of proposed amended fuel economy standards. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to determine by rule an appropriate fuel economy credit to be given to electric vehicle manufacturers. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee the value of any qualified transportation benefit provided by the employer. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue regulations providing for appropriate credits for complying with the Clean Air Act to persons who operate programs for the scrapping of older, less fuel efficient vehicles. Directs the Secretary of Energy to study whether consumers use automotive fuel octane ratings higher than needed to operate their vehicles, and, if so, to take appropriate consumer education steps to reduce the excess use of premium gasoline. Declares certain conservation requirements under the Clean Air Act applicable to all employers of 100 or more persons in standard metropolitan statistical areas of 250,000 or more people. Declares it is U.S. policy that by 2000 at least ten percent of the Nation's vehicle transportation needs shall be served by domestic non-petroleum fuels. Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish an electric vehicle research and development grant program to fund joint venture demonstrations of electric vehicles, and to develop an electric vehicle infrastructure. Authorizes appropriations. Declares that for purposes of the Natural Gas Act, vehicular natural gas, including gas sold wholesale or transported by persons with service area determinations, shall be deemed to be ultimately consumed in the State in which physical delivery of a natural gas sale occurs, whether or not physical combustion occurs in another State. Directs the Administrator of EPA to approve use of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT) in unleaded gasoline in amounts up to .03125 grams per gallon. Title III: Renewable Energy Sources - Subtitle A: PURPA Size Cap and Co-Firing Reform - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prescribe rules requiring electric utilities to offer to purchase electric capacity from alternative power production facilities only through competitive acquisition. Subjects alternative power production facilities to current cogeneration and small power production rules. Subtitle B: Hydroelectric Power Regulatory Reform - Amends the Federal Power Act to direct FERC to require hydroelectric power project license applicants to consult with certain Federal and State agencies and Indian tribes and file a plan and schedule for conducting studies as part of the licensing process. Sets forth guidelines for additional licensing procedures. Directs FERC to coordinate a single, consolidated licensing review (including review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) of a hydropower project license application by all interested Federal and State agencies and Indian tribes. Removes from FERC jurisdiction hydropower projects with installed capacities of five megawatts or less that have not received a license by the date of enactment of this Act. Permits such projects with licenses to petition for their surrender. Subtitle C: Credit for Electricity Generated Using Solar, Wind, or Geothermal Energy - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax credit for electricity generated using solar, wind, or geothermal energy (renewable electricity generating credit). Extends the period allowing existing solar and geothermal energy credits. Subtitle D: Study of Tax and Rate Treatment of Renewable Energy Projects - Directs the Secretary of Energy to study and report to the Congress on the tax and rate treatment of renewable energy projects. Subtitle E: Encouragement of Energy Recovery From Waste - Requires each Federal agency to adopt policies and institute regulatory changes to encourage and remove regulatory obstacles to the burning of high-BTU secondary materials as a fuel substitute. Title IV: Electric Power - Subtitle A: Public Utility Holding Company Act Reform - Sets forth regulatory guidelines for the treatment of public utility holding companies as exempt wholesale generators. Subtitle B: Miscellaneous - Amends the Federal Power Act to mandate that FERC, as a prerequisite to approving a rate or charge filed as the result of an agreement between a public utility and a wholesale seller, require the purchasing utility to certify that the charge conforms to its least-cost planning as approved by a regulatory authority, or, if no such plan exists, that the charge is less than, or equal to, the utility's avoided cost. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Energy for electronic switching research. Requires the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on legislative and regulatory reforms and incentives to provide improved electric transmission transfer capability between the councils comprising the North American Electric Reliability Council. Title V: Natural Gas Regulatory Reform - Directs FERC to: (1) issue regulations to expedite pipeline certifications; and (2) report to certain congressional committees on recommended reforms to facilitate increased deliverability of natural gas to consumers. Amends the Natural Gas Act to provide that, for purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, a FERC certificate of public convenience and necessity for a natural gas facility construction or extension is the only Federal action requiring a detailed environmental impact statement. Directs FERC to permit natural gas facility construction on operation applicants to prepare such statements. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to authorize an interstate pipeline to construct facilities incidental to transportation service upon 30 days notice to the affected State commission. Amends the Natural Gas Act to declare that a natural gas transportation rate mutually agreed-upon by a natural-gas company and the customer is deemed just and reasonable and in compliance with this Act. Sets forth expedited certification procedures for natural gas transportation and related facilities construction. Provides for the construction and operation of natural gas transportation facilities with an option not to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity (thus taking such facility out of the jurisdiction of the Act). Sets forth deadlines for a rehearing under the Natural Gas Act. Declares that facilities repair or replacement does not require a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Sets forth certification procedures for priority natural gas facility. Title VI: Oil and Gas Production - Subtitle A: Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Leasing - Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Leasing Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program for the Coastal Plain Study Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. States that this Act shall be considered the primary land management authorization for all exploration and production activities on the Coastal Plain. Provides that no land management review shall be required except as specifically authorized by this Act. Mandates that all receipts from sales, rentals, bonuses, and royalties on leases under this Act be deposited into the Treasury. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations to ensure that oil and gas exploration and transportation activities are conducted to achieve the reasonable protection of animal and environmental resources (including subsistence uses of the Coastal Plain). States that the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment," prepared by the Secretary, satisfies all legal requirements for such promulgation and that no further studies or assessments shall be required. Directs the Secretary to provide impact aid and other assistance to communities on the North Slope and elsewhere in Alaska in order to ensure the public services needed to accommodate oil and gas production and transportation activities on the Coastal Plain. Subtitle B: Tax Incentives for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to allow as an income tax credit 15 percent of: (1) any qualified investment in crude oil and natural gas exploration activities; and (2) the qualified cost of each barrel of eligible crude oil (marginal production credit). Declares that intangible drilling and development costs with respect to oil and gas wells shall also apply to surface casting costs and geological and geophysical costs for ascertaining the existence, location, extent or quality of domestic oil or gas deposits (thus qualifying them for deduction). Repeals the taxable income limitation on oil and gas well depletion allowances. Defines tar sands for IRC purposes. Removes from the alternative minimum tax purview oil and gas well depletion allowances and intangible drilling costs. Declares that the tax treatment with respect to mineral sharing arrangements shall be determined without regard to Revenue Ruling 77-176. Subtitle C: Oil Pipeline Deregulation - Oil Pipeline Regulatory Reform Act - Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to terminate FERC jurisdiction over oil and other pipelines except the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Authorizes the Attorney General to petition the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) for an adjudication of whether Commission rate regulation of an existing pipeline in any market is in the public interest. Prescribes adjudication guidelines. Provides that pipeline rates for service to markets which are not identified in a mandatory published adjudications list will no longer be subject to FERC regulatory jurisdiction. Prescribes adjudication guidelines under which the Secretary shall find that regulation of a pipeline is in the public interest only if it is demonstrated that such regulation is necessary to constrain the exercise of substantial market power in the supply and demand of products transported by the pipeline in that market. States that new pipelines shall not be subject to existing Commission regulatory jurisdiction or rate regulation, but shall be subject to common carrier regulation under such Act. States that Commission rate regulation shall be prospective only. Prohibits terminated Commission regulatory jurisdiction from reverting to any other Federal agency. Confers exclusive, original jurisdiction over any petition for judicial review upon the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Precludes from such judicial review any action of the Attorney General under this Act, including adjudication petitions. Outlines the parameters within which pipelines are required to operate as common carriers. Requires pipelines to file terms of carriage schedules (except carriage rates) with the Commission. Sets forth guidelines for maximum rates, on a market by market basis, subject to price cap regulation based on base rates and cumulative changes in a Competitive Pipeline Price Index. Precludes a pipeline from conditioning its services upon entering into other transactions or on taking or refraining from any action. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress regarding the results of this Act five years after the conclusion of all adjudications. Retains the applicability of antitrust laws to pipeline transportation of crude oil or refined oil products. Subtitle D: Leasing of Naval Petroleum Reserve - Naval Petroleum Reserve Leasing Act - Authorizes the President to lease Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1 (California) if it is not necessary for national defense purposes. Sets forth leasing and antitrust guidelines. Mandates the use of competitive leasing procedures, minimum royalty payments, and crude oil set asides for sale to small refiners by Reserve lessees. Authorizes the President to take certain steps to arrange and conduct a leasing action. Authorizes the President to acquire privately owned lands or physical improvements within a Naval Petroleum Reserve if a lease of Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1 cannot be arranged. Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to authorize the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to store within the Strategic Petroleum Reserve a Defense Petroleum Inventory of petroleum products (in addition to any other acquisition and storage for such Reserve required by law). Directs the Secretary to obligate the United States share of funds available in the Naval Petroleum Reserve Lease Proceeds Special Account (created by this Act) for the acquisition of 10,000,000 barrels of petroleum products for the Defense Petroleum Inventory. Declares that upon request of the Secretary of Defense: (1) petroleum products acquired for or dedicated to the Defense Petroleum Inventory shall be drawn down and distributed by the Secretary of Energy for the Department of Defense for use, sale, or exchange; and (2) the Secretary of Energy shall replace in the Defense Petroleum Inventory those petroleum products drawn down on behalf of the Department of Defense. Requires the Department of Defense to reimburse the Department of Energy for services rendered under this Act. Establishes the Naval Petroleum Reserve Lease Proceeds Special Account in the Treasury to implement this Act. Funds such Special Account with amounts realized from the lease of any United States interest in Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1. Sets forth a payment scheme under which lease proceeds shall be used to make payments to the State of California. Declares that: (1) the authority to lease under this Act extends to specified sections within Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1; and (2) this Act does not affect the withdrawal of lands provided for in certain school land grants. Subtitle E: Outer Continental Shelf Local Impact Assistance - Coastal State and Community Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Act - Establishes the Coastal State and Community Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Fund whose revenues shall be paid to and used by coastal States, especially for subdivisions socially or economically impacted by mineral development on the Outer Continental Shelf. Subtitle F: Western Hemisphere Energy Policy - Directs the President to report to the Congress on actions taken to implement U.S. policy to focus attention in trade negotiations and international consultations on investment policies that expand worldwide production capacity and diversity of oil suppliers. Title VII: Coal and Coal Technology - Directs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) conduct (and report annually to the Congress regarding) an advanced coal-based technologies research and development program; and (2) submit to the Congress a domestic coal export expansion plan. Establishes the Clean Coal Technology Export Coordinating Council to: (1) expand the export and use of clean coal technologies with an emphasis on their use in lesser developed countries; and (2) provide certain congressional committees with a plan detailing actions to be taken to address specified recommendations of the Secretary. Requires the Secretary to: (1) submit a status report to the Congress on commercialization of coal fuel mixtures; and (2) conduct a research and demonstration program for utilizing "ultra-clean coal-water slurry" in diesel locomotive engines. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to restore investment credits for pollution devices required by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Title VIII: Nuclear - Nuclear Standardization and Safety Reform Act of 1991 - Subtitle A: Licensing Reform - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to issue a combined construction and operating license to an applicant after holding a public hearing and determining that facility construction and operation will comply with NRC rules and regulations. Directs the NRC to propose implementing regulations regarding combined license applications. Subtitle B: Amendment of PUHCA - Amends the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) to require the Securities and Exchange Commission to exempt a public utility holding company from coverage under such Act if it controls utility assets pursuant to an NRC-approved management agreement and otherwise meets at least one of the other criteria for exemption. Permits the acquisition of securities of a public utility company controlling utility assets by an affiliate or an affiliate of another public utility or holding company if the control is pursuant to such an agreement. Subtitle C: Fast Flux Test Facility - Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a research, development, and production center known as the "Research Reactor User Complex" (RRC) at the Hanford Reservation in Richland, Washington. Mandates that a contractor under contract with the Department of Energy to operate the RRC maintain and operate the Fast Flux Test Facility for the Department's account. Establishes the "RRC Fund" from which the Secretary may make expenditures to offset the cost of operating the RRC. Subtitle D: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this title.

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1992

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1991 - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to revise provisions relating to the employment and reemployment rights of members of the uniformed services. Prohibits discrimination or acts of reprisal against a member, former member, or person applying to be a member of a uniformed service because of such membership through denial of initial employment, reemployment, continuation of employment, promotion, or any other benefit of employment. States that such discrimination will be considered to have occurred if the person's status or activity in the armed forces was a motivating factor in the employer's decision to deny such person employment, reemployment, continuation of employment, or any other promotion or benefit of employment, unless the employer can demonstrate that the same decision would have been made regardless of such protected status or activity. Entitles that any person who is absent from or leaves a position of employment for voluntary or involuntary service in the armed forces to a leave of absence from such employment or, upon completion of such service under honorable conditions, to: (1) reemployment by such employer, unless the employer's circumstances make it unreasonable to require such remployment; and (2) employment-related rights and benefits. Provides such rights and benefits if the person's cumulative period of service does not exceed five years, with other specified exceptions and limitations. Requires a person to report back to an employer within a specified period after release from duty in order to retain such reemployment rights and benefits. Authorizes extensions of such reporting periods in certain instances. Requires such person, when applying for such reemployment, to present appropriate documentation showing that such person's application is timely and that he or she has not exceeded the allowed period of service during which such reemployment rights and benefits are protected. Entitles a person to employment in the following positions upon return from duty in the armed forces: (1) employment in the position held before leaving or another position which would have been normally attained if the person had not left, if the period of service in the armed forces is less than 181 days; (2) employment in the position held before leaving or another position of appropriate seniority, status, and pay, if the period of service was 181 days or more; and (3) if disabled because of such duty, a similar position after reasonable efforts by the employer to accommodate the disability, or, if not possible, any other position of like seniority, status, and pay for which the person is qualified or would become qualified within a reasonable period of time. Requires any person who cannot requalify for a like position after such duty in the armed forces to be reemployed in any other position of lesser status and pay, with full seniority rights. Entitles a person reemployed after duty in the armed forces to all seniority and other rights and benefits that such person would have attained if such person had remained continuously employed by such employer. States that such duty will only be considered as a leave of absence for the purpose of determining rights and benefits accruing. Allows a person to be continued under the employer's insurance coverage for up to 18 months during such duty. Prohibits the imposition of an exclusion or waiting period for employer-offered health insurance for coverage of a health or physical condition for a person performing duty in the armed forces if: (1) the condition arose before or during training or duty; (2) an exclusion or waiting period would not otherwise have been imposed; and (3) the condition of such person has not been determined by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to be service-connected. Requires a person leaving a civilian job for service in the armed forces after 60 days after enactment of this Act to give written or verbal notice to his or her employer that such service will cause such person to be absent from such employment, except that no notice is required when it would be impossible or unreasonable to do so. Limits the employer's ability to discharge a person reemployed after military duty, except for cause, for one year, six months, or three months, depending on the length of the duty. States that no break in employment will be recognized for a person reemployed after military duty for purposes of the determination of pension or retirement benefits if the person meets the reemployment requirements outlined. Directs the Secretary to assist any person entitled to reemployment rights and benefits under these provisions in the pursuit of appropriate employment or reemployment, whether such employment is sought in the Federal Government or through a private employer. Outlines procedures for obtaining such assistance for reemployment by the United States through the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Allows a person denied reemployment under these provisions to appeal such decision through the Merit System Protection Board. Outlines provisions for the filing of claims for the enforcement of remployment rights with a State or private employer through the filing of a complaint with the Secretary and further referral to the Attorney General if litigation of the claim is appropriate. Provides jurisdiction for the hearing of such claim in any district court where the employer maintains a place of business. Provides all appropriate remedies, including injunctions and restraining orders. Outlines civil penalties for employers who refuse to comply with provisions of this Act. Allows the duly authorized representatives of the Secretary access to documents of any person or employer for purposes of carrying out an investigation of an employment or reemployment rights question. Gives the Secretary subpoena power for the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documents.

Panama Canal Act Amendments of 1992

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Panama Canal Act Amendments of 1991 - Amends the Panama Canal Act of 1979 to require that the authority of the President with respect to the Panama Canal Commission be exercised through the Chairman of the Board of the Commission (currently, through the Secretary of Defense). Modifies requirements regarding the Board concerning matters such as composition, appointment, quorum, and proxies. Provides for a Chairman of the Board. Requires members of the Board who are U.S. nationals to cast their votes as directed by the Chairman. Requires the Chairman (currently, the Secretary) to designate individuals entitled to the privileges and immunities accorded under provisions of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 (the Treaty). Removes provisions: (1) prohibiting the Commission from obligating or expending funds for administrative expenses except as provided in appropriations Acts; (2) requiring the Appropriations Committees of each House of the Congress to review the Commission's annual budget; (3) prohibiting using, for administrative expenses, funds appropriated under provisions relating to Commission emergency spending; (4) making appropriations of the Commission available for reimbursements to U.S. departments or agencies furnishing certain educational, health care, or related services; (5) authorizing claim awards to be made from appropriated funds; and (6) allowing vessel damage claims to be paid from appropriated funds. Authorizes the Commission to establish an office to close out the affairs of the Commission after the termination of the Treaty. Establishes in the Treasury the Panama Canal Commission Dissolution Fund, consisting of amounts deposited in the Fund by the Commission from tolls, plus interest. Requires inclusion of Fund deposits in calculating toll rates.

To suspend temporarily the duty on certain machined electronic connector contact parts.

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend, through December 31, 1993, the duty on machined electronic connector contact parts, one-half inch or less in length, for use in aerospace or military equipment applications.

Philippine Scout Retirement Pay Equity Act

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Philippine Scout Retirement Pay Equity Act - Directs the Secretary of the Army to redetermine the retired pay for those persons serving as Philippine Scouts during World War II to bring it into conformity with retired pay payable to other members of the armed forces with the same grade and the same length of service. Directs the Secretary to make similar adjustments for the calculation of benefits for survivors of such Philippine Scouts.

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to deny any deduction for certain oil and hazardous substance cleanup costs.

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to disallow a deduction for certain costs incurred in connection with any oil discharge or hazardous substance release. Provides an exception to such rule for any taxpayer who has a complete liability defense or qualifies for a liability limitation with respect to such discharge or release. Provides a limitation on the use of the net operating loss deduction to offset deductions disallowed by this Act.

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow individuals to transfer separation pay from the Armed Forces into eligible retirement plans.

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals to transfer separation pay from the Armed Forces within 60 days after its receipt to an eligible retirement plan.

Designating October 20, 1991, as "Leyte Landing Day".

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Designates October 20, 1991, as Leyte Landing Day (relating to the allied forces landing in the Philippines in World War II).

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should seek to negotiate a new base rights agreement with the Government of Panama to permit the United States Armed Forces to remain in Panama beyond December 31, 1999, and to permit the United States to act independently to continue to protect the Panama Canal.

United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) negotiate a new base rights agreement with the Government of Panama to allow the permanent stationing of U.S. military forces in Panama beyond 1999 and to ensure that the United States will be able to act independently to maintain the security and operation of the Panama Canal; and (2) consult with the Congress throughout such negotiations.

A joint resolution to recognize and honor members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces of the United States for their contribution to victory in the Persian Gulf.

United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991

Recognizes and honors the reserve armed forces for their courage and contribution to the victory in the Persian Gulf through Operation Desert Storm.

To amend title 5, United States Code, to include service during World War II in the United States merchant marine as military service for purposes of the civil service retirement system.

United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991

Includes service in the U.S. merchant marine between May 26, 1940, and January 1, 1948, as military service for the purpose of determining civil service retirement benefits.

To amend title 38, United States Code, to increase the rate of special pension payable to persons who have received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991

Increases from $200 to $1,000 the monthly special pension payable to persons named to the Medal of Honor Roll.

William L. Ball, III, of Georgia, to be a Member of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission for a term expiring at the end of the first session of the 102nd Congress. (New Position)

United States · United States Senate · 19 March 1991

United States Peace Tax Fund Act

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

United States Peace Tax Fund Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury the United States Peace Tax Fund (Fund) to receive payments designated on the tax returns of qualified individuals to be used for nonmilitary purposes. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to the Congress on amounts transferred into the Fund. Requires the information to be printed in the Congressional Record. Permits conscientious objectors to designate on their income tax returns that any tax liability be paid into the Fund. Makes this designation procedure available to any individual who has demonstrated himself or herself, by reason of religious training and belief, to be opposed to participation in war in any form. Requires that each publication of general instructions accompanying income tax returns include specified information about the Fund, including the purposes of the Fund and the criteria governing one's eligibility to designate tax payments for it. Requires every taxpayer who makes such a designation for any taxable year to file a questionnaire return for the purpose of determining whether the taxpayer is an eligible individual. Permits the setting aside of criminal or civil penalties imposed upon a taxpayer for nonpayment of tax prior to 1990 if the taxpayer pays the tax due (with interest) and establishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that the nonpayment was due to religious beliefs. Authorizes corresponding procedures in connection with estate and gift tax payments, under conditions prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Directs the Comptroller General to determine the percentage of actual appropriations made by the United States from the Federal budget during the preceding year for military purposes. Requires publication of this information in the Congressional Record. Establishes a United States Peace Tax Fund Board of Trustees to distribute funds for eligible nonmilitary activities and research. Directs the Board to publish regulations to govern applications for funds. Authorizes appropriations.

Guam Commonwealth Act

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Guam Commonwealth Act - Title I: Political Relationship - Creates the Commonwealth of Guam. Grants the people of Guam the right of full self-government through adoption of a Constitution, consistent with U.S. sovereignty over Guam and the supremacy of U.S. law applicable to Guam, and within specified guidelines. Recognizes the right of self-determination of the people of Guam. Directs the U.S. Government, through additional federally-funded programs, to promote preservation of the Chamorro culture, enhanced economic, social, and educational opportunities for Chamorros, and training of Chamorros for employment. Provides that nothing in this Act or the Constitution of Guam shall impair the U.S. citizenship of the residents of Guam or their descendants or their rights and privileges as U.S. citizens under the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Directs Guam to establish a land trust for the benefit of the indigenous Chamorro people and to establish residency requirements under the Constitution of Guam for voting and holding elective office. Allows this Act to be modified only with the mutual consent of the Governments of the United States and Guam. Title II: Applicability of Federal Law - Makes specified provisions of, and amendments to, the U.S. Constitution applicable to Guam, in addition to those portions which currently apply. Makes Federal laws, rules, or regulations passed after the date of this Act inapplicable unless mutually consented to by the Governments of the United States and Guam. Creates the Joint Commission on the Applicability of Federal Law. Specifies its duties, including: (1) participating in consultations between the Governments of the United States and Guam; (2) studying existing statutes and regulations affecting the U.S.-Guam relationship; (3) reviewing policies and procedures of Federal agencies relating to such relationship; (4) compiling data; (5) drafting modifications in existing laws, regulations, policies, and procedures and obtaining such modifications by negotiation and mediation concerning issues such as land claims and war claims; and (6) seeking to obtain maximum economic development and political autonomy for Guam, consistent with U.S. security interests. Provides that the United States will bear the cost of the work of the Commission. Authorizes the President or his designee to delegate to the Governor of Guam total or partial performance of functions now vested in Federal administrative agencies. Title III: Foreign Affairs and Defense - Grants the United States responsibility for authority with respect to matters relating to foreign affairs and defense that affect Guam. Provides for U.S. consultation with Guam in advance of negotiations toward any treaties or international or executive agreements affecting Guam, and with respect to proposals to increase or decrease Department of Defense activities within Guam. Prohibits the establishment of military security zones or the stationing of foreign military personnel on the Island of Guam without the approval of the Government of Guam except in time of declared war, or the establishment of military bases without consultation with the Governor. Provides for U.S. assistance to Guam in the establishment of offices in the United States and abroad, in becoming a member or participant in appropriate regional and international organizations, and in obtaining from other countries favorable treatment for exports. Prohibits the United States from using the Island of Guam or the water surrounding it for the dumping or storage of nuclear waste or hazardous chemicals. Provides for the clean up by the United States of chemical dump sites used by the military in the past. Requires the United States to compensate any person injured as a result of hazardous materials stored, used, or disposed of by the U.S. Government in Guam or its waters. Title IV: Courts - Specifies provisions governing the relations between U.S. courts and the local courts of Guam, the jurisdiction of the District Court of Guam, and the applicable district court rules. Provides for the appointment of a judge for the District Court of Guam, a U.S. attorney, and a U.S. marshal for Guam. Title V: Trade - Establishes a Guam-United States free trade area, under which neither party may impose duties, quotas, or other restrictions on each other's products, nor shall the United States treat products of Guam as having originated in any other country. Defines "products of Guam" to mean articles that contain at least 30 percent value added in Guam, and specifies costs included in value added. Authorizes Guam to impose, increase, reduce, or eliminate duties and other restrictions on: (1) products that originate outside the customs territory of the United States and that are imported into Guam; and (2) exports from Guam, whether or not products of Guam. Requires the Governor of Guam to certify that the origin of "products of Guam" is, in fact, Guam, and provides for customs inspections of products brought into the United States. Title VI: Taxation - Makes U.S. income tax laws applicable to Guam. Deems such laws to impose a separate tax, payable to the Government of Guam, to be known as the Guam Commonwealth income tax. Grants the Governor the same administrative and enforcement powers and remedies with regard to such tax (pursuant to the laws of Guam) as the Secretary of the Treasury and other executive branch officials have with respect to U.S. income tax. Sets forth similar enforcement authority with respect to criminal violations, tax liens, and suits to recover erroneously or illegally assessed taxes. Grants the District Court of Guam exclusive jurisdiction over all judicial proceedings in Guam, both criminal and civil, with respect to such tax. Allows the Government of Guam to provide for the rebate or reduction of taxes in order to assist new industries or economic development. Grants Guam the power to determine the nature and amount of taxes imposed upon the income and property of persons within its jurisdiction. Repeals applicable U.S. tax laws one year after Guam has enacted a replacement comprehensive local income tax. Exempts all bonds or other obligations issued by Guam from taxation by Federal, State, or local governments of the United States. Title VII: Immigration - Applies the Immigration and Nationality Act and pertinent Federal regulations to Guam for two years from enactment of this Act. Directs Guam to enact a comprehensive law on immigration to become effective at the end of the two-year period. Provides that such law shall not impair the free movement of U.S. citizens to and from Guam, include the authority to naturalize aliens for U.S. citizenship, or alter the Governor's authority to issue U.S. passports. Authorizes U.S. consular officials to issue visas for travel only to Guam for any alien seeking to enter Guam as a non-immigrant in order to encourage investors and tourists to come to Guam. Title VIII: Labor - Grants preference to qualified residents of Guam in all Federal civil service vacancies occurring in Guam. Grants Guam the authority to enact and enforce all laws regulating or affecting employment in Guam. Provides that all pertinent U.S. laws regulating employment on Guam on the effective date of this Act shall remain applicable until replaced by duly enacted law of the Guam Legislature. Title IX: Transportation and Telecommunications - Precludes application of any U.S. law barring the U.S. registration and use of any foreign-built vessel within the waters around Guam for any purpose. Exempts from the coastwise laws of the United States any shipment of fish or fish products from Guam to any U.S. coastwise destination. Directs the Commission periodically to examine the applicability of such laws and to recommend termination of their applicability upon determining that such laws constrain Guam's economic development. Authorizes the Governor of Guam to sponsor any qualified air service carrier to come to Guam, subject to presidential consultation concerning U.S. foreign policy and security interests. Exempts Guam from all bilateral treaties between the United States and foreign states with respect to scheduling and technical specifications of aircraft, other than safety requirements. Provides that Guam shall remain an "eligible point" for purposes of being ensured essential air transportation to and from the United States. Defines Guam as "domestic" for Federal Communications Commission rate setting purposes. Title X: Land, Natural Resources and Utilities - Grants the Government of Guam the power of eminent domain. Grants Guam jurisdiction over all natural resources of the seabed, subsoil, tidelands, and adjacent territorial waters of the Island of Guam. Sets limits on U.S. acquisition of real property on Guam. Exempts Guam from Federal regulations governing the transfer or sale of excess Federal real property. Provides for the transfer of all excess Federal property to Guam, with specified exceptions. Provides for access and use by the residents of Guam of certain retained Federal property, subject to military security requirements. Authorizes the granting of easements on such property to the Government of Guam in specified circumstances. Directs the United States to transfer ownership of island utilities to Guam. Title XI: United States Financial Assistance - Provides for the return of U.S. revenues from taxes and fees collected in Guam or from its residents or products to the Government of Guam. Makes U.S. laws providing Federal benefits and financial assistance which are applicable to the States likewise applicable to Guam on an equal basis. Directs the Governor of Guam, in preparing an annual budget, to identify the costs and benefits to Guam brought about by its role as one of the principal U.S. military bases. Requires the Governor to submit such information to the Guam Legislature and the Office of Management and Budget for use in reviewing the Governor's request for appropriations for the annual Federal payment to Guam, which request the Governor shall submit to the President for transmission to the Congress each year. Provides for assistance to aid Guam's transition to a Commonwealth, including: (1) U.S. financing of the costs of institutional changes connected with the change in Guam's political relationship with the United States; (2) help in meeting the capital needs of Guam necessary for long-term, self-sustaining development; and (3) establishing an economic development fund to assist expansion of the private sector. Title XII: Technical Amendments and Interpretation - Makes technical and conforming amendments. Calls for this Act to be interpreted liberally to accomplish its purpose of providing for complete, internal self-government for Guam. Requires this Act to be submitted to the registered voters of Guam for ratification after being passed by the Congress. Repeals the Organic Act of Guam.

A bill to specify the applicability or inapplicability of certain Federal laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Allows a person who elects to become a national of the United States, rather than a citizen, to be naturalized subsequently as a U.S. citizen if the requirements of U.S. naturalization law include residency and physical presence within the Northern Mariana Islands. Deems the Northern Mariana Islands as a State for purposes of the judicial naturalization requirements. Grants jurisdiction to the courts of records and the District Court of Northern Mariana Islands to naturalize eligible persons under this Act and those who reside within their jurisdiction. Amends Federal law to authorize the U.S. Resident Representative for the Northern Mariana Islands to nominate one cadet to attend the: (1) U.S. Military Academy; (2) U.S. Naval Academy; and (3) U.S. Air Force Academy. Permits the nomination of nine alternates for each available vacancy. Requires each nominated candidate for admission to be domiciled in the Northern Mariana Islands. Provides that a candidate must, at the time of admission and with specified exceptions: (1) be a U.S. citizen, or have initiated action to become a naturalized citizen; and (2) be eligible for naturalization within two years after admission to the Academy. Requires voluntary disenrollment if a candidate fails to become a naturalized citizen within two years after such admission. Requires the Secretary of the Army to include alternates from the Northern Mariana Islands in his selection of cadets to bring the Academy's class enrollment to full strength, if the number of cadets fall below the authorized number. Sets forth notification procedures to a Member of Congress, delegate, or resident representative by the Secretary of the Navy in the event of a vacancy at the Academy, in which case, each is entitled to nominate a candidate and nine alternates. Prohibits the displacement of any persons nominated for appointment to such Academies, with specified exceptions, and the exceeding of the authorized number of cadets for each of them. Provides that the territories, possessions, and U.S. commonwealths shall be considered part of the United States with respect to the Department of Commerce promoting fishing interests through its U.S. fishery trade officers, and the fostering of foreign and domestic commerce. Authorizes the competitive awards that the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or any such insular area receives, under the Higher Education Act of 1965, to be incorporated into a consolidated grant.

To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize the detail of personnel of the Department of Defense to assist the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the United States Customs Service perform border patrol-related activities.

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Authorizes the Secretary of Defense, during each fiscal year, to assign up to 12,000 civilian officers and employees of the Department of Defense and members of the armed forces to temporary duty with: (1) the Immigration and Naturalization Service to assist in preventing the entry into the United States of terrorists, drug traffickers, and illegal aliens; and (2) the U.S. Customs Service to assist in the inspection of cargo, vehicles, and aircraft at points of entry into the United States.

To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to prohibit Department of Energy contractors from taking retaliatory personnel actions against any employee who discloses information which the employee reasonably believes evidences a violation of Federal law relating to the contract.

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to direct the Secretary of Energy to promulgate regulations which prohibit a Department of Energy (DOE) contractor from discharging or otherwise discriminating against any employee with respect to compensation or terms and conditions of employment because such employee (or any person acting at the employee's request) discloses to an appropriate Government official information concerning a contract between the contractor and DOE which the employee reasonably believes evidences a violation of any Federal law or regulation relating to DOE procurement or the subject matter of the contract. Applies such prohibition to each contract relating to an atomic energy defense activity which DOE enters into for an amount greater than $500,000, except where the price is based solely on established catalogue or market prices of commercial items sold in substantial quantities to the general public. Requires the regulations to include specified provisions for the filing of a complaint and its investigation, administrative remedies, review of a final order, and enforcement.

Public Interest Risk Allocation Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Public Interest Risk Allocation Act of 1991 - Requires the United States to hold harmless and indemnify any Government contractor which provides architectural or engineering services (a design professional) against any liability (for damages arising from personal injury, illness, or death or from damage to, or loss of use of, property) resulting from activities that have a substantial risk of injury to the extent such liability exceeds the amount of insurance required by this Act up to a limit of the greater of $5,000,000,000 or five times the value of the contract. Requires all claims for injury to be filed in a U.S. District Court within ten years of the date of public use occupancy, or control of the project for which the design professionals' services were undertaken, whichever first occurs. Includes court costs and attorney fees to defend such claims under such indemnification. Prohibits a design professional from being liable for damages unless the claimant establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the negligence of the design professional was the proximate cause of harm. Limits the liability of the design professional to the sum of: (1) the amount of the commercial insurance or self-insurance protection the design professional is required to carry; and (2) the amount of indemnification provided by the United States. Requires Federal agencies, before issuing a solicitation for each contract or a contract modification for design services: (1) to determine if such contract or modification carries a risk of injury in excess of reasonably available insurance; and (2) if so, to include a clause to that effect in the solicitation, the contract, and any covered contract modification as appropriate. Provides the exclusive relief available for professional liability against a design professional under a contract with such a clause. Prohibits such indemnification of a design professional firm for: (1) liability caused by the gross negligence, intentional misconduct, or bad faith of its director, officer, or managing official; and (2) the liability of any managing official or other employee of such a firm who acts in reckless disregard of public health and safety. Requires a design professional to secure insurance or self-insurance as: (1) agreed upon with the United States at the time of contracting; or (2) is reasonable under the circumstances, in the absence of such an agreement or in the event of loss of coverage through no fault of either party, provided that aggregate payments by the design professional shall not exceed the value of contract profits or the greater of $1,000,000,000 or one percent of the contract value and shall constitute payment in full of the design professional's share of liability. Requires a design professional to notify the United States within a reasonable period of any claim or action against it which may give rise to a claim for indemnification. Permits the United States to notify the design professional that the Government will assume control of the defense or settlement of any such claim or action. Requires the United States to assume the cost of such litigation. Requires a design professional seeking indemnification to present a claim to the contracting agency. Requires such claim to be determined under the Contract Disputes Act of 1978. Allows a design professional aggrieved by the agency's determination to appeal such determination under that Act. Permits the United States to discharge its indemnification obligation by making payments directly to the person to whom the design professional may be liable. Directs the Administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to: (1) establish guidelines for determining whether the amount of insurance maintained by the design professional is reasonable; and (2) provide that any such insurance premiums are recoverable as allowable costs under the contract, and that such guidelines are subject to periodic review. Declares that the provisions of this Act shall not: (1) apply with respect to any risks against which indemnification may be obtained under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954; (2) limit or prevent the use of existing statutory authority to provide indemnification for liability, harm, or expense for which indemnification is not required under this Act; or (3) be construed to create any liability of the Government to any person other than to design professionals for indemnification. Authorizes a permanent judgment appropriation to pay indemnification claims.

Merchant Seaman Reemployment Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Merchant Seaman Reemployment Act of 1991 - Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to entitle certain individuals to reemployment rights and other benefits substantially equivalent to those provided by provisions of Federal law relating to veterans' reemployment rights. Makes eligible for such rights an individual who: (1) was employed in the activation or operation of a vessel in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, under provisions restored by this Act, a vessel requisitioned or purchased under provisions relating to national emergencies, or a vessel used by the United States for a war, armed conflict, national emergency, or maritime mobilization need, including training or testing; and (2) during such employment, possessed a license, certificate of registry, or merchant mariner's document under certain provisions of Federal law. Amends the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946 to restore provisions of Federal law, previously repealed, relating to allowed uses of the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

To repeal section 3205 of title 38, United States Code.

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Repeals a Federal provision prohibiting the payment of veterans' disability compensation to an incompetent veteran having no spouse, child, or dependent when such veteran's estate value exceeds $25,000, until such estate value is reduced to less than $10,000.

Emergency Jobs Appropriations Act, 1991

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Emergency Jobs Appropriations Act, 1991 - Title I: Meeting Our Economic Problems Coming from Changing Conditions with Essential Productive Jobs - Directs the appropriate congressional committees to study the current economic crisis, with emphasis on long-term recovery and and a strong private sector based on Government/industry partnership, and present their findings to the Congress by October 1, 1991, for appropriate action. Declares that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Open Market Committee should take necessary actions to achieve and maintain a level of interest rates low enough to achieve significant economic growth and reduce the current level of unemployment. Makes appropriations for FY 1991, in order to create productive jobs and protect public investment, for various activities relating to: (1) Federal buildings; (2) interstate highways; (3) mass transportation; (4) rehabilitation of highway bridges crossing over Northeast corridor rail transportation properties; (5) railroad infrastructure and rights-of-way improvement; (6) veterans' medical facilities and services; (7) public housing modernization; (8) community development; (9) international trade competition; (10) local economic development; (11) small business loans and investments; (12) small business oriented employment or national resources development programs; (13) parks and recreational areas and facilities; (14) the National Forest System; (15) Indian health facilities; (16) Fish and Wildlife Service facilities; (17) rural development and resource conservation, including rural water and waste disposal; (18) soil conservation, including watershed and flood prevention operations; (19) Federal, State, and local prison modernization; (20) water resource and hydroelectric power, flood control, shore protection, harbor channel and navigable waterway maintenance; (21) reclamation and irrigation projects; (22) Federal agricultural research facilities; (23) tree-planting and other natural resources development programs; (24) historic properties restoration; and (25) Bureau of Land Management facilities. Makes appropriations for FY 1991 to the Department of Labor to provide productive jobs for unemployed individuals under specified conditions, in various types of public service employment. Provides for allocation of such funds to eligible local governments, rural area concentrated employment program grantees, or States. Makes appropriations in additional amounts for FY 1991 for: (1) employment and training services; (2) grants to States for unemployment insurance and employment services; (3) higher education academic and research facilities; and (4) the Federal Emergency Management Agency's emergency food and shelter program. Makes appropriations for FY 1991 for: (1) construction and modernization of military family housing; (2) low-income energy conservation weatherization activities (in an additional amount) and (3) Federal motor vehicle procurement. Title II: Technical Provisions - Provides that no part of any appropriation contained in this Act shall remain available for obligation beyond the current fiscal year unless expressly so provided herein.

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Martha Raye.

United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991

Declares that the President should award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Martha Raye in honor of her service in the form of entertainment and nursing care to members of the U.S. armed forces.

Intelligence Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1991

United States · United States Congress · 18 March 1991

Intelligence Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1991 - Title I: Intelligence Activities - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities in specified departments and agencies of the U.S. Government, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Declares that the authorized amounts and personnel ceilings for such intelligence activities are those specified in the classified schedule of authorizations. Authorizes the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to employ civilian personnel in excess of the ceiling for such personnel when necessary to the performance of important intelligence functions. Title II: Intelligence Community Staff - Authorizes appropriations for the Intelligence Community Staff for FY 1991. Establishes an end strength ceiling of 240 full-time Intelligence Community Staff employees, including 50 full-time personnel who are authorized to serve in the Security Evaluation Office. Provides that such staff shall be administered in the same manner as the CIA. Title III: Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System and Related Provisions - Authorizes appropriations for the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability Fund for FY 1991. Amends the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement Act of 1964 for Certain Employees to eliminate the statutory provisions requiring a 15-year career review and an election option for participants in the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System (CIARDS) and requires such participants to remain under CIARDS for the duration of their CIA service. Specifies that the five years of marriage spent outside the United States required to qualify for former spouse status must have been during periods of the participant's service with the CIA. Permits a retiree under CIARDS who was unmarried at the time of retirement to: (1) elect a reduction in an annuity for purposes of providing a survivor benefit upon marriage after retirement (currently, an election for a current spouse must be equal to the election made for a spouse to whom the participant was married at the time of retirement); and (2) irrevocably elect within one year of remarriage, where his or her annuity was not reduced to provide a survivor annuity at the time of retirement, to provide an annuity for the new spouse in the event such spouse survives the retired participant (in such case, the retired participant would be required to deposit an amount by which his or her annuity would have been reduced if the election had been in effect since the date of retirement or, if later, the date the previous reduction in the annuity was terminated). Reduces the remarriage age for purposes of entitlement to survivor and retirement benefits under CIARDS. Requires a surviving spouse who remarries a retiree and becomes entitled to a CIARDS survivor annuity to choose between such annuity and any other survivor annuity to which he or she may be entitled to be eligible to receive survivor annuity payments. Provides for the restoration of benefits of certain former CIA spouses whose benefits were terminated because of remarriage before the before the age of 55, and whose remarriage is later dissolved by death, annulment, or divorce. Amends the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 to restore health benefits of former spouses whose benefits were terminated because of remarriage before the age of 55, and whose remarriage is later dissolved by death, annulment, or divorce. Title IV: General Provisions - Permits appropriations authorized by this Act for benefits for Federal employees to be increased as may be necessary for increases in compensation or benefits authorized by law. Prohibits the authorization of appropriations by this Act from constituting authority for the conduct of any illegal intelligence activity. Authorizes the DCI to charge the entry of an alien against the numerical limitation for any fiscal year (beginning with FY 1991 and ending with FY 1996) notwithstanding that such alien's entry is not made to the United States in such fiscal year if the alien is an employee of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service in Hong Kong or the spouse or child of such alien. Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to except from the competitive service all positions in the Department of Energy which the Secretary of such department determines are devoted to intelligence and intelligence-related Government activities. Requires the DCI to direct that elements of the intelligence community, whenever compatible with U.S. national security, consistent with operational and security concerns, and fiscally sound, award contracts in a manner that would maximize the procurement of products produced in the United States. Title V: Department of Defense Intelligence Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to grant the use of the DOD reimbursement rate for military airlift services provided by DOD to the CIA if such services are provided for activities related to national security objectives. Directs the Defense Mapping Agency to offer certain maps and charts for sale. Authorizes the Secretary to withhold from public disclosure any geodetic product under DOD control that: (1) is restricted pursuant to an international agreement; or (2) contains information that would, if disclosed, reveal sources and methods used to obtain material for geodetic products or military operational or contingency plans. Amends the National Security Agency Act of 1959 to authorize the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) to use appropriated funds for specified post-employment assistance for NSA employees who have been in sensitive positions but are found ineligible for continued access to sensitive information and continued employment with NSA, subject to specified conditions and reporting requirements. Permits the Secretary to authorize elements of DOD to engage in commercial activities to provide security for the conduct of authorized intelligence collection activities abroad. Prohibits such activities from being conducted after December 31, 1995. Sets forth provisions concerning the use, disposition, and auditing of funds generated by such activities. Authorizes the Secretary, if compliance with any Federal laws and regulations would create an unacceptable risk of compromise of an authorized intelligence collection activity, to permit the operation of the activity notwithstanding such laws and regulations. Permits personnel to conduct such activities in the United States only to the extent necessary to support intelligence activities abroad. Prohibits entities engaged in such activities from employing, assigning, or detailing U.S. persons to perform duties for such entities unless such persons are informed in advance of the intelligence security purposes of such activities. Requires the Secretary to ensure that the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are kept currently and fully informed of such activities. Directs the Secretary to provide to any Member of Congress, upon request, complete access to the Tighe Report (the classified report of the Defense Intelligence Agency relating to efforts to fully account for U.S. military personnel listed as prisoner, missing, or unaccounted for in military actions). Authorizes the Secretary to withhold from disclosure any material that would compromise sources and methods of intelligence.

American Energy Independence Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991

American Energy Independence Act of 1991 - Title I: Energy Conservation - Subtitle A: Telecommuting Infrastructure Act of 1991 - Telecommuting Infrastructure Act of 1991 - Directs the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and of Energy (DOE) to study the costs and benefits, in their respective sectors, of telecommuting ("flex-place" working via telephone and computer, usually from home). Makes companies which offer or expand telecommuting flex-place programs eligible for certain Federal business tax credits. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit a telephone exchange service carrier from providing video program service in its telephone exchange service area except through an affiliated video program subsidiary separate from such carrier. Requires any such carrier which provides telephone exchange service and the video program service of its subsidiary over an integrated broadband distribution system to establish a video gateway. Subtitle B: Other Conservation Measures - Amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act to require Federal agency heads to adopt procedures to assure that the construction of any new Federal building meets or exceeds certain applicable energy efficiency performance standards. Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to direct the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to promulgate guidelines for procedures to be implemented by State governments that would enable the assignment of energy efficiency ratings to residential buildings. Directs the Secretary to: (1) pursue a research and development (R & D) program to improve energy efficiency and productivity in energy intensive industries and industrial processes; and (2) undertake joint ventures to encourage the commercialization of technologies so developed. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish specified voluntary energy efficiency guidelines for industrial plants. Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to direct the Secretary to evaluate and report to the Congress on the feasibility of requiring electric lights, utility distribution transformers, and electric motors and pumps to meet minimum energy efficiency levels. Title II: Oil - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a variable excise tax on imported crude oil and refined petroleum products. Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to direct the Secretary to take all necessary steps to expedite the increase of Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage capacity to 1,000,000,000 barrels of petroleum product. Sets a new capacity goal of 2,000,000,000 by FY 2003. Title III: Natural Gas - Creates a defense to any Federal civil or criminal antitrust action brought against cooperative associations of independent natural gas producers with respect to any voluntary marketing agreements or plans of action undertaken out of market necessity and with no purpose to reduce competition. Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to: (1) determine if the charges, classifications, or practices of other domestic pipelines serving the market which certain import facilities serve confer an unjust competitive disadvantage on domestic natural gas producers; and (2) fix charges, classifications, or practices which would not confer such a competitive disadvantage. Title IV: Coal - Subtitle A: Value-Added Coal Refinery Act of 1991 - Value-Added Coal Refinery Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to establish within DOE a research, development, demonstration, and commercialization program for coal refining technologies based on hydrocracking to produce a slate of value-added clean burning boiler and transportation fuels, fuel additives, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, and carbon-based manufactured products more economically and efficiently than currently available commercial technology. Subtitle B: National Clearinghouse for Coal Fuels Technology Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to establish within DOE a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of information and data on coal and coal-derived fuel technology. Authorizes appropriations. Requires DOE to conduct a Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Proof of Concept Program leading to the design, construction, and operation of an MHD retrofit plant. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Electricity - Amends the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989 to direct the Secretary to solicit proposals for, and provide financial assistance to, at least one joint venture for the demonstration of electric fuel cell technology. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to direct the Secretary to conduct a program to promote the early commercial application of electricity-producing fuel cell systems by the demonstration of such systems in Federal buildings. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Alternative Fuels - Alternative Fuels Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to establish a program to promote the development and use of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels. Requires the Secretary to prescribe the minimum percentage of such fuels a refiner must sell as a motor fuel in 1996 through 1998. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Renewable Energy - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a renewable energy production tax credit for specified energy technologies. Title VIII: General Effective Date - Makes this Act effective upon enactment.

Department of Veterans Affairs Health-Care Personnel Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991

Department of Veterans Affairs Health-Care Personnel Act of 1991 - Redesignates the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration in the Department of Veterans Affairs (Department) as the Veterans Health Administration. Title I: Special Pay for Physicians and Dentists - Department of Veterans Affairs Physician and Dentist Recruitment and Retention Act of 1991 - Revises Federal provisions relating to special pay for Department physicians and dentists. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in order to recruit and retain highly qualified physicians and dentists, to provide special pay to such individuals under regulations prescribed by the Secretary after the Secretary has received the recommendations of the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Department. Conditions such special pay upon the execution of a written agreement by the physician or dentist to perform a period of obligated service within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Provides that such individual is not entitled to such special pay during the first three years of such service, except at the discretion of the Secretary for full-time services. Prohibits special pay for those physician and dentist positions for which there is no significant recruitment and retention problem. Authorizes the CMD to approve the payment of special pay to physicians and dentists employed on a less than half-time basis in specified circumstances. Prohibits the payment of special pay to physicians and dentists who: (1) are employed on less than a quarter-time or intermittent basis; (2) are in an internship or residency training position; or (3) are reemployed annuitants. Allows the Secretary to provide retention pay to physicians and dentists formerly receiving special pay but no longer eligible under new requirements outlined in this Act. Sets forth requirements of a written agreement, including provisions providing for: (1) a covered period of one to four years, with renewal permitted upon full completion of a prior agreement; (2) refunding of special pay on a prorated basis for unfulfilled services; (3) the waiver of such refund requirement due to circumstances beyond the control of the physician or dentist; (4) the inclusion of terms under which the Secretary and the physician or dentist may terminate the agreement; and (5) special review by the Secretary of an agreement which will differ radically (provide more than 50 percent more or more than 25 percent less) from special pay received under previous agreements or which, when added to basic pay, will exceed certain limits. Requires the Secretary to include in annual reports information concerning agreements approved or disapproved by the Secretary under which special pay differed radically or which, when combined with basic pay, exceeded a specified limit. States that all such pay limitation requirements and reports shall not apply to a proposed agreement entered into after FY 1994. Directs the Secretary to adjust special pay as necessary to reflect any change in status of a physician or dentist from part-time to full-time or vice versa. Directs the Secretary to provide special pay to eligible full-time physicians based upon specified factors, including: (1) tenure within the VHA; (2) service in a medical specialty for which it is extremely difficult to recruit and retain qualified professionals; (3) service in certain executive positions; (4) specialty or board certifications; (5) service in a geographic location for which there are extraordinary difficulties in the recruitment or retention of qualified personnel; and (6) service by a physician with exceptional qualifications within a specialty. Requires all special pay for such full-time physicians to be personally approved by the CMD on a case-by-case basis. Sets forth conditions and limitations to the payment of such special pay. Directs the Secretary to provide special pay to part-time eligible physicians based upon similar factors. Requires the Secretary to pay each such physician an amount of special pay equal to the proportion of full-time service that physician performs, up to a specified limit. Directs the Secretary to provide special pay to eligible full-time and part-time dentists based upon similar factors. Prohibits physicians or dentists receiving special pay for service in certain executive positions from receiving scarce specialty pay (another form of special pay that rewards scarce specialty areas of practice). Requires, with regard to the payment of special pay, determinations: (1) that there are extraordinary difficulties in recruitment or retention; (2) of the specific rate of special pay to be paid to each physician or dentist eligible; and (3) of whether there are extraordinary difficulties in a specific geographic location in the recruitment or retention of qualified physicians or dentists. Sets forth considerations for determinations with respect to extraordinary recruitment and retention difficulties and the payment of special pay for individual medical facilities of the Department. Provides minimum rates for the payment of special pay. Outlines the manner in which special pay is to be considered for purposes of other benefits laws for Federal employees. States that it is the policy of the Congress to assure that total pay for VHA physicians and dentists is comparable to total pay of other Government physicians and dentists and to the income of non-Federal physicians and dentists. Directs the Secretary: (1) in order to assist in implementing such policy, to obtain measures of income of such non-Department physicians and dentists and to define the bases for pay distinctions; (2) to report to the President quadrennially on appropriate amounts of special pay to VHA physicians and dentists to carry out such policy; and (3) to report to specified congressional committees annually on the use of authorities under this title. Allows the Secretary to authorize the CMD to pay advance payments, recruitment or relocation bonuses, retention allowances, and interview expenses to the following personnel in the same manner currently provided under Federal employment provisions: physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, registered nurses, physician assistants, and expanded-function dental auxiliaries. Directs the Secretary to reimburse any full-time board-certified physician or dentist appointed in the VHA for expenses incurred, up to $1,000 per year, for continuing professional education. Title II: Labor-Management Relations - Department of Veterans Affairs Labor Relations Improvement Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to prescribe the hours and conditions of employment and leaves of absence of the following VHA employees: physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, nurses, physician assistants, and expanded-duty dental auxiliaries. Provides that the authority of the Secretary to prescribe regulations with regard to such employees is subject to the right of Federal employees to engage in the collective bargaining process with respect to conditions of employment. States that such collective bargaining may not cover, or have any applicability to, any matter or question arising out of: (1) professional conduct or competence; (2) peer review; or (3) the establishment, determination, or adjustment of employee compensation. Requires any VHA employee who accepts responsibilities for professional services for remuneration other than assigned responsibilities to work a minimum 80-hour biweekly amount. Outlines those outside activities and responsibilities that such a person may not engage in or take on while an employee of the Department. Provides that whenever the CMD brings charges against a Department employee based on conduct or performance and, as a result of those charges, an adverse (disciplinary) action is taken against the employee, the employee shall have the right to appeal the action, either through: (1) a Disciplinary Appeals Board; (2) Department procedures; or (3) grievance procedures provided through collective bargaining, depending on the type of action involved. Requires the Secretary to publish in the Federal Register any proposed regulations prescribed concerning the collective bargaining or adverse action procedures. States that Disciplinary Appeals Boards shall have exclusive jurisdiction to review any case: (1) which arises out of a question of professional conduct or competence of an employee of the Department employed on a full-time basis under a permanent appointment; and (2) in which a major adverse action was taken (suspension, transfer, reduction in grade or pay, or discharge). Gives employees involved in such a case the right to: (1) advance written notice of the charges and actions that could be taken if the charges are sustained; and (2) an opportunity to be heard both orally and in writing on such charges. Requires a decision on such case by a deciding official within 21 days after the employee's response to the charges. Allows for a delay in a proposed action for up to one year while an employee seeks counseling or treatment for a condition covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Allows the Secretary to require an employee to make a written or oral response to the charges within 30 days of receipt, with extension for good cause shown. Outlines further administrative action to be taken by the Board in a major adverse action appeals procedure, together with time limitations involved in each step. States that the Secretary's execution of the Board's decision shall be the final administrative action in the case, with the affected employee entitled to judicial review of the order or decision. Requires the Secretary to prescribe procedures for the consideration of grievances of Department employees arising from adverse actions in which each action taken either: (1) is not a major adverse action; or (2) does not arise out of a question of professional conduct or competence. States that Disciplinary Appeals Boards shall not have jurisdiction to review such matters other than as part of a mixed case. States that review of an adverse action shall be provided through either Department procedures or through grievance procedures provided through collective bargaining. Outlines the rights of employees under the Department procedures to: (1) a formal review by an impartial examiner within the Department; (2) a prompt report of findings; (3) a prompt review of the examiner's findings by a higher official; and (4) legal or other representation in adverse action reviews under grievance procedures. Requires the Secretary to appoint Disciplinary Appeals Boards to hear appeals of major adverse actions taken against full-time Department employees and based on professional conduct or performance. Authorizes the chairman of such a Board to authorize disclosure to the affected employee of records or information to be reviewed during an appeal procedure. Provides for the protection of the privacy of the individuals whose records are involved. Requires the Secretary to periodically designate Department employees qualified to serve on Disciplinary Appeals Boards and to announce that a list of such qualified employees is available to any person requesting such list. Requires the Secretary to provide training in the functions and duties of such Boards and grievance procedures for employees selected to be on the panel. Title III: Miscellaneous - Requires physician assistants and expanded-function dental auxiliaries to be paid in accordance with a Nurse Schedule in effect on August 14, 1990, until the effective date of a determination by the Secretary to convert those occupations to covered positions under provisions enacted by the Department of Veterans Affairs Nurse Pay Act of 1990. Authorizes the CMD to determine the rates of pay with respect to covered Department regional and central office employees in certain grades. Requires the CMD to prescribe regulations for the adjustment of basic pay rates for such employees in order to assure that those rates are sufficient and competitive. Amends the Veterans' Health Care Amendments of 1986 to extend through FY 1991 a required annual report on the furnishing of nonservice-connected health care services to veterans. Allows the Secretary to submit an administrative reorganization plan at any time during the year. Requires a 90-day congressional notification period to expire before the Secretary may implement the reorganization. Defines a covered administrative reorganization as one involving a reduction during any fiscal year in the number of full-time equivalent employees by: (1) 15 percent or more (currently, ten); or (2) a percent which, when added to the percentage reduction in the number of such employees at a covered office or facility for the preceding fiscal year, is 25 percent (currently, 15) or more. Requires a report from the Secretary to the veterans' committees for the reorganization of any unit of the central office of the Department that is the duty station of 30 or more employees (currently, more than 25 but less than 100). Title IV: Reorganization and Redesignation of Parts IV, V, and VI of Title 38 - Reorganizes through recodification within Federal law various provisions relating to the organization and functions of the VHA, including provisions relating to organization, general authority and administration, patient rights, and research corporations within the VHA.

A bill to provide an additional amount of Servicemen's Group life Insurance for death by hostile fire, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to pay a death gratuity to certain survivors of members of the uniformed services who die in the Persian Gulf combat zone, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991

Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions relating to the provision of Servicemen's Group Life Insurance (SGLI) for veterans to provide that any such SGLI policy shall automatically insure a member against death by hostile fire or the explosion of hostile mines. Applies such automatic inclusion to members on active duty at their time of death unless the member elects in writing not to be so insured. Establishes as the amount of such additional insurance the amount for which the veteran is already insured under SGLI. Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that each eligible individual is notified and afforded the opportunity to increase his or her coverage.

A resolution to establish a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.

United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991

Establishes the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs to receive, concurrently with other committees of the Senate with jurisdiction, all messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to U.S. personnel unaccounted for from military conflicts.

A concurrent resolution extending the appreciation of Congress to all American Indian veterans for their service in the Armed Forces of the United States.

United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991

Expresses the appreciation of the Congress to: (1) all American Indian veterans for their long, proud, and distinguished tradition of service in the U.S. Armed Forces; (2) all American Indian service men and women currently or heretofore deployed in the Persian Gulf region as part of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm; and (3) the families of American Indian service men and women and members of Indian tribes nationwide who have supported their loved ones through traditional ceremonies and have prayed for the safety and continued strength of all American forces and Allied partners. Expresses the condolences of the Congress to the families whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their nation and in the cause of peace.

Horn of Africa Recovery and Food Security Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991

Horn of Africa Recovery and Food Security Act of 1991 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to provide assistance for civil strife relief and rehabilitation in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan). Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to authorize the President to provide supplemental emergency food assistance for civilian victims of civil strife in the Horn of Africa. Permits the President to transfer funds from unobligated amounts in the economic support fund (ESF) and military assistance to carry out this Act. Makes available a percentage of assistance for management support activities of the Agency for International Development. Requires the President to consult with other nations, armed and unarmed parties in the Horn of Africa, and the United Nations Secretary General to bring about negotiated settlements of the wars in the region. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) direct the U.S. representative to the United Nations to take specified steps with respect to peace and the implementation of an arms embargo in the region; (2) play an active role in other fora in pressing for settlements to such wars; and (3) participate in regional and international peace consultations. Declares that development assistance in the Horn of Africa should be targeted to aid the poor. States that U.S. Government aid institutions should seek to: (1) build upon the capabilities and experiences of organizations active in local grassroots relief, rehabilitation, and development efforts; (2) consult with such organizations and incorporate their views into the policymaking process; and (3) support the expansion of their activities without compromising their private nature. Declares that current legislative provisions that restrict assistance to Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan should be retained until concrete steps toward peace, democracy, and human rights are achieved. States that development assistance should be: (1) targeted to the voluntary relocation and repatriation of displaced persons and refugees; and (2) carried out in coordination with strategies for debt relief of countries in the region and with efforts to establish an International Fund for Reconstruction of developing nations which settle civil wars. Prohibits assistance appropriated under this Act from being available for involuntary or forced resettlement of persons. Prohibits development assistance to Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan unless the President certifies that the government of the country has: (1) begun to implement peace or national reconciliation agreements; (2) demonstrated a commitment to human rights; (3) manifested a commitment to democracy and has held or scheduled free and fair elections; and (4) agreed to distribute development assistance without discrimination. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors of the multilateral development banks to oppose any loan or other funds, except to meet basic human needs, to or for Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan until the President makes such certification. Prohibits ESF assistance, grant military assistance, or international military education and training assistance to Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan unless the President certifies that the government of the country has: (1) begun to implement peace or national reconciliation agreements; (2) demonstrated a commitment to human rights; and (3) held or scheduled free and fair elections.

Tactical Missile Defense Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991

Tactical Missile Defense Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Defense to restructure the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) by creating a separate Joint Tactical Missile Defense program (JTMDP) within the Department of Defense. Requires separate directors for SDI and the JTMDP. Requires each ballistic missile defense research and development program to come under the direction of the director of the JTMDP, with the exception of systems which are currently being procured or for which procurement has already been authorized. Requires separate funding for SDI and the JTMDP. Requires all funds for tactical or theater ballistic missile defense research and development currently available to SDI to be transferred to funding for the JTMDP. Directs the Secretary to ensure that any testing, development, or deployment of new or upgraded ballistic missile defense systems is not in violation of the ABM Treaty.

Product Liability Fairness Act

United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991

Title I - Product Liability Fairness Act - Declares that this Act governs any product liability action brought against a manufacturer or product seller, on any theory, for harm caused by a product. States that a civil action brought against a manufacturer or product seller for loss or damage to a product itself or commercial loss shall be governed by applicable commercial or contract law. Supersedes any inconsistent State law regarding recovery in such actions. Lists specific laws not superseded, including: (1) defense of sovereign immunity asserted by any State or by the United States; (2) any Federal law (except the Federal Employees Compensation Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act); (3) the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976; (4) State choice-of-law rules; (5) the right of any court to transfer venue or to apply the law of a foreign nation or to dismiss a claim of a foreign nation or citizen on the ground of inconvenient forum; and (6) any statutory or common law cause of action, including an action to abate a nuisance, that authorizes a State or person to institute an action for civil damages or civil penalties, clean up costs, injunctions, restitution, cost recovery, punitive damages, or any other form of relief from contamination or pollution of the environment or the threat of it. Declares that U.S. district courts shall not have jurisdiction over any civil action under this Act, based on specified provisions of Federal law relating to district court jurisdiction. Declares that, if any provision of this Act would shorten the period during which a manufacturer or seller would otherwise be exposed to liability, the claimant may, notwithstanding that period, bring any civil action under this Act within one year after the effective date of this Act. Title II - Allows any claimant to bring a civil action for damages against a person for harm caused by a product under applicable State law, except to the extent such law is superseded by this title. Sets forth expedited settlement measures, including: (1) an option to include an offer of settlement, for a specific dollar amount, by the plaintiff in the complaint and by the defendant in a responsive pleading; and (2) awarding attorney's fees and costs, in certain circumstances, to the prevailing party if the other party does not accept the settlement offer. Sets forth alternative dispute resolution procedures, including: (1) an option, in lieu of or in addition to a settlement offer, for a claimant or a defendant to offer to proceed under any voluntary alternative dispute resolution procedure established or recognized under the law of the State in which the action is brought or maintained; and (2) awarding of attorney's fees and costs to the offering party if the court determines that a refusal to so proceed was unreasonable or not in good faith. Creates a rebuttable presumption that a refusal to so proceed was unreasonable, or not in good faith, if a verdict is rendered in favor of the offeror. Title III - Allows a person seeking to recover for harm caused by a product to bring a civil action against the manufacturer or seller under applicable State or Federal law, except to the extent such law is superseded by this Act. Establishes a standard of product seller liability for proximate causes of harm, established by a preponderance of the evidence, which fall under the categories of negligence or express warranty. Allows the trier of facts, in a negligence action, to consider the conduct of the seller with respect to: (1) the construction, inspection, or condition of the product; and (2) failure to pass on warnings or instructions from the manufacturer. Deems the seller not liable for failure to provide warnings or instructions unless the claimant establishes that the seller failed to: (1) provide warnings or instructions received while the product was in the seller's possession and control; or (2) make reasonable efforts to provide users with warnings and instructions which it received after the product left its possession and control. Deems a seller not liable except for breach of warranty where there was no opportunity to inspect the product in a manner which would or should, in the exercise of reasonable care, have revealed the aspect which allegedly caused the harm. Declares that the seller shall be treated as the manufacturer and be liable for harm caused by a product as if it were the manufacturer if: (1) the manufacturer is not subject to service of process in any State in which the action might have been brought; or (2) the court determines that the claimant would be unable to enforce a judgment against the manufacturer. Allows punitive damages, if otherwise permitted by applicable law, to be awarded in any civil action under this title to any claimant who establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the harm suffered was the result of conduct manifesting a manufacturer's or product seller's conscious, flagrant indifference to the safety of those persons who might be harmed by a product. Declares that a failure to exercise reasonable care in choosing among alternative product designs, formulations, instructions, or warnings is not of itself such conduct. Prohibits awarding punitive damages in the absence of a compensatory award, subject to exception. Prohibits punitive damages against a manufacturer or seller of a drug or medical device where: (1) the drug or device was subject to pre-market approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); or (2) the drug is generally recognized as safe and effective under conditions established by the FDA. Prohibits punitive damages against a manufacturer of an aircraft where: (1) the aircraft was subject to pre-market certification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); and (2) the manufacturer complied, after delivery, with FAA requirements and obligations with respect to continuing airworthiness. Provides for separate proceedings, if requested by the manufacturer or seller, with regard to punitive damages. Lists factors the trier of fact is allowed to consider in determining the amount of punitive damages. Bars any civil action under this title: (1) unless filed within two years after the claimant discovered or should have discovered the harm and its cause, subject to exception; and (2) if the product involved is a capital good that is alleged to have caused harm which is not a toxic harm unless filed within twenty-five years after delivery of the product, provided the claimant has received or would be eligible for State or Federal workers' compensation. Excludes a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or railroad used primarily to transport passengers for hire from these time limitations. States that nothing in these provisions affects the right of any person who is subject to liability under this Act to obtain contribution or indemnity from any other person who is responsible for the harm. Requires reduction in the damages awarded by the sum of all State or Federal workers' compensation benefits to which the employee is or would be entitled. Requires a claimant in a civil action under this title who is or may be eligible to receive State or Federal workers' compensation to notify the claimant's employer of the civil action. Requires an action to be stayed, at the sole discretion of the claimant, until a final determination is made on the amount payable as workers' compensation benefits. Declares that, unless the manufacturer or seller has expressly agreed to indemnify or hold an employer harmless, neither the employer nor the workers' compensation insurance carrier shall have a right of subrogation, contribution, or implied indemnity against the manufacturer or seller or a lien against the claimant's recovery, except if the claimant's harm was not in any way caused by the fault of the claimant's employer or co-employees. Allows the employer or workers' compensation insurer to intervene in the action to prove that fact. Prohibits a third party tortfeasor, where workers' compensation is involved, from maintaining any action for implied indemnity or contribution against the employer, any coemployee, or the exclusive representative of the injured person. Prohibits, for a person who is or would have been entitled to receive workers' compensation, any other action, unless a State or Federal workers' compensation law permits recovery based on a claim of an intentional tort. Makes these provisions inapplicable and declares that applicable State law shall control if the employer or the workers' compensation insurer asserts a right of subrogation, contribution, or implied indemnity against the manufacturer or seller or a lien against the claimant's recovery. Declares that, in any product liability action, the liability of each defendant for noneconomic damages shall be several and not joint. Requires the trier of fact to determine the proportion of responsibility of each party for the claimant's harm. Establishes a complete defense, in any civil action under this Act in which all defendants are manufacturers or sellers, that the claimant was under the influence of alcohol or any drug and that, as a result, the claimant was more than 50 percent responsible for the event which resulted in the harm. Defines "drug" to mean any non-over-the-counter drug which has not been prescribed by a physician.

Comprehensive Violent Crime Control Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991

Comprehensive Violent Crime Control Act of 1991 - Title I: Death Penalty - Capital Punishment Procedures Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal criminal code to establish criteria for the imposition of the death penalty for Federal crimes. Requires the Government, for any offense punishable by death, to serve notice upon the defendant a reasonable time before trial or acceptance of a plea, that it intends to seek the death penalty and the aggravating factors upon which it will rely. Requires a separate sentencing hearing before a jury, or the court upon motion by the defendant, when the defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty to an offense punishable by death. Allows the defendant and the Government to present any information relevant to sentencing, without regard to the rules of evidence, but permits evidence to be excluded where its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of creating unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, or misleading the jury. Specifies mitigating factors which the defendant must establish by a preponderance of the information and aggravating factors which the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Sets forth special aggravating factors for: (1) espionage, treason, homicide, the attempted murder of the President; and (2) drug offenses punishable by the death penalty (such factors include previous serious drug felony convictions, use of a firearm in committing or furthering certain continuing criminal enterprises, use of minors in trafficking, and lethal adulteration of controlled substances). Directs the court, or the jury by unanimous vote, to impose the death penalty upon a finding of at least one aggravating and no mitigating factor, or one or more aggravating factors which outweigh any mitigating factors. States that no person who was under 18 years of age at the time of the offense may be sentenced to death. Requires the court to instruct the jury not to consider the race, color, religion, national origin, or sex of the defendant or victim in its consideration of the sentence. Establishes procedures for appeal from a death sentence. Requires the court of appeals, upon consideration of the record and the information and procedures of the sentencing hearing, to affirm the decision if: (1) the sentence was not imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor; (2) the information supports the finding of aggravating factors; and (3) the proceedings did not involve any other prejudicial error requiring reversal of the sentence that was properly preserved for and raised on appeal. Requires the court to provide a written explanation of its determination. Sets forth procedures for the implementation of the sentence of death. Limits the circumstances under which the offense of delivering defense information to aid foreign governments is punishable by death. Provides for the imposition of the death penalty for: (1) murder committed by prisoners in Federal prisons; (2) kidnappings which result in the death of any person; (3) hostage takings which result in the death of any person; (4) attempting to kill the President of the United States (if such attempt results in bodily injury or comes dangerously close to causing the President's death); (5) murder for hire; (6) murder in the aid of a racketeering activity; (7) international terrorism (where the killing is a first-degree murder); (8) engaging in a criminal enterprise activity which results in death; (9) specified violations of the Controlled Substances Act, the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act, and the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act; and (10) genocide. Increases the minimum sentence to life imprisonment for the crime of bank robbery which results in death. Provides for appointment of counsel in Federal cases where a defendant is charged with a crime with respect to which a sentence of death is sought and is or becomes financially unable to obtain adequate representation. Sets forth additional provisions with respect to: (1) representation before and after review of judgement; (2) standards for competence of counsel; and (3) claims of ineffectiveness of counsel. Sets forth provisions with respect to: (1) deadlines for collateral attacks on judgements imposing a sentence of death; and (2) stays of execution. Title II: Habeas Corpus Reform - Subtitle A: General Habeas Corpus Reform - Habeas Corpus Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal judicial code to establish a one-year statute of limitations for habeas corpus actions brought by State prisoners. Vests authority to issue certificates for probable cause for appeal of habeas corpus orders exclusively in the courts of appeals. Permits denial on the merits of habeas corpus writs notwithstanding the failure to exhaust State remedies. Prohibits the granting of a habeas corpus with respect to any claim which has been fully and fairly adjudicated in State proceedings. Sets forth provisions with respect to the appointment of counsel. Subtitle B: Death Penalty Litigation Procedures - Death Penalty Litigation Procedures Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal judicial code to set forth special habeas corpus procedures in capital cases. Applies such procedures to Federal habeas corpus cases brought by prisoners in State custody who are subject to a capital sentence. Makes the applicability of such procedures contingent upon a State establishing a mechanism for the appointment, compensation, and payment of reasonable litigation expenses of competent counsel in State post-conviction proceedings brought by indigent prisoners whose capital convictions and sentences have been upheld on direct appeal to the court of last resort in the State or have otherwise become final for State law purposes. States that the rule of court on statutes establishing such mechanism must provide standards of competency for the appointment of such counsel. Directs that any such mechanism must offer counsel to all State prisoners under capital sentence and must provide for the entry of an order by a court of record: (1) appointing counsel to represent the prisoner upon a specified finding; (2) finding that the prisoner has rejected the offer of counsel and made the decision with an understanding of its legal consequences; or (3) denying the appointment of counsel upon a finding that the prisoner is not indigent. Provides for a mandatory stay of execution during the post-conviction review initiated pursuant to this Act. Details conditions which will cause such stay to expire. Prohibits a Federal court, if one of such conditions has occurred, from entering a stay of execution or granting relief in a capital case unless: (1) the basis for the stay and request for relief is a claim not previously presented in the State or Federal courts; (2) the failure to raise the claim was the result of State action in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, was the result of a recognition by the Supreme Court of a new Federal right that is retroactively applicable, or is due to the fact that the claim is based on facts that could not have been discovered through the exercise of reasonable diligence in time to present the claim for State or Federal post-conviction review; and (3) the facts underlying the claim would be sufficient, if proven, to undermine the court's confidence in the jury's determination of guilt on the offense for which the death penalty was imposed. Imposes time limits on filing for habeas corpus relief. Requires such time limits to be tolled under specified conditions. Requires the district court, upon the development of a complete evidentiary record, to rule on the merits of the claims properly before it. Makes the requirement for a certificate of probable cause inapplicable, with exceptions, where: (1) a second or successive petition is filed; and (2) certain requirements under a unitary review procedure (i.e., a State procedure that authorizes a person under sentence of death to raise, in the course of direct review of judgment, such claims as could be raised on collateral attack) are met. Sets forth time limits for determining petitions. Specifies that the adjudication of petitions or motions involving habeas corpus in capital cases shall be granted priority by the district court and court of appeals over all noncapital matters. Title III: Exclusionary Rule - Amends the Federal criminal code to bar the exclusion of evidence obtained as a result of a search or seizure carried out under circumstances justifying an objectively reasonable belief that it was in conformity with the fourth amendment. Specifies that: (1) Federal law does not require the exclusion of evidence in a proceeding in any court under circumstances in which the evidence would be admissible in a proceeding in a Federal court pursuant to this title; and (2) firearms seized by Federal law enforcement officers for use as evidence against a defendant who is being prosecuted for a crime of violence or serious drug offense, or who is ineligible to possess such firearm under the Federal criminal code, shall not be excluded in U.S. court proceedings on the ground that the search or seizure was in violation of the fourth amendment. Directs the Attorney General to promulgate rules and regulations relating to compliance by law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice with the fourth amendment, including: (1) the training of such officers in the law of search and seizure; (2) procedures and standards of conduct to be observed in carrying out searches and seizures; (3) procedures for reporting and investigating incidents involving possible violations of legal or administrative requirements relating to searches and seizures; (4) sanctions to be imposed when such violations are determined to have occurred; and (5) standards and procedures for settling claims for damages by victims of unlawful searches and seizures. Authorizes the head of any other Federal department or agency to promulgate rules and regulations relating to compliance with the fourth amendment by law enforcement officers of such department or agency. Directs the Attorney General, and any other Federal department or agency head that promulgates such rules or regulations, to: (1) establish a review board to consider all allegations of fourth amendment violations by law enforcement officers of such department or agency and to recommend or impose appropriate sanctions in cases where violations are determined to have occurred; and (2) report annually to the Congress concerning allegations and claims relating to search and seizure violations by law enforcement officers of such department or agency, the actions taken on such allegations and claims, and the bases for such actions. Authorizes charging such a review board with recommending the settlement of claims for damages by victims of unlawful searches and seizures. Specifies that evidence shall not be excluded on the ground that it was obtained in violation of a statute, an administrative rule or regulation, or a rule of procedure unless exclusion is expressly authorized by statute or by a rule prescribed by the Supreme Court pursuant to statutory authority. Title IV: Firearms - Subtitle A: Firearms and Related Amendments - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the transfer of firearms to non-residents of the State in which the transferor resides. Specifies that if a conviction was for a violent felony involving the threatened or actual use of a firearm or explosives, or was for a serious drug offense, such person shall be considered convicted for purposes of this Act irrespective of any pardon, setting aside, expunction, or restoration of civil rights. Permits the judicial officer to consider pretrial detention with respect to certain firearms and explosives offenses. Provides for enhanced penalties for: (1) the use of a semiautomatic firearm during a crime of violence or drug trafficking offense, with exceptions; and (2) possession of a firearm or explosive during the commission of such offenses. Sets forth penalties for smuggling firearms in aid of drug trafficking and for theft of firearms and explosives. Provides for the mandatory revocation of the supervised release of an individual for possession of a firearm. Increases penalties for: (1) making knowingly false, material statements in connection with the acquisition of a firearm from a licensed dealer; and (2) a second offense of using an explosive to commit a Federal felony. Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to: (1) change from six to five years the statute of limitations for certain firearms offenses; and (2) provide for the summary forfeiture of unregistered National Firearms Act weapons, with provision for reimbursement for innocent owners. Makes it unlawful for felons and others to possess explosives. Authorizes the summary destruction of explosives subject to forfeiture under specified circumstances. Sets forth requirements for reimbursement of the value of destroyed property. Makes it unlawful to knowingly possess stolen firearms, ammunition, or explosives. Adds using a firearm in the commission of counterfeiting or forgery (current law specifies only "whoever, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime") among offenses which, if the offender uses or carries a firearm, will subject such person to an enhanced sentence. Provides for a mandatory five year penalty for firearms possession by violent felons and serious drug offenders. Modifies provisions regarding the reporting of multiple firearms sales to: (1) cover sales during any 30 consecutive days (currently, during any five consecutive business days); and (2) require each licensee to forward a copy of the report to the chief law enforcement officer of the place of residence of the unlicensed person not later than the close of business on the date that the multiple sale or disposition occurs. Subjects individuals who conspire to commit a firearms or explosives offense to the same penalties as those prescribed for the underlying offense. Provides for a fine or up to ten years imprisonment, or both, for stealing a firearm or explosive from specified individuals, such as a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer. Makes it unlawful for any person (current law specifies licensee) to distribute explosive materials to specified classes of individuals. Subtitle B: Prohibited Gun Clips and Magazines - Includes ammunition feeding devices (AFDs) within the definition of firearms for purposes of Federal firearms laws. Defines an AFD to include any detachable magazine, feed strip, or similar device which has a capacity of, or which can be readily converted to accept, more than 15 rounds of ammunition, with exceptions. Prohibits the importation, manufacture, transfer, receipt, or possession of AFDs, with exceptions. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to maintain a central registry of all such devices transferred after the effective date of this Act which, after such transfer, are not under the control of the United States or any State or political subdivision. Specifies that such registry shall include: (1) identification of the device; (2) date of registration; (3) identification and address of the person entitled to possess the device; and (4) such other information as may be required by regulations promulgated by the Secretary. Establishes additional registration procedures. Requires all AFDs to be identified by a serial number and such other identification as the Secretary may prescribe. Provides for criminal penalties for violation of provisions of this Act relative to AFDs. Authorizes specified individuals engaged in the manufacture or importation of AFDs requiring a license to continue to engage in such business pending final action on the application. Title V: Obstruction of Justice - Increases penalties for obstruction of justice offenses against court officers and jurors and for retaliatory killings of witnesses, victims, and informants. Includes State and local law enforcement officers assisting Federal officers or employees in the performance of their official duties within the scope of provisions setting penalties for individuals who kill or attempt to kill any U.S. judge, U.S. Attorney, or specified other classes of individuals. Title VI: Gangs and Juvenile Offenders - Requires that juveniles found guilty of specified serious crimes be fingerprinted and photographed and that such information and records of the adjudication be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Authorizes reporting, retention, disclosure, and availability of juvenile records permitted under the law of the State in which a Federal juvenile proceeding takes place. Repeals provisions that authorize prejudgement probation for certain drug offenders convicted of possession of a controlled substance and require expungement of records for such offenders under 21 years of age at the time of the offense. Adds certain cocaine and drug conspiracy and attempt offenses committed by juveniles to the list of crimes authorizing prosecution as an adult if the Attorney General certifies that there is a substantial Federal interest in the case that justifies adult prosecution. Sets forth criteria for determining whether a juvenile should be prosecuted as an adult. Defines "serious drug offense" under the Federal criminal code to include any act of juvenile delinquency that if committed by an adult would be a serious drug offense under such provisions. Increases the penalty for: (1) interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises; and (2) conspiracy to commit murder for hire. Title VII: Terrorism - Subtitle A: Aviation Terrorism - Amends the Federal criminal code to set forth penalties for performing or attempting an act of violence against a person at an airport serving international civil aviation which causes or is likely to cause serious injury or death; destroying or seriously damaging the facilities of, or a civil aircraft not in service at, such airport, or disrupting the services of such airport, if such an act endangers or is likely to endanger safety. Amends the Federal Aviation Act to delete a limitation on the applicability of aircraft piracy provisions to situations where the place of takeoff or of actual landing of the aircraft on board which the offense is committed is situated outside the territory of the State of registration of such aircraft. Subtitle B: Maritime Terrorism - Act for the Prevention and Punishment of Violence Against Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms - Amends the Federal criminal code to establish penalties for acts of violence against maritime navigation, such as seizing control of a ship by force, threat, or intimidation, performing acts of violence against persons on board a ship that are likely to endanger safe navigation, and destroying or seriously damaging maritime navigational facilities that are likely to endanger safe navigation. Sets forth analogous provisions with respect to maritime fixed platforms. Declares that all the territorial sea of the United States, as defined by Presidential Proclamation 5928 of December 27, 1988: (1) is part of the United States, subject to its sovereignty; and (2) for purposes of Federal criminal jurisdiction, is within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Sets forth additional provisions with respect to U.S. jurisdiction over the territorial sea and over crimes against U.S. nationals on foreign vessels. Subtitle C: Terrorist Alien Removal - Terrorist Alien Removal Act of 1991 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make terrorist activity (as defined by this Act) grounds for deportation. Establishes removal procedures for alien terrorists, including a special removal hearing which shall be open to the public. Sets forth provisions with respect to: (1) the introduction of evidence, including a provision restricting the public from being fully informed of such evidence or its source unless the Department of Justice elects to introduce such evidence in open session; (2) the burden of proof; and (3) appeals. Specifies that an alien subject to removal under provisions of this title shall have no right of discovery of information derived from electronic surveillance authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or otherwise for national security purposes, nor shall such alien have the right to seek suppression of such evidence. Authorizes the Government to use, in the removal proceeding, the fruits of electronic surveillance authorized under such Act. Specifies that no order of removal shall be stayed pending disposition of a writ of certiorari except as provided by the Court of Appeals or a Justice of the Supreme Court. Directs the Chief Justice of the United States to: (1) designate five district court judges from five of the U.S. judicial circuits, to serve five-year terms, who shall constitute a court with jurisdiction to conduct all matters and proceedings authorized under this title; and (2) provide for the maintenance of appropriate security measures for applications for ex parte orders to conduct the special removal hearing, the orders themselves, evidence received in camera and ex parte, and other matters as necessary to protect information concerning matters before the court from harming the national security of the United States, adversely affecting foreign relations, revealing investigative techniques, or disclosing confidential sources of information. Sets forth provisions with respect to the retention of an alien in custody (including affording a reasonable opportunity for such alien to communicate with and receive visits from family members, to communicate with an attorney, and to contract an appropriate diplomatic or consular official of the alien's country), the deportation of such alien to the alien's or a third country, and the transfer of such alien to the custody of State authorities, as appropriate. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) grant exclusive jurisdiction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to review excludability orders; (2) provide for a ten year prison sentence, to run concurrently with any other sentence, and a fine, for entering (or attempting to enter) the United States subsequent to exclusion or removal; and (3) delete a provision authorizing an alien held in custody pursuant to a deportation order to obtain judicial review by habeas corpus proceedings. Subtitle D: Terrorism Offenses and Sanctions - Establishes criminal penalties for: (1) committing, or attempting to commit, torture outside the United States (with jurisdiction over the prohibited activity if the alleged offender is a U.S. national or is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or the alleged offender); (2) using weapons of mass destruction against a U.S. national outside of the United States, any person within the United States, or any property that is owned, leased, or used by the United States or any U.S. department or agency; (3) committing certain homicides and attempted homicides involving firearms in Federal facilities; and (4) providing material support to terrorists. Makes specified terrorist offenses predicates to a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization statute. Authorizes the civil and criminal forfeiture of property used to commit specified terrorist and violent acts. Provides for enhanced penalties for specified offenses, such as fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other entry documents. Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to amend its sentencing guidelines to provide an increase of not less than three levels in the base offense level for any felony that involves or is intended to promote international terrorism, with exceptions. Subtitle E: Antiterrorism Enforcement Provisions - Authorizes the Attorney General to award permanent residence or other status to an alien and his immediate family who is already present in the United States under specified circumstances, such as where necessary to protect the life of an individual who has cooperated with Federal law enforcement authorities, subject to certain numerical limitations. Amends the Alien Enemies Act to authorize the President, whenever invoking the authority contained in such Act as to aliens of a hostile nation or government and upon further determining that the United States may also be subject to actual, attempted, or threatened predatory incursions by aliens of other nations, to include within the terms of such Act (which provides for the apprehension, restraint, and removal of alien enemies) any or all other aliens within the United States as the President may designate. Authorizes the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to obtain (after submitting a written request) from a wire or electronic communications service provider subscriber information regarding a person or entity which is relevant to an authorized foreign counterintelligence investigation, where information available to the FBI indicates that there is reason to believe that communications facilities registered in the name of such person or entity have been used, through the services of such provider, in communication with a foreign agent or power. Establishes penalties for the disclosure by such a provider, or an officer, employee, or agent of such provider, that the FBI has sought or obtained access to such information. Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act to require a consumer reporting agency to furnish a consumer report or other information requested in connection with an authorized foreign counterintelligence investigation to the FBI under specified conditions. Makes it a misdemeanor for such agency, or an officer, employee, or agent of such institution, to disclose to any person that the FBI has sought or obtained a consumer report or identifying information respecting any consumer. Authorizes: (1) interceptions of communications (subject to approval by the appropriate Federal judge) under specified Federal provisions, such as where such interception may provide evidence related to terrorist acts abroad, use of weapons of mass destruction, and violence at airports; (2) participation of foreign and State government personnel in interceptions; and (3) disclosure of intercepted communications, under specified circumstances, to foreign law enforcement officials. Extends the statute of limitations for specified terrorism offenses. Title VIII: Sexual Violence and Child Abuse - Amends the Federal Rules of Evidence to allow evidence of similar offenses in criminal or civil sexual assault and child molestation cases. Amends the Controlled Substances Act to provide for increased penalties for distribution of a controlled substance to a woman while she is pregnant. Amends Federal criminal code provisions relating to sexual abuse to double the maximum imprisonment for violation of such provisions after a prior conviction under Federal or State law for such an offense. Adds to such provisions a special definition of "sexual act" applicable to individuals under the age of 16. Authorizes the court to order the payment of restitution for victims of sex offenses. Amends the Federal criminal code to require that a person charged with an offense under provisions relating to sexual abuse be tested for the human immunodeficiency virus: (1) before release pending trial; and (2) six months and twelve months after the initial test. Requires results to be provided to the judicial officer or court and disclosed only to the victim, the attorney for the Government, and the person tested. Requires the U.S. Sentencing Commission to enhance the sentence guidelines if the offender had reason to know that he was infected, except where the offender did not engage or attempt to engage in conduct creating a risk of transmission. Amends the Victims' Rights and Restitution Act of 1990 to require a Governmental department or agency to pay for up to two tests for a sexual assault victim in the twelve months following the assault. Title IX: Drug Testing - Requires: (1) the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to establish a program of drug testing of criminal defendants on post-conviction release; and (2) the chief probation officer in each district to arrange for the drug testing of such defendants. Requires, as an explicit condition of probation, parole, or supervised release of a defendant involving a felony or a specified violent or drug offense, that the defendant refrain from any unlawful use of a controlled substance and submit to periodic drug tests. Sets limitations on the authority to require such tests and to take action against a defendant based on test results. Requires the revocation of probation, supervised release, or parole if a prisoner unlawfully uses a controlled substance or refuses to cooperate in drug testing imposed as a condition of such probation, supervised release, or parole. Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to condition State eligibility for justice system improvement grants on State implementation of a drug testing program for targeted classes of persons subject to charges, confinement, or supervision in the criminal justice systems of such State. Specifies that: (1) such program must meet criteria specified by the Attorney General; and (2) no State shall be required to expend an amount for drug testing in excess of ten percent of the minimum amount which such State is eligible to receive under such Act. Directs the Attorney General to promulgate regulations to implement such requirements which: (1) incorporate scientific and technical standards determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure reliability and accuracy of drug test results; and (2) include such other guidelines for drug testing programs in State criminal justice systems as the Attorney General determines are appropriate, as well as provisions by which a State may apply for a waiver of such requirements on the grounds that compliance would impose excessive financial or other burdens on such State or would otherwise be impractical or contrary to State policy. Title X: Equal Justice Act - Equal Justice Act - Requires that: (1) the death penalty and all other penalties be administered by the United States and by every State without regard to the race or color of the defendant or victim; and (2) neither the United States nor any State prescribe any racial quota or statistical test for the imposition or execution of the death penalty or any other penalty. Directs that, in a criminal trial in any Federal or State court, on motion of the defense attorney or prosecutor: (1) the risk of racial prejudice or bias be examined on voir dire if there is a substantial likelihood in the circumstances of the case that such prejudice or bias will affect the jury either against or in favor of the defendant; and (2) a change of venue be granted if an impartial jury cannot be obtained in the original venue because of racial prejudice or bias. Bars the prosecutor or the defense attorney from making any appeal to racial prejudice or bias in statements before the jury. Requires: (1) the judge in a Federal capital case before a jury to instruct the jury not to be influenced by prejudice or bias relating to the race or color of the defendant or victim in considering whether a sentence of death is justified, and that the jury is not to recommend the imposition of such sentence unless it has concluded that it would recommend the same sentence for such crime regardless of the race or color of the defendant or victim; and (2) the jury, upon the return of a recommendation of a sentence of death, to also return a certificate, signed by each juror, that the juror's individual decision was not affected by prejudice or bias relating to the race or color of the defendant or victim and that the individual juror would have made the same recommendation regardless of the race or color of the defendant or victim. Makes the fact that the killing of a victim was motivated by racial prejudice or bias an aggravating factor whose existence permits consideration of the death penalty, in a prosecution for an offense against the United States for which a sentence of death is authorized. Authorizes imposition of the death penalty for violation of specified civil rights provisions, if death results. Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize drug control and system improvement grants to States to provide in all appropriate cases, particularly in collateral and other post-conviction proceedings, adequate resources and expertise to ensure that the death penalty is expeditiously carried out. Amends specified civil rights provisions to cover conspiracy against rights, and deprivation of rights under color of law, of any person (currently, inhabitant of) a State, territory, or district. Title XI: Victims' Rights - Authorizes the court: (1) to require the defendant to reimburse the victim for necessary child care, transportation, and other expenses related to participation in the investigation or prosecution of, or attendance or proceedings related to, the offense; and (2) if the defendant is delinquent in making restitution pursuant to an established payment schedule, after a hearing, to suspend the defendant's eligibility for all Federal benefits until such time as the defendant demonstrates to the court good-faith efforts to return to such schedule. Amends the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to authorize the court: (1) before imposing sentence for a crime of violence or sexual abuse, to address the victim personally if the victim is present at the sentencing hearing and determine if the victim wishes to make a statement and present any information in relation to the sentence; and (2) upon a motion that is filed jointly by the defendant and the attorney for the Government, to hear in camera such a statement by the victim.

A bill to suspend temporarily certain bars to the furnishing of veterans benefits to certain former spouses of veterans and to suspend temporarily a bar to the recognition of certain married children of veterans for veterans benefits purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991

Suspends for one year (until November 1, 1991) a provision of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 which prohibits a deceased veteran's spouse or child from regaining eligibility for veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) after the termination of a remarriage occurring after the death of the veteran. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to notify eligible persons. Reimposes the prohibition against such eligibility for months beginning on or after 180 days after the date on which the award of such benefit takes effect. States that, after such date, recognition for such DIC benefits will be determined in accordance with appropriate provisions of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.

Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993

United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991

Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 - Title I: Department of State - Part A: Authorization of Appropriations; Allocations of Funds; Restrictions - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for the Department of State for: (1) administration of foreign affairs; (2) the diplomatic security program; (3) international organizations and conferences; (4) international commissions; (5) migration and refugee assistance; (6) bilateral science and technology agreements; (7) Soviet-East European research and training; and (8) the Asia Foundation. Part B: Department of State Authorities and Activities - Sets forth congressional findings concerning the organization of the Department of State. Repeals provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that provide for the establishment of an Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. Repeals provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that provide for the creation of the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Repeals a provision of the Department of State Appropriations Authorization Act of 1973 that provides for the establishment of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Repeals provisions of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 that provide for the establishment of an Office of the Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. Amends the Foreign Service Buildings Act, 1926 to authorize the Secretary of State, subject to certain conditions, to enter into a contract for the acquisition of property and construction of diplomatic facilities in Moscow on a multiyear (not to exceed five years) basis when appropriations are available. Permits the cancellation of such contract when funds are not appropriated or available. Authorizes the Department of State to make advance payments for long-term leases and lease-purchase agreements when such payments serve the interest of carrying out the Foreign Service Buildings Act, 1926. Requires the Secretary of State to establish a threshold (currently, $25,000) at which leases must be approved under such Act. Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to authorize the transfer into the Buying Power Maintenance Account of unobligated balances from accounts for the administration of foreign affairs. Prohibits the balance of the Account from exceeding $100 million. Permits funds appropriated for the Department of State in any account funded in the Department of State Appropriations Act to be transferred to any other appropriations account. Prohibits an account from being increased by more than 35 percent (ten percent for the salaries and expenses account and the acquisition of foreign buildings account) through such a transfer. Prohibits, unless the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations are notified, the reprogramming of Department of State funds in excess of $500,000 (currently, $250,000). Permits funds appropriated to the Department of State to be obligated and expended without prior notification to the Congress in emergency situations. Authorizes the Secretary to expend funds in the Foreign Service Buildings Fund without prior notification to the Congress so long as: (1) total reprogramming actions do not exceed 15 percent of funds available in such Fund for any fiscal year; (2) no new programs or capital projects are undertaken which have not been presented to the Congress; and (3) the Secretary reports quarterly to the Congress on reprogramming activities. Redesignates the Office of Munitions Control of the Department of State as the Office of Defense Trade Controls and increases the amount of registration fees collected by the Office that is required to be credited to a Department of State account. Authorizes the Secretary to pay the expenses of any international meeting or conference for which the United States serves as the host. Repeals a provision of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 that expands model foreign language competence posts. Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to extend the authorization of appropriations for grants to child care facilities at certain posts abroad. Increases the amount authorized to be made available for the construction of Foreign Service Institute training facilities. Authorizes the Secretary to use funds to: (1) pay obligations arising under international agreements, conventions, and binational contracts; and (2) purchase special purpose passenger vehicles without regard to price limitations. Permits the Secretary to make payments in advance of the share of expenses for international fisheries commissions. Part C: Diplomatic Reciprocity and Security - Amends the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 to raise the threshold (from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000) on diplomatic construction or design projects on which only U.S. persons may bid. Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to authorize special agents of the Department of State and Foreign Service to make arrests without warrants for any offenses against the United States committed in their presence. Part D: Personnel - Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to permit members of the Senior Foreign Service who are appointed to positions in the executive branch to continue to receive the Foreign Service salary, performance pay, and leave in lieu of the salary and leave of the appointed position. Revises provisions concerning the salaries of chiefs of mission. Defines as an "employee," for purposes of provisions governing civil service retirement, life insurance, and health insurance, an individual employed by an international organization who has deposited required employee deductions. Amends provisions concerning the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) and the Foreign Service Pension System (FSPS) and the Internal Revenue Code and the Social Security Act to deem as self-employed for purposes of social security coverage Federal employees who leave positions in which they are subject to social security employment taxes for employment in international organizations abroad (these amendments provide for continuation by such persons in FERS or FSPS). Grants employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Fund preferential tax treatment as long as such contributions are submitted to the agency from which the employee is transferred by the international organization. Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to grant access to commissaries to American citizens hired to serve as teaching staff for dependents of employees abroad. Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to extend the period of temporary storage of personal effects of Foreign Service employees for an additional three months in extraordinary circumstances. Authorizes the Secretary to pay for the transport of the remains of a Foreign Service member to the designated home in the United States if the death of such member occurs in the United States. (Current law authorizes payment only for the transport of the remains of a member or family member who dies while abroad or in travel status.) Provides for payment for up to 60 days to Federal employees whose families or dependents are required to evacuate a post (even if the employee remains at such post). Revises Federal provisions regarding quarters, education, and cost-of-living allowances for Federal employees stationed in foreign countries. Includes Foreign Service National employees of the U.S. Government abroad in the definition of "employee" for purposes of applying Federal employee provisions concerning voluntary transfers of leave. Part E: Modifications to Other Laws - Repeals provisions of specified laws concerning: (1) a prohibition on denying requests by the Drug Enforcement Administration for danger pay allowances; (2) the assignment of U.S. officers and staff to the U.S. Mission to the European Community in Brussels, Belgium; (3) employment of commercial personnel at the American Institute of Taiwan; (4) the stationing of an Agency for International Development professional in the consulate in Jerusalem or the embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel; (5) a travel advisory warning for Jalisco, Mexico; and (6) the closing of, and funding for, specified diplomatic and U.S. Information Agency posts. Part F: International Organizations - Repeals provisions of specified Acts concerning the U.S. contribution to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Authorizes the President to withhold 20 percent of the funds appropriated for the U.S. contribution to the United Nations if the United Nations has failed to implement decision-making procedures on budgetary matters which assure that attention is paid to the views of the United States and other major financial contributors. Permits payments of assessed contributions for prior years to the United Nations if such payment would further U.S. interests in such organization. Removes a limit on the amount authorized to be appropriated annually for U.S. membership in the Permanent Association of International Road Congresses. Amends the American-Mexican Treaty Act of 1950 to authorize funds to be made available for entertainment and representation expenses of the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission. Repeals a provision of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 that requires the Secretary to report on the status of secondment within the United Nations by the Soviet Union and Soviet-bloc member nations. Part G: Japan-United States Friendship Commission - Amends the Japan-United States Friendship Act to revise provisions concerning administrative expenses of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission. Title II: United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural Programs - United States Information Agency Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 - Authorizes appropriations for the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) for FY 1992 and 1993. Amends the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 to prohibit funds in excess of $500,000 (currently, $250,000) from being made available to USIA through a reprogramming unless the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations are notified. Adds to the authorities of the USIA Director the authority to purchase, rent, construct, improve, and operate facilities for television transmission and reception. Permits the USIA Director or other authorized Government agencies to pay to or for participants in programs under the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 the costs of: (1) emergency medical expenses; (2) the preparation and transportation of remains of participants' dependents who die while away from home during such participation; (3) health and accident insurance premiums; (4) per diem in lieu of subsistence; and (5) such other costs, as necessary. Authorizes the crediting of payments received in connection with USIA advisory services rendered to foreign students regarding study in the United States. Repeals a provision of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 concerning the closure of USIA posts and reductions of USIA personnel abroad. Permits USIA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U.S.S.R., to establish and operate reciprocal cultural information centers in Moscow and Washington, D.C., in accordance with a specified agreement signed in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 1990. Amends the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 to permit the USIA Director or other authorized Government agencies to: (1) incur expenses authorized by the Foreign Service Act of 1980; and (2) furnish living quarters and provide specified allowances for Government employees in foreign countries. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the issuance of up to 100 conditional immigrant visas per fiscal year to USIA employees. Limits admission to periods of up to four years. Permits spouses and dependents of such employees to be admitted on conditional permanent residents. Sets forth provisions governing the transition to permanent resident status and the termination of conditional status of such employees.

Concerning transfers of Persian Gulf conflict military equipment to other countries.

United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991

Permits the transfer of military equipment captured during Operation Desert Storm to a foreign government: (1) only to the extent that military equipment in Department of Defense stocks could be so transferred; and (2) subject to the same requirements applicable to the transfer of equipment in such stocks. Prohibits the transfer of equipment to a country whose government has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.

Freedom of Information Public Access Improvement Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991

Freedom of Information Public Access Improvement Act of 1991 - Title I: Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act - Amends the Freedom of Information Act to require each agency, with respect to requests for records, to maintain a log of such requests and responses. Requires each agency to organize and maintain its records in a manner to make them easily accessible and retrievable. Revises provisions regarding fees and waivers for processing such requests. Makes eligible for reasonable standard fees or charges the document duplication requests of a nonprofit organization that intends to make the information available to the news media, to any branch or agency of Federal, State, or local government, or to the public. Allows documents to be furnished without charge or at a reduced fee if: (1) the information relates to a violation of law, inefficiency, or administrative error by an agency; or (2) the waiver or fee reduction is in the public interest because the furnishing of the information primarily benefits the general public. Declares that for purposes of reduced fees or waived charges the publication, reproduction, resale, or other dissemination of information obtained by any person from an agency is not a commercial use. Authorizes the appropriate district court to assess monetary penalties against the United States for unwarranted failure to comply with time limits for answering requests. Revises provisions relating to sanctions for such agency noncompliance. Requires that copies of recommendations on disciplinary action for any Federal employee responsible for wrongful noncompliance be submitted additionally to the court and to the House Committee on Government Operations and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. (Currently, such report is submitted only to the agency and the employee or the employee-representative.) Requires each agency to expedite access to records if the requester demonstrates a compelling need. Requires agencies to include in regulations concerning information disclosure a detailed description of the procedure used to process requests. Includes as information exempt from disclosure: (1) matters which would cause identifiable damage to the national defense; and (2) matters in which the need to protect the information outweighs the public interest. Changes the disclosure exemption for internal personnel rules and practices to an exemption for law enforcement manuals that are internal in nature to the extent that disclosure would risk circumvention of an agency investigation, a regulation, or a statute. Revises the exemption for financial reports by prohibiting disclosure if it would directly injure the financial stability of an institution. Directs each agency to make available to the public a complete list of all statutes determined to authorize the agency to withhold information under the disclosure exemption. Requires each agency, upon notification of the introduction of any bill or resolution constituting authority for that agency to withhold information, to notify the House Committee on Government Operations and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Prohibits the withholding of information in order to conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error. Directs the Archivist of the United States to supervise compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. Changes the date of the annual report by agencies under such Act to December 1. Revises information to be included in such report to conform to amendments made by this Act. Directs the Archivist of the United States to submit an annual report on or before December 1 on activities under the Freedom of Information Act. (Currently, the Attorney General makes such annual report on March 1.) Title II: Recovery of Wrongfully Removed Agency Files - Authorizes any person to commence a civil action to recover agency records removed in violation of law.