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Bill· SS. 2868 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Children's Public Health Act of 2000 - Title I: Injury Prevention - Subtitle A: Traumatic Brain Injury - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement a national education and awareness campaign regarding prevention of traumatic brain injury. Modifies requirements and authorizes appropriations regarding a currently-mandated study of traumatic brain injury. Authorizes an existing trauma research program to include research on cognitive disorders and neurobehavioral consequences of traumatic brain injury. Authorizes appropriations for that program. (Sec. 104) Authorizes grants for projects (currently, for demonstration projects) to improve access to health and other services regarding traumatic brain injury. Allows required matching funds to be in cash or in kind (currently, in cash). Regulates the use of grant funds. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Child Care Safety and Health Grants - Directs the Secretary to make allotments to States to establish programs to improve the health and safety of children receiving child care outside the home. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Maternal and Infant Health - Subtitle A: Safe Motherhood and Infant Health Promotion - Pregnant Women and Infants Health Protection Act - Directs the Secretary to carry out programs relating to prenatal and postnatal smoking and alcohol and illegal drug use. Authorizes grants and contracts. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) establish and implement a national surveillance program regarding investigation of deaths and severe complications during pregnancy; (2) expand the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System; and (3) expand the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Healthy Start Initiative - Healthy Start Initiative Continuation Act - Directs the Secretary to continue the Healthy Start Initiative (to reduce infant mortality and improve perinatal outcomes) and authorizes carrying it out on a national basis. Authorizes, if funding increases, additional grants. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to provide other health services (including ultrasound, prenatal care, genetic counseling, and fetal and other surgery) for pregnant women or infants that are medically appropriate to prevent or mitigate congenital defects or other serious obstetric complications. Allows using grant funds for paying transportation and subsistence expenses to assist the woman in obtaining health services from the grantee involved. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities - Establishes the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities to: (1) collect, analyze, and make available date on birth defects and developmental disabilities; and (2) conduct applied epidemiological research, and provide information and education to the pubic, on prevention of such defects and disabilities. Transfers to such Center all activities, budgets, and personnel of the National Center for Environmental Health that relate to birth defects, folic acid, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, child development, newborn screening, autism, Fragile X syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, pediatric genetics, disability prevention, and other activities. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Folic Acid Education Program - Directs the Secretary to carry out a program of professional and public education and training, research, and epidemiological activities regarding folic acid and birth defects. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Pediatric Public Health Promotion - Subtitle A: Asthma - Directs the Secretary to make grants to provide comprehensive asthma-related services for children and other individuals. Authorizes appropriations. Allows preventive health and health services block grant funds to be used for projects to reduce the prevalence of asthma and asthma-related illnesses among urban populations, especially children, by reducing exposure to cockroach allergen or other known asthma triggers through pest management that minimizes or avoids pesticide chemicals through a combination of site maintenance, cleaning, and monitoring. Directs the Secretary to: (1) identify all Federal programs carrying out asthma-related activities; (2) develop a Federal plan for responding to asthma; and (3) submit recommendations to Congress on ways to strengthen and improve Federal coordination of such activities. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) to: (1) conduct local asthma surveillance activities to collect data on the prevalence and severity of asthma and the quality of asthma management; and (2) compile and annually publish data on the prevalence of children suffering from asthma in each State and the childhood mortality rate associated with asthma nationally and in each State. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Childhood Obesity Prevention - Directs the Secretary to award grants for the development and implementation of State and community-based intervention programs promoting good nutrition and physical activity in children and adolescents. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct research on physical activity, diet, health, health-related behaviors, and childhood obesity and its effects in adulthood; (2) develop and evaluate strategies to prevent and treat obesity and eating disorders; (3) identify obesity behaviors and risk factors; (4) evaluate materials and programs providing nutrition education to parents, teachers, and food service staff of child care and pre-school entities; and (5) evaluate materials and programs designed to educate and encourage physical activity in child care and pre-school facilities. Directs the Secretary to develop a national public campaign to promote and educate children and parents regarding health risks associated with obesity, inactivity, and poor nutrition, ways to incorporate physical activity into daily living, the benefits of good nutrition, and strategies to improve eating habits. Directs the Secretary to develop and carry out a program to educate and train health professionals in effective strategies to identify and assess patients with, or at risk for, obesity or an eating disorder, counsel, refer, or treat patients with obesity or an eating disorder, and educate patients and their families about strategies to improve dietary habits and establish appropriate levels of physical activity. Subtitle C: Early Detection and Treatment Regarding Childhood Lead Poisoning - Modifies application and reporting requirements for existing grants regarding lead poisoning. Directs the Secretary to develop national guidelines for the uniform and complete reporting of all blood lead test results to State and local health departments. Requires the CDCP Director to assist with the improvement of data links between local and State health departments and the CDCP, help States with the development of data management systems for the surveillance of children with lead poisoning, and take other actions regarding lead poisoning. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 322) Directs the Secretary to: (1) make grants where data suggests that at least five percent of preschool-age children have an elevated blood level; and (2) conduct education and training programs for health care providers regarding childhood lead poisoning. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Oral Health - Directs the Secretary to support: (1) community-based research on the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pediatric oral, dental, craniofacial diseases and conditions and their sequelae in high risk populations; (2) demonstrations of preventive interventions in those populations; and (3) the development of clinical approaches to assess individual patients for the risk of pediatric dental disease. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 332) Directs the Secretary to establish a program of repayment of oral health professionals' educational loans in return for the professionals agreeing to conduct pediatric oral, dental, and craniofacial disease and condition research or training. (Sec. 333) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to increase the resources available for community water fluoridation. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 334) Directs the Secretary to establish a demonstration project to assist rural water systems in implementing the CDCP's water fluoridation guidelines. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 335) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for the development of programs to improve children's school-based access to sealants. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 336) Directs the Secretary to: (1) fund innovative oral health activities that improve the oral health of children under six years who are eligible for services under a Federal health program; and (2) make grants or contracts to increase training of oral health services providers or to increase children's use of dental services. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Pediatric Research - Subtitle A: Pediatric Research Initiative - Mandates the establishment of a Pediatric Research Initiative to conduct and support research and coordination directly related to illnesses and conditions of children. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 402) Directs the Secretary to make available enhanced support for extramural activities relating to the training and career development of pediatric researchers. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to repay the educational loans of pediatricians in return for conducting pediatric research. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Autism - Requires the NIH Director to expand, intensify, and coordinate NIH activities regarding autism. Requires the Director, among other things, to make grants and contracts for centers of excellence regarding autism research. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 412) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and cooperative agreements for the collection, analysis, and reporting of data on autism and pervasive developmental disabilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish, through grants or cooperative agreements, at least three regional centers of excellence in autism and pervasive developmental disabilities epidemiology to collect and analyze information on autism and developmental disabilities; (2) establish a clearinghouse for the collection and storage of data generated from the monitoring programs created by this title; (3) coordinate the Federal response to requests for assistance from State health department officials regarding potential or alleged autism or developmental disability clusters. Authorizes appropriations; and (4) establish a program to provide information and education on autism to health professionals and the public. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 414) Directs the Secretary to establish an Autism Coordinating Committee. Subtitle C: Long-Term Child Development - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to establish a consortium of Federal agency representatives to: (1) plan and implement a prospective cohort study of the effects of chronic and intermittent exposures on human development; and (2) investigate basic mechanisms of developmental disorders and environmental factors that influence growth and developmental processes. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Research on Rare Diseases in Children - Requires the NIH Director to report to Congress on NIH activities regarding children's rare diseases. Subtitle E: GME Programs in Children's Hospitals - Extends the mandate to make annual payments to each children's hospital for the direct and indirect expenses of operating graduate medical residency training programs. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2867 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Veterans Mission for Youth Act - Amends the Troops-to-Teachers Program Act (title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2000) to direct the Secretary of Defense, through the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support Division of the Department of Defense, to establish a Veterans Mission for Youth Initiative to award grants to eligible organizations to carry out programs through which veterans provide mentoring, tutoring, after-school, and other services for youth. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2861 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Foreign Assistance Reform and Democracy Support Act of 2000 - Title I: Phase-Out of Development Assistance - Directs the President to: (1) report biannually to Congress on the level of economic freedom in countries receiving U.S. development assistance; and (2) certify to Congress with respect to each country proposed to receive such assistance whether it is free, mostly free, mostly unfree, or repressed in light of the level of economic freedom determined in that country with respect to trade, tax, and price control policies, government intervention in the economy, and other specified factors. Prohibits U.S. development assistance for countries that have been certified: (1) mostly unfree after FY 2005 (with a limit on such assistance in FY 2006 and thereafter); (2) repressed countries after FY 2004 (with a limit on such assistance in FY 2005 and thereafter). Requires certain actions with respect to countries that have been certified free or mostly free, including: (1) programs by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the Trade and Development Agency to encourage, finance, or otherwise support private investment from U.S. sources (especially health, education, transportation, financial, and communications infrastructure projects); and (2) a review by the Secretary of the Treasury of the feasibility of restructuring, rescheduling, or eliminating debt owed by the country to any U.S. agency, and a proposal by the U.S. Executive Director of each international financial institution to which the United States is a member for a similar review. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of each international financial institution to use the U.S. vote to oppose any assistance to the government, any citizen, or entity of any country to which U.S. development assistance is not provided under this Act. Requires the withholding of U.S. assistance from any such institutions that provide assistance to the government, citizen, or entity of any country ineligible to receive U.S. development assistance under this Act. Title II: Procurement Reform in Development Lending and Assistance - Directs the Secretary to report to the President and to the appropriate congressional committees on a strategic plan for requiring the use of independent third-party procurement monitoring and other international procurement reforms relating to the U.S. participation in multilateral development banks and other lending institutions.
Bill· SS. 2866 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Early Learning Opportunities Act - Provides funds for increasing: (1) availability of early learning programs; and (2) compensation for child care providers. Declares that no person, including a parent, shall be required to participate in any program of early childhood education, early learning, parent education, or developmental screening under this Act. Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect the rights of parents otherwise established in Federal, State, or local law. Declares that no entity receiving funds under this Act shall be required to provide services under this Act through a particular instructional method or in a particular instructional setting. Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Directs the Secretary of HHS (the Secretary) and the Secretary of Education to develop mechanisms to resolve administrative and programmatic conflicts between Federal programs that would be a barrier to parents, caregivers, service providers, or children related to the coordination of services and funding for early learning programs. Requires nonrestrictive use of equipment and supplies for collaborative activities funded under this Act and other law providing for Federal child care or early learning programs. Directs the Secretary to award grants to States to award subgrants to Local Councils to pay the Federal share of the cost of carrying out early learning programs in the locality served by the Local Council. Sets forth requirements for: (1) non-Federal share; (2) uses of funds; (3) duties of Lead State Agencies and of Local Councils; (4) reservations of funds for Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians; (5) State allotments based on numbers of children age four and younger and of such children in families below the poverty line; (6) Federal and State grant administration; (7) State eligibility and preferences for Local Councils, and Local Council preferences for projects; (8) performance goals; and (9) local allocations, applications, and administration.
Bill· HRH.R. 4849 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to implement the oil and gas pipeline safety improvement recommendations provided for in the Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General's Report (RT-2000-069). (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary, the Administrator of Research and Special Program Administration, and the Director of the Office of Pipeline Safety to comply fully with certain Federal transportation law requirements to ensure timely responsiveness to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations about pipeline safety (including to make a copy of each recommendation on pipeline safety and response available to the public at reasonable cost). (Sec. 4) Requires each pipeline operator, or, in the case of an intrastate pipeline facility operator, the appropriate State regulatory agency, to submit to the Secretary a plan designed to enhance the qualifications of pipeline personnel and reduce the likelihood of accidents and injuries. (Sec. 5) Requires the Secretary to issue regulations requiring operators of natural gas transmission pipelines and of hazardous liquid pipelines to: (1) evaluate the risks to their pipeline facilities in environmentally sensitive areas and high-density population areas; and (2) adopt and implement a program for integrity management that reduces the risk of incident in those areas. Directs the Secretary to require an operator's integrity management plan to be based on risk analysis and contain at least internal inspection or pressure testing that periodically assesses the integrity of the pipeline, clearly defined criteria, and measures that prevent and mitigate unintended releases. Authorizes a State authority under contract with the Secretary to review and assess an operator's risk analyses and integrity management plans required for interstate pipelines located in that State. Requires the Secretary to review and monitor such plans. (Sec. 6) Amends Federal transportation law to revise the Secretary's authority to decide a pipeline facility is hazardous. Authorizes the Secretary, or the appropriate State regulatory agency, to shutdown the operation of the facility if it is determined that continued operation of such facility creates an imminent hazard. (Sec. 7) Revises the public education program requirements for gas pipeline facility owners or operators, including specified items. Applies such requirements to owners or operators of a hazardous liquid pipeline facility. Requires an operator of a gas transmission or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to initiate and maintain liaison with the State emergency response commissions, and local emergency planning committees (or local fire, police, and other emergency response agencies in the absence of a committee) in the areas of pipeline right-of-way, established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 in each State in which it operates. Requires an operator to make available, upon request, to the State emergency response commissions and local emergency planning committees, and in a standardized form to the Office of Pipeline Safety for public dissemination, specified information as well as the operator's integrity management program. Requires the owner or operator of each gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to provide annually to the governing body of each municipality in which the pipeline facility is located a map identifying the facility's location. (Sec. 8) Increases from $25,000 to $500,000 the civil penalty for each facility operator failure to: (1) mark accurately the location of pipeline facilities in the vicinity of a demolition, excavation, tunneling, or construction; or (2) comply with safety standards, prepare and carry out an inspection and maintenance plan, allow access to records, or allow required entries or inspections. Increases the maximum civil penalty for a related series of violations to $1 million. Authorizes a court to award temporary or permanent injunctive relief and to assess civil penalties in a civil action brought by the Attorney General to enforce pipeline safety law. (Sec. 9) Authorizes the Secretary, if a State pipeline safety program certification is accepted, to make an agreement with a State authority authorizing it to: (1) participate in the oversight of interstate pipeline transportation, including a plan for the State authority to participate in special investigations involving incidents or new construction, as well as (subject to specified requirements) other activities involving interstate pipeline transportation; or (2) assume additional inspection or investigatory duties. Allows the Secretary to end an agreement for the oversight of interstate pipeline transportation when the State authority has not complied with any provision of the agreement. Requires the Secretary to end such an agreement when: (1) gaps are found in the State authority's responsibilities for oversight of intrastate pipeline transportation; (2) the State actions under the agreement have failed to meet certain requirements; or (3) continued oversight participation by the State authority is not promoting pipeline safety. Requires the Secretary to continue to permit a State to carry out interstate pipeline oversight activities under an agreement in effect in 1999, including inspection responsibilities and other actions to ensure compliance with Federal pipeline safety regulations. (Sec. 10) Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for the collection and use of gas and hazardous liquid pipeline data to revise the causal categories on the accident report forms to eliminate overlapping and confusing categories and include subcategories. Requires the plan to include components to provide the capability to perform sound accident trend analysis and evaluations of pipeline operator performance using normalized accident data. Requires any owner or operator of a hazardous liquid pipeline facility to report to the Secretary each release to the environment greater than five gallons of the hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide. Directs the Secretary to establish a national depository of data on events and conditions, including spill histories and corrective actions for specific incidents, that can be used to evaluate the risk of, and to prevent, pipeline failures and releases. (Sec. 11) Requires the Secretary, as part of the DOT research and development program, to direct research attention to the development of alternative technologies: (1) to expand the defect detection capabilities of internal inspection devices; (2) to inspect pipelines that cannot accommodate internal inspection devices available on the date of enactment; and (3) to develop innovative techniques measuring the structural integrity of pipelines. (Sec. 12) Authorizes appropriations with respect to gas and hazardous liquid, State grants, and certain pipeline damage prevention activities. Requires the transfer of specified amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out authorized programs. (Sec. 13) Requires the operator involved in an accident the DOT or the National Transportation Safety Board investigates to: (1) make available to their representatives all records and information pertaining to the accident (including integrity management plans and test results); and (2) afford all reasonable assistance in such investigation. Deems as hazardous any pipeline facility operated by an operator that fails to take prompt action to relieve, reassign, or place on leave (with or without compensation) until the investigation's conclusion any employee whose duties affect public safety, and whose performance of such duties is the subject of such an investigation. (Sec. 14) Sets forth whistle blower protections prohibiting discrimination by pipeline operators or contractors or subcontractors against employees who: (1) provide information, directly or indirectly, to the employer or the Federal Government about any alleged violation of Federal law or regulations relating to pipeline safety; (2) file a related Federal proceeding; or (3) testify or otherwise assist or participate in such a proceeding. Prescribes a Department of Labor complaint procedure for persons who believe they have been discharged or discriminated against by any person in violation of this prohibition. (Sec. 15) Requires the Secretary to create a Pipeline Safety Advisory Council pilot program to establish one or more Pipeline Safety Advisory Councils to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary on a range of hazardous liquid or natural gas transmission pipeline safety issues affecting pipelines operated in the State in which the Council is established. Requires a Council to report annually to the Secretary on all activities undertaken by it to improve the safety of pipelines, and any action taken by the State and DOT to address pipeline operation safety as a result of the Council's activities. (Sec. 16) Directs the DOT Inspector General to analyze and report to specified congressional committees on: (1) DOT's assessment of fines and penalties on gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines, including the cost of corrective actions required by DOT in lieu of fines; and (2) recommendations for actions by the Secretary or Congress to ensure the fines assessed are an effective deterrent for reducing safety risks. (Sec. 17) Authorizes the Secretary to study how best to preserve environmental resources in conjunction with maintaining pipeline rights-of-way.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 551 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Expresses support for and encourages the public display of the national motto of the United States "In God we Trust" in all public buildings, public schools, and other government institutions.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 552 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Declares that the House of Representatives supports and encourages programs such as the Saturday Academy (at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology) to help students enter mathematics, science, and engineering fields.
Bill· SS. 2845 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2000
Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000 - Title I: Assistance to Countries With Large Populations Having HIV-AIDS - Global AIDS Research and Relief Act of 2000 - Sets forth the purposes of this Act, including to: (1) prevent human suffering; and (2) ensure the viability of economic development, stability, and national security in the developing world by advancing research to understand the causes associated with HIV-AIDS in developing countries and assist in the development of an AIDS vaccine. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to declare that the agency responsible for administering this Act should make the prevention and control of HIV-AIDS a priority in the foreign assistance program for developing foreign countries. Directs the President to enter into negotiations with foreign government officials and other interested parties to establish an international vaccine purchase fund that would accept contributions from governments to purchase and distribute in developing countries vaccines for malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and any infectious disease which causes the deaths of over one million people worldwide each year and be a significant market incentive for private sector vaccine research. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into negotiations with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) or the International Development Association (IDA), and with their member nations and other interested parties, for the creation of two trust funds which would accept contributions from governments, the private sector, and nongovernmental entities to: (1) address the AIDS epidemic in countries eligible to borrow from the IDA; and (2) provide support for or the establishment of programs which provide primary and secondary education for orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. Directs the President to coordinate the development of a multidonor strategy to provide for the support and education of AIDS orphans and the families, communities, and institutions most affected by the HIV-AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Requires the United States to ensure that classroom training under the African Crisis Response Initiative includes military-based education on the prevention of the spread of AIDS. Title II: International Tuberculosis Control - International Tuberculosis Control Act of 2000 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise requirements for assistance for health programs in developing countries to declare that Congress recognizes: (1) the growing international problem of tuberculosis; and (2) that the means exist to control and treat it, and that it is therefore a major objective of the foreign assistance program to control the disease. Declares that Congress expects the agency primarily responsible for administering this Act to: (1) coordinate with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and other organizations toward the development and implementation of a comprehensive tuberculosis control program; and (2) set as a goal the detection of at least 70 percent of the cases of infectious tuberculosis, and the cure of at least 85 percent of the cases detected, in those countries in which the agency has established development programs, by December 31, 2010.
Resolution· SRESS.Res. 334 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2000
Commends the Government of Japan for its choice of Okinawa as the site for hosting the leaders of the G-8 countries. Expresses the Senate's: (1) hope for a successful summit; and (2) deep appreciation to the people of Okinawa for hosting the U.S. military facilities in Okinawa. Urges the President to work with Japanese leaders to devise a joint U.S.-Japan education initiative that strengthens the human resource base in Okinawa, particularly with a view to meeting Okinawa's economic needs and Asia-Pacific aspirations.
Law· HRH.R. 4811 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 10 July 2000
Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2001 - Title I: Export and Investment Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) direct loans, loan guarantees, tied-aid grants, insurance, and administrative expenses under Export-Import Bank programs; (2) Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) direct and guaranteed loans and credit and insurance programs, including administrative expenses; and (3) the Trade and Development Agency. Title II: Bilateral Economic Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) expenses of the President in carrying out certain programs under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; (2) the Agency for International Development (AID) child survival and infectious disease programs, including basic education programs (earmarking amounts for child survival and maternal health, vulnerable children, HIV-AIDS, other infectious diseases, children's basic education, UNICEF, and U.S. contribution to the Global Fund for Children's Vaccines); (3) specified development assistance (allowing availability of limited amounts for the Inter-American Foundation and the African Development Foundation); (4) specified assistance for Lebanon for scholarships and direct support to the American educational institutions there; (5) international disaster assistance; (6) international disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance to support transition to democracy and to long-term development of countries in crisis (provided AID reports to the Committees on Appropriations at least five days before the beginning of such program assistance); (7) micro and small enterprise development programs; (8) direct loans and loan guarantees under the development credit authority program for development assistance to foreign countries (provided such funds are made available only for urban and environmental programs); (9) the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund; (10) operating expenses of AID and the AID Office of Inspector General; (11) Economic Support Fund (ESF) assistance (earmarking amounts for Israel, Egypt, and Mongolia); (12) the International Fund for Ireland; (13) ESF assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States (earmarking amounts for the Baltic States, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, subject to specified conditions); (14) assistance for the Independent States of the former Soviet Union (subject to specified conditions, and earmarking amounts for Georgia and Armenia and for child survival, environmental health, and to combat infectious diseases); (15) the Peace Corps (with a bar on the use of such funds for abortions); (16) international narcotics control and law enforcement; (17) migration and refugee assistance; (18) the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund; (19) nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining, and related programs and activities (including U.S. contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), subject to specified conditions, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Preparatory Commission, and the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund); (20) the Department of the Treasury international affairs technical assistance program; and (21) debt restructuring of concessional loans, guarantees, and credits made to eligible countries (including through the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Trust Fund under the enhanced HIPC initiative). Bars the use of development assistance funds for: (1) coercive abortions or involuntary sterilizations; (2) U.S. private and voluntary organizations which obtain less than 20 percent of annual funding from sources other than the U.S. Government; and (3) any activity contravening the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). Prohibits funds to Russia unless the Secretary of State certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that the Russian Federation is in compliance with article V of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe regarding forces deployed in the flank zone in and around Chechnya. Withholds 50 percent of the funds allocated for the Government of the Russian Federation until the President certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that it has terminated arrangements to provide Iran with technology to develop a nuclear program or ballistic missile capability. Title III: Military Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) expanded international military education and training (IMET) to Indonesia and Guatemala; (2) foreign military financing grants and direct loans (earmarking amounts for Israel and Egypt); and (3) international peacekeeping operations (subject to certain conditions). Declares that none of the funds appropriated under this heading may be made available to support grant-financed military education and training at the School of the Americas unless: (1) the Secretary of Defense certifies that the instruction and training provided by the School is fully consistent with training and doctrine, particularly with respect to the observance of human rights, provided by the Department of Defense to U.S. military students at Department of Defense institutions whose primary purpose is to train U.S. military personnel; and (2) the Secretary of State, without delegation, certifies that such instruction and training is consistent with U.S. foreign policy objectives and helps support the observance of human rights in Latin America. Requires the Secretary of Defense to report to a specified congressional committee by January 15, 2001, on the School's training activities and a general assessment regarding the performance of its graduates during 1998 and 1999. Urges Israel to terminate the existing contract to sell an airborne radar system to the People's Republic of China which could threaten both the forces of democratic Taiwan and the United States in the region surrounding the Taiwan Strait. Prohibits foreign military financing for: (1) Sudan, Liberia, and Guatemala; or (2) any non-NATO country participating in the Partnership for Peace Program except through the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. Title IV: Multilateral Economic Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for the U.S. contribution to: (1) the Global Environment Facility of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank); (2) the International Development Association (IDA), subject to specified conditions; (3) the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency; (4) the Inter-American Investment Corporation; (5) the Enterprise for the Americas Multilateral Investment Fund; (6) the Asian Development Fund; (7) the African Development Bank; (8) the African Development Fund; (9) the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and (10) the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for international programs and organizations. Sets certain restrictions on international organization funding, including prohibiting the use of funds for the United Nations Fund for Science and Technology, KEDO, or the IAEA. Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth limits on the use of appropriations, including that no more than 15 percent of such appropriations shall be obligated during the last month of availability. (Sec. 502) Prohibits: (1) the use of funds for bilateral funding of international financial institutions; and (2) the transfer of such funds by AID directly to such an institution for the purpose of repaying a foreign country's loan obligations to it. (Sec. 503) Sets forth limits on the use of appropriations, including no more than specified maximums for official residence expenses, entertainment expenses, and representation allowances for AID, and for entertainment and representation allowances for the Inter-American Foundation and the Trade and Development Agency. Limits the use of funds for entertainment expenses of the Peace Corps, and of entertainment and representation allowances under the Foreign Military Financing Program. (Sec. 506) Prohibits the use of funds for: (1) the export of nuclear equipment, fuel, or technology (except for nuclear safety purposes); (2) direct assistance or reparations to Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, or Syria; (3) assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree; (4) certain transfers between appropriations accounts without prior presidential consultation with Congress; (5) assistance to any country in default in excess of a year on payments on a U.S. loan (except for any narcotics-related assistance for Colombia, Bolivia, or Peru); and (6) assistance (except in certain circumstances) for production of any commodity for export by a foreign country, if the commodity is likely to be in surplus on world markets when the resulting productive capacity is expected to become operative, and if the assistance will cause substantial injury to U.S. producers of a similar commodity. (Sec. 514) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of specified international financial institutions to oppose any assistance for the production or extraction of any commodity or mineral for export if it is in surplus on world markets and such assistance will cause substantial injury to U.S. producers of a similar commodity. (Sec. 516) Declares that funds appropriated for foreign operations, export financial, and related programs, that are returned or not made available for international organizations and programs shall remain available for obligation until FY 2002. (Sec. 517) Prohibits the availability of assistance for the Independent States of the former Soviet Union to a Government of such an Independent State, unless such Government is making progress in implementing comprehensive economic reforms based on market principles, private ownership, respect for commercial contracts, and equitable treatment of foreign private investment. Prohibits the availability of assistance also: (1) if such a Government applies or transfers U.S. assistance to any entity for the purpose of expropriating or seizing ownership of assets, investments, or ventures (unless the President determines such assistance is in the national interest); or (2) to enhance its military capability (except for demilitarization, demining, or nonproliferation programs). (Sec. 518) Prohibits the use of development assistance funds for abortions or involuntary sterilizations as methods of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions, or provide any financial incentive to undergo sterilization. (Sec. 519) Limits to no more than five percent the amount of export financing funds (other than for administrative expenses) that can be transferred from one appropriation to another, with no appropriation being increased by more than 25 percent by such transfer. (Sec. 520) Prohibits the use of funds for Colombia, Haiti, Liberia, Serbia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, except through the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 522) Makes funds available to AID for child survival, basic education, infectious disease activities and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) research and control in developing countries. (Sec. 523) Bars funding for indirect assistance or reparations to Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Syria, North Korea, or China unless the President certifies that the withholding of such funds is contrary to the U.S. national security interest. (Sec. 524) Requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to notify the Committees on Appropriations before providing excess DOD articles to certain NATO and major non-NATO countries. (Sec. 526) Authorizes the availability of ESF funds to provide general support and grants for nongovernmental organizations located outside China that have as their primary purpose fostering democracy in that country (including earmarking amounts to such organizations to support activities which preserve cultural traditions and promote sustainable development and environmental conservation in Tibetan communities). Earmarks ESF funds to the Jamestown Foundation (currently the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights) for a project to disseminate information and support research about China, and related activities. (Sec. 527) Prohibits bilateral assistance funds to any country which the President determines grants sanctuary from prosecution to any individual or group which has committed an act of international terrorism or otherwise supports such activities. Authorizes the waiver of this prohibition by the President for national security and humanitarian reasons, requiring notification to the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 528) Directs the Secretary of State to report quarterly to the Committees on Appropriations on the use of supplemental appropriations for ESF assistance and military assistance to certain countries. (Sec. 529) Requires all AID contracts and subcontracts to include a clause requiring that U.S. insurance companies have a fair opportunity to bid for insurance when insurance is necessary or appropriate. (Sec. 530) Prohibits U.S. sale of Stinger missiles in the Persian Gulf region, with certain exceptions. (Sec. 531) Authorizes nongovernmental organizations which are AID grantees or contractors to place funds made available to them under this Act in interest bearing accounts in order to enhance their participation in economic activities under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, including endowments and debt-for-development and debt-for- nature exchanges. (Sec. 532) Directs the Administrator of AID to require foreign countries that receive foreign assistance which results in the generation of local currencies to deposit such currencies in a separate account to be used to finance foreign assistance activities. (Sec. 533) Prohibits payments to any international financial institution while the U.S. Executive Director to the institution is compensated at a rate in excess of that for Level IV of the Executive Schedule. (Sec. 534) Bars assistance to any country that is not in compliance with the United Nations (UN) sanctions against Iraq, unless the President certifies to Congress that such assistance: (1) is in the U.S. national interest; (2) will directly benefit the needy people in that country; or (3) will be humanitarian assistance for foreign nationals who have fled Iraq and Kuwait. (Sec. 535) Declares that provisions under this or any other Act authorizing appropriations for foreign operations or export financing shall not be construed to prohibit activities authorized by the Peace Corps Act, the Inter-American Foundation Act, or the African Development Foundation Act. Requires an agency to report to the Committees on Appropriations whenever it is conducting or proposing activities in a country for which such assistance is prohibited. (Sec. 536) Prohibits the use of funds to provide: (1) any financial incentive to a business for purposes of inducing it to relocate outside the United States if it will reduce the number of employees in the United States; (2) assistance for establishing or developing in a foreign country an export processing zone or other designated area in which a country's tax, tariff, labor, environment, and safety laws do not apply to activities in the area, unless the President certifies that such assistance is not likely to cause a loss of U.S. jobs; or (3) assistance for any project that contributes to the violation of internationally recognized workers rights in the recipient country. (Sec. 537) Prohibits the availability of funds under this Act for the Republic of Serbia (except for Kosovo or Montenegro or for assistance to promote democratization). (Sec. 538) Declares that funds appropriated under this Act for Afghanistan, Lebanon, Montenegro, and for victims of war, displaced children, and displaced Burmese may be made available notwithstanding any other provision of law. Prohibits the use of funds made available to Cambodia for military or paramilitary purposes. Authorizes the use of foreign assistance funds to support tropical forestry and biodiversity conservation programs, and subject to the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations, energy programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Authorizes AID to employ personal services contractors to administer programs for the West Bank and Gaza. Authorizes the President to waive certain prohibitions with respect to the Palestine Liberation Organizations (PLO) if the President determines and certifies to Congress that it is in the national interest. (Sec. 539) Expresses the sense of Congress with respect to: (1) immediate public renunciation by the Arab League countries of the boycott of Israel (reinstated in 1997) and of American firms having commercial ties with Israel; (2) normalization of relations with Israel by such Arab countries; and (3) steps the President should take to encourage such renunciation. (Sec. 540) Authorizes the use of ESF funds to strengthen the administration of justice in countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in other regions. (Sec. 541) Declares that the restrictions on assistance to foreign countries contained in this Act or any other Act (except those relating to international terrorism or human rights violations) shall not be construed to restrict assistance: (1) in support of certain programs of nongovernmental organizations; or (2) under specified provisions of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. (Sec. 542) Authorizes the reprogramming of earmarked appropriations for other programs within the same account, provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 544) Prohibits the use of funds for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States that were not authorized before the enactment of this Act. Earmarks specified amounts to private and voluntary organizations to deal with world hunger abroad. (Sec. 545) Declares that assistance under this Act should make full use of American resources, including commodities, products, and services, to the maximum extent possible. Declares the sense of Congress that, to the greatest extent practicable, all agricultural commodities, equipment, and products purchased with funds made available in this Act should be American- made. Requires Federal agency heads, in providing financial assistance to or entering into any contract with any entity using funds made available in this Act, to notify such entity of this intention. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually on the efforts of such agency heads and the U.S. directors of international financial institutions in complying with such requirements. (Sec. 546) Prohibits the use of funds to pay any assessments, arrearages, or dues of any UN member (including costs for attendance of another country's delegation at international conferences). (Sec. 548) Prohibits the provision of funds to a private voluntary organization that fails to provide any document, file, or record necessary to the auditing requirements of AID. (Sec. 549) Prohibits the provision of funds to any foreign government that provides lethal military equipment to a country that the Secretary of State has determined has a terrorist government, unless the President determines that the furnishing of such assistance is in the U.S. national interest. (Sec. 550) Withholds assistance from a foreign country in an amount equal to 110 percent of the total unpaid parking fines and penalties owed by the country to the District of Columbia. (Sec. 551) Prohibits the obligation of any appropriations for the PLO for the West Bank and Gaza unless the President has exercised certain authorities to suspend prohibitions on assistance to the PLO. (Sec. 552) Permits the President to provide up to a specified amount of commodities and services to the UN War Crimes Tribunal if doing so will contribute to a just resolution of charges regarding genocide or other violations of international law in the former Yugoslavia. (Sec. 553) Authorizes disposal on a grant basis in foreign countries of demining equipment used in support of the clearance of land mines and unexploded ordnance for humanitarian purposes. (Sec. 554) Prohibits the obligation of appropriations to create in Jerusalem a new U.S. agency office for the purpose of conducting U.S. business with the Palestinian Authority over Gaza and Jericho (or any successor Palestinian governing entity) provided for in the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles. (Sec. 555) Prohibits the obligation of certain funds appropriated for Informational Program activities to pay for: (1) alcoholic beverages; or (2) entertainment expenses for recreational activities. (Sec. 556) Authorizes the President to reduce amounts owed to the United States by eligible countries as a result of: (1) housing guarantees made pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; (2) credits extended or guarantees issued under the Arms Export Control Act; or (3) any obligation to pay for purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities guaranteed by the Commodity Credit Corporation. Permits the exercise of such authority only: (1) to implement multilateral official debt relief and referendum agreements known as the Paris Club Agreed Minutes; and (2) with respect to countries with heavy debt burdens that are eligible to borrow from the IDA (but not from the World Bank) (IDA-only countries). Prescribes additional conditions for the exercise of such authority. (Sec. 557) Authorizes the President to engage in certain debt buybacks or sales. Authorizes the sale, reduction, or cancellation of certain loans to foreign governments, upon receipt of payment from an eligible purchaser that plans to use such loans only for the purposes of engaging in debt-for-equity swaps, debt-for-development swaps, or debt-for nature swaps. Limits such authority to funds appropriated by this Act under the heading of debt restructuring. (Sec. 558) Bars funds appropriated by this Act or any previous appropriations Act for foreign operations, export financing and related programs to be made available for assistance for the Government of Haiti until: (1) the Secretary of State reports to the Committees on Appropriations that Haiti has held free and fair elections to seat a new parliament; and (2) the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy reports to the Committees on Appropriations that such Government is fully cooperating with the US efforts to interdict illicit drug traffic through it to the United States. Earmarks a specified percentage of funds appropriated under this Act for bilateral assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean region. (Sec. 559) Requires a specified annual report of the Secretary of State containing the voting record of each foreign member country of the UN to include a side-by-side comparison of each country's overall support for the United States at the UN and the amount of U.S. assistance provided to it in FY 2000. (Sec. 560) Prohibits the United States from paying any voluntary contribution to the UN, including the UN Development Program, unless the President certifies to Congress 15 days in advance of such payment that the UN is not engaged in any effort to implement or impose any taxation on U.S. persons in order to raise revenue for itself or any of its specialized agencies. (Sec. 561) Makes the Government of Haiti eligible to purchase U.S. defense articles and services for its Coast Guard. (Sec. 562) Prohibits the obligation of any appropriations for the PLO unless the President certifies to Congress that it is in the U.S. national security interests. (Sec. 563) Prohibits the use of funds for the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State believes they have committed gross violations of human rights, unless the Secretary reports to the Committees on Appropriations that such country is taking steps to bring the responsible persons to justice. (Sec. 564) Provides for bilateral and multilateral assistance sanctions (with humanitarian, democratization, and certain infrastructure project exceptions) against countries harboring war criminals indicted with respect to the former Yugoslavia. Prohibits the provision of bilateral assistance for programs in which publicly indicted war criminals are known to have any financial interest or communities that are not in compliance with specified sections of the Dayton Agreement relating to war crimes and the Tribunal. Requires the Secretary of State to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the location, if known, of publicly indicted war criminals, on country, entity and municipality authorities known to have obstructed the work of the Tribunal, and on sanctioned countries, entities, and municipalities. (Sec. 565) Prohibits the use of funds for the Government of the Russian Federation unless the President certifies to specified congressional committees that the Federation has not enacted laws or promulgated executive orders that discriminate against religious minorities in violation of international agreements on human rights and religious freedoms to which it is a party. (Sec. 566) Subjects the availability of funds in this Act to support programs or activities promoting country participation in the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) to the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 567) Bars funds to the Central Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Sec. 568) Earmarks specified foreign assistance funds for Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, the Israel-Lebanon Monitoring Group, the Multinational Force and Observers, the Middle East Regional Democracy Fund, Middle East Regional Cooperation, and Middle East Multilateral Working Groups. (Sec. 569) Requires the President to submit to specified congressional committees a plan for the distribution of the assets of an Enterprise Fund before any distribution resulting from liquidation, dissolution, or winding up of the Fund. (Sec. 570) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors of international financial institutions to oppose loans to Cambodia (except loans to support basic human needs). Prohibits the availability of funds under this Act for assistance for the Government of Cambodia. (Sec. 571) Directs the Secretaries of Defense and of State to report jointly to Congress on all overseas military training provided to, and proposed to be provided to, foreign military personnel under programs administered by the Defense and State Departments during FY 2000 and 2001. (Sec. 572) Earmarks specified funds for KEDO for administrative expenses and heavy fuel oil costs associated with the Agreed Framework (Joint Declaration on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula). Earmarks other amounts to KEDO if the President certifies to Congress that North Korea is complying with the provisions of the Agreed Framework. (Sec. 573) Authorizes investment of funds made available to grantees of the African Development Foundation pending expenditure for project purposes when authorized by the President of the Foundation. (Sec. 574) Bars the use of funds appropriated under this Act to provide equipment, technical support, consulting services, or any other assistance to the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation. (Sec. 575) Earmarks specified amounts of ESF funds for a political transition in Iraq, Iraqi opposition groups for political, economic, humanitarian, and other activities, and for groups and activities seeking the prosecution of Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi government officials for war crimes. Bars the use of such funds for administrative expenses of the State Department. (Sec. 576) Directs AID to submit an annual budget justification consistent with certain requirements of this Act to the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 577) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated under this Act to propose or issue rules, regulations, decrees, or orders for implementation, or in preparation for implementation, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United States Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has not been submitted to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, and which has not entered into force. (Sec. 578) Directs the Secretary of State, 30 days prior to the initial obligation of ESF funds for the bilateral West Bank and Gaza Program, to certify to the appropriate congressional committees that procedures have been established to assure the Comptroller General will have access to appropriate U.S. financial information in order to review the uses of such funds for the Program. (Sec. 579) Makes foreign military financing program funds available for Indonesia if the President determines and reports to the appropriate congressional committees that the Indonesian government and the Indonesian armed forces are taking specified actions to: (1) bring to justice, and cooperate with investigations and prosecutions of, members of the armed forces and militia groups with respect to human rights violations in Indonesia and East Timor; (2) allow safe passage for refugees returning home to East Timor from West Timor; and (3) not impede the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET). (Sec. 580) Bars the use of appropriated funds under this Act for the UN Man and the Biosphere Program or the UN World Heritage Fund for programs in the United States. (Sec. 581) Requires the Secretary of State to consult with the appropriate congressional committees and leadership of Congress to devise a mechanism to provide for congressional input before making any determination on the nature or quantity of defense articles and services to be made available to Taiwan. (Sec. 582) Urges funds appropriated by this Act for U.S. assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States to the maximum extent practicable to be used for the procurement of articles and services of U.S. origin. (Sec. 583) Bars the use of funds appropriated by this Act for assistance for the government of any country that has been determined to have: (1) provided lethal or non-lethal military support or equipment, directly or through intermediaries, within the previous six months to the Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front (RUF), or any other group intent on destabilizing the democratically elected government of the Republic of Sierra Leone; or (2) aided or abetted, within the previous six months, in the illicit distribution, transportation, or sale of diamonds mined in Sierra Leone. (Sec. 584) Authorizes voluntary separation incentive payments to AID employees who voluntarily separate (whether by retirement or resignation) on or before December 31, 2001 to eliminate AID positions and functions contained in a mandatory strategic plan outlining such payments. (Sec. 585) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to establish a working capital fund for AID expenses of personal and nonpersonal services, equipment and supplies. (Sec. 586) Earmarks a specified amount of international organizations and program funds for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) (except for any country program in China). Conditions the availability of such funds to UNFPA on specified requirements, including that it does not fund abortions. (Sec. 587) Earmarks a specified amount of funds for population planning activities or other population assistance, with specified restrictions on assistance to foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortions. (Sec. 588) Requires information relevant to the December 2, 1980, murders of four American churchwomen in El Salvador to be made public to the fullest extent possible. (Sec. 589) Declares that funds shall be appropriated to the HIPC Initiative only when the President of the World Bank and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) certify to the Secretary of the Treasury that such institutions will not include user fees or service charges through "community financing", "cost sharing", "cost recovery", or any other mechanism for primary education or primary healthcare, including prevention and treatment efforts for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and infant, child, and maternal well-being in their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers or any other HIPC-related debt relief or economic reform program or plan or any other IMF or World Bank loan or reform program. (Sec. 590) Bars the use of funds under this Act for abortions or to lobby for or against abortion. (Sec. 591) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to withhold ten percent of the U.S. payment to any international financial institution until the Secretary certifies that such institution has implemented certain procurement and financial management reforms. Title VI: Mozambique, Madagascar, and Southern Africa Rehabilitation and Reconstruction - Authorizes additional appropriations for FY 2000 for international assistance and rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance for Mozambique, Madagascar, and southern Africa.
Resolution· SCONRESS.Con.Res. 129 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 30 June 2000
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the historical illiteracy of U.S. college and university graduates is a serious problem that should be addressed by the higher education community; (2) boards of trustees and administrators at institutions of higher education in the United States should review their curricula and add requirements in U.S. history; (3) State officials responsible for higher education should review public college and university curricula and promote requirements in U.S. history; (4) parents should encourage their children to select institutions of higher education with substantial history requirements and students should take courses in U.S. history, whether required or not; and (5) history teachers and educators at all levels should redouble their efforts to bolster the knowledge of U.S. history among students of all ages and to restore the vitality of U.S. civic memory.
Bill· SS. 2829 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2000
Directs the Comptroller General to: (1) conduct an investigation for fraud and an audit of selected accounts at the Department of Education that the Comptroller General determines to be particularly susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse; and (2) report the results to specified congressional committees.
Bill· HRH.R. 4807 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2000
Ryan White CARE Act Amendments of 2000 - Title I: Emergency Relief for Areas with Substantial Need for Services - Subtitle A: HIV Health Services Planning Councils - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) planning council reflect the demographics of the population of individuals with HIV disease (currently, the demographics of the epidemic) in the eligible area involved. Modifies requirements regarding council composition, including requiring representatives of former prisoners. Requires that at least 33 percent of the council be people who: (1) are receiving HIV-related services pursuant to a grant under provisions relating to emergency relief for areas with a substantial need for services (substantial need grant); and (2) are not officers, employees, consultants, or representatives of any entity that receives substantial need grant amounts. (Sec. 102) Modifies council duties, including regarding: (1) determining the size, demographics, and needs of the HIV disease population; (2) council establishment of fund allocation priorities; and (3) coordination with Federal grantees that provide HIV-related services in the area. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop epidemiologic measures for establishing the number of individuals with HIV disease who are not receiving HIV-related health services and for carrying out council duties; and (2) provide to the chief elected official receiving a substantial need grant guidelines and materials for training council members regarding council duties. (Sec. 103) Requires that council meetings and records be open to the public, subject to exception. Subtitle B: Type and Distribution of Grants - Makes permanent provisions requiring expedited disbursement of certain substantial need grant amounts. Requires, after fiscal year 2004, that the substantial need grant amount formula use the number of cases of HIV disease in the most recent year rather than the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the most recent ten years, but until FY 2007 conditions that change on the Secretary's determination that there is sufficiently accurate and reliable data on HIV disease cases from all eligible areas, requiring the Secretary to consider: (1) the findings of a study mandated by title V of this Act; (2) the fiscal impact of using or of not using that data; and (3) the impact of the use of that data on the organization and delivery of HIV-related services. Modifies requirements regarding increases in the amount of a substantial need grant under expedited disbursement provisions. (Sec. 112) Requires that the amount of supplemental substantial need grants be determined by the Secretary based on a weighting of specified factors, with severe need counting one-third. Includes the current HIV disease prevalence, an increasing need for services, and unmet need for services as factors the Secretary must consider in determining severe need. Directs the Secretary, in determining the required factors, to develop a mechanism to use national, quantitative incidence data by 18 months after enactment of this Act (currently, by May 20, 1998). Requires mechanism modification based on the findings of a study mandated by title V of this Act. Removes provisions basing the amount of substantial need grants on substantial need grant applications. Subtitle C: Other Provisions - Requires that substantial need grant funds be used, among other purposes, for: (1) outreach to identify individuals with HIV disease who are not receiving HIV-related services; and (2) early intervention services. Requires that substantial need grants be used to provide health and support services to infants, children, youth, and women (currently, infants, children, and women) with HIV disease in the same ratio as those groups with HIV disease bear to those groups in the general population. Requires that the chief elected official of a substantial need grant-receiving area establish a quality management program to assess whether HIV health services under the substantial need grant are consistent with the most recent Public Health Service guidelines. (Sec. 123) Requires that official to ensure that the area's planning council: (1) reviews existing, available data on expenditures by substantial need grant recipient entities from their overall budget for administrative costs; and (2) makes a determination whether the financial compensation of any of those entity's officers or employees exceeds that of the official. Title II: Care Grant Program - Subtitle A: General Grant Provisions - Requires that grants to States to improve the quality, availability and organization of health care and support services for individuals with HIV disease (care grants) be used to provide health and support services to infants, children, youth, and women (currently, infants, children, and women) with HIV disease in the same ratio as those groups with HIV disease bear to those groups in the general population. (Sec. 202) Allows care grants to be used for support services, outreach activities, early intervention, and quality management. (Sec. 203) Modifies requirements regarding grants to establish HIV care consortia. (Sec. 204) Allows a State to meet a requirement to use a portion of its care grant to provide therapeutics to treat HIV disease or prevent related health deterioration (including prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections) by paying for health insurance or plans whose coverage includes a full range of such therapeutics and primary care. (Sec. 205) Requires care grant applications to contain determinations of the size, demographics, and needs of the population of individuals with HIV disease in the State. Modifies requirements regarding the comprehensive plan. Requires the public health agency that administers care grants for a State to engage in a public advisory planning process. (Sec. 206) Doubles, subject to appropriations, the minimum care grant allotment to each State and U.S. territory. Requires, after fiscal year 2004, that the care grant amount formula use the number of cases of HIV disease in the most recent year rather than the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the most recent ten years, but until FY 2007 conditions that change on the Secretary's determination that there is sufficiently accurate and reliable data on HIV disease cases. Provides for increases in the formula amount. Requires, if an appropriations Act provides an amount exclusively for treatment drug grants, that two percent of that exclusive amount be reserved for supplemental grants to States whose HIV population's need is greater than the quantities available under treatment drug grants from the remaining unreserved 98 percent. Adds the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau to the list of U.S. territories. Adds the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the list of territories for minimum allotment provisions but keeps it in the list of States for other care grant provisions. (Sec. 207) Replaces provisions mandating coordination by specified Federal agencies of Federal HIV programs with provisions directing the Secretary to make grants to States to supplement care grants for comprehensive services for communities that have a severe need for supplemental financial assistance to combat the HIV epidemic. Provides for funding for the supplemental grants. Subtitle B: Provisions Concerning Pregnancy and Perinatal Transmission of HIV - Removes provisions prohibiting (after testing of pregnant women and newborns has become a routine practice in U.S. health care) care grants to a State unless the State meets certain requirements regarding such testing. (Sec. 212) Adds HIV disease treatment services to the uses for which the Secretary may make a grant to a State that is following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding HIV counseling and voluntary testing for pregnant women. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits using care grant appropriations for grants under this section. (Sec. 213) Directs the Secretary to provide for a study and report to appropriate congressional committees regarding: (1) the number of newborns with HIV born in the United States in the most recent year for which the information is available; (2) barriers that prevent or discourage an obstetrician from routinely offering pregnant women an HIV test and routinely testing newborns when the mother's HIV status is unknown; and (3) recommendations for each State for reducing perinatal HIV transmission. Requires States to make reasonable progress toward meeting the recommendations. Subtitle C: Certain Partner Notification Programs - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for partner counseling and referral services, provided the State meets certain requirements regarding: (1) partner notification and (for the partner and the infected individual) testing, counseling, and referral; (2) health entity reporting of positive test results to the State; (3) reporting to the CDC regarding partner notification; and (4) State cooperation with the CDC national partner notification. Prohibits grants to a State after fiscal year 2003 unless the State's reporting system for HIV cases produces sufficiently accurate and reliable data. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Early Intervention Services - Subtitle A: Formula Grants for States - Repeals provisions mandating formula grants to States for outpatient early intervention services regarding HIV disease. Subtitle B: Categorical Grants - Requires giving preference to rural or underserved areas in making currently-authorized categorical grants for outpatient early intervention services. Allows planning grants to be used, subject to limitation, to assist the recipients to expand their capacity to provide services, including early intervention services, in low income communities and affected subpopulations that are underserved. Subtitle C: General Provisions - Requires that the counseling that categorical grant recipients are required to provide to HIV-infected individuals emphasize that it is the duty of infected individuals to disclose their status to their sexual and needle-sharing partners, provide advice on how to make the disclosures and emphasize that it is the infected individual's continuing duty to avoid behaviors that expose others to HIV. (Sec. 322) Increases the percentage limit on administrative expenses. Requires recipients to establish a quality management program to assess the extent to which medical services are consistent with Public Health Service guidelines for treatment of HIV disease and related opportunistic infections. Title IV: Other Programs and Activities - Subtitle A: Certain Programs for Research, Demonstrations, or Training - Replaces a requirement that, with regard to grants for providing opportunities for women, infants, children, and youth to participate in HIV research and for providing to those groups outpatient health care and additional services, that a significant number of individuals in those groups be participating in research with a requirement that the grant applicant demonstrate linkages to research and how access to research is being offered to patients. Directs the Secretary to examine the distribution and availability of research regarding grantees to enhance and expand HIV-related research, especially in underrepresented communities. Requires grantees to implement a quality management program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 402) Includes, as a use of currently-authorized grants and contracts for training health personnel: (1) training in prenatal and other gynecological care for women with HIV disease; and (2) developing protocols for the medical care of such women. Directs the Secretary to implement a strategy for the dissemination of HIV treatment information to care providers and patients. Adds accredited dental hygiene programs as possible recipients of currently-authorized grants with respect to oral health care to (sic) patients with HIV disease. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes grants to dental schools, post-doctoral dental education programs, and accredited dental hygiene programs that partner with community-based dentists to provide care to HIV patients in underserved areas. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes appropriations for grants and contracts to assist public and nonprofit private entities and schools and academic health science centers to train health personnel, train faculty, and develop and disseminate curricula and resource materials regarding the care of HIV patients and prevention of HIV infection among at risk individuals. Subtitle B: General Provisions in Title XXVI - Extends the authorization of appropriations for grants and contracts to evaluate programs carried out under title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act (HIV Health Care Services Program). (Sec. 412) Authorizes appropriations for collecting and providing data for program planning and evaluation under title XXVI. (Sec. 413) Adds the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Care Financing Administration to the list of agencies (currently, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) charged with coordinating the planning, funding, and implementation (currently, coordinating the planning of the funding) of Federal HIV programs to enhance continuity of care and prevention services (currently, continuity of care). Requires that State, local, or private entities receiving title XXVI funds enhance continuity of care and prevention services (currently, continuity of care). (Sec. 414) Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to Congress a plan for the medical case management of and the provision of support services to individuals who had HIV disease on their date of release from the Federal or State penal system. (Sec. 415) Authorizes the Secretary to reduce title XXVI grants to a State or political subdivision if the State or subdivision fails to prepare audits. (Sec. 416) Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and submit to Congress a plan for coordinating the disbursement of appropriations for substantial need grants with the disbursement for care grants; (2) within two years after enactment of this Act, implement the disbursement plan, notwithstanding any title XXVI provision inconsistent with the plan; (3) determine whether administration of those grants by the Secretary and grantee compliance efficiency would be improved by requiring biennial rather than annual applications; (4) develop and submit to Congress a plan for simplifying the application process for those grants; and (5) within two years after enactment of this Act, implement the simplified application plan, notwithstanding any title XXVI provision inconsistent with the plan. (Sec. 417) Removes provisions directing the Secretary to develop and implement a method for adjusting the percentages allocated to substantial need grants and care grants to account for substantial need grants to new areas and other relevant factors. Authorizes appropriations for substantial need and care grants. Title V: General Provisions - Directs the Secretary to provide for studies, and report to the appropriate congressional committees, on: (1) whether the surveillance system of each State provides for the reporting of HIV infection cases in a way that provides information on the number and demographic characteristics of the cases that is sufficiently accurate for the formula grants under substantial need and care grant provisions and, if not, recommendations for improvements; and (2) the appropriate epidemiological measures and their relationship to the financing and delivery of primary care and health related support services for low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals with HIV disease. (Sec. 502) Requires the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand, intensify, and coordinate research and other NIH activities regarding development of reliable and affordable HIV tests that can be rapidly administered and whose results can be rapidly obtained (rapid HIV tests). Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary: (1) to report to appropriate congressional committees on the progress made toward, and barriers to, the premarket review and commercial distribution of rapid HIV tests; and (2) promptly after rapid HIV test commercial distribution begins, to establish or update guidelines for States, hospitals, and other entities regarding the availability of those tests for administration to pregnant women in labor or late stage pregnancy and whose HIV status is unknown. (Sec. 503) Directs the Secretary, of the amounts available to the Secretary for program management at the Health Resources and Services Administration, to spend amounts necessary to ensure at least a 20 percent increase in fiscal year 2001 over fiscal year 2000 of full- time-equivalent staff of the Bureau of HIV/AIDS who administer programs under title XXVI. Title VI: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective dates for this Act and its amendments.
Bill· HRH.R. 4792 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2000
Comprehensive Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to: (1) implement the oil and gas pipeline safety improvement recommendations provided for in the Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General's Report (RT-2000-069); and (2) report every 90 days to specified congressional committees on the specific actions taken to implement them. Requires the DOT Inspector General to assess periodically for the same committees the Secretary's progress in doing so. (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary, the Administrator of Research and Special Program Administration, and the Director of the Office of Pipeline Safety to: (1) comply fully with certain Federal transportation law requirements to ensure timely responsiveness to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations about pipeline safety; (2) make a copy of each recommendation on pipeline safety and response available to the public over the Internet without charge or otherwise at a reasonable cost; and (3) review and publish the results of General Accounting Office report number GAO-RCED-00-128. (Sec. 4) Requires each pipeline operator, or, in the case of an intrastate pipeline facility operator, the appropriate State regulatory agency, to submit to the Secretary a plan designed to enhance the qualifications of pipeline personnel and reduce the likelihood of accidents and injuries. (Sec. 5) Requires the Secretary to issue regulations requiring: (1) natural gas pipeline operators to conduct periodic assessment of facility integrity; and (2) hazardous liquid pipeline operators to periodically determine the adequacy of pipelines to operate safely in unusually sensitive areas and high-density population areas; and (3) perform periodic inspections or tests capable of identifying corrosion, mechanical damage, or other structural or operational defects that could be detrimental to safety and the environment. (Sec. 6) Amends Federal transportation law to grant shutdown authority to the Secretary, or, in the case of an intrastate pipeline facility operator, to the appropriate State regulatory agency, to take necessary action to prevent the operation for 30 days (including additional 30-day periods) of any hazardous liquid or natural gas pipeline whose continuing operation creates an imminent safety hazard to persons, property, or the environment. (Sec. 7) Revises the public education program requirements for gas pipeline facility owners or operators, including specified items. Applies such requirements to owners or operators of a hazardous liquid pipeline facility. Requires an operator of a gas transmission or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to initiate and maintain liaison with the State emergency response commissions, and local emergency planning committees (or local fire, police, and other emergency response agencies in the absence of a committee) in the areas of pipeline right-of-way, established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 in each State in which it operates. Requires the owner or operator of each gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to provide annually to the governing body of each municipality in which the pipeline facility is located a map identifying the facility's location. Requires the Secretary to designate the Regional Emergency Transportation Coordinator with the responsibility of defining the in-vehicle navigation mapping standards and contracting the outsource mapping vendor, which can provide the most cost effective first responder mapping tool, for coordinated emergency responses, in the geographic area. Requires the owner or operator of each gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to: (1) provide a public safety and public education program annually to the governing body of each municipality in which the pipeline facility is located; and (2) notify annually all residents within 1,000 yards (or other appropriate distance) of the facility of its general location and certain other information, including appropriate procedures for such residents to follow in response to accidents concerning such facilities. (Sec. 8) Increases from $25,000 to $100,000 the civil penalty for each facility operator failure to: (1) mark accurately the location of pipeline facilities in the vicinity of a demolition, excavation, tunneling, or construction; or (2) comply with safety standards, prepare and carry out an inspection and maintenance plan, allow access to records, or allow required entries or inspections. Increases the maximum civil penalty for a related series of violations to $1 million. Authorizes a court to award temporary or permanent injunctive relief and to assess civil penalties in a civil action brought by the Attorney General to enforce pipeline safety law. Establishes civil penalties for hazardous liquid pipeline discharges, including gross negligence or willful misconduct. (Sec. 9) Authorizes the Secretary, if a State pipeline safety program certification is accepted, to make an agreement with a State authority authorizing it to participate in the activities of interstate pipeline transportation, including a plan for the State authority to participate in additional inspections and special investigations involving new construction or incidents, as well as (subject to specified requirements) other activities involving interstate pipeline transportation consistent with the Secretary's program and that address issues of local concern. Allows the Secretary to end an agreement for the oversight of interstate pipeline transportation when the State authority has not complied with any provision of the agreement. Requires the Secretary to end such an agreement when: (1) significant gaps are found in the State authority's responsibilities for oversight of intrastate pipeline transportation; (2) the State actions under the agreement have failed to meet certain requirements; or (3) continued oversight participation by the State authority is not promoting pipeline safety. Requires the Secretary to continue specified interstate agent agreements. (Sec. 10) Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for the collection and use of gas and hazardous liquid pipeline data to revise the causal categories on the accident report forms to eliminate overlapping and confusing categories and include subcategories. Requires the plan to include components to provide the capability to perform sound accident trend analysis and evaluations of pipeline operator performance using normalized accident data. Requires any owner or operator of a hazardous liquid pipeline facility to report to the Secretary each release to the environment greater than five gallons of the hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide. (Sec. 11) Requires the Secretary, as part of the DOT research and development program, to direct research attention to the development of alternative technologies: (1) to expand the defect detection capabilities of internal inspection devices; (2) to inspect pipelines that cannot accommodate internal inspection devices available on the date of enactment; and (3) to develop innovative techniques measuring the structural integrity of pipelines. (Sec. 12) Authorizes appropriations with respect to gas and hazardous liquid and State grants. Requires the transfer of specified amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out authorized programs. (Sec. 13) Authorizes the Secretary to study how best to preserve environmental resources in conjunction with maintaining pipeline rights-of-way. (Sec. 14) Directs the Secretary to designate one or more States the Governor of each of which may establish a self-governing Regional Advisory Council to: (1) advise the Secretary and the Governor on policies, permits, regulations, and standards relating to hazardous liquid pipeline facilities which affect or may affect that State's environment; (2) monitor the environmental impacts of the facility operations; (3) review the adequacy of the integrity management plan and spill prevention and contingency plans developed by each hazardous liquid pipeline operator; (4) monitor developments in pipeline spill prevention, leak detection, pipeline inspection, operator training, spill containment, response, and cleanup technology; and (5) perform other specified related duties. (Sec. 15) Sets forth whistle blower protections prohibiting discrimination against facility employees who: (1) perform or refuse to perform certain acts related to pipeline safety or environmental protection; or (2) testify in Federal or State proceedings regarding compliance with pipeline safety or environmental protection requirements.
Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 366 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2000
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the historical illiteracy of U.S. college and university graduates is a serious problem that should be addressed by the higher education community; (2) boards of trustees and administrators at institutions of higher education in the United States should review their curricula and add requirements in U.S. history; (3) State officials responsible for higher education should review public college and university curricula and promote requirements in U.S. history; (4) parents should encourage their children to select institutions of higher education with substantial history requirements and students should take courses in U.S. history, whether required or not; and (5) history teachers and educators at all levels should redouble their efforts to bolster the knowledge of U.S. history among students of all ages and to restore the vitality of U.S. civic memory.
Bill· SS. 2807 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 28 June 2000
Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2000 - Title I: Medicare Management and Administration - Subtitle A: Establishment of the Competitive Medicare Agency - Amends the Social Security Act (SSA) to add a new title XXII (Medicare Competition and Prescription Drugs) to establish, as an independent agency in the executive branch, a Medicare Competition Agency, headed by a Commissioner, to administer the Medicare Prescription Drug and Supplemental Benefit Program (program) under part B (established by title II of this Act) and the Medicare+Choice program under part C (Medicare+Choice) of SSA title XVIII (Medicare). (Sec. 101) Establishes a Medicare Competition and Prescription Drug Advisory Board. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 102) Amends SSA title XVIII to make the Commissioner a member of the Board of Trustees of the Medicare trust funds. (Sec. 103) Amends Federal civil service law to provide for a salary increase for the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). Subtitle B: Redefined Medicare Solvency Measures - Amends SSA title XVIII to require the Board of Trustees to make a separate annual report on the operation and status of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) and on the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund under Medicare part B (Supplementary Insurance), including the Medicare Prescription Drug Account (created by title II of this Act) within it. (Sec. 151) Expresses the sense of Congress that the committees of jurisdiction shall hold hearings on such reports. Title II: Medicare Prescription Drug and Supplemental Benefit Program - Amends SSA title XXII to add a new part B (Medicare Prescription Drug and Supplemental Benefit Program) requiring the Commissioner to establish the Medicare Prescription Drug and Supplemental Benefit Program under which an eligible beneficiary may voluntarily enroll in, and receive access to covered outpatient prescription drugs and other benefits through, a Medicare Prescription Plus plan (plan) offered by a private entity or by a Medicare+Choice plan. Makes the costs of providing program benefits payable from the Medicare Prescription Drug Account. (Sec. 201) Outlines program procedures, including procedures for: (1) enrollment; (2) a Commissioner study and report to Congress on permitting individuals enrolled under Medicare part B but not entitled to benefits under Medicare part A to buy into the program; (3) plan election; (4) beneficiary outreach; (5) application of Medicare+Choice secondary payor requirements to the program in the same manner as they apply under the Medicare+Choice program; (5) alternative coverage requirements; (6) access to negotiated prices; (7) actuarial valuation and determination of annual percentage increases; (8) beneficiary protections, including grievance resolution; (9) requirements for entities offering plans, including licensure; (10) submission and approval of plans; (11) payments to plans for benefits; (12) computation and collection of beneficiary share of premium; (13) additional prescription drug subsidies through reinsurance; (14) plan fees for administrative costs; and (15) creation and use of the Medicare Prescription Drug Account. (Sec. 202) Revises requirements for the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund to comply with this Act. (Sec. 203) Amends SSA title XVIII part C to prohibit a Medicare+Choice organization from offering prescription drug coverage to a Medicare+Choice plan enrollee unless such drug coverage is at least qualified prescription drug coverage under this Act, and unless specified requirements for such coverage are met. (Sec. 204) Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to require a State, as a condition for receiving Federal financial assistance for its Medicaid plan, to make Medicare prescription drug benefit eligibility determinations for low-income premium and cost-sharing subsidies. Mandates specified increases in applicable Federal matching rates for State expenditures for additional administrative costs. Provides for phased-in Federal assumption of Medicaid prescription drug costs in the case of an individual dually entitled to qualified prescription drug coverage under a Medicaid plan or under a Medicare+Choice plan under Medicare part C. (Sec. 205) Prohibits any new Medigap policy covering prescription drugs from being issued, on or after January 1, 2003, to an individual unless it replaces a Medigap policy that was issued to that individual and that provided some coverage of expenses for prescription drugs. Prohibits the issuer of a Medigap policy from denying or conditioning Medigap coverage for an individual who terminates certain kinds of Medigap policies and applies for certain other kinds. Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) to establish Medigap protections for individuals who lose Medicare prescription plus plan coverage. (Sec. 206) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the extent to which reimbursement for drugs and biologicals under the current Medicare payment methodology overpays for the cost of such drugs and biologicals compared to the average acquisition cost paid by physicians or other drug suppliers. Title III: Medicare+Choice Reforms - Amends Medicare part C with respect to: (1) increasing in national per capita Medicare+Choice growth percentage in 2001 and 2002; (2) removing application of budget neutrality beginning in 2002; (3) payments to Medicare+Choice organizations based on risk-adjusted bids; (4) premium reduction and Medicare+Choice monthly supplemental beneficiary premium; (5) rules relating to premiums owed by Medicare+Choice enrollees; (6) allowing plans to include described reductions and other benefits in their basic benefits; (7) a special rule for end-stage renal disease; (8) information comparing plan premiums; (9) national coverage determinations; (10) disclosure requirements; (11) geographic adjustment; (12) Medicare+Choice monthly basic beneficiary premium; (13) a freeze of the health risk adjuster at 20 percent after 2002; and (14) adjustment in payment to include the Commissioner's estimate of the amount of additional payments that would have been made in the area involved if individuals entitled to Medicare+Choice benefits had not received services from facilities of the Departments of Veterans Affairs or of Defense for purposes of calculating annual Medicare+Choice capitation rates. Title IV: Medicare Beneficiary Outreach and Education - Amends SSA title XXII to add a new part C (Medicare Consumer Coalitions) authorizing the Commissioner of the Competitive Medicare Agency to establish Medicare Consumer Coalitions to conduct information programs comparing the original Medicare fee-for-service program, available Medicare+Choice plans, and available Medicare Prescription Plus plans. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2795 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2000
Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act - Provides for the distribution of specified funds appropriated in satisfaction of an award granted to the Western Shoshone Indians in Docket Number 326-K before the Indian Claims Commission to U.S. citizens who have at least 1/4 Western Shoshone blood and who are enrolled on a Western Shoshone Judgment Roll to be established by the Secretary of the Interior. Requires that such funds and specified funds appropriated in satisfaction of the awards granted to such Indians in Docket Numbers 326-A-1 and 326-A-3 before the U.S. Court of Claims be credited to and distributed from a Western Shoshone Educational Trust Fund to be established by the Secretary for educational and other grants and other forms of assistance to individual Western Shoshone members and to pay reasonable and necessary expenses of an Administrative Committee established by this Act to oversee the distribution of such education grants.
Bill· SS. 2802 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2000
Amends the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 to add White Earth Tribal and Community College to the list of 1994 Institutions, which are considered land-grant colleges but which are not considered eligible for certain types of funding.
Bill· HRH.R. 4770 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2000
Medicare Guaranteed and Defined Rx Benefit and Health Provider Relief Act of 2000 - Title I: Medicare Prescription Medicine Benefit Program - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to add a new part D (Prescription Medicine Benefit for the Aged and Disabled) which establishes a voluntary insurance program to provide defined prescription medicine benefits, including pharmacy services, for eligible individuals who are aged or disabled or who have end-stage renal disease, and who voluntarily elect to enroll. States that the program shall be financed from enrollee premium payments together with contributions from funds appropriated by the Federal Government. (Sec. 101) Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to submit to Congress a legislative proposal for: (1) the delivery of home infusion therapy services under Medicare; and (2) a system of payment for such a benefit that coordinates items and services furnished under Medicare parts B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) and D. Creates within the Federal Supplemental Medical Insurance Trust Fund the Prescription Medicine Insurance Account. Directs the Secretary to provide for administration of part D benefits through a private benefit administrator for certain enrolled individuals residing in each geographic service area or, where that is impossible, with a fiscal intermediary under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) or a carrier under Medicare part B. Requires the Secretary to: (1) ensure that all beneficiaries have guaranteed access to the full range of pharmaceuticals under part D, with special attention to access, pharmacist counseling, and delivery in rural and hard-to-serve areas, including use of incentives such as bonus payments to retail pharmacists in rural areas and extra payments to the benefit administrator for the cost of rapid delivery of pharmaceuticals; and (2) develop and implement the Employer Incentive Program that encourages employers and other sponsors of employment-based health care coverage who meet specified requirements to provide adequate prescription medicine benefits to retired individuals, and maintain existing benefit programs, by subsidizing, in part, the cost of providing coverage under qualifying plans. Provides for part D enrollment for individuals whose employment-based retiree health coverage ends under certain conditions. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 102) Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid), with regard to the prescription medicine benefit for certain low-income individuals, to provide for coverage of part D premiums as medical assistance for individuals dually eligible for other SSA assistance or for other medical care. Requires State Medicaid plans to provide that, in the case of any individual whose eligibility for medical assistance is not limited to Medicare or Medicare medicine cost-sharing, and for whom the State elects to pay monthly premiums under part D, the State will purchase all prescription medicines for such individual in accordance with the provisions part D, without regard to whether the basic benefit limitation for such individual has been reached. Requires Government payment of Medicare medicine cost-sharing for qualified Medicare beneficiaries and for Medicare beneficiaries with incomes between 100 and 150 percent of the Federal poverty line. Amends SSA title XVIII part D to outline special eligibility, enrollment, and copayment rules for low-income individuals, which include options for continuation of Medicaid coverage or enrollment under such part. (Sec. 103) Provides that if the mid-summer 2000 budget estimate prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office results in a higher-than-projected level of projected on-budget surplus over the ten fiscal year period beginning with FY 2001, there shall be (beginning with FY 2003) transfers to the Prescription Medicine Insurance Account in a fiscal year to offset the costs attributable to provisions added to Medicare by this Act that relate to catastrophic benefit payments in that fiscal year. (Sec. 104) Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze and report to Congress on an ongoing basis about the part D prescription medicine benefit program. Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to Congress on possible tax and trade law changes to encourage increased original research on new pharmaceutical breakthrough products designed to address disease and illness; (2) study and report to Congress on methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to advertise and sell to consumers and to educate and sell to providers; and (3) study and report to Congress on the costs of, and needs for, pharmaceutical research, and the role that the taxpayer provides in encouraging such research. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the retail price of major pharmaceutical products in various developed nations, compared to prices for the same or similar products in the United States. Title II: Improvement In Beneficiary Services - Subtitle A: Improvement of Medicare Coverage and Appeals Process - Amends SSA title XVIII to revise requirements with respect to Medicare determinations and appeals, including initial determinations, expedited determinations, and publication on the Internet of decisions of hearings of the Secretary. (Sec. 201) Amends SSA title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) to apply the limitations on liability of qualified independent contractors to certain Medicare+Choice independent contractors who conduct reconsiderations of initial determinations. (Sec. 202) Amends SSA title XVIII to limit the liability of beneficiaries for repayment with respect to Medicare claims not paid or paid incorrectly. Includes in the explanation of Medicare benefits statement lists of each item or service furnished and the amount of the individual's liability for payment, as well as the toll-free telephone number for information and questions concerning the statement, individual liability for payment, and appeal rights. (Sec. 203) Amends SSA title XI to revise the meaning of waiver of coinsurance and deductible amounts (excluded from the meaning of unlawful remuneration subject to civil monetary penalties) to include a waiver offered as part of a supplemental insurance policy or retiree health plan. Subtitle B: Establishment of Medicare Ombudsman - Establishes a Medicare Ombudsman within the Health Care Financing Administration of the HHS Department to: (1) receive complaints, grievances, and requests for information submitted by a Medicare beneficiary concerning the Medicare program; and (2) provide assistance with respect to such complaints, grievances, and requests. Title III: Medicare+Choice Reforms; Preservation of Medicare Part B Drug Benefit - Subtitle A: Medicare+Choice Reforms - Amends SSA title XVIII part C with regard to calculation of annual Medicare+Choice capitation rates to: (1) reduce the national per capita Medicare+Choice growth percentage for 2001 and 2002; (2) remove permanently application of budget neutrality beginning in 2002; (3) increase the minimum payment amount for 2002; (4) increase the update for payment areas with only one or no Medicare+Choice contracts; and (5) permit higher negotiated rates in certain Medicare+Choice payment areas below the national average. (Sec. 307) Amends SSA title XVIII part C to provide for a ten year phase-in of the risk adjustment to the capitation rate based on data from all settings. Subtitle B: Preservation of Medicare Coverage of Drugs and Biologicals - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) cover under Medicare part B injectable and infusable drugs and biologicals which are not usually self-administered by the patient (currently only drugs and biologicals which cannot be self-administered are covered under Medicare part B); and (2) revise Medicare coverage for immunosuppressive drugs, establishing a part D catastrophic limit on part B copayments for such drugs. Subtitle C: Improvement of Certain Preventive Benefits - Amends SSA title XVIII to allow coverage of annual screening pap smear and pelvic exams. Title IV: Adjustments to Payment Provisions of the Balanced Budget Act - Subtitle A: Payments for Inpatient Hospital Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate the reduction in the hospital market basket update for FY 2001. (Sec. 402) Eliminates specified further reductions in indirect medical education (IME) and in disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments (and freezes Medicaid DSH payments) for FY 2001. (Sec. 404) Revises the formula for the increase in base payment to certain Puerto Rico hospitals for inpatient hospital discharges. Subtitle B: Payments for Skilled Nursing Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate the reduction in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) market basket update for FY 2001. (Sec. 412) Extends through 2002 the moratorium on therapy caps. Subtitle C: Payments for Home Health Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to delay for one more year the application of the 15 percent reduction on payment limits for home health services. (Sec. 422) Applies the full market basket update for home health services for FY 2001. Subtitle D: Rural Provider Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate the scheduled reduction in hospital outpatient market basket increase for rural hospitals in 2001 and 2002. Subtitle E: Other Providers - Amends SSA title XVIII to increase the update in the renal dialysis composite rate. Subtitle F: Provision for Additional Adjustments - Provides for specified aggregate amounts from estimated Social Security surpluses for the five fiscal year and ten fiscal year periods beginning in FY 2001 for additional improvements to the Medicare and Medicaid programs and payments to providers.
Bill· HRH.R. 4766 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2000
Classroom Modernization Act of 2000 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to revise and rename title XII as Classroom Modernization. (Currently it is named School Facilities Infrastructure Improvement, or the Education Infrastructure Act of 1994.) Directs the Secretary of Education to make formula grants to States to assist local educational agencies (LEAs) with the expenses of complying with Federal education statutory requirements and priorities relating to infrastructure, technology, and equipment needs for public elementary and secondary schools, including charter schools and schools on or near Indian lands. Bases State allotments on: (1) relative numbers of children age five through 17 from families with incomes below poverty; and (2) relative proportions of ESEA title I allotments. Requires reservation of specified funds for grants to account for children residing on Indian lands. Requires States to distribute such funds to LEAs or consortia of LEAs, through forms consistent with State law for school infrastructure financing, including grants, loans, and aid to issue bonds or other obligations. Considers as such distributed amounts: (1) aid to refund or refinance outstanding obligations; and (2) amounts used to establish a reserve fund for State loan guarantee program. Allows any State that establishes such a program including a loan guarantee for at least one charter school to use a specified portion of grant funds to administer such program. Sets forth objective data categories which a State may consider in determining distribution of such funds. Sets the Federal share at 100 percent for: (1) renovation, construction, acquisition, and start-up needs related to the building infrastructure of a charter school (or, in the case of schools on Indian lands, renovation and construction needs related to building infrastructure); (2) school facilities modifications necessary to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; (3) purchase, lease, or other acquisition of assistive technology devices for children with disabilities; (4) asbestos abatement or removal from school facilities; and (5) ancillary renovation to complete such projects. Sets the Federal share at 50 percent for: (1) school facility wiring and associated infrastructure improvements that enhance students' academic experiences and are necessary for use of the Internet or related emerging technologies or better equip schools for modern educational technologies; (2) science laboratories and equipment, and vocational education laboratories and equipment, that are of significant cost or are related to emerging technologies; (3) school facility renovations undertaken for compliance with fire and safety codes; (4) school facilities renovations to prevent traumatic crisis events on school property that would disrupt the learning environment, such as school shootings or other major acts of violence, if the renovations are undertaken in direct response to, or in anticipation of, such events; and (5) ancillary renovation to complete such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the impact of Federal conditions of aid on school construction projects.
Law· SS. 2789 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2000
Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Arts Education Act - Amends the Congressional Award Act to establish a Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Arts Education Awards Board within the legislative branch. Directs the Board to establish and administer a Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Arts Education Awards Program, under which it makes annual awards to elementary and secondary schools and students. Establishes a Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Arts Education Awards Trust Fund.
Bill· SS. 2787 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2000
Violence Against Women Act of 2000 - Title I: Strengthening Law Enforcement to Reduce Violence Against Women - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Attorney General (AG) to make grants to provide technical assistance and equipment to police departments, prosecutors, courts, and tribal jurisdictions to facilitate the widespread enforcement of protection orders. Revises provisions of the Federal criminal code governing the full faith and credit of protection orders. Designates State, local, and Indian tribal courts as eligible grantees under the program to combat violent crimes against women. Reauthorizes through FY 2005 various programs which address violence against women, including domestic violence and stalking offenses. Title II: Strengthening Services to Victims of Violence - Authorizes the AG to award grants to increase the availability of legal assistance to victims of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault. Reauthorizes through FY 2005 various grants and programs under the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act. Title III: Limiting the Effects of Violence on Children - Authorizes the AG to make grants to States, local governments, and Indian tribal governments for the provision of supervised visitation and safe visitation exchange of children by and between parents in situations involving domestic violence, child abuse, or sexual assault. Reauthorizes through FY 2005 runaway and homeless youth grants and programs for victims of child abuse. Title IV: Strengthening Education and Training to Combat Violence Against Women - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants for model programs of education and training in appropriate responses to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Title V: Battered Immigrant Women - Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act of 2000 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide certain protections to battered immigrant women. Title VI: Extension of Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund - Extends through FY 2005 the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund.
Bill· SS. 2788 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2000
Reading Research Dissemination and Implementation Act - Directs the Assistant Secretary of Education for Educational Research and Improvement (of the Department of Education) and the Director of the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) (of the Department of Health and Human Services) to jointly convene a Strategic Planning Team (SPT) to develop a plan for dissemination of research on reading. Directs the SPT to submit to the Secretary of Education a plan that determines and identifies: (1) the extent to which current teacher preparation for both preservice and inservice training incorporates NRP findings, and how barriers to such incorporation can be changed to integrate such findings into programs to educate and certify teachers; (2) deficiencies in instructional materials, and how materials might be designed to correct deficiencies in ways that reflect NRP findings; (3) whether there are barriers in Federal and State policies that would preclude appropriate adoption of NRP findings; and (4) specific strategies for collaboration among businesses, public schools, teacher education programs, university and college administrators, and teacher-parent collaborations to guide and ensure that evidence-based instructional practices are implemented in teacher preparation, classroom instruction, and Federal and State policies. Directs the Secretary of Education to implement such plan.
Bill· HRH.R. 4745 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2000
John H. Chafee Environmental Education Act of 2000 - Amends the National Environmental Education Act to rename it the John H. Chafee Environmental Education Act (the Act). (Sec. 4) Requires the Office of Environmental Education (OEE), within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to: (1) develop and support balanced and scientifically sound programs; and (2) provide for implementation of the Act through the headquarters and regional offices of the EPA. Eliminates provisions for: (1) OEE administration of environmental internship and fellowship programs (internship programs are eliminated and fellowship program administration is transferred elsewhere later in this Act); (2) an OEE Director who is a member of the Senior Executive Service; and (3) a minimum of six full-time equivalent employees on the OEE headquarters staff (retains the maximum of ten). Authorizes the EPA Administrator to carry out OEE activities directly or through awards of grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts. (Sec. 5) Requires the environmental education and training program funded under the Act to be of sufficient intensity and duration to have a positive and lasting impact on program participants. (Sec. 6) Revises requirements for environmental education grants to authorize design, demonstration, or dissemination of: (1) education and training programs to support the development of more environmentally effective business practices and employees; and (2) employ the environment as an integrating context for education in science, mathematics, social studies and language arts. Requires that 25 percent of program funds be for grants of not more than $10,000 (currently $5,000). Prohibits environmental education grants from being used to support lobbying activities. Requires the EPA Science Advisory Board to review and approve the guidance before the EPA Administrator issues any guidance to grant applicants. (Sec. 7) Directs the EPA Administrator to establish and administer the John H. Chafee Memorial Fellowship Program for the award and administration of five annual one-year graduate education fellowships in environmental sciences. (Eliminates provisions for OEE-administered environmental internships and fellowships.) Provides that such Fellowships are to stimulate innovative graduate level study and the development of expertise in complex, relevant, and important environmental issues and effective approaches to addressing those issues through organized programs of guided independent study and environmental research. Requires each $25,000 Fellowship to be made available to individual candidates to attend a sponsoring institution of higher education through an annual competitive selection process. Requires each Fellowship to focus on: (1) resource management; (2) open space preservation; (3) international environmental issues such as global climate change and sustainable marine resources; or (4) any other environmental issue that a sponsoring institution determines to be appropriate. Directs the National Environmental Education Advisory Council to establish selection process criteria, receive and review applications, and select Fellowship recipients. (Sec. 8) Revises and renames certain national environmental education awards. (Eliminates awards named for Theodore Roosevelt, Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson, and Gifford Pinchot.) Changes from discretionary to mandatory the authority of the EPA Administrator to establish the (renamed) President's Environmental Education Youth Achievement Awards program, for young people in grades six through 12 (currently kindergarten through grade 12). Changes from discretionary to mandatory the authority of the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality to establish the (renamed) President's Environmental Education Teacher Achievement Awards program, for elementary and secondary school teachers and their local educational agencies (and continues to authorize cash awards under such program). Directs the EPA Administrator to establish a new program of President's Environmental Education Business Achievement Awards, to recognize outstanding achievements by a business or industry in improving business environmental performance through training and education programs. (Sec. 9) Revises requirements for the National Environmental Education Advisory Council and for the Federal Task Force on Environmental Education. Directs the EPA Administrator to appoint to the Advisory Council a representative of the National Environmental Learning Foundation, and up to ten additional members to represent specified sectors of education. Revises requirements for Advisory Council meetings and reports. Opens membership on the Task Force to representatives of any Federal agency actively engaged in environmental education. (Sec. 10) Renames the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation as the National Environmental Learning Foundation. Increases the number of directors on the Foundation's Board. Allows the Foundation to acknowledge receipt of donations by listing the names of donors (including a logo, letterhead, or other commercial symbol) in materials it distributes; but prohibits such acknowledgment from appearing in educational material presented to students. (Sec. 11) Establishes accountability requirements. Directs the EPA Administrator to establish indicators of program quality, meeting specified minimum requirements, for programs and activities funded under the Act (other than fellowship awards). Requires entities that receive grants or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements under the Act (other than fellowship awards) to establish benchmarks of performance on such indicators of program quality and report annually to the EPA Administrator. (Sec. 12) Extends through FY 2006 the authorization of appropriations to EPA to carry out the Act. Allows funds under the Act to be made available to the National Environmental Learning Foundation to match contributions made by private persons and State and local governments.
Bill· HRH.R. 4759 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 June 2000
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel Act of 2000 - Title I: Personnel Matters - Revises pay adjustment authority for nurses employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs to require the director of such Department health-care facility to use third-party industry wage surveys in making such adjustments. Prohibits any adjustment from reducing the rate of basic pay applicable to any nurse grade. Prohibits a director, in determining whether to carry out an adjustment, from considering the absence of a current recruitment or retention problem for personnel in that position. Authorizes the Department's Under Secretary for Health to modify any adjustment determination made by a facility director. Makes annual (currently terminated in 1993) a reporting requirement from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the congressional veterans' committees regarding such pay adjustments. Requires the Under Secretary to ensure that: (1) the director of a geographic service area, in formulating policy for the provision of patient care, consult regularly with a senior nurse executive(s); and (2) the director of a health-care facility include a registered nurse on any committee providing recommendations or decisions on medical center operations or policies affecting clinical services, clinical outcomes, budget, or resources. (Sec. 102) Increases the special pay for dentists for: (1) full-time status; (2) completing a post-graduate year of accredited hospital-based training; (3) length-of-service pay; (4) scarce specialty pay; (5) service in a geographic location in which there exists extraordinary difficulties in the recruitment and retention of qualified dentists; and (6) service in certain executive positions. Credits toward civil service retirement calculations 25 percent of the special pay for length-of-service pay for each two years that the dentist completes as a dentist in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). (Sec. 103) Exempts VHA pharmacists from a required ceiling on special salary rates for certain VHA health professionals. (Sec. 104) Requires a physician assistant with appropriate experience to advise the Under Secretary on all matters relating to the utilization and employment of VHA physician assistants. (Sec. 105) Revises generally provisions regarding the temporary appointment of graduates of physician assistant training programs. Title II: Construction Authorization - Authorizes the Secretary to carry out major medical facility projects at Department medical centers in Palo Alto, California, Miami, Florida, and Long Beach, California. (Sec. 202) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 and 2002 for the Construction, Major Projects, account for such projects. Title III: Military Service Issues - Directs the Secretary to ensure that: (1) a protocol is used in any clinical evaluation of a patient to identify pertinent military experiences and exposures that may contribute to the health of the patient; and (2) such information is included in the patient's medical records. Requires a report from the Secretary to the veterans' committees on the feasibility and desirability of using a computer-based system in conducting such evaluations. (Sec. 302) Directs the Secretary to contract with an appropriate entity to conduct a follow-up study on post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. Requires a report to the veterans' committees. Title IV: Medical Administration Matters - Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a program in not more than four geographically dispersed areas to improve access to and coordination of inpatient care of eligible veterans. Authorizes the Secretary, under such program to pay the cost of hospital care and medical services furnished on an inpatient basis in a non-Department hospital to a veteran participant. Makes eligible for the program a veteran who: (1) is enrolled to receive medical services from a nearby Department outpatient clinic; (2) requires such care and services for a non-service-connected condition and could not receive such care and services from a Department clinic; and (3) elects to receive such care and services under an entitled health plan. Requires two report from the Secretary to the veterans' committees on program implementation and operation. (Sec. 402) Authorizes the payment of veterans' disability compensation for veterans who are disabled during participation in a compensated work therapy program. (Sec. 403) Extends through December 31, 2005, the authority of the Secretary to establish nonprofit research and education corporations. (Sec. 404) Authorizes the Secretary to furnish temporary lodging in Fisher houses (guest houses) or other appropriate facilities, in connection with the examination, care, and treatment of a veteran, to: (1) a veteran who must travel a significant distance to receive such care and treatment; and (2) a family member and others who accompany such veteran and provide familial support. Authorizes the Secretary to establish charges for such lodging. (Sec. 405) Extends through 2004 an annual reporting requirement describing activities of the Committee on Care of Severely Chronically Mentally Ill Veterans. (Sec. 406) Excludes from the right of the Department to recover certain costs from a State for veterans' care facilities not so used for at least 20 years the establishment and operation of an outpatient clinic at such a facility. (Sec. 407) Prohibits the Secretary from entering into an enhanced-use lease of Department property until 90 days after notifying the veterans' committees of the intention to designate property for such use. (Sec. 409) Designates the outpatient clinic in Rome, New York, as the Donald J. Mitchell Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic. (Sec. 410) Directs the Secretary to release a reversionary interest in certain real property in Johnson City, Tennessee, previously transferred to the State of Tennessee.
Bill· HRH.R. 4735 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2000
Wartime Parity and Justice Act of 2000 - Allows certain individuals of Japanese ancestry who were brought forcibly to the United States from countries in Latin America during World War II and interned in the United States to be provided restitution under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. (Sec. 3) Declares that the United States apologizes to such individuals for the fundamental violations of their basic civil liberties and constitutional rights. Urges the President to transmit to each such individual a personal letter of apology on behalf of the United States. (Sec. 4) Places upon the Attorney General responsibility to identify and locate eligible individuals under this Act within 12 months. Authorizes any eligible individual to notify the Attorney General that the individual is eligible and provide documentation to that effect within six years. Directs the Attorney General to make a final determination of eligibility within one year after locating or receiving notification from an individual. Authorizes judicial review of a denial of compensation. Permits an individual covered by this Act who has accepted payment on a related claim against the United States before this Act's enactment to receive an appropriately reduced payment under this Act. (Sec. 5) Directs that: (1) individuals covered by this Act not be considered to have been present in the United States unlawfully during the evacuation, relocation, or internment period; and (2) each U.S. department or agency correct any records that indicate that such individuals were in the United States unlawfully. (Sec. 6) Directs: (1) the appropriate agencies to disclose to the public all information relating to the forcible removal of individuals from Latin America and their internment in the United States during that period; and (2) the President to share such information with other countries and to encourage those countries to make that information available to people in those countries. (Sec. 7) Reestablishes in the Treasury the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund to be available for such restitution. (Sec. 8) Establishes the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund Board of Directors which shall be responsible for making disbursements from the Fund: (1) to sponsor research and public education activities; and (2) for reasonable administrative expenses.
Bill· HRH.R. 4734 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2000
Military Deployment Health Research Act of 2000 - Title I: National Center for Military Deployment Health Research - Establishes the National Center for Military Deployment Health Research to coordinate and conduct private and public research on deployment-related health issues of members of the armed forces, veterans, and their families. Requires the Center to report to the Military and Veterans Health Coordinating Board, established by prior presidential directive. Requires the Research Working Group of such Board to be disestablished, and their functions assumed by the Center. Establishes a Center Governing Board. Requires the Center's research activities to include Federal research programs as well as Center-initiated research. Requires an annual Center activities report from the Governing Board to Congress. Title II: Centers for Research on Post-Deployment Illnesses in Department of Veterans Affairs - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and operate centers for research, education, and clinical activities related to post-deployment illnesses, designating such centers as National Centers for Military Post-Deployment Illness Research. Defines a "post-deployment illness" as one having an association or relation to a military mission, including a peacekeeping mission. Allows the designation of no more than 25 centers, and requires geographical diversity of such centers. Requires the Under Secretary for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a peer review panel to assess the scientific and clinical merit of proposals submitted for center designation. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2779 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2000
American Community Renewal and New Markets Empowerment Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, the National Housing Act, the Small Business Investment Act, the Public Health Service Act and other acts to provide incentives for low- and moderate-income community development. Provides for the designation of and tax incentives for renewal communities. Provides that the designations shall be based on degree of poverty. Provides a credit for computer donations to schools, senior centers, public libraries and other training centers located in a renewal community, empowerment zone, Indian reservation, or a defined low-income community. Provides for the designation of additional empowerment zones and increased empowerment zone tax incentives. Permits a religious organization to receive Federal funding through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Prohibits funding discrimination against such an organization so long as its program is implemented in a manner consistent with the Establishment Clause of the first amendment to the Constitution. Provides for the transfer of unoccupied and substandard HUD housing to local governments and community development corporations. Authorizes the licensing of community development entities as America's Private Investment Companies which shall promote community and economic development in low-income communities. Establishes a new markets tax credit with respect to specified qualified low-income community investments. Establishes a New Markets Capital Venture Program to encourage venture capital investment in smaller enterprises located in low- and moderate-income urban and rural areas. Provides for bond volume cap and low-income housing credit increases. Provides for the establishment of Individual Development Accounts and Individual Development Account Programs to provide for the accumulation of assets in low-income communities to used to promote education, homeownership, family, community, and business development. Requires the Federal Government, or a State or local government, to consider a religious organization's assistance program on the same basis as other nongovernmental organizations in the distribution of Federal funds so long as the religious organization's assistance program provides assistance in a manner consistent with the Establishment Clause of the first amendment to the Constitution.
Bill· SS. 2770 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2000
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to suspend, through December 31, 2002, the duty on electrical machines and apparatus principally designed for the education of children.
Bill· SS. 2759 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2000
Amends the Illinois Land Conservation Act of 1995 to require the Secretary of the Treasury to make available to the State of Illinois a quarter of certain monies collected with respect to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Illinois, for expenditure for the benefit of public schools and roads in the vicinity of the Prairie.
Bill· SS. 2762 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2000
Saving Humanities, Arts, and Resources for Education Networking Act of 2000 (SHARE Net Act) - Expresses the sense of Congress that, following the principle of the Morrill Acts that public assets be used for broadening public education, the resources available through the auction of the analog spectrum should be tapped to fund the development of a new educational and cultural infrastructure that utilizes today's technologies to expand the reach and impact of existing high-quality community educational resources. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to carry out a SHARE Net Grant program to develop a comprehensive, accessible, high-tech infrastructure of educational and cultural resources for nonprofit institutions, individuals, and others for educational purposes through a systematic effort to coordinate, link, and enhance existing specialized resources and expertise in public and private cultural and educational institutions. Allows such grants to be made to partnerships with at least three organizations from at least three of these categories: (1) institutions of a higher education; (2) libraries; (3) public radio and television stations; (4) museums; (5) arts and cultural institutions; (6) State educational agencies; (7) local educational agencies; and (8) public interest, not-for-profit organizations. Sets forth mandatory and permissible uses of grant funds, and application and matching funds requirements. Requires grant award priority to be given to partnerships that: (1) serve a low-income community; or (2) have a membership that is broadly representative of the region or State to be served. Authorizes appropriations.
Law· SS. 2749 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 19 June 2000
California Trail Interpretive Act - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish the California Trail Interpretive Center for the purpose of interpreting the history of development and use of the California Trail in the settling of the West. Prescribes implementation guidelines, requiring the Secretary to: (1) consider the findings of the master plan study for such Center in Elko, Nevada; and (2) initiate a Center development plan. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2740 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2000
Savings Accounts Are Valuable for Everyone Act of 2000 - Title I: Qualified Individual Development Accounts for Low-Income Workers - Allows any qualified financial institution or qualified nonprofit organization to establish one or more qualified individual development account (IDA) programs which meet the requirements of this Act. Requires each qualified IDA program to consist of: (1) an IDA to which an eligible individual contributes money; and (2) a tax-exempt parallel account for receiving matching funds. (Sec. 101) Limits qualified IDA programs to those in which at least one third of the IDAs under such program are owned by eligible individuals each of whom is a member of a household whose gross income does not exceed 50 percent of the area median income. (Sec. 102) Sets forth procedures for opening an IDA and qualifying for IDA matching funds. Requires completion of a financial education course before holders of IDAs are eligible to withdraw matching funds to pay for qualified expenses. (Sec. 103) Provides that except in the case of a qualified rollover, individual contributions to an IDA will not be accepted for the taxable year in excess of the lesser of the following: (1) $2,000; or (2) an amount equal to the compensation includible in the individual's gross income for such taxable year. (Sec. 104) Requires the qualified financial institution or qualified nonprofit organization to deposit all matching funds for each IDA into a parallel account, which shall earn not less than the market rate of interest. Requires the qualified financial institution or qualified nonprofit organization to deposit not less than quarterly into the parallel account with respect to each eligible individual: (1) a dollar-for-dollar match for the first $500 the eligible individual contributes into an IDA with respect to any taxable year; and (2) any matching funds provided by State, local, or private sources in accordance to the matching ratio set by those sources. (Sec. 105) Outlines withdrawal procedures for qualified (higher education, first-time home-buyer, business capitalization, rollovers) and for nonqualified expenses. Excludes from an eligible individual's gross income any amount withdrawn from a parallel account. (Sec. 107) Authorizes appropriations for monitoring IDA programs. (Sec. 108) Disregards funds in parallel accounts of IDA account program participants for purposes of certain means-tested Federal programs. Title II: Qualified Individual Development Account Program Investment Credits - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to a qualified taxpayer that is: (1) a qualified financial institution; or (2) neither a qualified financial institution nor the individual owning an IDA. Allows for such a qualified taxpayer a credit (determined according to a specified formula) against both the income tax (with certain exceptions) and the employer's excise tax for old age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) for matching contributions to an eligible individual's qualified IDA program investment for the taxable year. (Sec. 205) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer from the general fund of the Treasury to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund amounts equivalent to the reduction in the employer's OASDI taxes by reason of the tax credit relating to the qualified IDA program investment credit. (Sec. 202) Prohibits qualified financial institutions which establish qualified IDA programs from receiving credit for funding, administration, and education expenses under any test contained in regulations for the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 for those activities and related expenses and taken into account for purposes of the qualified IDA program investment tax credit. (Sec. 203) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for designation of earned income tax credit payments for deposit to IDAs. Title III: Modification of IRA Contribution Limit - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from $2,000 to $3,500 the annual limit on deductible IRA contributions.
Bill· HRH.R. 4683 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2000
International Patent Act of 2000 - Makes the Director of the Patent and Trademark Office responsible for: (1) establishing in the Office of a US-GSP International Country Notification Office which shall provide notification of the issuance of patents that are valid both under U.S. laws and a Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) country (beneficiary country) with which the United States has entered into an agreement (providing for the issuance and notification of patents); (2) ensuring that patents that are to be valid under the laws of a GSP country and the United States be issued according to standards applicable to U.S. patents; and (3) ensuring that all examination and search duties for the grant of a patent that is to be valid under U.S. law and the laws of a GSP country are performed by U.S. patent examiners in the Office. Directs the Secretary of State to enter into negotiations with each GSP country desiring issuance of patents pursuant to this Act to conclude an agreement with such country providing for the issuance and notification of such patents. Requires the Director of the Office to establish a trust fund for each GSP country with which the United States has an agreement in order to assist such country in establishing or enhancing the patent system in that country. Requires the United States to make available computer search facilities containing the patent data base of the Office in each eligible GSP country. Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to provide information to eligible GSP countries on the steps required to create a small business based on a patent issued to an individual or small business pursuant to this Act. Directs the U.S. Agency for International Development to use funds to develop and implement a program to provide instruction to eligible GSP countries in the methods of structuring a patent system to enhance economic development, including demonstrating the benefits that can accrue to universities and other institutions from acquiring intellectual property rights on the product of their search.
Bill· HRH.R. 4675 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 June 2000
USDA Accountability and Equity Act of 2000 - Title I: Improved Accountability of County and Area Committees and Their Employees - Amends the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to increase the size of the county committees by two members who shall be: (1) appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; and (2) demographically representative of local producers. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary to prescribe uniform guidelines for conducting county and area committee elections. (Sec. 103) Provides for the conversion of permanent and temporary county committee employees to Federal civil service status. Title II: Improved Program Equity - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 respecting the environmental quality incentives program to: (1) increase program funding; (2) reduce the livestock set-aside; and (3) give priority to, establish set-asides, and waive cost-share requirements for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. (Sec. 202) Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to make permanent appropriations for 1890 land grant college grants. (Sec. 203) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to make permanent appropriations for: (1) outreach and technical assistance programs for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers; and (2) Indian reservation extension education programs. (Sec. 205) Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to make permanent appropriations for farm operating and ownership loans.
Bill· HRH.R. 4667 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2000
Directs the Secretary of Education to appoint a national commission, including representatives from both the public and private sectors, to study the development, creation, and operation of a national education museum and archive.
Bill· HRH.R. 4660 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2000
Military Recruiter Secondary Schools Access Act of 2000 - Amends Federal armed forces provisions to deny Federal educational assistance funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) denying access of military recruiters to secondary school students, or to student directory information, for military recruiting purposes. Requires the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to maintain a list of LEAs denying such access. Provides that, if an LEA denies such access, the Secretary of the military department concerned shall provide for an officer to meet with representatives of such LEA to attempt to arrange such access. Provides that, if such LEA continues to deny such access, then the Secretary shall transmit to the Chief Executive of such State a notification of the denial of recruiting access and a request for assistance in obtaining such access. Provides that if, after the above process, an LEA continues to deny such access, the Secretary shall: (1) determine whether such LEA denies such access to at least two of the armed forces; and (2) upon an affirmative determination, include such LEA on the maintained list. Amends the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2000 to repeal an exception for student financial assistance from a ban on Federal grants and contracts to institutions of higher education denying access to Reserve Officers' Training Corps or other military recruiters.
Bill· HRH.R. 4661 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 14 June 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of the Treasury, on request from the Secretary of Education, to disclose to officers and employees of the Department of Education return information with respect to a taxpayer who has submitted to the Secretary of Education the common financial reporting form prescribed under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Requires such return information to be limited to: (1) taxpayer identity information with respect to such taxpayer; (2) the filing status of such taxpayer, and (3) the adjusted gross income of such taxpayer.
Bill· SS. 2720 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2000
Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 - Title I: Department of Transportation - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 (with specified transfers of funds, limitations on obligations and administrative expenses, and liquidations and rescissions of contract authorizations) for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation; (2) the Coast Guard; (3) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); (4) the Federal Highway Administration (FHA); (5) the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration; (6) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; (7) the Federal Railroad Administration; (8) the Federal Transit Administration; (9) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation; (10) the Research and Special Programs Administration; (11) the Office of Inspector General; and (12) the Surface Transportation Board. Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; and (2) the National Transportation Safety Board. Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth specified prohibitions, limitations, permissions, and mandates with respect to the use of appropriations under this Act identical or similar to those enacted in the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 (P.L. 106-69). (Sec. 303) Makes funds appropriated under this Act for FAA expenditures available for: (1) expenses of primary and secondary schooling for dependents of FAA personnel stationed outside the continental United States at costs for any given area not in excess of those of the Department of Defense for the same area, when it is determined that the schools, if any, available in the locality are unable to provide adequately for the education of such dependents; and (2) transportation of such dependents between schools serving the area that they attend and their places of residence when it is determined that such schools are not accessible by public means of transportation on a regular basis. (Sec. 305) Bars the availability of funds under this Act for salaries and expenses of more than 104 political and Presidential appointees in the Department of Transportation. (Sec. 309) Prohibits a recipient of funds made available under this Act from disseminating: (1) driver's license personal information or motor vehicle records for any purpose not permitted under specified law; and (2) a person's driver license photograph, social security number, and medical or disability information from a motor vehicle record without the express consent of the person, except as permitted under specified law. Declares that such requirements shall not affect the use of organ donation information on the individual's driver license or affect the administration of organ donation initiatives in the States. (Sec. 313) Bars the use of funds under this Act to establish a vessel traffic safety fairway less than five miles wide between the Santa Barbara Traffic Separation Scheme and the San Francisco Traffic Separation Scheme. (Sec. 314) Authorizes airports to transfer to the FAA, without consideration, instrument landing systems (along with associated approach lighting equipment and runway visual range equipment) which conform to FAA design and performance specifications and which were purchased with airport development grant funds. (Sec. 318) Bars the use of funds under this Act to compensate in excess of 320 technical staff-years under the federally funded research and development center contract between the FAA and the Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development during FY 2001. (Sec. 319) Reduces the amount of funds provided in this Act for the Transportation Administrative Service Center (TASC). Authorizes appropriations for projects involving construction of, and improvements to, corridors of the Appalachian Development Highway System. (Sec. 323) Bars the use of funds, unless authorized by Congress, to pay for specified lobbying activities with respect to a Member of Congress or a State legislature. Permits DOT or related agency employees to communicate to Members of Congress or to a State legislature with respect to requests for legislation or appropriations which they deem necessary for the efficient conduct of business. (Sec. 324) Prohibits expenditure of funds made available under this Act by any entity that does not agree to comply with the Buy American Act. Expresses the sense of Congress that entities receiving assistance under this Act should purchase only U.S.-made equipment and products to the greatest extent practicable. Prohibits the use of funds for contracts with persons falsely labeling products as made in America. (Sec. 328) Authorizes appropriations for expenses of the Amtrak Reform Council for FY 2002. Includes within the duties of such Council the identification of Amtrak routes which are candidates for closure or realignment based on performance rankings developed by Amtrak which incorporate information on each route's fully allocated costs and ridership on core intercity passenger service, and which assume that Federal subsidies for Amtrak will decline from FY 1999 to FY 2002. (Sec. 330) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for FY 2001 for activities under the Aircraft Purchase Loan Guarantee Program. (Sec. 331) Amends the Federal Transit Act of 1998 to increase from 50 percent to 90 percent the Federal share of costs with respect to grants for increasing over-the-road bus service accessibility to persons with disabilities (particularly in rural areas). (Sec. 332) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to execute a demonstration program of the "fractional ownership" concept in performing administrative support flight missions in order to determine whether cost savings, as well as increased operational flexibility and aircraft availability, can be realized through the use by the government of such concept. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report to the Committees on Appropriations on the results of such evaluation. (Sec. 333) Bars the use of funds in this Act to make a grant unless the Secretary of Transportation notifies the Committees on Appropriations not less than three full business days before any discretionary grant award, letter of intent, or full funding grant agreement totaling $1 million or more is announced by the Department of Transportation or its modal administrations from: (1) any discretionary grant program of the FHA other than the emergency relief program; (2) the FAA airport improvement program; or (3) any FTA program other than the formula grants and fixed guideway modernization programs. (Sec. 334) Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to add the Wilmington Downtown transit corridor and the Honolulu Bus Rapid Transit project to the list of projects for new fixed guideway systems and extensions to existing systems. (Sec. 336) Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to direct the Secretary of Transportation to study, and report to Congress on, the maximum axle weight limitations applicable to vehicles using the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways as they apply to over-the-road buses and public transit vehicles. (Sec. 337) Bars the use of funds appropriated under this Act to propose or issue regulations or orders for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol (adopted on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan at the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) which has not been submitted to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification and has not been entered into force. (Sec. 340) Bars the use of funds in this Act to adopt guidelines or regulations requiring airport sponsors to provide to the FAA without cost building construction, maintenance, utilities and expenses, or space in airport sponsor-owned buildings for services relating to air traffic control, air navigation or weather reporting. Provides that such prohibition does not apply to negotiations between the FAA and airport sponsors to achieve agreement on "below-market" rates for such items or to grant assurances that require airport sponsors to provide land without cost to the FAA for ATC facilities. (Sec. 341) Bars the availability of funds under this Act or prior Appropriations Acts for Coast Guard acquisition, construction, and improvements after the 15th of any quarter of any fiscal year beginning after December 31, 1999, unless the Commandant of the Coast Guard first reports quarterly to the Committees on Appropriations on all major Coast Guard acquisition projects executed for it by the U.S. Navy and vessel traffic service projects. (Sec. 342) Amends Federal transportation law to require the Secretary of Transportation to withhold five percent of the funds authorized for Federal aid highway programs for FY 2004, and ten percent of such amounts for subsequent fiscal years, from any State that has not enacted and is not enforcing a law that considers as intoxicated an individual who has an alcohol concentration level of 0.08 percent or greater while operating a motor vehicle in such State. Allows funds withheld from a State during FY 2004 to be available for up to three fiscal years after such date (to allow a State to meet such requirement within such period), but allows no grace period with respect to funds withheld during subsequent fiscal years. (Sec. 343) Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to waive, without charge, any terms contained in the deed conveying U.S. lands to a public institution of higher education in Oklahoma that restrict the use of such land that, as of the date of enactment of this Act, is not being used for the operation of an airport or for air traffic.
Bill· HRH.R. 4648 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2000
Congressional Hunger Fellows Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to award a grant to the Congressional Hunger Center to enable it to establish Bill Emerson and Mickey Leland Hunger Fellowships to address hunger and other humanitarian needs in the United States and internationally, respectively. Authorizes appropriations.
Law· HRH.R. 4635 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2000
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and for sundry independent agencies. Title I: Department of Veterans Affairs - Makes appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs for: (1) veterans' compensation, pensions, and readjustment benefits; (2) veterans' insurance and indemnities; (3) veterans' housing, education, and vocational rehabilitation loan accounts; (4) veterans' medical care; (5) medical and prosthetic research; (6) medical administration; (7) departmental administration; (8) the National Cemetery Administration; (9) the Office of Inspector General; (10) construction; (11) the parking revolving fund; and (12) grants to States for construction of extended care facilities and cemeteries. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds made available under this title. (Sec. 112) Repeals a provision of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that makes inapplicable a certain requirement that veterans' benefits be paid on the Friday immediately preceding a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday in the case of benefit payments otherwise payable on Sunday, October 1, 2000. Title II: Department of Housing and Urban Development - Makes appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for: (1) public and Indian housing; (2) the Public Housing Capital and Operating Funds; (3) drug elimination grants for low-income housing; (4) revitalization of severely distressed public housing; (5) Native American housing block grants; (6) Indian housing loan guarantees; (7) housing opportunities for persons with AIDS; (8) the Office of Rural Housing and Economic Development; (9) the community development fund; (10) brownfields redevelopment; (11) the HOME investment partnerships program; (12) homeless assistance grants; (13) housing for special populations; (14) the Federal Housing Administration; (15) the Government National Mortgage Association; (16) housing policy development and research; (17) fair housing activities; (18) the Lead Hazard Reduction Program; (19) management and administration; (20) the Office of Inspector General; and (21) carrying out the Federal Housing Enterprise Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds made available under this title. (Sec. 203) Requires the Secretary of HUD, from amounts made available under this title for FY 2001 for housing opportunities for persons with AIDS, to make a grant for any State that: (1) received an allocation in a prior fiscal year due to having a specified number of AIDS cases outside of a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with a population exceeding 500,000; and (2) is not otherwise eligible for a FY 2001 allocation because the areas outside the MSAs that qualify for funding do not have the number of AIDS cases required. (Sec. 206) Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to require the Secretary of HUD to establish criteria setting forth requirements for treatment of areas as difficult utilization areas with respect to Section 8 vouchers under low-income housing provisions. Authorizes public housing agencies that serve such areas to: (1) increase the payment standard applicable to the area for any size of dwelling unit to up to 150 percent of the fair market rental for the same size of unit in the same market area; and (2) use amounts provided for Section 8 assistance to make payments or provide services to assist families issued such vouchers to lease suitable housing, with a specified cost limitation. Title III: Independent Agencies - Makes appropriations for: (1) the American Battle Monuments Commission; (2) the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; (3) the Department of the Treasury for community development financial institutions; (4) the Consumer Product Safety Commission; (5) the Office of Inspector General; (6) the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; (7) the Department of Defense for Army cemeterial expenses; (8) the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for carrying out specified activities under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA); and (9) the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for carrying out specified activities under CERCLA, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, and the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Appropriates funds for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for: (1) science and technology activities; (2) environmental programs and management; (3) the Office of Inspector General; (4) buildings and facilities; (5) Superfund; (6) the leaking underground storage tank program; (7) oil spill response programs; and (8) assistance to States and Indian tribes for environmental programs and infrastructure. Appropriates funds for: (1) the Executive Office of the President for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Office of Environmental Quality; and (2) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General. Makes appropriations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for: (1) disaster relief; (2) disaster assistance direct loans; (3) salaries and expenses; (4) the Office of Inspector General; (5) emergency management planning and assistance; (6) a specified emergency food and shelter program; (7) the Flood Map Modernization Fund; (8) the National Flood Insurance Fund; and (9) the National Flood Mitigation Fund. Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to extend through FY 2001: (1) a certain ceiling on obligations issued under the national flood insurance program; and (2) the authorization of appropriations for certain studies. Makes appropriations for: (1) the General Services Administration for the Federal Consumer Information Center; (2) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for human space flight, science, aeronautics, and technology research and development, mission support, and the Office of Inspector General; (3) the National Credit Union Administration's Central Liquidity Facility; (4) the National Science Foundation for research, major construction projects, science and engineering education and human resources programs, salaries and expenses, and the Office of Inspector General; (5) the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; and (6) the Selective Service System. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title. Title IV: General Provisions - Sets forth provisions regarding availability, and prohibitions on the use, of funds appropriated by this Act. Expresses the sense of Congress that equipment and products purchased with funds made available in this Act should be American-made. (Sec. 421) Prohibits the obligation or expenditure of any of the funds provided in title II of this Act for technical assistance, training, or management improvements unless HUD provides a description of each proposed activity and a detailed budget estimate of costs as part of the budget justifications to the Appropriations Committees. (Sec. 425) Bars the obligation or expenditure of funds provided in title III of this Act to support joint research programs between the Air Force and NASA, specifically the activities of the AF-NASA Council on Aeronautics and the AFSPC-NRO-NASA Partnership Council.
Bill· HRH.R. 4637 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 12 June 2000
Summerlin Land Exchange Act of 2000 - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the Howard Hughes Corporation specified Federal lands that lie in the bajada between Summerlin and the base of the ridge of hills east of Blue Diamond Ridge to include the small valley at the base of the Blue Mountain Ridge in Clark County, Nevada, in exchange for: (1) certain Corporation lands in Nevada; and (2) specified payments by the Corporation to the State of Nevada for use in its general education program and to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for water treatment and transmission facility infrastructure. Provides that such payments shall be considered to be a cost incurred by the Corporation and shall be compensated by the Secretary.
Bill· HRH.R. 4631 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2000
Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy Act of 2000 - Establishes at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy to promote leadership and management training and policy analysis for Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and others involved in tribal leadership and management. Directs the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation to award grants to the Center to provide startup funding for the Institute (conditioned on a 25 percent match from other sources). Requires the Foundation's Board of Trustees to approve the annual budget of the Institute. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 4620 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2000
Riverside School for the Arts Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of Education to award a matching grant to a Partnership for the costs of the design, construction, furnishing, and equipping of the Riverside School for the Arts, to be located at a site to be determined by the Riverside Community College District, within the City of Riverside, California. Requires the Partnership to: (1) consist of the Riverside Community College, the University of California at Riverside, and the Riverside County Office of Education; and (2) execute a memorandum of understanding concerning construction timelines and program development phases. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 4634 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2000
Women's Health Environmental Research Centers Act of 2000 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to make grants for the development and operation of not more than six centers to conduct multidisciplinary research on environmental factors that may be related to the development of women's health conditions. Requires each center to conduct basic and clinical research, develop training protocols, conduct training, develop model continuing education programs, and disseminate information to professionals and the public, with priority to prevention activities. Allows a center to use grant funds for stipends for health and allied health professionals in that training. Requires each center to: (1) collaborate with community organizations; and (2) use the facilities of a single institution or be formed from a consortium of institutions. Limits support to five years but allows extensions if recommended by a technical and scientific peer review group appointed by the Institute's director. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 4600 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2000
Children's Internet Protection Act - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to make an elementary or secondary school having computers with Internet access, or a library with one or more computers with Internet access, ineligible to receive universal services at discount rates unless the authority responsible for the administration of such school or library certifies to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that it: (1) has selected a technology for such computers which filters or blocks access to material that is obscene, child pornography, and material that is harmful to minors during computer use; and (2) is enforcing a policy to ensure the operation of such technology during any use of such computers by minors. Allows such authority to: (1) use a technology which filters other material deemed inappropriate for minors; and (2) disable such technology during adult use. Requires schools and libraries with filtering technology already installed to certify compliance with this Act during each annual program application cycle. Requires schools and libraries without such technology to certify during the first program year that they are undertaking the procurement of such technology, and for the second program year to certify that they are in compliance with such requirements. Makes any school or library which is unable to certify compliance in the second program year ineligible for universal services funding for that and any subsequent year until such school or library achieves certification (with a waiver if State or local rules or regulations or bidding requirements prevent the making of such certification). Makes each covered school or library not in compliance with such requirements ineligible for funding under the universal services support program and subject to enforcement actions by the FCC. Allows discounted universal service rates to be: (1) available only for services covered by FCC regulations on priorities for funding telecommunications services (including the Internet) that assign priority for available funds for the poorest schools; and (2) used for the purchase or acquisition of appropriate filtering or blocking products, but not for the purchase of unrelated software or other technology.
Bill· HRH.R. 4614 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2000
Nursing Staff Accountability and Training Improvement Act of 2000 - Title I: Information on Nursing Staff in Nursing Facilities - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require a skilled nursing facility (SNF) to submit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services nursing staff level data for purposes of determining whether adjusted payment amounts for inadequate staffing should be made to the facility. Require SNF standard surveys to include a review of the sufficiency and distribution of staffing in the SNF to meet the needs of residents. (Sec. 101) Require a SNF to submit to the Secretary cost reports using a standard, uniform cost reporting form developed to enable the Secretary to: (1) assess amounts of direct patient care furnished by the SNF nursing staff; and (2) determine whether payments made for such care are appropriate. Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to require a State to carry out periodic audits of cost reports submitted by a nursing facility operating in the State. Directs the Secretary to study the feasibility of developing and administering a standardized, uniform cost reporting form for all nursing facilities furnishing services for which Medicaid payment is made. Establishes similar survey requirements with regard to nursing staffing levels. (Sec. 102) Amends SSA titles XVIII and XIX with regard to information on nurse staffing, requiring the Secretary to provide for Internet publication of certain survey information on nursing staff levels. Mandates penalties for failure to post required information. (Sec. 103) Amends SSA title XVIII to direct the Secretary to pay expenses incurred in the administration of State agency determination of service provider compliance with conditions of Medicare participation from funds in the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, in such amounts from each of such trust funds as the Secretary deems fair and equitable. (Sec. 104) Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on training of certified nurse aides. Title II: Grants to Improve Quality of Nursing Home and Long-Term Care - Directs the Secretary to award grants to a qualified entity to establish education and training programs for individuals who furnish direct resident care services in nursing facilities, including registered professional nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nurse aides. Authorizes grants to existing training programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 202) Requires the Secretary to award grants to qualified entities to provide for additional or advanced education and training of certified nursing aides who furnish services in the facility. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary to award grants to nursing facilities to establish programs to retain individuals who furnish direct resident care services in nursing facilities located in medically underserved areas, including registered professional nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nurse aides. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 204) Requires the Secretary to award grants to nursing facilities to establish model workplace safety programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 205) Directs the Secretary to provide for a demonstration project of grants to a limited number of States to implement innovative quality improvement models to improve the quality of care furnished to residents of nursing facilities. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 4606 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 8 June 2000
WISEWOMAN Expansion Act of 2000- Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to permit the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through a competitive review process, to award grants to States to provide additional specified preventive health services, screenings, education, and referrals under PHSA provisions concerning preventive health measures with respect to breast and cervical cancers. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2688 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2000
Native American Languages Act Amendments Act of 2000 - Amends the Native American Languages Act to authorize the Secretary of Education to provide funds to Native American Language Educational Organizations, Native American Language Colleges, Indian tribal governments, or a consortia of such organizations, colleges, or tribal governments to operate, expand, and increase Native American Language Survival Schools throughout the United States and its territories for Native American children and Native American language-speaking children. Allows a School receiving such funds to: (1) include Native American Language Nest programs and other educational programs for students who are not Native American language speakers but who seek to establish fluency through instruction in such a language or to re-establish fluency as descendants of such language speakers; (2) include a program of concurrent and summer college or university education course enrollment for secondary school students enrolled in Schools; and (3) provide special support for such languages for which there are very few or no remaining speakers. Authorizes the Secretary to provide funds to such entities for the purpose of: (1) developing comprehensive curricula in Native American language instruction and instruction through such languages; (2) developing community Native American language use in communities served by Schools; and (3) providing programs in pre-service and in-service teacher training, staff training, personnel development programs, programs to upgrade teacher and staff skills, and community resource development training that include a component which has as its objective increased Native American language speaking proficiency for teachers and staff employed in Schools and Nests. Authorizes the Secretary to provide to such entities: (1) that have demonstrated excellence in the capacity to operate and administer a School and to ensure the academic achievement of School students funds for endowment funds and the rental, lease, purchase, construction, maintenance, or repair of facilities for Schools; and (2) that demonstrate the potential to become such Organizations funds for establishing Nest programs. Authorizes the Secretary to provide funds to establish two specified demonstration programs that will provide assistance to Schools and Nests at: (1) Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikolani College of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, in consortium with the 'Aha Punana Leo, Inc., and other appropriate entities; and (2) the Alaska Native Language Center of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, in consortium with other appropriate entities. Authorizes such demonstration programs to employ synchronic and asynchronic telecommunications and other appropriate means to maintain coordination and cooperation with one another and with participating Schools and Nests. Requires such programs to provide direction to the Secretary in developing site visit evaluation of Schools and Nests. Authorizes such programs to: (1) establish endowments for furthering their activities relative to the study and preservation of Native American languages; and (2) use funds to provide for the rental, lease, purchase, construction, maintenance, and repair of facilities. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2692 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 June 2000
Imported Products Safety Improvement and Disease Prevention Act of 2000 - Title I: Improvements to the Product Safety Import System - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) to require any product imported into the United States to be prepared, packaged, and held under a system or conditions, or subject to measures, that meet safety requirements of the Act or that have been determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to be the equivalent to such a system and to achieve the level of public health protection required for products prepared in the United States. Requires the Secretary to develop a system to deny the entry of any product not covered by such a system. Prohibits the distribution of any imported product which has not been authorized by the Secretary. Requires the secure storage or destruction of certain imported products. Prohibits: (1) port shopping of products which have been refused admission; and (2) imports by debarred persons. Title II: Enforcement and Penalties for Importing Contaminated Products - Provides for the enforcement of penalties for the importing of contaminated products, including: (1) increased bonding requirements for prior offenders; and (2) the debarment of repeat and serious offenders. Title III: Improvements to Public Health Infrastructure and Awareness - Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make grants and provide technical assistance to eligible agencies to carry out activities relating to surveillance and prevention of pathogen- related disease borne in a covered product; and (2) conduct pathogen detection research and development, training, education, and public information.