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Bill· SS. 168 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Health Care Security Subtitle A: Universal Coverage and Individual Responsibility Subtitle B: Benefits Subtitle C: State Role in Reform Subtitle D: Expanded Access to Health Plans Subtitle E: Standards for Reform Subtitle F: Federal Responsibilities Subtitle G: Miscellaneous Employer Requirements Subtitle H: General Definitions; Miscellaneous Provisions Title II: New Benefits Subtitle A: Home and Community-Based Services Subtitle B: Life Care Subtitle C: Sense of the Committee with Regard to Prescription Drugs Title III: Public Health Initiatives Subtitle A: Workforce Priorities Under Federal Payments Subtitle B: Health Research Initiatives Subtitle C: Health Services for Medically Underserved Populations Subtitle D: Assistance for State Managed Mental Health and Substance Abuse Programs Subtitle E: Comprehensive School Health Education; School-Related Health Services Subtitle F: Public Health Service Initiative Title IV: Medical Malpractice Subtitle A: Liability Reform Subtitle B: Other Provisions Relating to Medical Malpractice Liability Title V: Fall-Back Premium Limits in Cases of Ineffective Competition; Premium-Based Financing; Assistance to Low Income Individuals and to Businesses Subtitle A: Fall-Back Premium Limits Subtitle B: Premium-Related Financings Subtitle C: Payments to Health Plans and Miscellaneous Provisions Subtitle D: Cost-Sharing Assistance, Application for Assistance and Premium Discounts, and Income Reconciliation Title VI: Aggregate Government Payments Subtitle A: Aggregate Federal Payments to Participating State Subtitle B: Borrowing Authority to Cover Cash-Flow Shortfalls Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions Affordable Health Care for All Americans Act - Title I: Health Care Security - Subtitle A: Universal Coverage and Individual Responsibility - Entitles each U.S. citizen or national, resident alien, and long-term nonimmigrant (except for individuals exempt from paying Social Security taxes and except for individuals eligible under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act)) to the benefits required under subtitle B. (Sec. 1004) Declares that: (1) subject to exception, the applicable health plan for a family is a community-rated plan for the community-rating area in which the family resides; and (2) the applicable health plan for a family member eligible to enroll in an experienced-rated (sic) plan is such an experienced-rated (sic) plan. Allows eligible individuals who are permitted to elect coverage under more than one plan to elect which will be the applicable plan. (Sec. 1005) Prohibits aliens who are not eligible individuals from obtaining benefits through enrollment under this Act. Allows benefits to lawful nonimmigrants (who are not long-term nonimmigrants) only in accordance with any reciprocal agreements between the United States and foreign States. (Sec. 1011) Requires, subject to exception, all members of the same family to be enrolled in the same applicable plan. Authorizes national rules regarding who will be treated as children under this Act. (Sec. 1012) Provides for the treatment of certain families that include: (1) Medicare-eligible individuals; (2) recipients under part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)) of the Social Security Act; and (3) disabled and nondisabled recipients under title XVI (Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (SSI)) of the Social Security Act. Allows qualifying students to enroll in a community-rate plan for the area in which the school is located. (Sec. 1013) Requires individuals (and their spouses) who are eligible as an employee for more than one plan to elect the applicable plan. Subtitle B: Benefits - Requires a certified health plan to provide benefits actuarially equivalent to the BlueCross-Blue Shield standard option plan provided under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) on January 1, 1995. Includes in minimum services: (1) hospital services; (2) health professionals' services; (3) emergency and ambulatory medical and surgical services; (4) clinical preventive services; (5) mental illness and substance abuse services; (6) family planning services and services for pregnant women; (7) hospice care, home health care, extended care services, outpatient rehabilitation services, and ambulance services; (8) outpatient laboratory, radiology and diagnostic services; (9) outpatient prescription drugs and biologicals; (10) durable medical equipment; (11) vision care and dental care for children; and (12) patient care costs of qualified investigational treatments. Prohibits scope or duration limits on certain services. Declares that certain services are not medically necessary or appropriate. Prohibits cost-sharing for preventive and prenatal services. Mandates establishment of three model certified plans having cost-sharing and scope and duration limits appropriate for fee-for-service plans, preferred provider plans, and health maintenance organization (HMO) plans. Requires a study on the provision and enrollment patterns of certified plans. (Sec. 1102) Declares that a health professional or a health facility may not be required to provide an item or service under a certified plan if the professional or facility objects on the basis of a religious belief or moral conviction. (Sec. 1103) Prohibits balance billing. Subtitle C: State Role in Reform - Requires each State to establish a State market reform program (SMRP) meeting the requirements of this title. (Sec. 1202) Mandates certain SMRP actions, including regarding certification of insured health plans, establishment of community rating areas, certification of purchasing cooperatives, establishment of purchasing cooperative coordination rules, development of standardized comparative certified plan information and information on accessing plans and cooperatives, providing for risk adjustment programs for community-rated and association health plans, and enrollment periods. (Sec. 1209) Authorizes a SMRP to certify a network plan to operate in a service area different from the borders of a community rating area if certain requirements are met. (Sec. 1210) Allows a State, on approval by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and notwithstanding specified provisions of this Act, to tighten premium rate bands beyond the variation permitted, establish association plan rules more restrictive than provided for, and establish financial solvency requirements exceeding requirements. (Sec. 1211) Mandates establishment (by grant or contract) and oversight of a National Center of Consumer Advocacy to provide technical assistance, training, and support to States and Offices of Consumer Advocacy in each State. (Sec. 1212) Requires each participating State to establish a procedure for exempt employers to elect to be treated as a community- rated employer. (Sec. 1222) Sets forth requirements for single-payer systems, including: (1) operation by the State or a designated agency of the State; (2) enrollment of all individuals in the State, subject to exception; (3) payments made by the State (directly or through fiscal intermediaries) to providers; (4) coverage of all items and services as required by subtitle B of this title (allowing reduced but not increased cost-sharing); (5) limiting the health care spending increase rate; and (6) meeting the requirements applicable to certified plans. Subtitle D: Expanded Access to Health Plans - Requires that each employer make available to each employee the opportunity to enroll in one of at least three certified plans, including either a fee-for-service plan or a point-of-service option. Allows a small employer (defined as having fewer than 100 employees) to meet this requirement through a purchasing cooperative; requires a large employer (defined as having 100 or more employees) to meet this requirement only through offering experience-rated health plans. Provides for payroll withholding of any required employee premiums. (Sec. 1302) Allows small employer employees who are community- rated individuals to elect to enroll in any certified plan in the community rating area in which the employees work or live. (Sec. 1311) Allows a State to establish or charter purchasing cooperatives. Prohibits any individual or entity engaged in the sale of health insurance from forming or underwriting a purchasing cooperative (PC) or holding or controlling any right to vote regarding a PC. (Sec. 1313) Requires PCs to: (1) accept all small employers and individuals eligible for coverage in the community-rated market and residing in the area served by the cooperative; and (2) enter into agreements with at least three certified plans providing the benefits described in subtitle B, including at least one fee-for-service plan or point-of-service plan. Prohibits PCs from: (1) being involved in approval or enforcement of payment rates for providers; (2) being involved in the compliance of certified plans; or (3) assuming financial risk relating to a plan. (Sec. 1321) Requires certified association plans (APs), except as otherwise provided, to meet all requirements of this Act for certified plans offered by large employers. Requires, for APs meeting those requirements, treating: (1) the AP as a plan established and maintained by a large employer; and (2) individuals enrolled in the AP as experience-rated individuals. Requires an AP to cover at least 500 lives. Declares that the certifying authority for APs is: (1) the Secretary of Labor for a certified AP that is a multistate self- insured plan; (2) the State for a certified AP that is a single State self-insured plan. Applies risk adjustment provisions of this Act to APs. Mandates solvency standards for APs. (Sec. 1324) Repeals specified provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) relating to multiple employer welfare arrangements. (Sec. 1325) Requires church plans and multiemployer plans, except as otherwise provided, to meet all requirements of this Act for certified plans offered by large employers. Requires, for plans meeting those requirements, treating: (1) the plan as a plan established and maintained by a large employer; and (2) individuals enrolled in the plan as experience-rated individuals. Declares that the certifying authority for such plans is the Secretary of Labor. Sets forth risk adjustment and solvency requirements. (Sec. 1331) Requires any health plan participating under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to offer the plan to community-rated individuals and small employers in community rating areas served by the plan at a premium established in accordance with specified provisions of this Act. Subtitle E: Standards for Reform - Sets forth requirements regarding certified health plans. Requires a plan sponsor offering a community-rated plan to offer the plan to any community-rated individual and a plan sponsor offering an experience-rated plan to offer the plan to any experience-rated individual. Declares that a network plan may be made available only in a service area not identical to a community rating area if specified requirements are met. Mandates renewability, subject to exception. (Sec. 1413) Requires standard premiums within each community rating area to be the same for each plan. Requires the premium charged to be the product of the standard premium, an adjustment for the class of enrollment (individual, couple only, single parent, or dual parent), and an age adjustment factor. (Sec. 1414) Prohibits denial, limitation, or conditioning of coverage on any reason, including health status, except as provided in this Act. (Sec. 1416) Allows a plan to offer: (1) additional coverage only if offered and priced separately, if the purchase of the plan is not conditioned on purchase of additional coverage, and if the additional coverage is also offered to individuals not in the plan; and (2) a reduction in cost-sharing only to enrollees for a price that includes any use increase expected to result from the cost-sharing reduction. (Sec. 1417) Requires each community-rated plan to: (1) participate in a risk adjustment program; (2) meet financial solvency requirements; (3) provide information to the State; and (4) provide for quality improvement and quality assurance. Prohibits: (1) utilization management from creating financial incentives for reviewers to reduce or limit medically necessary or appropriate services; and (2) physician incentive plans unless in accordance with specified provisions of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 1421) Applies to each plan Medicare provisions relating to procedures to notify a patient of the patient's right to accept or refuse treatment and to execute an advance directive. Limits plan gatekeepers in complex or chronic health conditions so as to avoid undue enrollee burdens. Mandates procedures to protect confidentiality. Prohibits: (1) selective marketing; (2) patient lability for unpaid plan obligations; and (3) discrimination in selecting providers for a provider network based on the actual or anticipated health status of the provider's patients. Mandates: (1) physician participation in matters affecting patient care; and (2) patient ability to choose any primary care physician from among participating providers. (Sec. 1422) Requires certification of specified types of providers as essential community providers, including: (1) covered entities under provisions of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA); (2) Medicare-dependent small rural hospitals; (3) children's hospitals; (4) mental health and substance abuse providers receiving funds under specified provisions of the PHSA; (5) runaway homeless youth centers or homeless youth transitional living programs; (6) maternal and child health providers receiving funds under specified provisions of the Social Security Act; (7) rural health clinics; (8) school health services centers; and (9) nonprofit hospitals providing a specified percentage of services to individuals entitled to or eligible for benefits under Medicare or under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act. Requires each plan, if such providers so elect, to have a written provider participation agreement with such providers or have an agreement to make payment to the provider. (Sec. 1423) Requires each plan to have in its network (or through other arrangements) a sufficient number, distribution, and variety of specialists to assure service availability to adults, infants, children, and persons with disabilities. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish criteria for designating, and to designate, centers of specialized care. (Sec. 1424) Requires each plan to: (1) have the capacity, within its network or through arrangements with providers, to deliver the benefits required in subtitle B throughout the community rating area; and (2) provide emergency out-of-area and out-of-plan coverage for enrollees and urgent out-of-area coverage. (Sec. 1431) Specifies which certified health plan requirements apply to certified self-insured health plans. Applies certain fiduciary requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to self-insured plans and imposes financial management and record keeping requirements. (Sec. 1441) Prohibits States from requiring: (1) the offering, as part of a certified plan, of any services different from the benefit categories of this Act; or (2) a right of conversion from a group certified plan to an individual certified plan. (Sec. 1442) Prohibits State limits, regulations, or prohibitions regarding: (1) incentives for certified plan enrollees to use participating providers; (2) limiting coverage to services provided by a participating provider; (3) rate and payment form negotiations; (4) limitations on the number of participating providers; (5) requiring that services be provided or authorized by a participating provider; (6) the corporate practice of medicine; (7) utilization management and review programs; (8) single-source suppliers; and (9) point-of-service options. (Sec. 1451) Sets forth plan standards for the interim period between January 1, 1996, and when the State becomes a participating State. Subtitle F: Federal Responsibilities - Directs the Secretary of Labor to develop and publish standards for certified self-insured plans and to provide for the certification of the plans. (Sec. 1502) Mandates procedures for corrective actions when a self-insured plan has failed to meet requirements. Provides for termination of self-insured plans. (Sec. 1503) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to authorize special rules for the application of portions of ERISA to group health plans. (Sec. 1521) Requires sanctions and corrective action orders if a participating State fails to meet requirements of this Act. Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out activities in the same manner as a participating State would. (Sec. 1522) Requires treating related employers as a single employer if a reason for their separation relates to their employees' health risk characteristics. (Sec. 1523) Mandates development of certification criteria for workplace wellness programs. (Sec. 1532) Repeals these provisions relating to collective bargaining dispute resolution on a specified date. Authorizes a health care entity or a labor organization certified or recognized as representing a health care entity's employees to request that the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service appoint an impartial Health Care Board of Inquiry to investigate a collective bargaining dispute between the entity and the labor organization. Subtitle G: Miscellaneous Employer Requirements - Prohibits discrimination against employees on the basis of family status or class of family enrollment selected. (Sec. 1603) Makes it unlawful to take adverse action against an employee if a purpose of the action is to interfere with the employee's attainment of status as a qualifying employee, full time employee, or part-time employee, or if a purpose is to evade or avoid any obligation under this Act. (Sec. 1604) Allows a community-rated employer (and an experience- rated employer with respect to employees who are community-rated eligible individuals) to provide benefits to employees that consist of benefits in a cost-sharing policy only through a contribution toward the purchase of a cost-sharing policy that is funded primarily through insurance. Makes the responsibilities of individuals and employers in single payer States supersede their obligations under this subtitle. (Sec. 1605) Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to impose a civil money penalty for violations of this subtitle. Subtitle H: General Definitions; Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth definitions for purposes of this Act. (Sec. 1714) Amends the Davis-Bacon Act to modify the definitions of "wages" and related terms by adding references to this Act. Amends the Service Contract Act of 1965 to add references to this Act in provisions relating to required contract provisions. (Sec. 1715) Declares that it is the sense of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate that, when this Act is enacted, it should include these sources of financing not within the jurisdiction of the Committee: (1) the net savings and revenues included in the Health Security Act; (2) a specified increase in the cigarette tax; (3) a phased-in premium assessment; (4) other savings or revenues as necessary to provide budget neutrality; and (5) a payroll assessment on exempt employers with specified numbers of workers. Title II: New Benefits - Subtitle A: Home and Community-Based Services - Sets forth requirements in order to approve a State plan for home and community-based services for individuals with disabilities, including: (1) State maintenance of effort (with a base amount set with regard to expenditures under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act); (2) eligibility (including initial screenings, restrictions, and continuation of services during transition from Medicaid to the State plan); (3) types of providers and requirements for participation; (4) provider reimbursement; (5) State matching funds; and (6) health care worker redeployment. Mandates annual compliance monitoring. (Sec. 2103) Requires the State plan to specify the services available and any limitations on those services. Mandates a needs assessment, an individualized plan of care, care management services, coverage of personal assistance services. Sets forth a list of other services the plan may cover. Prohibits coverage of room and board or services in institutional settings. Declares that service recipients shall retain the right to independently select, terminate, and direct the work of a home care provider. (Sec. 2104) Prohibits cost-sharing for individuals with an income under a specified level. Mandates coinsurance and an annual deductible in graduated steps above that level. (Sec. 2105) Requires the plan to ensure and monitor service quality. Mandates State plan adherence to federal standards in: (1) case review; (2) mandatory reporting of abuse, neglect, and exploitation; (3) a registry of providers against whom complaints have been sustained; (4) sanctions on States or providers; (5) surveys of client satisfaction; and (6) State optional training programs for informal care givers. Requires client advocacy services. (Sec. 2106) Mandates a Federal advisory group and an advisory group in each State. (Sec. 2107) Sets forth formulas for payments to States. (Sec. 2108) Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Life Care - Life Care Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to create a new title establishing a voluntary insurance program for individuals 35 years old and over to cover nursing home stays. Covers the nursing facility services to inpatients of: (1) nursing care; (2) physical, occupational, or speech therapy; (3) medical social work; (4) drug, biological, supply, appliance, and equipment; (5) other services as necessary to the functioning of a patient, including personal care and assistance with activities of daily living; and (6) the portion of the first six months of room and board not covered by copayments. Limits the dollar amount of coverage to three levels electable by the individual. Mandates a report on the feasibility of making payments for services delivered in residential care facilities. Declares an individual eligible if the individual is a legal U.S. resident, needs hands-on or standby assistance, supervision, or cueing over at least 90 days, and has elected coverage. Makes individuals in a hospital or nursing home at the time of enrollment ineligible until their next spell of illness. Gives an individual the option to purchase coverage under this title when the individual is within six months of his or her 35th, 45th, 55th, or 65th birthday, with one premium rate for each of the periods between those birthdays or after the 65th birthday. Requires that covered services be provided by nursing homes certified by the State. Sets the monthly reimbursement at 80 percent of the amount reasonable and appropriate to cover costs. Mandates, to extent feasible, a prospective payment mechanism. Makes the benefit recipient responsible for specified percentages of room and board charges. Requires nursing facility services reimbursement, to the extent available, to be made under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act, Department of Veterans Affairs' programs, or private insurance policies before reimbursement under this title. Directs the Secretary to contract with entities to act as Long- Term Care Screening Agencies for each designated area of the State to assess the eligibility of individuals for services under this title. Allows Screening Agencies to require payment from individuals only in accordance with standards set by the Secretary. Prohibits requiring payment from individuals with incomes below a specified level. Requires, notwithstanding any other law, that the assets an individual may retain and be eligible for nursing facility benefits under State Medicaid programs be increased by the amount of coverage elected under this title. Prohibits insurers from offering long-term care policies duplicating coverage provided under this title. Directs the Secretary to develop standard long-term care packages insurers may offer that complement this title. Subtitle C: Sense of the Committee with Regard to Prescription Drugs - Declares that it is the sense of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate that, when this Act is enacted, it should include coverage of outpatient prescription drugs as included in the Health Security Act (as introduced in the 103d Congress) and providing for a deductible, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket limits not over specified amounts. Title III: Public Health Initiatives - Subtitle A: Workforce Priorities Under Federal Payments - Establishes in the Department of Health and Human Services the National Council on Graduate Medical Education. Repeals provisions of the Health Professions Education Extension Amendments of 1992 establishing the Council on Graduate Medical Education. (Sec. 3011) Allows payments to physician training programs in a medical specialty only if the program will ensure that the number of individuals enrolled in the program in the subsequent academic year is in accordance with these provisions. (Sec. 3012) Requires the National Council to designate, for each medical specialty for each academic year, starting with academic year 2001-2002, the number of individuals nationwide authorized to be enrolled in eligible programs, with at least 55 percent completing programs in primary care. Mandates interim voluntary targets set by the National Council. (Sec. 3013) Requires the National Council, for each academic year and each medical specialty, to make allocations among eligible programs of the number of positions for the year. (Sec. 3031) Mandates payments to qualified entities for the operational costs of an approved physician training program. Requires, in order to be qualified, that entities providing primary care training rotate enrollees to community programs in underserved areas. Specifies the amounts to be available for payments in certain calendar years under these provisions and under provisions relating to transitional payments to institutions. Declares that these amounts constitute the annual health professions workforce account. (Sec. 3041) Mandates payments to medical schools (to be administered as a grant) for the direct costs of academic programs, including the education of medical students, graduate students in biomedical sciences, and otherwise unfunded faculty research. Specifies the amounts to be available for payments in certain academic years. Declares that these amounts constitute the annual medical school fund account. (Sec. 3051) Mandates payments to academic health centers or teaching hospitals (to be administered as a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement) for costs not routinely incurred by other entities providing health services but are incurred by such institutions by virtue of their academic nature, including productivity decreased by teaching responsibilities, uncompensated costs of clinical research, and exceptional costs associated with treatment using the institution's specialized expertise. Specifies the amounts to be available for payments in certain calendar years. Declares that these amounts constitute the annual academic health center account. (Sec. 3061) Requires transitional payments to eligible entities losing specialty positions to assist operational costs. (Sec. 3071) Mandates a program regarding graduate nurse training programs (nurse program) equivalent to the program in previous provisions of this Act relating to physician training programs (physician program). Applies the physician program provisions of this Act to the nurse program provisions of this Act, including calling the council established the National Council on Graduate Nurse Education. (Sec. 3073) Specifies the amounts to be available for payments in certain calendar years. Declares that these amounts constitute the annual graduate nurse training account. (Sec. 3081) Sets forth transitional provisions, terminating them on a specified date and applying them only to health care entities employing more than 25 individuals. Requires hiring preference for displaced employees of those entities and provides for termination of preference eligibility. Requires successor health care entity employers to provide employees of the previous entity continued employment unless their positions no longer exist. Regulates collective bargaining matters during the transition period. Provides for enforcement of these transitional provisions. Subtitle B: Health Research Initiatives - Makes available specified percentages of the premiums required to be paid under this Act. Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to make those amounts available to: (1) the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to be used to carry out the responsibilities of the Office and for construction and acquisition of equipment or facilities; (2) the National Center for Research Resources to carry out provisions of the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993 concerning biomedical and behavioral research facilities; (3) carry out PHSA provisions regarding health information communications; and (4) the NIH institutes. (Sec. 3102) Amends provisions of the PHSA to require the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research to conduct and support U.S. health care reform research. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Health Services for Medically Underserved Populations - Authorizes appropriations to carry out specified provisions of this subtitle. Declares that these authorizations are in addition to any others for the same purposes. (Sec. 3321) Authorizes grants and contracts for: (1) the development of community groups to provide benefits under subtitle B of title I of this Act in health professional shortage areas or to members of a medically underserved population; and (2) the expansion and development of health delivery sites and services. (Sec. 3322) Specifies permitted fund uses, including: (1) recruitment, compensation, and training of professional and administrative staff; (2) purchase and upgrading of equipment, supplies, and information systems; and (3) establishment of reserves for furnishing services on a prepaid or capitated basis. (Sec. 3341) Mandates grants and loans to eligible entities, essential access community hospitals, and rural primary care hospitals for the capital costs of developing community health groups and expanding or developing health delivery sites. (Sec. 3361) Authorizes grants and contracts with eligible entities to provide services to increase the capacity of individuals to use the benefits under title I (including transportation, outreach, patient and family education, translation services, case management, and home visiting) and to provide access to essential supplemental services that are not fully reimbursable under title I before a specified date. Authorizes appropriations in addition to any other authorizations. (Sec. 3371) Authorizes appropriations to carry out provisions of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) relating to the National Health Service Corps and to carry out these provisions on nurse participation in PHSA scholarship and loan repayment programs. Requires reservation of sufficient funds to ensure that a specified percentage of the participants in those programs are being educated in specified nursing fields. (Sec. 3373) Requires reservation of sufficient funds to ensure that a specified percentage of the participants in those programs are being educated or are serving as psychiatrists, psychologists, and clinical social workers. (Sec. 3381) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to eligible hospitals. Declares that this: (1) is an entitlement in the Secretary on behalf of the hospitals but not an entitlement in the State in which any hospital is located or in any individual receiving hospital services; and (2) constitutes budget authority in advance of appropriations and the obligation of the Government to provide funding in specified amounts for certain years. (Sec. 3382) Identifies as eligible those hospitals with low income use rates of at least a specified percentage. (Sec. 3383) Regulates the amount of payments. (Sec. 3391) Declares that it is the sense of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources that this Act and later appropriations Acts should recognize the success of community and migrant health centers. Subtitle D: Assistance for State Managed Mental Health and Substance Abuse Programs - Mandates grants to States for the development and operation of comprehensive managed mental health and substance abuse programs integrated with the health delivery system established under this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Comprehensive School Health Education; School- Related Health Services - Mandates grants to State educational agencies to integrate comprehensive school health education. Authorizes requirements waivers for the Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Model Projects for High Risk Youth, the State and Local Comprehensive School Health Programs to Prevent Important Health Problems and Improve Educational Outcomes, and programs carried out under certain provisions of the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1986. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 3503) Establishes the Healthy Students-Healthy Schools Interagency Task Force. (Sec. 3504) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish and maintain a national clearinghouse and mechanisms for the dissemination of school health education material. (Sec. 3581) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) planning and development grants to local community partnerships (LCPs), both directly and through State health agencies; and (2) operational grants to LCPs, both directly and through States. Requires that LCPs include at least one local health care provider, one local educational agency on behalf of one or more public schools, and one community-based organization. Authorizes the Secretary to make the grants to develop and operate school-based or school-linked health service sites. Limits the Federal share of operational grants. Subtitle F: Public Health Service Initiative - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to pay, under specified provisions of this Act, certain amounts for: (1) health services research activities; (2) the development of community groups to provide benefits in health professional shortage areas or to members of a medically underserved population and the expansion and development of health delivery sites and services; (3) the capital costs of developing community health groups; (4) increasing the capacity of individuals to use benefits; (5) providing access to essential supplemental services not fully reimbursable before a specified date; (6) the National Health Service Corps; (7) comprehensive managed mental health and substance abuse programs; and (8) school-based or school-linked health service sites. Title IV: Medical Malpractice - Subtitle A: Liability Reform - Applies this subtitle to any medical malpractice liability action in State or Federal court except for actions under title XXI (Vaccines) of the Public Health Service Act. (Sec. 4002) Requires parties, before or after beginning a medical malpractice action, to participate in the alternative dispute resolution system (ADR) administered by the State. Requires each State to adopt at least one ADR satisfying specified requirements. (Sec. 4003) Limits attorneys contingent fees. (Sec. 4004) Reduces damages for collateral source recovery. (Sec. 4005) Allows a party to ask the court to award future damages on a periodic basis. Subtitle B: Other Provisions Relating to Medical Malpractice Liability - Mandates grants to States for malpractice reform demonstration projects assessing the fairness and effectiveness of one or more of no-fault liability, enterprise liability, or practice guidelines. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Fall-Back Premium Limits in Cases of Ineffective Competition; Premium-Based Financing; Assistance to Low Income Individuals and to Businesses - Subtitle A: Fall-Back Premium Limits - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) compute and publish annually an area inflation factor for each community rating area; (2) determine baseline premium amounts; and (3) annually determine baseline premiums for each community rating area. (Sec. 5004) Regulates the process for community-rated plan's submitting premium rate bids to States and premium bids to cooperatives. Conditions community and cooperative bids on the plan s agreement to accept any payment reduction that may be imposed under these provisions. (Sec. 5005) Allows any State to assume responsibility for containment of health care expenditures. (Sec. 5011) Directs the Secretary to develop and use a method to reduce payments to each noncomplying plan in a noncomplying community rating area. Defines "noncomplying community rating area" as one in which the weighted average accepted bid exceeds the community rating area baseline premium. Defines "noncomplying plan" as a plan in a noncomplying area if the premium rate exceeds the baseline premiums. (Sec. 5012) Requires community-rated plans to include in their contracts with providers a provision reducing provider payments if the plan is noncomplying. (Sec. 5021) Directs the Secretary to develop a method for calculating an annual per capita expenditure equivalent for amounts paid for benefit package coverage by a large employer. (Sec. 5022) Directs the Secretary of Labor to take corrective action if a large employer has two years in which the rate of increase exceeds the national corporate inflation factor. Requires considering the large employer a small employer and requiring it to make premium payments in accordance with specified provisions of this Act. (Sec. 5031) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for a statewide single-payer State, to compute a statewide per capita premium target in the same manner as the community rating area per capita premium target. Subtitle B: Premium-Related Financings - Makes each family enrolled in a community- or experience-rated plan responsible for payment of the family share of premium. Allows payment of the premium by an employer or another person. (Sec. 5102) Provides for family credits for community- and experience-rated plans. (Sec. 5103) Provides for a premium discount for families that: (1) are AFDC families or SSI; (2) have a family income below a certain level; or (3) have a family obligation that would otherwise exceed specified percentages of family income. (Sec. 5110) Makes families that are provided a family credit liable for repayment of the base employment monthly premium. Reduces that amount by the amount of: (1) any employer payments made based on the net earnings from self-employment; and (2) employer premiums payable. (Sec. 5112) Limits repayment liability for low income families. (Sec. 5113) Regulates the net liability of families with one or more nonqualifying employees and no full-time qualifying employees. (Sec. 5114) Provides for special treatment for certain individuals eligible for Medicare. (Sec. 5116) Exempts small employers (no more than 10 employees and average annual wages under a specified amount) from these requirements on employer premium payments. (Sec. 5118) Allows an exempt employer to elect to be treated as a community-rated employer. Requires treating an exempt employer as a community-rated employer after an election and makes the employer eligible for discounts. (Sec. 5120) Applies Medicare rules relating to Medicare as a second payer to individuals eligible for premium assistance under this title in relation to any non-electing employer. (Sec. 5121) Requires community-rated employers to pay at least a specified amount of the premium payment for each qualifying employee. (Sec. 5122) Requires each State to provide for the annual computation of a base employment premium for each class of family enrollment. (Sec. 5123) Limits the amount of the employer s required premium payment to a specified percentage of the qualifying employee s wages, with different levels for medium employers (eleven to 75 employees) and small employers. Provides for the treatment of certain self- employed individuals. Requires, for employers that make premium payments in more than one community rating area, application of the reduction in a pro-rated manner to the payments in all areas. (Sec. 5124) Adjusts employee payments of large employers if certain average costs and rate increases exceed limits. (Sec. 5125) Considers a self-employed individual to be an employer of himself or herself and to pay wages to himself or herself equal to the amount of net earnings from self-employment. Limits the payment obligation of certain individuals to a specified amount. (Sec. 5131) Requires each experience-rated large employer to contribute to premiums in specified amounts. Increases the share of large employers for low income employees entitled to a premium discount. Subtitle C: Payments to Health Plans and Miscellaneous Provisions - Makes States responsible for assisting plans and cooperatives in premium collection. (Sec. 5202) Makes the payment amount for a community-rated plan equal to a blended payment amount reflecting the final bid for each plan, the number of enrollees in each class, and the proportion of AFDC and SSI beneficiaries in the area. (Sec. 5203) Requires States to develop and implement adjustments (including risk adjustment, reinsurance, premium discounts, and adjustments to reflect AFDC and SSI beneficiaries) necessary to reconcile the amounts collected by plans with the amounts owed to the plans. (Sec. 5204) Requires each State to compute and publish specified components of the general family share of premiums and the general employer premium payment amount. (Sec. 5205) Declares that the obligations of an employer regarding employees that reside in a single-payer State supersede the obligations of an employer to provide for payments under specified provisions of this Act. (Sec. 5207) Requires, if an employer makes available a voluntary payment on behalf of an employee in a community- or experience-rated plan and except as provided under collective bargaining agreements, that the employer make such a voluntary payment in the same dollar amount available to all qualifying employees of the employer in any community- or experience-rated plan in the same class of enrollment and the same area. Prohibits employers from discriminating in the terms or conditions of employment based on the health plan (or the premium of a plan) in which an employee is enrolled. (Sec. 5208) Requires employers to deduct from the wages of qualifying employees the amount of the family share of the premium. Mandates that States require payment for families that do not include a qualifying employee to be made prospectively. Subtitle D: Cost-Sharing Assistance, Application for Assistance and Premium Discounts, and Income Reconciliation - Entitles AFDC, SSI, and low income families to a reduction in cost-sharing, unless: (1) for community-rated families, there are sufficient at- or below- average cost plans with cost-sharing similar to the model certified preferred provider network plans or model certified health maintenance organization plans established under this Act; or (2) for experience- rated families, the employer offers such a plan. (Sec. 5302) Allows a family to apply for a determination of the family adjusted income or wage adjusted income of the family to establish eligibility for cost-sharing reductions, premium discounts, and reductions in liability. Makes each individual who knowingly understates income or otherwise makes a material misrepresentation liable to the State for triple the excess payments and interest. (Sec. 5303) Requires families with premium discounts or reductions in liability to file an income reconciliation statement for the year. Mandates related payment adjustments. (Sec. 5304) Requires States to make eligibility determinations for premium discounts, liability reductions, and cost-sharing reductions in a way that keeps error rates below a level specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services or the Secretary of Labor. Title VI: Aggregate Government Payments - Subtitle A: Aggregate Federal Payments to Participating State - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for payments to each participating State of the capped Federal payment amount. Declares that this constitutes budget authority in advance of appropriations Acts and represents the obligation of the Government to provide for the payments. Sets forth a formula for determination of amounts, including determination of caps. Provides for the handling of anticipated shortfalls. Subtitle B: Borrowing Authority to Cover Cash-Flow Shortfalls - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make loans available to States to cover temporary cash-flow shortfalls. (Sec. 6102) Provides for the use of funds resulting from estimation discrepancies. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Declares that it is the sense of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources that, when this Act is enacted, it should include requirements that States: (1) pay premiums for AFDC and SSI recipients at a level established as described in the Health Security Act; and (2) make maintenance of effort payments to be included in the amounts receivable under certain provisions at a level established as described in the Health Security Act.
Bill· SS. 170 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1995
Comprehensive Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish a comprehensive Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects prevention program, including an education and public awareness program, an applied epidemiologic research and prevention program, support for and the conducting of basic research, a procedure for disseminating diagnostic criteria, and an Inter-Agency Task Force on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects. Provides for related technical assistance, grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and professional education. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 425 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Tax Incentives Regarding Rural Health Care Title II: Public Health Service Programs Regarding Rural Health Care Subtitle A: National Health Service Corps Subtitle B: Other Programs Regarding Rural Health Care Title III: Provisions Relating to the Medicare Program Title IV: Treatment of Student Loans for Health Professionals Rural Health Professional Shortage Act of 1995 - Title I: Tax Incentives Regarding Rural Health Care - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income any payment made on behalf of a taxpayer by the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program. (Sec. 102) Permits a deduction for medical education loan interest incurred by health professionals serving in medically underserved rural areas. (Sec. 103) Provides a credit for a qualified primary health services provider providing primary health services full time to an individual residing in a rural health professional shortage area and who: (1) is not receiving a National Health Service Corps Scholarship as a loan repayment under the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program; (2) is not fulfilling service obligations under such Programs; and (3) has not defaulted on such obligations. (Sec. 104) Provides for an increase in the amount which may be expensed as depreciable business assets in the case of rural health care property. Title II: Public Health Service Programs Regarding Rural Health Care - Subtitle A: National Health Service Corps - Amends the Public Health Service Act to add criteria for use in determining health professional shortage areas by including in the criteria the number of individuals paying for health services through Medicare or Medicaid and the number of individuals who have no health insurance, as well as the number of physicians who will accept Medicare and Medicaid patients. (Sec. 202) Requires that at least five percent of appropriations for the National Health Service Corps be used for special loans for former Corps members to enter private practice in health professional shortage areas. (Sec. 211) Provides increased funding for the Scholarship Program and the Loan Repayment Program. (Sec. 212) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give priority in making scholarships to individuals from rural backgrounds who are likely, after their service, to serve in a rural health professional shortage area. (Sec. 221) Establishes the Rural Primary Health Care Fund for the purpose of making loans to assist individuals with the costs of attending professions schools if the individuals agree to provide primary health services in an underserved rural area. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Other Programs Regarding Rural Health Care - Requires a State, in order for the State to receive a grant for an Office of Rural Health, to undertake activities to recruit and train physicians to serve in rural areas. Authorizes appropriations for such Offices. (Sec. 232) Authorizes appropriations for area health education center programs. Title III: Provisions Relating to the Medicare Program - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to eliminate, after a specified fiscal year, the geographic adjustment factor from the formula used to determine Medicare payment for physician's services. Increases rural geographic index values so that, by that fiscal year, the values will be the same for all fee schedule areas. Decreases index values for other areas so as to avoid a resulting increase in total payments. (Sec. 302) Amends title XI, Part A (General Provisions) of the Social Security Act to exempt rural hospitals from provisions relating to illegal remunerations, allowing repayment of medical education loans or subsidization of medical practice startup costs. (Sec. 303) Amends Medicare provisions to authorize incentive payments to service providers in health professional shortage areas or if a specified percentage of the provider's patients are: (1) entitled to Medicare or Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) benefits; or (2) patients for whom the provider received no payment. (Current law authorizes the payments to physicians in health professional shortage areas.) Title IV: Treatment of Student Loans for Health Professionals - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to defer certain student loan repayments for a borrower who is serving in an internship or residency program in a health facility located in a rural area.
Bill· HRH.R. 426 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 January 1995
National Commission on Telemedicine Act - Establishes the National Commission on Telemedicine to assess the use of existing and emerging wired and wireless telecommunications and information systems technologies in: (1) health care and health research; (2) health professions student training and continuing education; and (3) medical condition monitoring by individuals at home. Requires the Commission to: (1) assess whether the technologies are effective in improving health care quality and accessibility and reducing cost; (2) identify provider use and acceptance obstacles; (3) develop a model definition of "telemedicine"; and (4) establish appropriate telemedicine service reimbursement. Authorizes appropriations from amounts otherwise appropriated for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce.
Bill· SS. 143 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Use of Federal Funds for State Employment Training Activities Title II: Consolidation of Employment Training Programs Job Training Consolidation Act of 1995 - Consolidates Federal employment and training programs. Grants waivers to States and localities to coordinate program services during a transition period. Title I: Use of Federal Funds for State Employment Training Activities - Allows States and localities that receive formula assistance for covered activities under specified Federal employment training programs, or certain discretionary assistance, or States that apply for funds for trade adjustment assistance services, to: (1) use such assistance to develop a comprehensive statewide employment training system; or (2) use assistance that would otherwise have been used for two or more covered activities to address unemployed persons' high priority needs for employment training services, improve efficiency in delivery of covered activities, or combine or eliminate overlapping or duplicative activities. (Sec. 105) Requires State and locality reports on use of such assistance. Title II: Consolidation of Employment Training Programs - Repeals, 24 months after enactment of this Act, the following: (1) the Job Training Partnership Act; (2) the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act; (3) authority for certain literacy programs under the Adult Education Act; (4) the JOBS program for AFDC recipients under the Social Security Act; (5) trade adjustment assistance services under the Trade Act of 1974; (6) the Wagner-Peyser Act (employment services); (7) vocational rehabilitation services under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; (8) employment and training program provisions under the Food Stamp Act of 1977; (9) the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980; (10) the State legalization impact assistance grant program under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986; (11) education, training, and community services programs under the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act; (12) community service employment for older Americans under the Older Americans Act of 1965; and (13) the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994.
Bill· SS. 38 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Amendments Act of 1995 - Repeals provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (VCCLEA) pertaining to: (1) the Ounce of Prevention Council; (2) local crime prevention block grants; (3) model intensive grants; (4) family and community endeavor schools grants; (5) assistance for delinquent and at-risk youth; (6) police recruitment; (7) the Local Partnership Act; (8) national community economic partnership; (9) urban recreation and at-risk youth; (10) community-based justice grants for prosecutors; (11) the family unity demonstration project; (12) residential substance abuse treatment for State prisoners; (13) gang resistance education and training; (14) drug courts; and (15) a presidential summit on violence and a national commission on crime prevention and control. (Sec. 3) Revises provisions of the VCCLEA to authorize the Attorney General to make grants to individual States and States organized as multi-State compacts to construct, develop, expand, modify, operate, or improve conventional correctional facilities for the confinement of violent offenders, to ensure that prison cell space is available for violent offenders, and to implement truth in sentencing laws for violent offenders. Directs States, to be eligible to receive such grants, to submit an application to the Attorney General that includes assurances that: (1) the States have implemented, or will implement, correctional policies and programs (including truth in sentencing laws that ensure that violent offenders serve a substantial portion of the sentences imposed) that are designed to provide sufficiently severe punishment for violent offenders and that the prison time served is appropriately related to the determination that the inmate is a violent offender and for a period of time determined necessary to protect the public; (2) the States have implemented policies that provide for the recognition of victims' rights and needs; (3) funds received will be used to construct, develop, expand, modify, operate, or improve conventional correctional facilities; and (4) such funds will be used to supplement, not supplant, other Federal, State, and local funds. Makes half of the funds for grants available for truth in sentencing incentive grants and half for violent offender incarceration grants. Requires a State, to be eligible for a truth in sentencing incentive grant, to demonstrate that it has in effect laws that require that persons convicted of violent crimes serve not less than 85 percent of the sentence imposed. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 4) Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding punishment for young offenders. (Sec. 5) Amends the Federal criminal code to increase mandatory minimum sentences for using firearms during and in relation to a crime of violence or a drug trafficking crime. (Sec. 6) Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to consider minors to be persons age 21 (currently, 18) and younger for purposes of mandatory minimum prison sentences for those who use minors in drug trafficking activities and for persons convicted of distribution of drugs to minors. Makes certain mandatory minimum sentencing provisions inapplicable to offenses involving five grams or less of marijuana. (Sec. 8) Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding penalties for drug-dealing in drug-free zones. Amends the CSA to increase penalties for distribution of controlled substances in or near schools. Makes mandatory minimum sentencing provisions with respect to such distribution inapplicable to offenses involving five grams or less of marijuana. (Sec. 9) Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the court, notwithstanding a mandatory minimum sentence requirement, to impose a sentence in accordance with the code, the sentencing guidelines, and any pertinent policy statement issued by the U.S. Sentencing Commission if specified conditions apply, such as that the offense did not result in death or serious bodily injury and the defendant was not an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor of others in the offense, did not carry a firearm, and provided truthful information to the Government concerning the offense in a timely matter. Authorizes the Sentencing Commission to make necessary amendments to harmonize its sentencing guidelines and policy statements with this Act and promulgate policy statements to assist the courts. Requires the Sentencing Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines if necessary to assign to specified offenses under the CSA and Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to which a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment applies, a guidelines level that will result in the imposition of a term of imprisonment at least equal to the mandatory term currently applicable, unless a downward adjustment is authorized under this section. Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding the applicability of mandatory minimum penalties in certain cases. (Sec. 10) Provides for mandatory restitution to victims of violent crimes. Permits a court to order restitution of a person harmed physically or pecuniarily by unlawful conduct of the defendant during a criminal episode or in the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of unlawful activity related to the offense. Directs the court to order restitution to a victim in the full amount of the victim's losses without consideration of the economic circumstances of the offender or the fact that a victim has received or is entitled to receive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance or any other source. Sets forth procedures regarding restitution orders, including provisions regarding: (1) the form of payments; (2) situations where there is more than one offender or more than one victim; (3) setoffs against amounts later recovered as compensatory damages by the victim; (4) a restitution order constituting a lien against the offender's property; (5) compliance with payment schedules and other terms of a restitution order being a condition of probation, parole, or any other form of release; (6) enforcement of restitution orders by the United States and by a victim named in the order; and (7) modification of restitution orders. Allows the court to order the probation service of the court to obtain information pertaining to the amount of loss sustained by any victim, the financial resources of the defendant, and the financial needs and earning ability of the defendant and the defendant's dependents. Directs such service to include information collected in the report of presentence investigation or in a separate report, as the court directs. Authorizes the court to refer any issue arising in connection with a proposed restitution order to a magistrate or special master for proposed findings of fact and recommendations as to disposition, subject to a de novo determination of the issue by the court.
Bill· SS. 3 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Incarceration of Violent Criminals Title II: State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Title III: Federal Emergency Law Enforcement Assistance Act Title IV: Criminal Penalties Title V: Federal Criminal Procedure Reform Title VI: Prevention of Terrorism Title VII: Miscellaneous and Technical Provisions Subtitle A: Elimination of Certain Programs Subtitle B: Amendments Relating to Violent Crime Control Subtitle C: Amendments Relating to Courts and Sentencing Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Amendments Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Improvement Act of 1995 - Title I: Incarceration of Violent Criminals - Revises the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (VCCLEA) to authorize the Attorney General to make grants to individual States and to States organized as multi-State compacts to construct, develop, expand, modify, operate, or improve conventional correctional facilities. Conditions eligibility to receive such grants, in the case of a State that on the enactment date of this Act practices indeterminant sentencing, on the State submitting an application that includes a demonstration that average times served for the offenses of murder, rape, robbery, and assault in the State exceed by at least ten percent the national average of time served for such offenses in all of the States. (Sec. 102) Repeals specified provisions of the VCCLEA concerning the punishment of young offenders. (Sec. 103) Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding the civil rights of institutionalized persons. Amends the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act to prohibit any civil action for deprivation of rights from being brought by an adult convicted of a crime confined in any correctional facility until available plain, speedy, and effective administrative remedies are exhausted. Specifies that such exhaustion of administrative remedies may not be required unless the Attorney General has certified or the court has determined that such remedies are in substantial compliance with specified minimum acceptable standards (as under current law) or are otherwise fair and effective. Requires the court to dismiss any such action if satisfied that the action fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted or is frivolous or malicious. Repeals a provision requiring that the minimum standards provide for an advisory role for employees and inmates in the formulation, implementation, and operation of the system. Requires the Attorney General to develop a procedure for the prompt review and certification of systems for the resolution of grievances of adults confined in any correctional or pretrial detention facility if such systems are in substantial compliance with the minimum standards (current law) or are otherwise fair and effective. Authorizes the Attorney General to suspend or withdraw certification at any time he has reasonable cause to believe that such procedure is no longer in substantial compliance or is no longer fair and effective. Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize the court to request an attorney to represent a person financially unable to employ counsel (current law) at any time. Requires (current law authorizes) the court to dismiss the case if the allegation of poverty is untrue, or if satisfied that the action is frivolous or malicious. Requires: (1) a prisoner in a correctional institution who files an affidavit of indigence to include a statement of all assets such prisoner possesses; and (2) the court to make inquiry of the institution for information relating to the extent of the prisoner's assets and to require full or partial payment of filing fees according to the prisoner's ability to pay. (Sec. 104) Requires the Attorney General to submit a report to the Congress that describes a strategy for employing more Federal prison inmates. (Sec. 105) Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions requiring the Bureau of Prisons to provide residential substance abuse treatment. Requires the Bureau's report to the Congress to include a full examination and evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment in reducing drug use among prisoners. Title II: State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance - Amends the VCCLEA to replace provisions of title I setting forth the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994 with a State and local law enforcement block grant program. Directs the Attorney General to make grants to States for use by State and local governments to: (1) hire, train, and employ on a continuing basis, new law enforcement officers and necessary support personnel; (2) pay overtime to currently employed officers and personnel; (3) procure equipment, technology, and other material that is directly related to basic law enforcement functions; and (4) establish and operate cooperative programs between community residents and law enforcement agencies for the control, detection, or investigation of crime or the prosecution of criminals. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) law enforcement trust funds; (2) allocation and distribution of funds; (3) fund disbursement; (4) application requirements; and (5) limitations on the use of funds. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Federal Emergency Law Enforcement Assistance Act - Amends the VCCLEA to increase the authorization of appropriations for: (1) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (2) U.S. Attorneys; and (3) the Drug Enforcement Administration. Title IV: Criminal Penalties - Makes serious juvenile drug offenses Armed Career Criminal Act predicates. (Sec. 402) Provides for adult prosecution of serious juvenile offenders. Repeals VCCLEA provisions directing the court, in determining whether to transfer a juvenile to adult status, to consider the extent to which the juvenile played a leadership role in an organization or otherwise influenced others to take part in criminal activities involving the use or distribution of controlled substances or firearms. Requires a juvenile who was 13 years of age or older on the date of the commission of specified crimes of violence to be prosecuted as an adult in Federal court. Prohibits the incarceration of any such juvenile in an adult prison. Specifies that if a juvenile prosecuted under such provision is convicted, the juvenile shall be entitled to file a petition for resentencing pursuant to applicable sentencing guidelines when the juvenile reaches age sixteen. Direct the U.S. Sentencing Commission (Commission) to promulgate or amend existing guidelines to carry out such provisions. Authorizes the Commission, for such resentencing determinations, to permit sentencing adjustments that provide for supervised release for defendants who have clearly demonstrated an exceptional degree of responsibility for the offense and a willingness and ability to refrain from further criminal conduct. Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding the prosecution as adults of such juveniles for crimes of violence, including a prohibition against prosecuting as adults certain persons subject to the criminal jurisdiction of an Indian tribal government for an offense the Federal jurisdiction for which is predicated solely on Indian country. (Sec. 403) Authorizes the court to impose a specified term of supervised release, or a fine that would be authorized if the juvenile had been convicted as an adult, for juvenile offenders. (Sec. 404) Requires that juveniles found guilty of certain offenses be fingerprinted and photographed, with such fingerprints and photographs sent to the FBI's Identification Division. Directs the court to transmit to such division information concerning the adjudication. (Sec. 405) Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to: (1) set a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years' imprisonment of a person age 21 or older who is convicted of employing persons under age 18 in drug operations; and (2) make such mandatory minimum sentence life imprisonment for that offense after a prior conviction of such offense. Prohibits the court from placing on probation or suspending the sentence of any such person. Revises CSA provisions to apply specified penalties for distribution to persons under age 18 (currently, under 21) and to increase such penalties, except for offenses involving five grams or less of marijuana. Repeals a VCCLEA provision directing the Commission to provide an appropriate penalty enhancement for a defendant convicted of drug dealing in a drug-free zone. Increases penalties for such offense, except where the offense involves five grams or less of marijuana. (Sec. 406) Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding the applicability of mandatory minimum penalties in certain cases. Directs the court, notwithstanding the requirement of a mandatory minimum sentence, to impose a sentence in accordance with this section and the sentencing guidelines and any pertinent policy statement issued by the Commission if specified circumstances exist (e.g., that the defendant does not have any criminal history points under the sentencing guidelines, the offense did not result in death or serious bodily injury, and the Government certifies that the defendant has timely and truthfully provided it with all information and evidence the defendant has concerning the offense). Authorizes the Commission to make such amendments as necessary and appropriate to harmonize the sentencing guidelines and policy statements with, and promulgate policy statements to assist the courts in interpreting, this section. Directs the Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines, if necessary, to assign specified drug offenses to which a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment applies, a guideline level that will result in the imposition of a term at least equal to the mandatory term that is currently applicable, unless a downward adjustment is authorized under this section. (Sec. 407) Increases mandatory minimum sentences for using firearms during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime. (Sec. 408) Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions concerning arson. Increases penalties and extends the statute of limitations for arson. (Sec. 409) Includes within the offense of kidnapping travel in interstate or foreign commerce, or using the mails or a facility in such commerce, in furtherance of the offense. Title V: Federal Criminal Procedure Reform - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide that, in a criminal proceeding, any attorney who files in a U.S. court a brief, motion, answer, pleading, or other signed document that the attorney knows to contain a false statement of material fact or a false statement of law, shall be found guilty of obstruction of justice. (Sec. 502) Specifies that Federal rules of conduct adopted by the Attorney General shall govern the conduct of prosecutions in Federal court. (Sec. 503) Revises rule 24(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to entitle a defendant tried alone to six, but defendants tried jointly to ten, peremptory challenges. (Sec. 504) Amends the Federal judicial code to provide that on each committee that makes recommendations concerning rules that affect criminal cases, the number of members who represent or supervise the representation of defendants in the trial, direct review, or collateral review of criminal cases shall not exceed the number who represent the Government or a State. (Sec. 505) Sets forth provisions regarding the reimbursement of attorney fees in certain cases involving current or former attorneys, agents, or employees of the Department of Justice or the Federal Public Defender who are the subject of criminal or disciplinary investigations. (Sec. 506) Provides for mandatory restitution to victims of violent crimes. Permits a court, in addition to ordering restitution of the victim of the offense of which a defendant is convicted, to order restitution of any person who was harmed physically or pecuniarily by unlawful conduct of the defendant during the criminal episode during which the offense occurred, or the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of unlawful activity related to the offense. Directs the court to order restitution to a victim in the full amount of the victim's losses as determined by the court without consideration of the economic circumstances of the offender or the fact that a victim has received or is entitled to receive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance or any other source. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the form of payments of a restitution order; (2) multiple offenders and multiple victims; (3) setoffs against amounts later recovered as compensatory damages; (4) the effect of a restitution order (constitutes a lien against the offender's property); (5) payment schedules; (6) enforcement of restitution orders; and (7) procedures for issuing such orders. (Sec. 507) Amends the Federal criminal code to place the burden of proving (by a preponderance of the evidence) that a confession was not voluntary on the defendant. Provides that evidence: (1) obtained as a result of a search or seizure that is otherwise admissible in a Federal criminal proceeding shall not be excluded in a proceeding in a U.S. court on the ground that the search or seizure was in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution; and (2) shall not be excluded in a proceeding in a U.S. court on the ground that it was obtained in violation of a statute, an administrative rule, or a rule of court procedure unless exclusion is expressly authorized by statute or by a rule prescribed by the Supreme Court. Amends the Federal judicial code to make the United States liable for damages resulting from a search or seizure conducted by an investigative or law enforcement officer, acting within the scope of the officer's office or employment, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Provides for the award of actual and punitive damages, subject to specified limitations. Subjects such an officer to appropriate discipline in the discretion of the Federal agency employing the officer if that agency determines, after notice and hearing, that the officer conducted the search or seizure lacking a good faith belief that the search or seizure was constitutional. Makes the remedy under this section the exclusive civil remedy for such Fourth Amendment violations. Sets forth provisions regarding attorney fees and costs and the applicability of other tort claims procedures. (Sec. 508) Amends the Federal judicial code to establish a one-year statute of limitations for habeas corpus actions brought by State prisoners. Specifies that: (1) there shall be no right of appeal from a final order in a habeas corpus proceeding; and (2) unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of probable cause, an appeal may not be taken to the court of appeals from the final order in a habeas corpus proceeding in which the detention complained of arises out of process issued by a State or Federal court. Permits such certificate to issue only if the petitioner has made a substantial showing of the denial of a Federal constitutional right. Requires the certificate to indicate which specific issue or issues satisfy the showing. Provides that if the applicant has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings, the Federal court shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim unless: (1) the claim relies on a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable or on a factual predicate that could not have been previously discovered through the exercise of due diligence; and (2) the facts underlying the claim would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable factfinder would have found the petitioner guilty of the underlying offense or eligible for the death penalty under State law. Requires that a second or successive motion be certified by a panel of the appropriate Federal Court of Appeals to contain: (1) newly discovered evidence sufficient to undermine the court's confidence in the factfinder's determination of the prisoner's guilt of the offense or offenses for which the sentence was imposed; or (2) a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable. Sets further limitations on second or successive petitions. (Sec. 510) Sets forth special habeas corpus procedures in capital cases. Requires (with exceptions): (1) a district court to render a final determination of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought in a capital case within 180 days after the date on which the petition is filed; and (2) a court of appeals to hear and render a final determination of any appeal of an order granting or denying such a petition within 120 days after the date on which the reply brief is filed and to decide whether to grant a petition or other request for rehearing en banc within 30 days after the date on which the petition for rehearing is filed. Sets forth provisions regarding failure to render a timely determination. Requires the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts to submit to the Congress an annual report on the compliance by the district courts and courts of appeals with the time limitations under this section. Title VI: Prevention of Terrorism - Amends the Federal criminal code to set penalties for: (1) willful violation of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) security regulations; and (2) threatening to assault, kidnap, or murder former Federal officials in the performance of official duties. (Sec. 603) Grants the Attorney General wiretap authority for alien smuggling and related offenses. Makes alien smuggling a predicate to a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). (Sec. 604) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) authorization for interceptions of communications in certain terrorism-related offenses; (2) participation of foreign and State government personnel in interceptions of communications; and (3) disclosure of intercepted communications to foreign law enforcement agencies. (Sec. 607) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to establish procedures to apply whenever the Attorney General certifies under seal to a special court (established pursuant to this section) that: (1) the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General has approved of the proceeding; (2) an alien terrorist is physically present in the United States; and (3) removal of such terrorist by deportation proceedings would pose a risk to national security because such proceedings would disclose classified information. Directs the Chief Justice of the United States to publicly designate up to seven judges to hear and decide such cases. Sets forth procedures for a special removal hearing, including provision for appointment of counsel and appeals. (Sec. 608) Declares that the territorial sea of the United States (extending to 12 miles) is part of the United States, subject to its sovereignty, and for purposes of Federal criminal jurisdiction, is within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. (Sec. 609) Extends Federal criminal jurisdiction over certain terrorism offenses overseas. (Sec. 610) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to issue regulations requiring FAA employees and agents to report to appropriate Federal and State law enforcement officers discoveries of controlled substances or cash in excess of $10,000. (Sec. 611) Amends the INA to permit the Attorney General to: (1) authorize an application to a Federal court of competent jurisdiction for, and a judge of such court to grant, an order authorizing disclosure of information contained in the application of the alien (as a result of an investigation of the alien by an investigative or law enforcement officer) that is necessary to locate and identify the alien under specified circumstances; and (2) furnish information under this section with respect to an alien to an official coroner for purposes of permitting the coroner to identify a deceased individual and to others under specified circumstances. (Sec. 612) Permits, in the exercise of comity, the surrender of persons, other than citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States, who have committed crimes of violence against U.S. nationals in foreign countries without regard to the existence of any extradition treaty with such foreign government if the Attorney General certifies in writing that: (1) evidence has been presented by the foreign government that indicates that had the offenses been committed in the United States they would constitute crimes of violence; and (2) the offenses charged are not of a political nature. (Sec. 613) Requires the Director of the FBI to report to the Congress on the effectiveness of provisions of the VCCLEA regarding the prohibition against providing material support to terrorists. (Sec. 614) Increases penalties for terrorism crimes. (Sec. 615) Sets penalties and procedures with respect to criminal offenses committed outside the United States by persons accompanying the armed forces. Title VII: Miscellaneous and Technical Provisions - Subtitle A: Elimination of Certain Programs - Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding: (1) the Ounce of Prevention Council; (2) local crime prevention block grants; (3) model intensive grants; (4) family and community endeavor schools grants; (5) assistance for delinquent and at-risk youth; (6) police recruitment; (7) the Local Partnership Act; (8) national community economic partnership; (9) urban recreation and at-risk youth; (10) community-based justice grants for prosecutors; (11) the family unity demonstration project; (12) residential substance abuse treatment for State prisoners; (13) gang resistance education and training; (14) drug courts; and (15) the presidential summit on violence and the National Commission on Crime Prevention and Control. Subtitle B: Amendments Relating to Violent Crime Control - Repeals specified VCCLEA provisions regarding violent crime and drug emergency areas. (Sec. 712) Revises specified Federal criminal code provisions regarding violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity to increase penalties for such offenses and to expand the scope of the offenses covered by such provisions. (Sec. 713) Grants the Attorney General and the FBI authority to investigate serial killings in violation of the laws of a State or political subdivision when requested by the head of a law enforcement agency with investigative or prosecutive jurisdiction over the offense. (Sec. 714) Subjects a person who conspires to commit any of specified firearms or explosives offenses to the same penalties (other than the death penalty) as those prescribed for the offense the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy. (Sec. 715) Increases penalties for violence in the course of riot offenses. (Sec. 716) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) pretrial detention for possession of firearms or explosives by convicted felons; (2) elimination of the scienter element for carjacking; (3) theft of vessels; (4) RICO conspiracy (clarification that it is not necessary to establish that the defendant agreed personally to commit any acts of racketeering activity to be liable); (5) addition of attempts to cause bodily injury under the interstate domestic violence offense; (6) addition of foreign murder as a money laundering predicate; (7) inclusion of other felony crimes of violence under provisions regarding the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire; and (8) inclusion of threats to use a weapon of mass destruction within provisions regarding the use of such weapons. Subtitle C: Amendments Relating to Courts and Sentencing - Amends the Federal criminal code, Federal judicial code, and rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to allow a reduction of sentence for providing substantial assistance in an investigation of any offense. (Sec. 732) Repeals a requirement from the Government appeal statute that the U.S. attorney certify to the district court that an appeal is not taken for purpose of delay and that the evidence is a substantial proof of a fact material in the proceeding. (Sec. 735) Amends the Federal criminal code and rule 35 to place limits on a reduction of sentence for substantial assistance of a defendant. (Sec. 736) Grants a court the authority to impose a sentence of probation or supervised release when reducing a sentence of imprisonment in certain cases. (Sec. 739) Extends the Parole Commission to deal with "old law" prisoners. (Sec. 741) Repeals provisions barring Federal prosecution of specified offenses. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Amendments - Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Federal criminal code, CSA, and Controlled Substances Import and Export Act. (Sec. 754) Sets penalties for larceny involving post office boxes and postal stamp vending machines. (Sec. 757) Applies various offenses to U.S. possessions and territories. (Sec. 760) Grants courts authority to order a cable operator not to notify the subscriber of the existence of a subpoena or court order issued to such operator for basic subscriber information in connection with proceedings before a Federal grand jury.
Law· SS. 2 (104th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: General Title II: Extension of Rights and Protections Part A: Employment Discrimination, Family and Medical Leave, Fair Labor Standards, Employee Polygraph Protection, Worker Adjustment and Retraining, Employment and Reemployment of Veterans, and Intimidation Part B: Public Services and Accommodations Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Part C: Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 Part D: Labor-Management Relations Part E: General Part F: Study Title III: Office of Compliance Title IV: Administrative and Judicial Dispute-Resolution Procedures Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 - Title I: General - Applies provisions of the following laws to the legislative branch: (1) the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA); (2) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (3) the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA); (4) the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA); (5) the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA); (6) the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA); (7) provisions regarding Federal labor-management relations; (8) the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (EPPA); (9) the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN); (10) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and (11) the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994. Requires the Board of Directors (Board) of the Office of Compliance (established by this Act) to: (1) review provisions of Federal laws and regulations relating to the terms and conditions of employment (including protection from discrimination in personnel actions, occupational health and safety, and family, medical, and other leave) of employees and access to public services and accommodations; and (2) report on December 31, 1996, and biennially thereafter, on whether or to what degree such provisions are applicable or inapplicable to the legislative branch and if inapplicable whether they should be made applicable. Requires each report of a congressional committee accompanying any bill or joint resolution relating to terms and conditions of employment or access to public services or accommodations to: (1) describe the manner in which the provisions of the bill or joint resolution apply to the legislative branch; or (2) if the provisions do not apply, include a statement of the reasons why. Makes it out of order, on the objection of any Member, for the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider such bill or joint resolution if the report of the committee on the measure does not comply with this Act. Allows such requirement to be waived in either House by a majority vote of that House. Title II: Extension of Rights and Protections - Part A: Employment Discrimination, Family and Medical Leave, Fair Labor Standards, Employee Polygraph Protection, Worker Adjustment and Retraining, Employment and Reemployment of Veterans, and Intimidation - Requires all personnel actions affecting covered employees to be made free from any discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. Defines a "covered employee" as an employee of the House, the Senate, the Capitol Guide Service, the Capitol Police, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), the Office of the Attending Physician, the Office of Compliance, or the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). Makes available the remedies awarded under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADEA, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the ADA, as appropriate, for discrimination violations affecting covered employees. Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the ADEA to apply their protection and remedies to the Government Printing Office (GPO) and the General Accounting Office (GAO). Extends coverage under the ADA to GPO and GAO. Makes specified remedies and procedures set forth in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 available to any employee of an instrumentality of the Congress who alleges a violation of the rights and protections under the ADA, except that the authorities of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shall be exercised by the chief official of the instrumentality of the Congress. (Sec. 202) Applies the rights, protections, and remedies of the FMLA, EPPA, WARN (with regard to closures or mass layoffs), and veterans' employment and reemployment rights to covered employees, GAO, and the Library of Congress. Applies the FLSA to covered employees and GPO. Prohibits covered employees from receiving compensatory time in lieu of overtime compensation. Provides that nothing in this Act shall preclude the Capitol Police from using lie detector tests in accordance with prescribed regulations under this Act. (Sec. 207) Makes it unlawful for an employing office to intimidate, take reprisal against, or otherwise discriminate against, any covered employee for opposing any practice made unlawful by this Act, or for initiating proceedings, making charges, or testifying, assisting, or participating in any manner in a hearing or other proceeding under this Act. Provides that the remedy available for such violation shall be such legal or equitable remedy as would be appropriate. Part B: Public Services and Accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 - Applies the rights and protections against discrimination in the provision of public services and accommodations under the ADA to the Senate, the House, congressional and joint committees, the Capitol Guide Service, the Capitol Police, CBO, AOC, the Office of the Attending Physician, the Office, and OTA. Makes available specified remedies awarded under the ADA, as appropriate, except that with respect to any claim of employment discrimination asserted by any covered employee, the exclusive remedy under this title shall apply. Describes procedures to remedy other ADA violations, including filing a charge with the General Counsel of the Office, mediation, and judicial review. Makes specified remedies and procedures under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 available to disabled visitors, guests, or patrons of instrumentalities of the Congress (GAO, GPO, and the Library) who allege violations under ADA provisions described by this part. Part C: Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 - Directs each employing office (including GAO and the Library) and covered employees to comply with OSHA. Requires the remedy for an OSHA violation to be an order to correct the violation. Establishes procedures for such remedies, including granting the General Counsel and the Board certain authorities exercised by the Secretary of Labor under OSHA. Part D: Labor-Management Relations - Applies Federal labor- management relations provisions to employing offices and covered employees. Grants the Board and the General Counsel specified authorities of the Federal Labor Relations Authority to enforce such provisions. Part E: General - Allows the hearing officer, Board, or court, as the case may be, to award attorney's fees, expert witness fees, and other costs as would be appropriate under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to a covered employee with respect to a claim under this Act or a qualified person with a disability with respect to a claim under the ADA. Prohibits a civil penalty or punitive damages from being awarded with respect to any claim under this Act. Bars persons other than veterans from commencing an administrative or judicial proceeding to seek a remedy for the rights and protections afforded by this Act except as provided in this Act. Provides that only a covered employee who has undertaken and completed the employee counseling and mediation procedures described in this Act may be granted a remedy under Part A of this title. Part F: Study - Directs the Administrative Conference of the United States to study the application of the following laws to GAO, GPO, and the Library of Congress and the regulations and procedures used by such entities to apply and enforce such laws: (1) title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (2) the ADEA; (3) the ADA; (4) the FMLA; (5) the FLSA; (6) OSHA; (7) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; (8) Federal labor-management relations provisions; (9) the General Accounting Office Personnel Act of 1980; (10) the EPPA; (11) the WARN; and (12) provisions regarding veterans' employment and reemployment rights. Title III: Office of Compliance - Establishes in the legislative branch an Office of Compliance (Office) to carry out: (1) a program of education for Members of Congress and other employing authorities of the legislative branch respecting the laws made applicable to them; and (2) a program to inform individuals of their rights under such laws. Requires the Board Chair to appoint an Executive Director, a Deputy Executive Director for the Senate, and a Deputy Executive Director for the House of Representatives. (Sec. 304) Sets forth procedures for congressional approval of the Board's regulations required under title II to implement this Act, including regulations on the appropriate application of exemptions under the laws made applicable in such title. (Sec. 305) Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Administrative and Judicial Dispute-Resolution Procedures - Sets forth procedures for counseling, mediation, election of proceedings, hearings, judicial review of Board decisions and enforcement, civil actions, and judicial review of regulations issued by the Board with respect to consideration of alleged violations of Part A of title II. (Sec. 410) Prohibits judicial review of actions taken pursuant to this Act, except as expressly authorized by this title. (Sec. 415) Authorizes appropriations for the establishment of an account in the Treasury for the Office for payment of awards and settlements under this Act. Prohibits funds in the account from being available for awards and settlements involving GAO, GPO, and the Library. Authorizes appropriations for funds for: (1) administrative, personnel, and similar expenses of employing offices which are needed to comply with this Act; and (2) the correction of OSHA and ADA accommodation and access violations. (Sec. 416) Makes all counseling, mediation, and hearings and deliberations of the Board confidential. Permits the records of hearing officers and the Board to be made public if required for judicial review. Authorizes the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to have access to hearing records and decisions after the issuance of a final decision on a complaint. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Provides that it shall not be a violation of any provision of Section 201 to consider the party affiliation, domicile, or political compatibility, with respect to employment decisions, of employees who are: (1) on the staff of the House or Senate leadership; (2) on the staff of congressional committees, joint committees, or subcommittees; (3) on the staff of Members of the House or Senators; (4) officers of the House or the Senate or elected or appointed congressional staff; or (5) applicants for any such positions. (Sec. 503) Provides that the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct retain full power with respect to the discipline of Members, officers, and employees for violating rules of the Senate and House on nondiscrimination in employment. (Sec. 505) Requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to report to the Congress on the application to the judicial branch of: (1) the FLSA; (2) title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (3) the ADA; (4) the ADEA; (5) the FMLA; (6) OSHA; (7) Federal labor- management relations provisions; (8) the EPPA; (9) the WARN; (10) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and (11) veterans' employment and reemployment provisions. Requires the report to include any recommendations the Judicial Conference may have for legislation to provide judicial branch employees with the rights, protections, and procedures under such laws, including administrative and judicial relief, that are comparable to those available to legislative branch employees under titles I through IV of this Act. (Sec. 506) Sets forth transitional provisions with respect to certain existing claims.
Bill· SS. 27 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Voluntary School Prayer Protection Act - Prohibits the provision of funds through the Department of Education to any State or local educational agency which has a policy of denying, or effectively prevents participation in, constitutionally-protected prayer in public schools by individuals on a voluntary basis.
Bill· SS. 142 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Formula Grants for State Core Functions of Public Health Title II: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Activities Title III: Repeals Public Health Enhancement Act of 1995 - Title I: Formula Grants for State Core Functions of Public Health - Amends the Public Health Service Act to consolidate grant programs of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) into formula grants to States for core functions of public health, including: (1) data collection and needs assessment; (2) environmental protection and safety of housing, workplaces, food and water, and the public health of communities; (3) investigation and control of adverse health conditions; (4) public information and education programs; (5) accountability and quality assurance; (6) provision of laboratory services; (7) training and education; and (8) leadership, policy development, and administration. Sets restrictions on the use of grant funds and limitations on administrative expenses. Requires development of a fund distribution formula which incorporates measures of population, the health status of the population, and the financial resources of the various States. Requires, under specified conditions, the reservation of portions of State allotments for Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Authorizes appropriations. Requires development of a uniform application that States shall use to apply for grants. Requires certain State assurances in applications, including State-specific descriptions of deficiencies and successes in the State's public health system. Requires the development of a Uniform Core Public Health Functions Reporting System which uses outcomes consistent with the goals of Healthy People 2000. Title II: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Activities - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the CDC Director, to submit to the President and the Congress a report containing certain information, including: (1) a description of CDC activities and recommendations for legislative changes; and (2) a description of steps taken to improve and streamline grants and contracting accountability. Requires the Secretary, through the CDC Director, to address priority public health needs of regional and national significance through the provision of training, technical assistance, applied research, and demonstration projects. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Repeals - Repeals specified provisions of the Public Health Service Act.
Bill· SS. 97 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Job Training Partnership Act to direct the Secretary of Labor to enter into contracts with appropriate entities for the construction of education and training centers for Hawaiian Natives and Native American Samoans. Requires each such center to provide comprehensive vocational education and employment and training services through programs authorized under JTPA and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act. Requires reservation of certain funds for such purpose.
Bill· SS. 89 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act to authorize awards to institutions of higher education to develop science, computer science, technology, and mathematics curricula that encourage the enrollment of Native American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian students.
Bill· SS. 96 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out projects to reduce the incidence of traumatic brain injury through grants or contracts to public or nonprofit entities. Authorizes the following activities: (1) the conduct of research into identifying effective strategies for the prevention of traumatic brain injury; and (2) the implementation of public information and education programs for the prevention of such injury and for broadening the awareness of the public concerning the public health consequences of such injury. (Sec. 2) Requires the National Institutes of Health research program on trauma to include the authority to award grants or contracts to public or nonprofit entities for the conduct of basic and applied research regarding traumatic brain injury. (Sec. 3) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for the purpose of carrying out demonstration projects to improve access to health and other services regarding traumatic brain injury. Permits the Secretary to make a grant only if the State agrees to establish an advisory board within the appropriate health department or another department of the State. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 4) Directs the Secretary to conduct: (1) a study concerning traumatic brain injuries; and (2) a national consensus conference on managing traumatic brain injury and related rehabilitation concerns. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 66 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Public Health Service Act to make disadvantaged students enrolled in social work programs eligible for scholarships. Makes schools offering social work programs eligible for assistance for certain disadvantaged faculty programs, programs to support excellence in health profession education for minorities, programs to support health career opportunities, and programs to support geriatric training projects. Authorizes grants to, or contracts with, hospitals, schools offering programs in social work, or other entities for the development of social work training programs and financial assistance to participants and teachers of such programs. Authorizes grants to, or contracts with, schools offering programs in social work to meet the costs of projects to establish or maintain administrative units to provide clinical instruction in social work. Authorizes and allocates appropriations. Adds "clinical social worker" to specified profession definitions under health maintenance organization provisions.
Bill· SS. 60 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Physical and Occupational Therapy Education Assistance Act of 1995 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to programs of physical therapy and occupational therapy for planning and implementing projects for the recruitment, training, and retention of physical and occupational therapy practitioners in approved programs that provide financial assistance in the form of traineeships to participating students. Requires preference to be given to qualified applicants that provide training in either physical or occupational therapy programs in rural or urban medically underserved communities, or that expand post-baccalaureate programs for the advanced training of such practitioners. Requires a report to the Congress on such programs and authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 through 1998.
Bill· SS. 19 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Children's Education Opportunity Act - Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act to give States the option of linking the receipt of AFDC benefits to school attendance through the establishment of learnfare programs.
Bill· SS. 18 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Health Care Insurance Coverage Subtitle A: Definitions Subtitle B: Increased Availability and Continuity of Health Coverage Subtitle C: Required Coverage Options for Eligible Employees and Dependents of Small Employers Subtitle D: Required Coverage Options for Individuals Insured Through Association Plans Subtitle E: 1-Year Extension of Medicare Select Subtitle F: Tax Provisions Title II: Primary and Preventive Care Services Title III: Patient's Right to Decline Medical Treatment Title IV: Primary and Preventive Care Providers Title V: Cost Containment Title VI: Long-Term Care Subtitle A: Tax Treatment of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance Policies and Services Subtitle B: Tax Incentives for Purchase of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance Health Care Assurance Act of 1995 - Title I: Health Care Insurance Coverage - Subtitle A: Definitions - Sets forth definitions. Subtitle B: Increased Availability and Continuity of Health Coverage - Part 1: Reform of Health Insurance Marketplace for Small Employers - Subpart A: Insurance Market Reform - Requires each insurer that makes available a health insurance plan to a small employer in a State to make a qualified health insurance plan available to each such small employer. (Sec. 112) Requests the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)to submit for certification to the Secretary of Health and Human Services a set of rules for determining the actuarial value of the coverage offered by a health insurance plan. Sets forth requirements for determining standard coverage under health insurance plans. (Sec. 113) Requests the NAIC to submit to the Secretary model regulations that specify standards with respect to the requirement that insurers provide qualified health insurance plans. Authorizes States to implement standards for health insurance plans to small employers that are more stringent than the requirements under this Act; except that such standards shall not prevent the offering by an insurer of at least one health insurance plan that provides standard coverage. Requires each State to submit to the Secretary by a specified time a report on the steps it is taking to implement and enforce the standards with respect to insurers and their qualified health insurance plans. Subpart B: Additional Standards for Health Insurance Plans Offered to Small Employers - Requires any insurer offering a health insurance plan to a small employer to meet specified issuance requirements. (Sec. 122) Requires each health insurance plan offered to a small employer to establish within each community rating area in which such plan is offered a standard premium for enrollment of eligible employees and individuals for the standard coverage. (Sec. 123) Requires an insurer to fully disclose rating practices for their health insurance plan to the appropriate certifying authority. Authorizes such plans to require advanced payment from a new enrollee equal to the monthly premium. Subpart C: Small Employer Purchasing Groups - Sets forth qualified small employer purchasing group requirements. (Sec. 136) Authorizes appropriations for grants to States and small employer purchasing groups to assist them in planning, developing, and operating such groups. Part 2: Standards Applicable to All Health Insurance Plans - Requires an insurer offering a health insurance plan to meet specified coverage requirements, including: (1) guaranteed eligibility for individuals (including any dependents); (2) certain limitations on coverage of preexisting conditions of an individual; and (3) guaranteed renewability of plans. Part 3: Enforcement of Standards for Health Insurance Plans - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on insurers who fail to comply with certain standards for health insurance plans. Part 4: Effective Dates - Declares that this subtitle is effective upon enactment. Subtitle C: Required Coverage Options for Eligible Employees and Dependents of Small Employers - Requires small employers to offer eligible employees a group health plan. Declares that such employer is not required to make a contribution to the cost of coverage under such plan. (Sec. 172) Sets forth certain employer requirements with respect to multiemployer health plans. (Sec. 173) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on small employers who fail to comply with certain requirements for health insurance plans. Subtitle D: Required Coverage Options for Individuals Insured Through Association Plans - Part 1: Qualified Association Plans - Sets forth qualified association plan requirements. (Sec. 182) Defines such plan as a multiple employer welfare arrangement which: (1) is maintained by a qualified association; (2) has at least 500 participants in the United States; (3) provides benefits consisting solely of medical care; and (4) meets other specified criteria. Part 2: Special Rule for Church, Multiemployer, and Cooperative Plans - Sets forth requirements for church, multiemployer, and cooperative health plans. Part 3: Enforcement - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on qualified associations, church plans, multiemployer plans, or rural electric cooperative or rural telephone cooperative association plans for failure to comply with certain standards for associations and health insurance plans. Subtitle E: 1-Year Extension of Medicare Select - Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to extend for one year the period for issuance of Medicare select policies. Subtitle F: Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the deduction for health insurance costs of self-employed individuals for medical care for themselves, their spouses, and dependents. Increases the deduction from the current 25 percent of premiums paid during taxable years beginning in 1994 or 1995 by 25 percent increments up to 100 percent for years beginning in 2000 or after. (Sec. 1022) Revises continuation coverage requirements of group health plans (under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, or COBRA '85) to: (1) allow such coverage to offer annual deductibles of $1,000 and $3,000; (2) increase from 18 months to 24 months the maximum required period of continuation coverage; and (3) provide for termination of continuation coverage only after 90 days of eligibility for employer-based coverage under a new plan. Title II: Primary and Preventive Care Services - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States in order to: (1) reduce infant mortality and low birth weight births; and (2) to improve the health of pregnant women, mothers, infants, and their families for a five-year period. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 202) Amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize appropriations for specified: (1) immunization programs; (2) tuberculosis and sexually transmitted disease prevention programs; (3) migrant and community health centers; (4) health services for the homeless; (5) family planning services; (6) breast and cervical cancer prevention; (7) preventive health and health services block grants; and (8) early intervention services regarding immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. Amends title V (Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to authorize appropriations to improve the health of all mothers and children. (Sec. 203) Requires the Secretary of Education to award grants to States for local programs of comprehensive health education and prevention, early health intervention, and health education in elementary and secondary schools. Establishes the Office of Comprehensive School Health Education. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 204) Mandates grants to Head Start training agencies for training and technical assistance regarding health education to Head Start teachers and other child care providers. Reserves funds for the development of innovative model health education programs or curricula. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Patient's Right to Decline Medical Treatment - Prohibits State restrictions, except to protect a third party, on the right: (1) of a competent person to consent to or decline medical treatment; or (2) of an incapacitated person to consent to or decline medical treatment through a power of attorney. Requires all health care providers to honor such forms. Shields providers who act in good faith from criminal or civil liability or professional discipline. Denies Medicare and Medicaid payment for services contrary to advance directives and powers of attorney. (Sec. 301) Requires the Secretary to develop a national advance directive form and a national durable power of attorney form. Declares that nothing in this title shall be construed to permit, condone, authorize, or approve suicide or mercy killing, or any affirmative act to end a human life. Title IV: Primary and Preventive Care Providers - Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) to modify or establish payment requirements regarding certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and physician assistants. Makes payment to the employer of a physician assistant or nurse practitioner for the services provided discretionary, instead of, as currently, mandatory. (Sec. 402) Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to include physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified registered nurse anesthetists in the Medicaid definition of "medical assistance" for which payment will be made. (Sec. 403) Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish grant programs to: (1) provide medical (including osteopathic medical) students for programs to interest high school or college students in careers in general medical practice (medical student tutorial program grants); and (2) develop strategies for recruiting and placing medical students interested in practicing general medicine (general medical practice grants). Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Cost Containment - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize a program of clinical trials regarding promising new drugs and disease treatments. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 502) Authorizes appropriations for the Agency for Health Care Policy Research. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on health insurance premiums, payable by any person who makes, signs, issues, or sells any of the documents and instruments subject to the tax or for whose use or benefit the same are made, signed, issued, or sold. Establishes, and deposits the resulting tax receipts in, the Trust Fund for Medical Treatment Outcomes Research. Mandates annual distributions from the Trust Fund for outcomes research. (Sec. 503) Requires the Secretary to establish a national health insurance data and claims system. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 504) Requires the Secretary to make grants to States that establish health care cost containment and quality information systems. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Long-Term Care - Subtitle A: Tax Treatment of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance Policies and Services - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for expenses paid during the year for qualified long-term care services. (Sec. 603) Prohibits a deduction for charges against a life insurance contract's cash surrender value, unless such charges are includible as income and the coverage provided by the rider is a qualified long-term care insurance policy. (Sec. 604) Requires treatment of qualified long-term care insurance as accident and health insurance for purposes of taxation of insurance companies. (Sec. 605) Excludes from gross income amounts (accelerated death benefits) paid under a life insurance contract to an individual who is terminally ill, has a dread disease, or is permanently confined to a nursing home. Subtitle B: Tax Incentives for Purchase of Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance - Allows a tax credit for a portion of long-term care insurance premiums. (Sec. 612) Excludes from gross income benefits received under long-term care insurance. (Sec. 613) Allows employers to deduct from gross income any contributions made for an employee's long-term care insurance. (Sec. 614) Allows employees to select long-term care insurance as part of a cafeteria plan. (Sec. 615) Excludes from gross income amounts received: (1) on the surrender, cancellation, or exchange of a life insurance contract if the individual is at least a specified age and the amount is used to pay for long-term care insurance; and (2) on a home equity conversion sale-leaseback, if the gain is used to purchase long-term care insurance.
Bill· SS. 12 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Retirement Savings Incentives Subtitle A: Restoration of IRA Deduction Subtitle B: Nondeductible Tax-Free IRAs Title II: Penalty-Free Distributions Title III: Aid to Families with Dependent Children Savings and Investment Incentive Act of 1995 - Title I: Retirement Savings Incentives - Subtitle A: Restoration of IRA Deduction - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to restore the deduction for individual retirement plans (IRAs). Provides a phase-up of income limits (from 1995 through 1998) with respect to the limitation on the deductibility of contributions to IRAs by active participants in employer-maintained plans. Removes the spousal rule from such limitation. Terminates income limits after December 31, 1998. Provides an inflation adjustment for deductible amounts after 1995. Allows certain spouses a full deduction for contributions to an IRA. Makes certain coins and bullion ineligible as collectible investments for purposes of distributions from an IRA. Coordinates the limit on such deduction with the elective deferral limit under other pension provisions. Subtitle B: Nondeductible Tax-Free IRAs - Allows individuals to establish individual retirement plus (IRA plus) accounts with tax treatment similar to that for individual retirement plans. Makes contributions to such accounts nondeductible. Excludes distributions from such accounts from the gross income of the distributee, if the assets remain in such accounts for at least five years. Allows qualified transfers to be made to such accounts. Establishes penalties for early withdrawals and excess contributions. Title II: Penalty-Free Distributions - Allows distributions from certain retirement plans without penalty to purchase first homes, pay higher education expenses and financially devastating medical expenses, and assist certain unemployed individuals. Title III: Aid to Families with Dependent Children - Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act to exclude from AFDC eligibility determinations certain income and resources that are to be used for education, training, and employability purposes. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to specified congressional committees on the use of qualified asset accounts. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on a revision of the AFDC limit on automobiles in order to increase the employability of AFDC recipients.
Bill· SS. 8 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Ending the Cycle of Intergenerational Dependency Title II: Parental Responsibility Title III: Combating Teenage Pregnancy Title IV: Financing Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Parental Responsibility Act - Title I: Ending the Cycle of Intergenerational Dependency - Amends title IV part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require appropriate adult-supervised supportive living arrangements for minors (and their children, if any) as a condition of their receiving AFDC. (Sec. 102) Amends SSA title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) to entitle each State to funds to establish, operate, and support adult-supervised group homes for custodial parents under age 19 and their children. Sets forth provisions for payments of allotments to States, payments to Indian tribes, receipt of payments by such homes, and submission of recommendations on usage of Government surplus properties for such homes. (Sec. 103) Requires completion of high school or other training for teenage parents as a condition of receiving AFDC. Allows a State the option of requiring some or all custodial parents and pregnant women who have not attained 19 years of age (or at the State's option, 21) and who are receiving AFDC to participate in a program of additional monetary incentives and penalties. (Sec. 104) Requires drug treatment and counseling as part of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program under AFDC. Title II: Parental Responsibility - Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to provide performance-based incentive adjustments to the Federal matching rate for statewide paternity establishment efforts. Provides for Federal financial participation for all of a State's paternity establishment services. (Sec. 202) Adds to the statutorily prescribed procedures to improve effectiveness of child support enforcement, which a State is required to have in order to receive part D matching funds, procedures under which the State may withhold or suspend various sorts of licenses. (Secs. 203) Revises part D requirements for State laws: (1) concerning paternity establishment; and (2) providing expedited procedures. (Sec. 205) Provides for outreach for voluntary paternity establishment, through part D State plan requirements, enhanced Federal matching funds, and State outreach as part of voluntary consent procedures. Directs the Departments of Education and of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Public Health Service to develop and implement a substantial outreach program and media campaign to reinforce paternity establishment's importance and promote parenting as a joint right and responsibility. Authorizes appropriations for such program. Title III: Combating Teenage Pregnancy - Amends SSA title IV part A (AFDC) to allow each State agency to provide for eligible entities' operation of projects to reduce teen pregnancy. Allows Indian tribes and Alaska native entities to apply to the Secretary of HHS to operate such projects. Directs the Secretary of HHS to study and report to the Congress annually on the effectiveness of different approaches used in such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Entitles each State to a specified payment of the Federal share of the cost of such projects. (Sec. 302) Directs the Secretaries of Education and of HHS and the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service to establish a National Clearinghouse on Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programs. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Financing - Sets forth SSA uniform eligibility criteria for aliens to qualify for Federal and federally-assisted public assistance under AFDC, supplemental security income (SSI), and Medicaid programs. Allows State and local governments to make an alien ineligible for any of their assistance programs based on need unless such alien is a qualified alien under such SSA criteria. (Sec. 402) Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to extend the duration of a specified formula covering State retention of certain amounts recovered.
Bill· SS. 6 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Job Training Account System Title II: Elimination of Federal Job Training Programs Title III: Information for Better Choices Title IV: Reports and Plans Working Americans Opportunity Act - Title I: Job Training Account System - Directs the Secretaries of Labor and of Education to establish a job training account system that provides vouchers to individuals for job training and employment related services. (Sec. 102) Allows an individual to: (1) receive such a voucher of $3,000 for two years beginning on the date of application approval; and (2) use such voucher to purchase authorized job training or employment-related services. (Sec. 103) Makes individuals eligible for such vouchers if they are dislocated workers or economically disadvantaged adults. (Sec. 104) Requires each State to establish or designate easily accessible voucher application offices to assist in administering the training account system. Allows such offices to be administered by private for-profit or nonprofit or public entities. Requires such offices to provide: (1) performance-based information on service providers; and (2) information on local economy,employment, industries, and labor market demand. Requires conflict of interest standards for such offices that are concurrently eligible service providers. Expresses the sense of the Congress that, as States become more experienced in such voucher administration, such offices should be converted to one-stop assistance centers. (Sec. 105) Requires the Secretaries to issue oversight and accountability regulations relating to such vouchers. (Secs. 106 and 107) Sets forth eligibility requirements for providers of job training or employment-related services, including requirements for submission of performance-based information. (Sec. 108) Directs the Secretaries to evaluate annually the training account system and the one-stop assistance centers under title III, and report to the appropriate congressional committees. (Sec. 109) Provides for apportionment of system funds to States based on relative numbers of: (1) unemployed individuals; (2) excess unemployed individuals; (3) individuals who have been unemployed for 15 weeks or more; and (4) economically disadvantaged adults. Requires at least 75 percent of such funds to be made available as vouchers; but waives this requirement if a State provides non-voucher job training and employment-related services which the Secretary of Labor considers more beneficial in meeting the self-determined training needs of individuals. Requires the remaining balance of such funds to be used for certain authorized employment-related services provided through means other than voucher. Directs the Secretaries to determine the equitable distribution of such voucher and non-voucher assistance between dislocated workers and economically disadvantaged adults. Title II: Elimination of Federal Job Training Programs - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the elimination and streamlining of Federal job training programs should not reduce Federal commitment and effort to improve education, employment, and earnings of all workers and jobseekers, particularly those in hard-to- serve communities. Repeals specified employment training program provisions under the Job Training Partnership Act, Food Stamp Act of 1977, Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, Displaced Homemakers Self- Sufficiency Assistance Act, Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, and other specified Federal law relating to certain workers affected by an expansion of Redwood National Park in California. (Sec. 202) Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Information for Better Choices - Allows a State to use funds for non-voucher employment services under this Act to make arrangements with private or public entities to establish assistance centers to provide employment and training information and employment- related services to voucher recipients, job seekers, employers, and workers. Allows such an assistance center to serve as a voucher assistance application location, which may be within an existing unemployment office. (Sec. 302) Authorizes the Secretaries to make arrangements with public or private entities to develop and provide relevant regional labor market information to interested individuals. (Sec. 303) Directs the Department of Education to try to make known the value and availability of direct loans through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program under the Higher Education Act of 1965, through cooperative arrangements with training and educational training programs, assistance centers, State agencies, and other Federal agencies. Title IV: Reports and Plans - Directs the Secretaries to report annually to the Congress on how additional Federal job training programs not covered by this Act can be consolidated into a more integrated, accountable, and effective workforce development system. Directs the Secretaries to develop a plan that, wherever practicable, requires all Federal job training programs not covered by this Act to use common definitions, outcome measures, eligibility standards, and funding cycles. (Sec. 402) Directs the Secretary of Labor to report to the Congress on the need for income support, and options for providing it, to enable dislocated workers and economically disadvantaged adults to participate in long-term job training.
Bill· SJRESS.J.Res. 7 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that nothing in the Constitution shall be construed to prohibit or require voluntary prayer in public schools or at public school extracurricular activities.
Bill· SJRESS.J.Res. 6 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that: (1) the Constitution shall not be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions; (2) no person shall be required by the United States or by any State to participate in prayer; and (3) neither the United States nor any State shall compose the words of any prayer to be said in public schools.
Bill· HRH.R. 361 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Export Administration Title II: Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act Part A: Reporting on Nuclear Exports Part B: Sanctions for Nuclear Proliferation Part C: International Atomic Energy Agency Part D: Repeal of Duplicative Provisions Omnibus Export Administration Act of 1995 - Title I: Export Administration - Export Act of 1995 - Specifies the export policy of the United States, especially that: (1) export controls should be imposed to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and (2) restrictions on the export of agricultural commodities should be minimized. (Sec. 104) Specifies the kinds of export licenses the Secretary of Commerce may require. Prohibits any person from exporting an item that such person knows will materially contribute to a program for the development of a weapon of mass destruction or missile in a country that is not a member of, or a cooperating country with respect to, an export control regime controlling such items. Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish a United States Commodity Control Index identifying all commodities and technology on which controls are imposed under this Act; (2) specify license requirements for such items; and (3) designate countries and end users to which exports of commodities and technology are controlled. Requires the Secretary to appoint export advisory committees with respect to export controls imposed on such items. (Sec. 105) Authorizes the President to prohibit or curtail the export of commodities or technology that would: (1) directly and significantly enable a country or end user to acquire weapons of mass destruction; or (2) directly and significantly contribute to the military capability of a country so as to pose a threat to the national security of the United States or its allies. Requires the Secretary to establish a security control list of commodities, technology, countries, and end uses or end users with respect to which export controls are imposed by this Act. Provides that the Secretary shall require authority or permission to export commodities and technology on the security control list to a controlled country, a controlled end use, or a controlled end user. Sets forth provisions regarding the creation of multilateral export control regimes. Provides favorable licensing treatment for the export of commodities and technology among such regimes or cooperating countries. Requires the Secretary periodically to review export controls and, if warranted, increase specified export control thresholds for, and propose to the regime removal of, export controls on computer equipment, computer communications and networking equipment, computer software, and related technology that has become obsolete. Requires the Secretary of State to propose the elimination of controls on mass-market computer equipment to export control regimes that control such equipment. Declares that, in specified circumstances, approval shall be presumed for a license for export to a country of any controlled goods, without regard to their technical specifications, for trade show purposes. Directs the Secretary to enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering to study and report to the President and the Congress on the extent to which exports of computers can be controlled, and the policy reasons for maintaining controls. (Sec. 106) Authorizes the President, after consultation with the Congress, to prohibit or curtail unilaterally for up to six months the export of commodities or technology whenever it is essential to U.S. national security or foreign policy, or necessary to prevent foreign countries from supporting acts of international terrorism. Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of State to seek support from other countries and multilateral export control regimes for such controls. Sets forth procedures for extension of such controls and for congressional disapproval of such an extension. Prohibits export or reexport of controlled commodities or technology to countries that have repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism. Declares that crime control and detection instruments and equipment shall be approved for export by the Secretary only pursuant to an export license, with specified exceptions. (Sec. 107) Authorizes the President to prohibit or impose quantitative restrictions on the export of commodities that are domestically in short supply. Directs the Secretary to monitor exports, and contracts for exports, of commodities in cases where their volume in relation to domestic supply contributes, or may contribute, to an increase in domestic prices or a domestic shortage, and such increase or shortage has, or may have, a serious adverse impact on the economy. Authorizes an entity, including a trade association, firm, or certified union or group of workers, that is representative of an industry that processes metallic materials capable of being recycled, to petition the Secretary requesting both the monitoring of or the imposition of export controls on such exports that are in short supply. Prohibits the export of Alaskan North Slope crude oil, with specified exceptions. Provides for licensing of refined petroleum product exports. Prohibits the President from imposing quantitative restrictions based on short supply controls on agricultural commodities (including fats and oils or animal hides or skins) without the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture. Prohibits the exportation of unprocessed western red cedar (Thuja plicata) logs harvested from State or Federal lands. Declares that shipments of crude oil and refined and partially refined petroleum products for use by the Department of Defense or U.S.-supported installations shall not, for purposes of export controls on Alaskan North Slope oil, be considered to be exports. (Sec. 108) Directs the President to issue regulations that prohibit, with specified exceptions, U.S. persons from supporting any boycott imposed by a foreign country against a country friendly to the United States that is not itself the object of a U.S. boycott. (Sec. 109) Specifies procedures for the processing of export license applications, including the screening, referral, approval or denial, and review of such applications. (Sec. 110) Sets forth both civil and criminal penalties for violations of this Act. (Sec. 111) Directs the Secretary to establish a list of commodities and technology that would directly and substantially assist a foreign government or group in acquiring the capability to develop, produce, stockpile, or deliver chemical or biological weapons, the licensing of which would be effective in barring acquisition or enhancement of such capability. Requires a validated license for the export of listed items to any country of concern. Requires the Secretary to establish a list of all dual use commodities and technology on the Missile Technology Control Regime Annex (MTCR), including such items that would provide a direct and significant impact on the development of missile delivery systems. Requires a validated license for the export of such items on the MTCR list to any country, including items the exporter knows are destined for a missile project or facility in a country that is not an MTCR adherent. Amends the Arms Export Control Act to require the Secretary of State to establish, as part of the United States Munitions List (Munitions List), a list of items including those controlled pursuant to multilateral export control regimes (such as the Australia Group), but not subject to specified control under this Act, that would directly and substantially assist a foreign government, group, or project in acquiring the capability to develop, produce, stockpile, or deliver chemical or biological weapons, the licensing of which would be effective in barring the acquisition or enhancement of such capability. Requires a license for the export of such items on such list. Requires the Secretary of State to establish a list of items, including those on the MTCR Annex, that would provide a direct and significant impact on the development of missile delivery systems, and the export of which is not subject to control under this Act. Requires a validated license for the export of such items on such list to any country, including items the exporter knows are destined for a missile project or facility in a country that is not an MTCR adherent. Provides that such licenses shall be denied if the ultimate consignee of such items is a facility: (1) in a country that is not an MTCR adherent and it is designed to develop or build missiles; or (2) in a country that has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism. Requires the President to impose sanctions, for a two year period, against any U.S. or foreign person or entity that knowingly exports or transfers, or facilitates the export or transfer of, chemical or biological weapons or missiles. Includes among such sanctions: (1) denial of an export license; (2) barring of Government procurement contracts; and (3) appropriate import restrictions on the products of an offending entity. Requires the President to determine what countries have made substantial preparation to use or have used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or against their own nationals. Requires the President to impose, for a minimum two year period, specified sanctions against such countries. (Sec. 112) Sets forth provisions regarding administrative and judicial review of determinations made under this Act. (Sec. 113) Makes the Secretary responsible for providing policy guidance on the enforcement of this Act. Sets forth requirements with respect to: (1) the forfeiture of goods and tangible items lawfully seized by the United States for violations of this Act; (2) undercover investigative operations of the Office of Export Enforcement of the Department of Commerce; and (3) a financial audit and report to the Congress on each undercover investigative operation. (Sec. 114) Requires issuance of an annual policy guidance for export licensing officials in all Federal departments and agencies. Declares that all power, authority, and discretion conferred by this title with respect to export control functions shall be exercised by the Secretary. Establishes an Export Control Policy Committee to provide policy guidance and advice to the President on export control issues. Directs the President to appoint an Under Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration who shall perform all functions of the Secretary under this Act and other Federal laws relating to national security. Sets forth requirements for: (1) non-disclosure of confidential information; (2) disclosure of information to the Congress and the General Accounting Office (GAO); (3) penalties for disclosure of confidential information; and (4) public opportunity for comment on regulations imposing export controls. Authorizes the Secretary to participate in the education and training of officials from other countries on the principles and procedures for implementation of effective export controls. Declares that a license may not be required for the export of a commodity solely because it contains parts or components subject to export control if they: (1) are essential to the functioning of the commodity; (2) are customarily included in the sales of the item in non-controlled countries; and (3) compose 25 percent or less of the total value of the commodity, unless the commodity itself would make a significant contribution to the military or proliferation potential of a controlled country or end user which would prove detrimental to U.S. national security. Declares that no authority may be required for certain reexports of foreign-made items incorporating U.S. items. Declares that this Act does not authorize export controls on: (1) medicine or medical supplies; or (2) donations of items intended to meet basic human needs, including food, educational materials, seeds, hand tools, water resources equipment, clothing and shelter materials, and basic household supplies. Declares that no validated license shall be required for replacement parts exported to replace on a one-to-one basis parts that were in a commodity lawfully exported from the United States, unless the President determines that a license should be required for such parts. (Sec. 115) Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress on the administration of this Act. (Sec. 117) Declares that the Secretary shall not require a license for the export or reexport of telecommunications equipment to civil end users in any of the former republics of the Soviet Union, China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, or Vietnam. Subjects to export controls exclusively under this Act any civil aircraft product, or any technology used in it, that is an integral part of such aircraft and is standard equipment certified or scheduled to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. Requires the President to submit to specified congressional committees a report assessing: (1) the international market for computer software with encryption; and (2) the impact of U.S. encryption export controls on the international competitiveness of the U.S. computer software industry. Requires the export of commercial communications satellites (including any integral components necessary to achieve the orbit location of such satellites) to be regulated solely under this Act. (Sec. 118) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Arab League countries should end the secondary Arab boycott. Title II: Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act - Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1995 - Part A: Reporting on Nuclear Exports - Amends the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 to include in a certain presidential report to the Congress on governmental efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons: (1) a description of the implementation of nuclear and nuclear-related dual-use export controls; and (2) the progress of the non-nuclear-weapon independent states of the former Soviet Union and of the Baltic states towards achieving the objective of applying full scope safeguards to all their peaceful nuclear activities. Part B: Sanctions for Nuclear Proliferation - Requires the President to impose certain sanctions against any foreign or U.S. person that has materially and with requisite knowledge contributed to the efforts of any individual, group, or non-weapon state to acquire unsafeguarded special nuclear material, or to use, develop, produce, stockpile, or otherwise acquire any nuclear explosive device. (Sec. 222) Amends the Arms Export Control Act to prohibit the sale or lease of defense articles or services to any country that the President has determined to be in material breach of treaties or agreements concerning the nonproliferation of nuclear explosive devices and unsafeguarded special nuclear material. (Sec. 223) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors to certain international financial institutions to oppose any use of their funds to promote the acquisition of unsafeguarded special nuclear material or the development, stockpiling, or use of a nuclear explosive device by a non-nuclear-weapon state. Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to make it a duty of the U.S. executive directors of such institutions to consider whether a country receiving financial assistance: (1) is seeking to acquire unsafeguarded special nuclear material or a nuclear explosive device; (2) is not a State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; or (3) has detonated a nuclear explosive device. (Sec. 224) Prohibits any U.S. or foreign person from knowingly, materially, and directly contributing or attempting to contribute, through the provision of financing, to the acquisition of unsafeguarded special nuclear material, or the use, development, production, or stockpiling of any nuclear explosive device by an individual, group, or non-nuclear-weapon state. Requires the President to impose certain sanctions against any U.S. or foreign person violating such prohibition. (Sec. 225) Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to require the Secretary of State to report to appropriate congressional committees and to the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank if a country has willfully aided or abetted a non-nuclear-weapon state in acquiring any nuclear explosive device or unsafeguarded special nuclear material. (Sec. 226) Requires the President to report to the Congress, and impose certain sanctions against, any country that: (1) transfers to a non-nuclear-weapon state a nuclear explosive device; (2) is a non-nuclear-weapon state and either receives a nuclear explosive device or detonates one; (3) transfers to a non-nuclear-weapon state any design information or component that is important to the development of a nuclear device; or (4) is a non-nuclear-weapon state and receives such information or component. (Sec. 227) Amends the Arms Export Control Act to prohibit the use of any funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or this Act to provide economic assistance, military assistance or grant military education and training, foreign assistance, or extend military credits or make guarantees, to any country which delivers to or receives from another country nuclear enrichment equipment, materials, or technology, unless certain conditions are met. Authorizes the President to furnish such assistance if he certifies to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate that: (1) termination of such assistance would have a serious adverse effect on vital U.S. interests; and (2) assurances have been received that such country will not acquire or develop nuclear weapons or assist other nations in doing so. Sets forth similar provisions prohibiting such assistance to countries that deliver to, or receive from, a country nuclear reprocessing equipment, materials, or technology which contribute significantly to that country's ability to manufacture a nuclear explosive device. (Sec. 229) Amends the Arms Control and Disarmament Act to include in a specified annual report to the Congress a discussion of any material noncompliance by foreign governments with their commitments to the United States with respect to the prevention of the spread of nuclear explosive devices by non-nuclear weapon states or the acquisition by such states of unsafeguarded special nuclear material. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Department of State should, in its reporting responsibilities under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978, include a summary of demarches that the United States has issued or received from foreign governments with respect to activities which are of significance from the proliferation standpoint. Part C: International Atomic Energy Agency - Expresses the sense of the Congress that in order to enhance international confidence in the effectiveness of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and other multilateral undertakings to halt the global proliferation of nuclear weapons, the United States should seek to negotiate specified initiatives with other nations, including the IAEA Board of Governors and the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Part D: Repeal of Duplicative Provisions - Repeals certain duplicative provisions of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995.
Bill· HRH.R. 366 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to apply to Hispanic-serving institutions of higher education the same student loan default rate limitations applicable to historically Black colleges and universities.
Bill· HRH.R. 269 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make Martin University of Indianapolis, Indiana, eligible for programs for strengthening historically Black colleges and universities.
Bill· HRH.R. 404 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Makes ineligible for Federal benefits or services for a ten-year period any person convicted of making a fraudulent representation with respect to residence in order to receive State or local benefits from two or more States. Directs the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, of Agriculture, of Education, of Labor, and of Housing and Urban Development each to design and implement, and report to the Congress on, a program to assist the States in preventing persons from engaging in such fraudulent conduct.
Law· HRH.R. 248 (104th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out projects to reduce the incidence of traumatic brain injury through grants or contracts to public or nonprofit entities. Authorizes the following activities: (1) the conduct of research into identifying effective strategies for the prevention of traumatic brain injury; and (2) the implementation of public information and education programs for the prevention of such injury and for broadening the awareness of the public concerning the public health consequences of such injury. (Sec. 2) Requires the National Institutes of Health research program on trauma to include the authority to award grants or contracts to public or nonprofit entities for the conduct of basic and applied research regarding traumatic brain injury. (Sec. 3) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for the purpose of carrying out demonstration projects to improve access to health and other services regarding traumatic brain injury. Permits the Secretary to make a grant only if the State agrees to establish an advisory board within the appropriate health department or another department of the State. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 4) Directs the Secretary to conduct: (1) a study concerning traumatic brain injuries; and (2) a national consensus conference on managing traumatic brain injury and related rehabilitation concerns. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 95 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Locate and Case Tracking Title II: Establishment Title III: Parentage Title IV: Enforcement Title V: Collection and Distribution Title VI: Federal Role Title VII: State Role Title VIII: Jobs for Unemployed Noncustodial Parents Title IX: Effective Date Interstate Child Support Act of 1995 - Title I: Locate and Case Tracking - Amends part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to allow the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) to be used along with appropriate disclosure safeguards for parentage establishment and child support and visitation enforcement. (Sec. 101) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) denial of visitation rights under a child support order should be treated as irrelevant in any action to enforce its support provisions; and (2) failure to pay child support pursuant to such an order should be treated likewise in any action to enforce visitation rights. (Sec. 102) Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to enter into an agreement to provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Secretary) with access to quarterly estimated Federal income tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Requires that: (1) State agencies charged with child support enforcement maintain child support order registries and be allowed access to medical, financial, employment, and other specified data base information on absent parents; (2) registry information from each State be sent to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) (designated under title VI of this Act) within HHS for a national registry of all State child support orders. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary should investigate accessing certain Federal data banks not linked with FPLS. (Sec. 103) Requires the Secretary to expand FPLS to provide State agencies and courts with a national locate and case tracking network. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the network should be used to access State records only through the agency administering the State's part D plan. (Sec. 104) Requires that private attorneys and pro se obligees be given access, in accordance with appropriate safeguards, to State locate resources and through enforcement techniques with respect to child support, visitation, and parentage orders. (Sec. 105) Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to require employers to withhold from employee wages amounts owed for child support. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to modify the W-4 form completed by new employees in order to enable employers to obtain employee child support and other information for the appropriate State employment security agency. (Sec. 106) Requires the heads of national and regional individual tracking systems to allow child support enforcement agencies access to their information for paternity or child support purposes. (Sec. 107) Requires that States: (1) broadcast warrants issued in child support proceedings over their crime information systems; (2) remit, in a criminal case, to any individual owed child support any security posted by or on behalf of the individual owing the support and then forfeited, to the extent of any arrearage in support owed; and (3) have procedures to obtain access to financial records for purposes of child support establishment and enforcement. Title II: Establishment - Amends SSA title IV part D to provide for service of process on Federal employees and members of the armed forces in connection with parentage and child support proceedings. (Sec. 202) Requires that: (1) parents' identification and locate information be filed with the appropriate adjudicating entity in parentage and child support actions; (2) there be appropriate safeguards on such information where a court has ordered that the custodial parent or child receive physical protection from the noncustodial parent; (3) appropriate administrative agencies make reasonable attempts to timely notify any individual owed child support of any proceeding to establish, modify, or enforce the support obligation; (4) States allow parties seeking both parentage and child support establishment in a judicial proceeding to bring a joint action in a single cause of action; (5) States provide for uniform procedures regarding jurisdiction and venue in parentage and child support cases; (6) States provide for continuation of parental child support obligations until they terminate as described; (7) States allow parties to participate in interstate parentage and child support proceedings by telephonic means; (8) marriage licenses, birth certificates, and divorce and parentage decrees contain social security numbers; and (9) appropriate State agencies be allowed subpoena power in connection with child support hearings. (Sec. 205) Amends the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) to allow appropriate State agencies to obtain from credit reporting agencies information for establishing and modifying child support awards. (Sec. 206) Creates a National Child Support Guidelines Commission to study and report to the President and the Congress on national child support guidelines, and to develop such guidelines for congressional consideration should it be advisable. (Sec. 207) Specifies certain principles to be used in accordance with the application of State child support guidelines. (Sec. 208) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, if children receive child support while obtaining postsecondary education, they will attain higher levels of education affording them a greater chance to break the welfare cycle. (Sec. 209) Requires the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to develop a: (1) national subpoena duces tecum for distribution to child support agencies and others to use to reach income information; and (2) uniform abstract of a child support order for State court use. (Sec. 214) Requires the Legal Services Corporation to ensure the use of a specified amount of funding for child support cases. (Sec. 215) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) children on Indian reservations be accorded the same right of support currently afforded to off-reservation children; (2) State and tribal governments should, to the greatest extent possible, ensure that jurisdictional issues do not prevent any Indian child from receiving the support to which the child is entitled; and (3) States should work with community-based organizations with ties to underserved populations to develop better methods to reach and work with such populations to encourage the filing of more support orders. Amends the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to require Indian tribes to give full faith and credit to child support orders of other Indian tribes, to the extent such entities already give full faith and credit to the acts, records, and proceedings of the other entity. (Sec. 216) Amends SSA title IV part D to provide grants for certain demonstration projects designed to secure child support services in underserved areas and combat domestic violence. Title III: Parentage - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) require States to adopt various specified procedures for voluntary paternity acknowledgment; and (2) provide for 90 percent Federal matching for such programs. (Sec. 301) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, in a proceeding to establish paternity, once paternity is alleged, the burden of proof should shift to the alleged father. Title IV: Enforcement - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) require States to mandate that an employer comply with wage withholding orders issued by any State court or administrative agency; (2) specify the priority for applying amounts withheld from income for child support and child health insurance; (3) subject to withholding for child support income from workers' compensation and other specified Federal sources; (4) prohibit State court application of the election of remedies doctrine to prevent collection of child support; (5) deny State occupational, professional, and business licenses, and driver's licenses and vehicle registrations to delinquent noncustodial parents; (6) authorize liens on vehicle titles, seizure of bank accounts, and holds on lottery winnings, settlements, payouts, bequests, and proceeds from the sale of forfeited property to satisfy child support arrearages; (7) require States to make a rebuttable presumption that any transfer of property by an individual who owes a child support arrearage is made with the intent to avoid payment of the arrearage; (8) revise the mechanism for collection of past-due child support from Federal tax refunds to cover post-minor children who do not receive Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC); (9) authorize attachment of retirement plan interests without a separate court order to satisfy child support arrearages; (10) permit enforcement of any child support order until the child is at least 30; (11) require interest on all child support judgments; (12) require States to adopt the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws in August 1992; (13) allow State courts to order the assignment of life insurance benefits and interests in jointly held property to satisfy child support arrearages; and (14) require States to treat international child support cases in the same manner as interstate child support cases. (Sec. 404) Amends CCPA with respect to State laws and garnishments for securing child support. Gives Federal debts a lower priority than child support debts when the obligor's disposable income cannot satisfy both debts through withholding. Prohibits employers from discharging any employee whose earnings are subject to garnishment for additional indebtedness arising from a child support order. (Sec. 406) Denies Federal occupational, professional, and business licenses for delinquent individuals until the license hold is released. (Sec. 412) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the IRS Commissioner should instruct IRS field officers and agents to give a high priority to requests for the use of full collection in delinquent child support cases. Requires the Secretary of Treasury to simplify the full collection process and reduce the amount of child support arrearage needed before an individual may apply for full collection. (Sec. 417) Sets forth requirements pertaining to parentage establishment and child support payments in the armed forces. (Sec. 419) Directs the Comptroller General and Secretary of the Treasury to study the feasibility of an annual reconciliation process for paying child support arrearages as part of the Federal income tax process. (Sec. 420) Authorizes the Secretary of State to refuse, revoke, or restrict passports in cases where the applicant or holder is a noncustodial parent subject to a State arrest warrant for nonpayment of a substantial child support arrearage. (Sec. 421) Prohibits Federal benefits, loans, guarantees, and employment for individuals owing certain child support arrearages. (Sec. 424) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should ratify the United Nations Convention of 1956. Title V: Collection and Distribution - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) set priorities for State distribution of child support collections; (2) require States to limit claims against noncustodial parents for reimbursement of a child's portion of AFDC to the amount in the child support order; (3) revise part D plan provisions concerning fees; and (4) require States to provide for collection and disbursement points for child support cases. (Sec. 501) Requires Comptroller General to conduct studies and pilot projects with respect to requiring State systems to pay the child support collected under a State plan to the individuals to whom the support is owed before making any payment to reimburse any State for AFDC provided with respect to the child in question. Amends IRC to revise the Federal income tax refund offset mechanism. (Sec. 505) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should encourage parents to use the State child support agency to process and distribute child support payments. Title VI: Federal Role - Amends SSA title IV part D to: (1) designate the separate organizational unit currently charged with various parentage and child support responsibilities as the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE); and (2) change OCSE's organizational structure. (Sec. 602) Requires: (1) the new OCSE Assistant Secretary to provide training assistance to the States; (2) States to provide for training of child support personnel; and (3) the Secretary to study staffing at State child support enforcement programs and reduce payments to States that have not implemented recommended staffing levels. (Sec. 604) Requires the Secretary to: (1) authorize demonstration projects to test alternative approaches to incentive funding for State child support programs; and (2) reduce payments to States which have not reinvested incentive payments in their child support programs. Provides that "support" under SSA title IV part D with respect to incentive payments to States includes premiums paid for health insurance coverage pursuant to a support order. Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should not use amounts paid to them pursuant to SSA title IV part D, which are reinvested in child support activities, to supplant State funding of such activities. (Sec. 606) Requires the Secretary to: (1) contract for a study of OCSE's audit process to develop criteria and methodology for auditing activities of State child support enforcement agencies; and (2) provide for State demonstration projects for the purpose of ensuring that custodial parents owed child support have a consistent source of income for the support of their children. (Sec. 607) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) children should have a consistent source of income to meet their education and medical needs; (2) the provision of public assistance to a custodial parent for the support of a child with respect to whom the noncustodial parent owes child support does not absolve the latter of the obligation to provide such support; (3) the States must continue to vigorously pursue efforts to establish parentage, and establish and enforce child support obligations; and (4) OCSE should develop a mechanism to publicize the best State practices in child support. (Sec. 608) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury a Children's Trust Fund to hold the contributions designated by individuals on their tax returns for funding child support programs. (Sec. 609) Requires: (1) the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on delinquent child support payments and the effectiveness of administrative vs. judicial adjudication of parentage and child support cases; and (2) OCSE to produce and update a certain compendium of State child support laws published by the National Conference of State Legislatures, and establish a permanent child support advisory committee. Title VII: State Role - Amends SSA title IV part D to require States to: (1) promote the greatest economic security possible for children, within the obligor's ability to pay; (2) provide custodial parents with certain information on child support cases and the services available under their part D plans; and (3) require any changes in child support payees to be made only through administrative procedures. (Sec. 703) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should: (1) work closely with parents to improve the quality of child support services; (2) have offices in areas accessible to public transportation with convenient hours that allow parents to meet privately with attorneys and caseworkers; and (3) establish administrative procedures to process child support cases and a child support council to recommend improvements in State paternity and child support programs. Title VIII: Jobs for Unemployed Noncustodial Parents - Expresses the sense of the Congress that any Federal program to provide jobs for noncustodial parents should be administered so as not to adversely affect any Federal program for custodial parents. (Sec. 801) Requires the Secretary to transmit evaluations of certain projects under the JOBS program under SSA title IV part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) to the Secretary of Labor for study and possible action, including authorizing States to provide services of greater scope and duration to unemployed noncustodial parents under such program. Title IX: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 97 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Rapid Deployment Strike Force Act - Directs the Attorney General to establish in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) a Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) to assist units of local government in combating crime. Provides that: (1) the RDF shall be headed by a Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI and comprised of approximately 2,500 Federal law enforcement officers with training and experience in the investigation of violent and drug-related crime, criminal gangs, and juvenile delinquency and community action to prevent crime; and (2) to the extent that the RDF is staffed through the transfer of personnel from other entities in the Department of Justice or any other Federal agency, such personnel shall be replaced through the hiring of additional law enforcement officers. Authorizes the Deputy Assistant Director, on application of the Governor of a State and the chief executive officer of the affected local government (or, in the case of the District of Columbia, the mayor), and upon finding that the occurrence of criminal activity in a particular jurisdiction is being exacerbated by the interstate flow of drugs, guns, and criminals, to deploy on a temporary basis an RDF unit to the jurisdiction to assist State and local law enforcement agencies in the investigation of criminal activity. Sets forth requirements regarding: (1) applications for assistance; (2) conditions of deployment; and (3) deputization of RDF members. Directs the Attorney General to establish and administer an annual leave system applicable to the Federal law enforcement officers serving in the RDF. Requires that: (1) RDF units be based in the Nation's major regions at locations and in facilities determined by the Attorney General; (2) RDF members receive training and education in the regional crime problems of the region where they are based; and (3) the Deputy Assistant Director, whenever possible, deploy units in the region where they are based. Provides for the use of the RDF, when not deployed, to provide training and education to local law enforcement agencies and to support Federal law enforcement efforts.
Bill· HRH.R. 6 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
American Dream Restoration Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals a tax credit of $500 multiplied by the number of qualifying children who have not attained age 18. Places limitations on such credit based on: (1) taxpayer adjusted gross incomes over $200,000; and (2) social security tax payments. Provides an inflation adjustment for such credit and the taxpayer adjusted gross income amount. Allows a tax credit for qualified married couples equal to a dollar amount determined by the Secretary of the Treasury to reduce revenues by $2 billion. Describes such couples as those who would be required to pay more in income taxes because they are married than they would be required to pay if they were not married. Establishes individual retirement plans which can be designated as American Dream Savings Accounts. Disallows a tax deduction for amounts contributed to such accounts. Limits contributions to such accounts to the lesser of $2,000, or compensation includible in an individual's gross income for a taxable year ($4,000 in the case of certain married individuals). Provides an inflation adjustment on such amounts. Permits contributions to be made after age 70.5. Excludes distributions from such accounts from gross income and makes the penalty on early distributions inapplicable. Designates qualified distributions as those: (1) made after the individual attains age 59.5; (2) made to a beneficiary on or after the death of the individual; (3) attributable to the individual being disabled; and (4) qualified as special purpose distributions. Prohibits qualified distributions from being made within the five-year period since the account began. Describes special purpose distributions as those for: (1) qualified first-time homebuyers; (2) qualified higher education expenses; and (3) qualified medical expenses, including long-term care insurance.
Bill· HRH.R. 228 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Community Participation and Human Health Title II: State Roles Title III: Voluntary Response Title IV: Liability and Allocation Title V: Remedy Selection and Cleanup Standards Title VI: Miscellaneous Title VII: Funding Title VIII: Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund Title IX: Taxes Subtitle A: Environmental Insurance Resolution Taxes and Trust Fund Subtitle B: 5-Year Extension of Hazardous Substance Superfund Subtitle C: Report by Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Reform Act of 1995 - Title I: Community Participation and Human Health - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA or Superfund) to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make technical assistance grants available to any group of individuals who may be affected by the release or threatened release of hazardous substances or pollutants at any facility on the State Registry or National Priorities List (NPL). (Sec. 101) Requires the President to provide for public participation in significant phases of response activities under CERCLA. Makes all nonprivileged information available to the public throughout all phases of the response action. Directs the President to ensure that the presentation of information on risk is unbiased and informative. (Sec. 102) Requires the President to provide the opportunity for the establishment of a representative public forum, known as a Community Working Group (CWG), to achieve direct, regular, and meaningful consultation with all interested parties throughout all stages of a response action whenever: (1) the President determines such a group will be helpful; or (2) 50 citizens, or at least 20 percent of the population of a locality in which the NPL facility is located, petition for a CWG to be established. Authorizes CWGs to offer recommendations on the anticipated future use of land at an affected facility prior to the selection of a remedy. Establishes a Citizen Information and Access Office within each State to provide information regarding State Registry and NPL sites, citizens' rights, facility records and health data, public meetings, removal and remedial actions, and outreach activities. Authorizes Indian tribes to petition the Administrator to form a body equivalent to such Office. Directs the Administrator to submit a biennial Environmental Justice Study to the Congress. (Sec. 103) Requires the President, in setting priorities for taking remedial action, to: (1) group facilities together, even if they are not adjacent, and score them as a single facility where more than one facility on the State Registry results in hazardous substances exposures to the same population; (2) take into account the use of land or waterways for subsistence, religious, or cultural practices where such use results in additional exposures, in placing facilities on the NPL; (3) conduct interviews with persons affected by the facility and solicit their input in the hazard ranking system evaluation; and (4) place highest priority on facilities with releases of hazardous substances which result in actual ongoing human exposures at levels resulting in demonstrated adverse health effects as identified in specified health assessments. Authorizes the President to take into account any history of exposure to hazardous substances in the community regardless of the source of exposure, in placing facilities on the NPL. Requires the Administrator to: (1) evaluate major urban areas and other areas where environmental justice concerns may warrant special attention; and (2) identify five facilities in each EPA region that are, or should be, on the State Registry and that are likely to warrant inclusion on the NPL. Accords such facilities a priority in evaluation for NPL listing and scoring. (Sec. 109) Requires the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Administrator to develop and distribute educational materials on human health effects of hazardous substances to the public. (Sec. 110) Authorizes the ATSDR Administrator to provide grant or contract assistance to individuals who may be affected by releases or threatened releases when: (1) a public health assessment is conducted at a facility on the NPL; or (2) a release is being evaluated for inclusion on the NPL. Authorizes the ATSDR Administrator, pursuant to such grants or contracts, to provide for health services to communities affected by the release of hazardous substances. (Sec. 113) Permits the EPA Administrator to carry out a demonstration program to assist in the recruitment and training of individuals from areas affected by NPL facilities for employment in remediation activities. Encourages parties conducting response actions under CERCLA to have their contractors train minorities and other disadvantaged persons from the affected community in remediation skills. Title II: State Roles - Authorizes States, pursuant to contracts or cooperative agreements, to apply to the Administrator to take or require: (1) preremedial actions at any non-federally owned or operated facility that is not listed on the NPL; or (2) response actions at non-federally owned or operated NPL facilities or removal actions at any facility proposed for listing on the NPL. Sets forth requirements for State enforcement and allocation of liability. (Sec. 202) Prohibits funding to States for response actions, except for emergency removal actions, unless the affected State provides assurances that it will pay 15 percent of the cost of the action or funding and will assure oversight of any operation and maintenance of response actions. (Sec. 206) Directs the Administrator to study the feasibility of authorizing States to use their own laws to carry out CERCLA in lieu of the Federal program under such Act. (Sec. 207) Authorizes States to apply to the Administrator to exercise the Administrator's authorities with respect to response actions at Federal facilities. Bases approval of transfer of authorities in part on a State's hazardous waste program authorization under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Continues the existing limitations on transfers of authority from the Administrator to any other person under provisions regarding Federal facilities. Title III: Voluntary Response - Directs the Administrator to establish a program to provide assistance to States to establish and expand voluntary response programs. (Sec. 301) Provides that no portion of a facility subject to a response action plan under a qualified State program shall be proposed for listing on the NPL so long as substantial and continual response activities are being undertaken to complete the response action in a timely fashion. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations describing circumstances in which States with qualified programs and the authority to issue permits under Federal environmental statutes may waive permit requirements with respect to approved voluntary response plans under certain conditions. Provides that performance of a voluntary response action shall not constitute an admission of liability under any Federal, State, or local law or regulation or in any private action. Title IV: Liability and Allocation - Authorizes the Administrator to issue administrative subpoenas to require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and production of information regarding response actions. Revises confidentiality requirements with respect to such information and applies confidentiality requirements to contractors. (Sec. 403) Absolves of liability for response actions a person who does not impede a response action or natural resource restoration to the extent liability is based solely on: (1) arrangement, transportation, or acceptance provisions relating to disposal or treatment of hazardous substances and such activities only involved municipal solid waste or sewage sludge possessed by the person and the person is the owner, operator, or lessee of residential property or a small business or small nonprofit organization; (2) such provisions and such activities involved fewer than 55 gallons of liquid materials (or 100 pounds of solid materials) containing hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants or such amount as the Administrator may determine; (3) ownership or operation of a vessel or facility and the person is a bona fide prospective purchaser of the facility; (4) ownership and the person acquired the facility by inheritance after disposal of the hazardous substances took place, did not contribute to the release, and exercised due care with respect to such substances; (5) ownership by a Federal, State, or local entity of a road or other right-of-way (other than railroads) over which hazardous substances are transported or on the granting of a license or a permit to conduct business; or (6) actions of a Federal agency in response to a natural disaster. Makes persons who are solely liable under arrangement, transportation, or acceptance provisions regarding disposal or treatment of hazardous substances liable for no more than ten percent of total response costs if such activities only involved municipal solid waste or sewage sludge. Applies such limitation to the aggregate liability of all persons involved. Applies such limitation only if acts or omissions giving rise to liability occurred before the date 36 months after enactment of this Act or the person asserting the limitation participates in a qualified household hazardous waste collection program. Limits the liability of persons who do not impede the performance of a response action or natural resource restoration with respect to a release to the lesser of the fair market value of a vessel or facility or the actual proceeds of the sale of the vessel or facility subject to certain conditions. Provides that a person who owns or operates real property contiguous to property on which there has been a release of a hazardous substance and that may be contaminated shall not be considered an owner or operator, for liability purposes, if such persons: (1) exercised due care with respect to such substance; (2) took precautions against foreseeable acts or omissions that resulted in the release; and (3) did not cause or contribute to the release and provides access to persons authorized to conduct response actions. Authorizes the President to issue assurances of no enforcement action to such person and grant such person protection against cost recovery and contribution actions. Grants the United States a lien, subject to certain conditions, on any facility for which the prospective purchaser is not liable for unrecovered response costs. Provides that no lien shall arise with respect to property: (1) for which the property owner preceding the first bona fide prospective purchaser is not liable or has resolved liability; or (2) where an audit required by an environmental professional gives the purchaser no reason to know of the release of hazardous substances. (Sec. 404) Directs the Administrator to calculate the EPA response action oversight costs for which potentially responsible parties (PRPs) are liable on a national basis as a percentage of total response costs incurred by PRPs (the national oversight rate). Limits the rate to ten percent of total response costs incurred by all PRPs. Provides that when the President responds at facilities on the NPL, liability for pollutants and contaminants shall be identical to that for hazardous substances only if such pollutants and contaminants: (1) constitute an imminent and substantial danger to human health; and (2) are not associated with the production or extraction of any hydrocarbon. Prohibits liability based solely on a person's construction activities at a facility if a person can demonstrate that the activities were carried out in accordance with a contract with the owner or operator and the person is a small business construction contractor. (Sec. 405) Revises contribution provisions to require an action by a PRP against another PRP for recovery of costs to be commenced within the later of: (1) three years after completion of a removal action or within six years after initiation of physical on-site construction of the remedial action; or (2) three years after the date of judgment in any action for recovery or the date of any administrative order or judicial settlement for recovery of costs or damages. (Sec. 406) Provides that a person who has resolved liability to a State or an Indian tribe in an administrative or judicially approved settlement shall not be liable for claims by persons other than the United States regarding response costs or damages addressed in the settlement. Provides the same protection for persons who have resolved liability to the United States. Includes protection against all claims that may be asserted against the settling party for recovery of costs or damages paid by another person if addressed in the settlement, except claims based on contractual indemnification. Limits the right to seek contribution from other parties where: (1) the person asserting the right has waived such right in a settlement; (2) the person from whom the contribution is sought is not liable under CERCLA; or (3) the person from whom the contribution is sought has entered into a final settlement with the United States. Makes any person who commences a contribution action liable to the person against whom the action is brought for all reasonable costs of defending against the claim if the action: (1) is barred for the reasons stated above; (2) is brought against a person who is protected from suits by reason of settlement with the United States; or (3) is brought during a specified moratorium period. (Sec. 408) Provides that response action contractors shall not be liable solely as a result of testing or implementation of alternative or innovative treatment or containment technologies with respect to a response action if use of the technology has been approved by the authorized Federal or State regulatory agency. (Sec. 409) Requires consent decrees pursuant to settlements to require the parties to attempt expeditiously to resolve disagreements concerning implementation of the remedial action informally with Federal and State agencies. Requires such decrees to contain stipulated penalties for violations in an amount of up to $25,000 per day. Waives certain conditions to expand the scope of eligibility for de minimis settlements. Authorizes the Administrator, if a PRP will be paying amounts to the President as part of a settlement for carrying out a response action, to accept ownership of a financial instrument running irrevocably to the benefit of the United States to conduct such response actions. (Sec. 411) Requires (current law authorizes) the President to offer PRPs (currently, any person) who enter into settlement agreements that are in the public interest a final covenant not to sue concerning liability to the United States for response actions or costs, provided that: (1) the settling party agrees to perform a final remedial action for the release that is the subject of the settlement; (2) the remedial action does not provide any hazardous substances will remain at the facility at concentrations above the protective concentration levels established after completion of the final action; (3) the agreement has been reached prior to the commencement of litigation against the settling party; (4) the settling party waives all contribution rights against other PRPs at the facility; (5) the settling party pays a premium that compensates for the risks of remedy failure, unanticipated increases in the cost of any uncompleted action (unless the party is performing the action), and the U.S. litigation risk with respect to persons who have not resolved liability to the United States unless the settlement covers 100 percent of U.S. response costs; and (6) the settlement is otherwise acceptable to the United States. Authorizes the President, for settlements for which covenants are unavailable, to provide any person with a covenant not to sue concerning any liability to the United States if the covenant not to sue is in the public interest. (Sec. 412) Adds the following to the list of conditions that a PRP must meet in order to be eligible for an expedited settlement: (1) liability must be based solely on provisions regarding arrangement, transportation, or acceptance of municipal solid waste or sewage sludge for treatment or disposal; and (2) the PRP must be a natural person, small business, or a municipality that has demonstrated a limited ability to pay response costs. (Sec. 413) Directs the Administrator to initiate the allocation process under this Act for each nonfederally owned facility on the NPL that involves two or more PRPs: (1) for which the President selects a remedial action on or after February 3, 1994; and (2) for any such action selected before such date if requested by a PRP which has resolved liability to the United States with respect to the remedial action. Authorizes the Administrator to initiate such process for any facility involving two or more PRPs. Makes the allocation process inapplicable to a facility: (1) for which there has been a final settlement, decree, or order that determines all liability or allocated shares of PRPs; or (2) at which all of the PRPs are facility owners or operators. Authorizes the Administrator to initiate a single allocation process for more than one facility. Places a moratorium on the commencement or continuation of liability claims or recovery actions in connection with responses for which allocation is required until 90 days after the issuance of the allocator's report. Sets forth requirements concerning the allocation process, including those for the notification of PRPs and determinations regarding de minimis parties. Provides that de minimis parties that are potentially liable but entitled to expedited settlements shall not be subject to the allocation process unless they fail to settle with the President within 30 days of the offer. Requires the allocation parties to select an allocator from a list provided by the Administrator or from candidates proposed by the parties. Authorizes PRPs, prior to the issuance of the allocator's report, to submit a private allocation for the remedial action to the allocator. Requires the allocator to adopt such report if it meets specified conditions. Directs the allocator to conduct an allocation process culminating in the issuance of a report with a nonbinding, equitable allocation of the percentage shares of responsibility, including the orphan share, within 180 days of the issuance of the final list of parties or the date of the contract for allocation service, whichever is later. Bases allocation shares on the following factors: (1) the amount of hazardous substances contributed by each party; (2) the degree of toxicity and mobility of such substances; (3) the degree of involvement of each party in the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of such substances; (4) the degree of care exercised by the party; (5) the cooperation of the party in contributing to the response action; and (6) other factors determined by the Administrator. Sets forth components of orphan shares. Requires shares that the allocator cannot attribute to any party to be distributed among parties, including the orphan share. Authorizes the Administrator and the Attorney General to reject the allocator's report under certain conditions. Permits settling parties to seek a new allocation if there is convincing evidence that the allocator did not have certain information when the report was issued. Includes within settlements based on allocated shares: (1) a waiver of contribution rights against all PRPs for the response action as well as a waiver of rights to challenge any settlement the President enters into with any other PRP; (2) covenants not to sue; (3) a site-specific premium that compensates for the U.S. litigation risk with respect to PRPs who have not resolved liability (unless the settlement covers 100 percent of response costs); (4) contribution protection regarding matters addressed in the settlement; and (5) provisions through which the settling parties shall receive reimbursement from Superfund for response costs incurred in excess of the aggregate of their allocated share and any premia required by the settlement. Lists maximum amounts for premia authorized for litigation risk. Permits the Administrator to modify such amounts. Authorizes the United States to commence actions against liable persons who have not resolved liability following allocation. Sets forth conditions under which a party that performs work in excess of its allocated share may be reimbursed. Limits Superfund financing for reimbursements of costs incurred by parties that are attributable to orphan shares. Authorizes appropriations. Makes Federal agencies named as PRPs subject to the allocation process to the same extent as any other party. Declares that the procedures set forth in this Act shall not be construed to modify the principles of retroactive, strict, joint, and several liability. Provides that persons who are potentially liable solely as response action contractors shall not be named as allocation parties under this section. (Sec. 414) Absolves persons (other than owners or operators) who arranged for the recycling of recyclable material from liability for environmental response actions. Deems transactions involving scrap paper, plastic, glass, textiles, or rubber (other than whole tires) to be arranging for recycling if the person who arranged the transaction demonstrates that the following criteria were met: (1) the recyclable material met a commercial specification grade and a market existed for the material; (2) a substantial portion of the material was made available for use as a feedstock for the manufacture of a new saleable product; (3) the material (or product made from the material) could have been a replacement for a virgin raw material; and (4) with respect to transactions occurring 90 days after this Act's enactment, the person exercised reasonable care to determine that the facility where the material would be managed by another was in compliance with Federal, State, or local environmental laws or regulations. Deems transactions involving scrap metal to be arranging for recycling if the person who arranged the transaction demonstrates that: (1) the criteria for scrap materials were met; (2) he or she complied with applicable standards regarding activities associated with the recycling of scrap metals; and (3) the scrap metal was not melted prior to the transaction. Deems transactions involving spent lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, or other batteries to be arranging for recycling if the person involved demonstrates that: (1) the criteria for scrap materials were met; and (2) he or she complied with applicable Federal environmental standards regarding such batteries. Makes the exemptions from liability under this Act inapplicable if the person: (1) had an objectively reasonable basis to believe at the time of the recycling transaction that the recyclable material would not be recycled or would be burned as fuel or for energy recovery or incineration or that the consuming facility was not in compliance with Federal, State, or local environmental laws or regulations; (2) added hazardous substances to the material for purposes other than processing for recycling; or (3) failed to exercise reasonable care with respect to the management of the material. Makes such exemptions inapplicable if the recyclable material contained polychlorinated biphenyls in excess of 50 parts per million or any new Federal standard. Title V: Remedy Selection and Cleanup Standards - Revises provisions regarding cleanup standards to direct the Administrator to promulgate national goals to be applied at all facilities subject to remedial action under this Act. Requires such goals to be expressed as a single numerical level for chemical carcinogens and noncarcinogens. (Sec. 501) Directs the Administrator to promulgate a national risk protocol for conducting risk assessments under CERCLA. Requires the risk protocol to be used for risk assessment underlying determinations of the need for remedial action, the establishment of protective concentration levels of chemicals, and the evaluation of remedial alternatives. Requires remedial actions to: (1) comply with substantive requirements of Federal, or more stringent State, environmental or facility siting laws; (2) attain any promulgated concentration levels applicable to determining the level of cleanup for such actions; and (3) comply with any other standard under State environmental or facility siting laws that the State demonstrates is consistently applied to remedial actions. States that a goal of this Act is to restore any contaminated groundwater or surface water that may be used for drinking water to: (1) the level of any maximum contaminant level or level goal for the hazardous substance or contaminant that has been established under the Safe Drinking Water Act; and (2) a protective concentration level that attains such goal for any other hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Requires the achievement of such goal unless the President finds that such goal is technically impracticable from an engineering perspective or, under certain conditions, unreasonably costly. Requires remedial actions for contaminated groundwater (other than that used for drinking water) to attain levels appropriate to the current or anticipated use of such water. Authorizes the President to select a remedial action that does not comply with Federal and State standards subject to certain conditions. (Sec. 502) Revises general rules for remedial actions. Directs the President, in selecting a remedy, to take into account the reasonably anticipated future uses of land at a facility. Provides certain procedures for the remediation of hot spots. Requires the President to establish cost-effective generic remedies for categories of facilities. Sets forth factors to be taken into consideration with respect to selection of response actions for groundwater. (Sec. 504) Removes a condition on the President's authority to acquire property needed to conduct a response action that requires the State in which the property is located to agree to accept transfer of the property when the action is completed. (Sec. 505) Alters the criteria for the continuance of obligations for removal actions to provide that actions shall not continue after $4 million (currently, $2 million) has been obligated or two years (currently, 12 months) have elapsed from the date of initial response to a release or threatened release of hazardous substances. Requires Federal agencies, before the commencement of any non-emergency removal action, to notify the EPA and the State of the planned action and obtain, in the case of facilities listed or proposed for listing on the NPL, concurrence in the planned action from the EPA or the State. (Sec. 506) Authorizes the President, in order to respond to a release of a hazardous substance, to acquire a hazardous substance easement which limits or controls the use of land or other natural resources. Permits easements and notices of property use restrictions to be used whenever institutional controls have been selected as a component of a removal or remedial action. Makes easements enforceable in perpetuity (unless terminated pursuant to this Act) against owners of affected property or persons who acquire interest in, or rights to use, the property. Title VI: Miscellaneous - Makes a Federal agency subject to certain actions required for Federal facilities under CERCLA, with the exception of certain reporting requirements, if the agency owned or operated a facility over which it exercised no regulatory or other control over activities that resulted in a release of a hazardous substance unless: (1) no Federal agency was the primary or sole source or cause of such release; (2) the activities resulting in the release were pursuant to statutory authority and occurred prior to 1976; and (3) the persons primarily responsible for the release are financially viable and capable of performing or financing the response action. (Sec. 605) Authorizes the use of the Superfund to pay up to 50 percent of response costs incurred by a potentially liable party in taking approved actions to achieve response after employing an alternative or innovative technology that fails to achieve the required level of response. (Sec. 606) Includes trusts, estates, or persons who hold title to a vessel or facility or are otherwise affiliated with a vessel or facility in a fiduciary capacity within the definition of "owner or operator" for purposes of determining liability under CERCLA. Limits the personal obligations and liabilities of a fiduciary to the extent to which the assets of the trust or estate are sufficient to indemnify the fiduciary, subject to certain conditions. Excludes from such definition the United States, a Federal agency, or a conservator or receiver appointed by a Federal agency which acquired ownership of a facility or vessel in connection with receivership or conservatorship and forfeiture or seizure authority, provided such entity does not participate in operations that result in a release. (Sec. 608) Directs the Administrator to establish a small business Superfund assistance section within the small business ombudsman office to provide assistance and information regarding CERCLA and the allocation and settlement processes. (Sec. 611) Requires the Administrator to study and report to the Congress on EPA procedures for suspension and debarment of persons and business entities, particularly response action contractors, and to assess the feasibility and cost of creating a nationwide data base to track such persons. (Sec. 613) Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for a model State program for the training and certification of individuals to perform Phase I Environmental Site Assessments. Establishes the Environmental Certification Board. (Sec. 615) Revises provisions regarding the application of CERCLA to Federal agencies to make such agencies subject to all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements regarding response actions related to, or management of, hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants in the same manner as such requirements apply to nongovernmental entities. Absolves Federal employees of personal liability for civil penalties under Federal or State response laws with respect to acts or omissions within their official duties. Makes such employees subject to criminal sanctions under such laws, but exempts Federal agencies from such sanctions. (Sec. 616) Increases the authorization from Superfund for worker training and education grants. (Sec. 619) Makes States eligible for reimbursement currently available to local governments for emergency response actions. (Sec. 620) Directs the Administrator to study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of instituting a small disadvantaged business goal program for all Federal contracts under CERCLA. Title VII: Funding - Extends the authorization of appropriations to carry out specified Superfund authorities through FY 2000. Title VIII: Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund - Environmental Insurance Resolution and Equity Act of 1995 - Establishes the Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund to provide for the resolution of disputes between certain PRPs and their insurers. (Sec. 805) Authorizes the Fund to decide not to make an offer unless an eligible person has filed and is actively pursuing a claim with an insurer. (Sec. 806) Requires the Fund to make resolution offers to eligible persons equal to the applicable percentage of the lesser of the eligible costs incurred by the persons or the available coverage. Describes applicable percentages based on facility location and size, litigation venues, and State. (Sec. 807) Directs eligible persons that accept Fund resolutions to waive existing and future claims against an insurer for eligible costs. (Sec. 808) Requires the Fund to make pre- and post-resolution payments to eligible persons who accept a resolution. Treats payments made by the Fund to an eligible person as payments made by an insurer. (Sec. 809) Requires the Fund, in cases where an eligible person rejects a resolution offer, litigates a claim against an insurer, and obtains a final judgment against, or enters into a settlement with, the insurer, to reimburse the insurer for the lesser of the amount of the resolution offer or the final judgment or settlement. Authorizes the Fund, in such cases, to reimburse an insurer for unrecovered reasonable costs and legal fees if the resolution offer exceeded such final judgment or settlement. (Sec. 811) Provides that this title acts as a stay of all pending litigation regarding claims for indemnity or arising from insurance coverage for eligible costs. Bars stays of litigation ten years after this Act's enactment with respect to: (1) a person that becomes an eligible person on or after such date; and (2) an eligible person that has not filed a request for a resolution offer and has not rejected an offer before such date. (Sec. 815) Directs the President to report on: (1) the potential liability of the Fund; and (2) the number of non-NPL facilities and their average cleanup cost. (Sec. 817) Terminates the Fund's authority to: (1) accept requests for resolution ten years after this Act's enactment date; and (2) offer resolutions ten years and 180 days after such date. Title IX: Environmental Insurance Resolution Taxes and Trust Fund; 5-Year Extension of Hazardous Substance Superfund - Subtitle A: Environmental Insurance Resolution Taxes and Trust Fund - Amends provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to environmental taxes to establish environmental insurance resolution taxes. Imposes a tax on each assessable person engaged in any trade or business that is equal to: (1) such person's adjusted base-period commercial direct premiums multiplied by the applicable direct funding rate; and (2) such person's adjusted base-period commercial reinsurance premiums multiplied by the applicable reinsurance funding rate. (Sec. 901) Sets the exemption amount for any person at $50 million. Treats participants in joint underwriting operations of insurance or reinsurance and those treated as single employers as one person and allocates the exemption amount between participants. Imposes a tax on a policy of casualty insurance against hazards, risks, losses, or liabilities in the United States or related policies of reinsurance on which premiums are written by foreign persons. Requires such tax to be equal to .50 percent of the maximum limit of liability of such persons under such policies. Sets forth conditions under which foreign persons are exempt from such tax (including cases where foreign persons may be taxed as assessable persons). Imposes a tax (on current-year premiums) equal to the direct premiums written under specified insurance policies issued against hazards, risks, losses, or liabilities within the United States multiplied by the applicable funding rate. Exempts policies related to directors and officers liability insurance, professional liability insurance, and fire insurance on residential or farm owner-occupied housing units. Sets the exemption amount for such tax at $5 million. Establishes a special withholding rule for premiums issued by foreign persons unless the income from the premiums is connected with a U.S. trade or business and is not exempt from income tax pursuant to a treaty. Imposes assessments on insurers resolving claims with the Environmental Insurance Resolution Trust Fund. Requires such assessments to be in an amount equal to an insurer's Fund-certified percentages of the direct insurance and reinsurance limits. Provides that such assessments are excise taxes and shall be imposed and collected in the same manner as other excise taxes. (Sec. 902) Establishes the Environmental Insurance Resolution Trust Fund to be composed of environmental insurance resolution taxes and amounts in the Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund established under title VIII of this Act. Makes the Trust Fund available to carry out title VIII. (Sec. 903) Exempts the Environmental Insurance Resolution Fund from income tax. Subtitle B: 5-Year Extension of Hazardous Substance Superfund - Provides for a five-year extension of Superfund. Subtitle C: Report by Environmental Protection Agency - Directs the Administrator to report annually to the Congress on the effectiveness of this Act's liability and enforcement reforms.
Bill· HRH.R. 114 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Market Development Title II: Capital Formation Title III: Management Educational Development Title IV: Research and Information Title V: Administrative and Other Powers of the Administration; Miscellaneous Provisions Minority Business Development Act of 1993 - Redesignates the Minority Business Development Agency in the Department of Commerce as the Minority Business Development Administration. Title I: Market Development - Empowers the Administration to: (1) assist disadvantaged businesses in penetrating domestic and foreign markets; and (2) encourage disadvantaged firms to establish joint ventures and projects to increase their share of the market. Exempts from the antitrust laws and the Federal Trade Commission Act any act within the scope of any approved joint program for market development. Authorizes the Administration to provide financial assistance to public and private entities to carry out this Act. Title II: Capital Formation - Authorizes the Administration to defray all or part of the costs of pilot projects conducted by public or private organizations and designed to assist disadvantaged businesses in obtaining equity capital. Directs the Administration to study and report to specified congressional committees on alternatives for providing capital formation assistance to qualified disadvantaged businesses. Title III: Management Educational Development - Requires the Administration to: (1) encourage universities, business leaders, and other entities to offer scholarships, sponsor seminars, and provide internships for the benefit of disadvantaged individuals; and (2) accelerate curriculum design in support of disadvantaged business development. Title IV: Research and Information - Authorizes the Administration to: (1) provide financial assistance to public and private organizations to assist the Administration in collecting data on the causes for success and failure of disadvantaged businesses and in conducting research on how economic conditions affect their development; (2) develop a data bank on disadvantaged businesses; and (3) establish an information clearinghouse for pertinent data. Title V: Administrative and Other Powers of the Administration; Miscellaneous Provisions - Sets forth the administrative powers of the Administration. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 268 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to qualify additional institutions for programs for strengthening historically Black colleges and universities. Makes eligible for such programs an institution in a State where no other institution meets all program eligibility requirements, if it meets all such requirements except that it was established during or after 1964 but before 1978.
Bill· HRH.R. 162 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prevent double-counting of income in needs analysis for student assistance programs under such Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 134 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to suspend the eligibility of any individual student convicted of a drug-related offense (under Federal or State law against possession or sale of a controlled substance) for any grant, loan, or work assistance under title IV (Student Assistance) of such Act, for certain periods determined according to the nature and number of offenses.
Bill· HRH.R. 48 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Industry-Based Education Support Act - Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act to authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to State and local educational agencies, educational service agencies, or consortia of these and other entities, for vocational education curriculum, instructional materials, and professional development, with emphasis on integration of academic and vocational instruction. Allows State educational agencies to reserve up to ten percent of such funds to provide technical assistance to local educational agencies or educational service agencies. Allows consolidated applications. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 156 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Tuition Tax Credit Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a nonrefundable individual income tax credit for the educational expenses (tuition and supplies) of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependents at an eligible private elementary or secondary school, institution of higher education, or vocational school. Limits the credit to $1,000 per student per year.
Bill· HRH.R. 4 (104th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Reducing Illegitimacy Title II: Requiring Work Title III: Capping the Aggregate Growth of Welfare Spending Title IV: Restricting Welfare for Aliens Title V: Consolidating Food Assistance Programs Title VI: Expanding Statutory Flexibility of States Title VII: Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients Title VIII: Effective Date Personal Responsibility Act of 1995 - Title I: Reducing Illegitimacy - Expresses the sense of the Congress with regard to the importance of marriage as a social institution and the negative consequences of out-of-wedlock births, declaring that the reduction of such births is an important government interest. (Sec. 101) Amends parts A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC), D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity), and E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to generally deny AFDC to families on whose behalf an AFDC application is made after the effective date of this title for a dependent child whose paternity has not been established, unless the child was conceived through rape or incest, or efforts to establish paternity would result in physical danger to the child or relative claiming such aid. Allows AFDC payments if such relative alleges that any of up to three named individuals may have fathered the child, provides their addresses, and the State has not disproved the allegation. States that denial of AFDC benefits shall have no effect on the family's eligibility for Medicaid and foster care and adoption assistance. (Sec. 102) Requires unwed mothers under age 19 to live at home or in another adult-supervised living arrangement in order to receive AFDC. (Sec. 103) Requires State officers or employees, as soon as they become aware, in the performance of official duties, of a pregnant, unmarried individual, to warn the individual of ineligibility for State aid unless she informs the State of the prospective father's identity and cooperates in establishing the child's paternity. Calls for States to: (1) develop procedures in public hospitals and clinics to facilitate the acknowledgement of paternity; and (2) establish legal procedures that permit the establishment of paternity as quickly and easily as possible. (Sec. 104) Increases the State paternity establishment percentage. (Sec. 105) Denies, generally, AFDC to a child born out-of-wedlock on or after the effective date of this title to an individual under age 18 unless afterwards such individual marries the biological father, or the biological parent with legal custody of the child marries an individual who legally adopts the child. Preserves the family's eligibility for Medicaid and foster care and adoption assistance despite reduction or denial of AFDC. (Sec. 106) Denies AFDC with respect to additional children born on or after the effective date of this title to an AFDC recipient or to an individual who received AFDC at any time during the ten-month period ending with the birth of the child, unless the recipient or individual was pregnant with the child when applying for AFDC. Preserves the family's eligibility for Medicaid and foster care and adoption assistance despite reduction or denial of AFDC. (Sec. 107) Gives States the option of denying AFDC (but without effect on eligibility for Medicaid and foster care and adoption assistance) to individuals aged 18, 19, or 20 who have a child out-of- wedlock after the effective date of this title, as well as to an out- of-wedlock child of such an individual, unless, after the child's birth, such individual marries the biological father, the biological parent with legal custody of the child marries an individual who legally adopts the child, or the individual is the biological and custodial parent of another child not born out-of-wedlock. Allows States the option of denying housing benefits to the same individuals unless the same conditions are met, or Federal housing assistance eligibility is based on any household member's disability or handicap of a household member. (Sec. 108) Adds under SSA title IV a new part C (Grants for Assistance to Children Born Out-of-Wedlock) for giving qualified States the flexibility and resources necessary to provide appropriate non-abortion related services and activities to discourage out-of- wedlock births and to care for children born out-of-wedlock through such initiatives as promoting adoption and establishing and operating group homes and orphanages. Requires the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on whether illegitimacy rates have changed as a result of this Act, and on State efforts under such new grant program. (Sec. 109) Prohibits any agency or entity that receives Federal assistance, and is involved in adoption or foster care placements, from: (1) denying to any person the opportunity to become an adoptive or a foster parent on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of the person, or of the child, involved; and (2) delaying or denying the placement of a child for adoption or into foster care, or otherwise discriminating in making a placement decision on such basis. Title II: Requiring Work - Amends SSA title IV part A to require State AFDC plans to require AFDC recipients to participate for a certain number of hours per week in a work supplementation or community work experience program under SSA title IV part F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program), or in any other work program established by the State and, under certain circumstances, in job search activities in order to move adult welfare recipients from welfare dependency to paid employment as quickly as possible. (Sec. 202) Provides for a reduction in AFDC in cases of noncompliance with work requirements, and for eventual termination of AFDC for repeated noncompliance. Terminates AFDC to any adult recipient after five years. Grants States the option of terminating AFDC after two years. Makes various specified changes relating to unemployed parents, with the option to limit the AFDC-UP program extended to all States. Eliminates certain JOBS program rules. Expresses the sense of the Congress that each State that operates an AFDC program is encouraged to assign the highest priority to requiring families that include older preschool or school-age children to participate in a work program. (Sec. 203) Revises work supplementation program provisions, among other changes, giving States the authority to use sums that would otherwise be expended for food stamp benefits to provide subsidized jobs for participants. (Sec. 204) Provides for payments to States for certain individuals receiving State food assistance who perform work on behalf of the State or a political subdivision through a work program. Title III: Capping the Aggregate Growth of Welfare Spending - Limits the total amount of Federal spending for AFDC, supplemental security income (SSI), housing aid, and other specified welfare programs beginning in FY 1996 to the total amount of Federal spending for the preceding fiscal year on those programs, adjusted for inflation and change of the poverty population. (Sec. 301) Requires: (1) the joint explanatory statement accompanying a conference report on a budget resolution to include allocations to each committee based on such spending cap; and (2) reconciliation directives to specify reductions for each committee necessary to comply with such caps. (Sec. 302) Terminates all entitlements of individuals to benefits, and of States to payments, under SSA's AFDC, child support enforcement, and SSI programs effective October 1, 1995. (Sec. 303) Requires all savings from welfare spending limits to be used for deficit reduction. Title IV: Restricting Welfare for Aliens - Makes aliens (with exceptions for refugees, elderly lawful residents, and current eligible residents) ineligible for specified public assistance programs, except for emergency medical services. (Sec. 402) Amends SSA title IV part A to require State AFDC agencies to provide the Immigration and Naturalization Service with information on illegal aliens. Title V: Consolidating Food Assistance Programs - Repeals the Food Stamp Act of 1977, the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983, the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988, the National School Lunch Act, the Commodity Distribution Reform Act and WIC Amendments of 1987, and other specified Federal laws and replaces them with a: (1) State food assistance block grant program to provide food assistance to economically disadvantaged individuals and families; and (2) new food coupon program. (Sec. 503) Authorizes the Secretary and the Commodity Credit Corporation to sell surplus commodities and foodstuffs to the States to provide food assistance to eligible populations. Title VI: Expanding Statutory Flexibility of States - Amends SSA title IV part A to grant States the option of: (1) converting their AFDC payments into a fixed annual block grant; (2) treating new residents under the rules of the former State; (3) reducing AFDC payments for parents under age 21 who have not completed high school or earned their high school equivalency; (4) providing for a married couple transition benefit under certain conditions; (5) disregarding income and resources designated for education, training, and employability, or related to self-employment; and (6) requiring attendance at parenting and money management classes, and prior approval of any action that would result in a change of school for a dependent child. Title VII: Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients - Amends SSA title IV part A to require AFDC recipients to undergo necessary substance abuse treatment as a condition of receiving AFDC. Title VIII: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 3 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Effective Death Penalty Subtitle A: Habeas Corpus Reform Subtitle B: Federal Death Penalty Procedures Reform Title II: Deterring Gun Crimes Title III: Mandatory Victim Restitution Title IV: Law Enforcement Block Grants Title V: Truth in Sentencing Grants Title VI: Exclusionary Rule Reform Title VII: Stopping Abusive Prisoner Lawsuits Title VIII: Further Streamlining Deportation of Criminal Aliens Title IX: Amendments to Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act Taking Back Our Streets Act of 1995 - Title I: Effective Death Penalty - Subtitle A: Habeas Corpus Reform - Chapter 1: Post Conviction Petitions: General Habeas Corpus Reform - Amends the Federal judicial code to establish a one-year statute of limitations for habeas corpus actions brought by State prisoners. (Sec. 102) Vests authority to issue certificates of probable cause for appeal of habeas corpus orders exclusively in the courts of appeals. Prohibits an appeal from being taken to the court of appeals from the final order in a habeas corpus proceeding where the detention complained of arises out of process issued by a State court, or from the final order involving a prisoner in Federal custody, unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of probable cause. Authorizes the issuance of such certificate only if the petitioner has made a substantial showing of the denial of a Federal right and if the certificate indicates which specific issues satisfy this standard. (Sec. 104) Permits the denial of a habeas corpus petition on the merits notwithstanding the failure of the applicant to exhaust State court remedies. (Sec. 105) Imposes a two-year period of limitation for filing for collateral relief by Federal prisoners. Chapter 2: Special Procedures for Collateral Proceedings in Capital Cases - Sets forth special habeas corpus procedures in capital cases, including provisions regarding the appointment, and claims of ineffectiveness, of counsel. Specifies that, if a stay of execution has expired, no Federal court thereafter shall have the authority to enter a stay or grant relief in a capital case unless: (1) the basis for the stay and request for relief is a claim not previously presented in the State or Federal courts; (2) the failure to raise the claim is the result of State action in violation of the Constitution or U.S. law or the result of Supreme Court recognition of a new Federal right that is retroactively applicable or is based on a factual predicate that could not have been discovered through the exercise of reasonable diligence in time to present the claim for State or Federal post-conviction review; and (3) the facts underlying the claim would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that but for constitutional error no reasonable fact finder would have found the petitioner guilty of the underlying offense or eligible for the death penalty under State law. Denies any Federal district court or appellate judge the authority to enter a stay, issue injunctive relief, or grant any equitable or other relief in a capital case on any successive habeas petition unless the court first determines that the petition or other action does not constitute an abuse of the writ. Permits such determination to be made only by the district judge or appellate panel that adjudicated the merits of the original habeas petition, with an exception. Allows a stay to issue under this provision in the Federal courts of appeal only when a majority of the original panel or of the active judges determines the petition does not constitute an abuse of the writ. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) filing of habeas corpus petitions; (2) State unitary review procedures; and (3) limitation periods for determining petitions. Specifies that the adjudication of any petition for habeas corpus with respect to State prisoners and of any motion for habeas corpus regarding Federal prisoners by a person under sentence of death shall be given priority by the district court and by the court of appeals over all non-capital matters. Chapter 3: Funding for Litigation of Federal Habeas Corpus Petitions in Capital Cases - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to provide grants to the States to support litigation pertaining to Federal habeas corpus petitions in capital cases. Subtitle B: Federal Death Penalty Procedures Reform - Amends the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (VCCLEA) to provide that the jury (or if there is no jury, the court), in determining whether a sentence of death is justified, shall: (1) consider whether the aggravating factor or factors found to exist outweigh any mitigating factors; and (2) recommend a death sentence if it unanimously finds at least one aggravating factor and no mitigating factor or if it finds one or more aggravating factors which outweigh any mitigating factors. Directs that the jury be instructed that: (1) it must avoid any influence of sympathy, sentiment, passion, prejudice, or other arbitrary factors in its decision and should make such a recommendation as the information warrants; and (2) its recommendation is to be based on the aggravating factors and any mitigating factors which have been found, but that the final decision concerning the balance of aggravating and mitigating factors is a matter for the jury's judgment. Title II: Deterring Gun Crimes - Amends the Federal criminal code to set mandatory prison terms for carrying, using, or discharging a firearm or destructive device during a State crime that is a serious violent felony or a serious drug offense, except for the conduct of a person in defense of person or property during the course of a crime committed by another unless the person engaged or participated in criminal conduct that gave rise to the criminal conduct of such other individual. Sets forth mandatory penalties for carrying, using, or discharging: (1) a firearm, a short-barreled rifle or shotgun, a semiautomatic assault weapon, or a machine gun or destructive device or firearm equipped with a silencer in relation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime for which the person may be prosecuted in Federal court; and (2) a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime for which the person may be prosecuted in Federal court or a serious violent felony or serious drug offense for which the person may be prosecuted in State court, with respect to a person who has been previously convicted of certain firearms offenses. Prohibits the court from imposing a probationary sentence on any person convicted of a violation of this title or from making a term of imprisonment imposed under this title run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment including that imposed for the crime of violence or drug trafficking crime in which the firearm was used. Title III: Mandatory Victim Restitution - Amends the Federal criminal code to require (current law authorizes) the court to order restitution of the victim when sentencing a defendant convicted of specified offenses, including offenses under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. Permits the court to order restitution of any person harmed physically, emotionally, or pecuniarily by unlawful conduct of the defendant during the criminal episode during which the offense occurred, or in the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of unlawful activity related to the offense. Directs the court to: (1) order restitution to a victim in the full amount of the victim's losses without consideration of the economic circumstances of the offender or the fact that a victim has received or is entitled to receive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance or any other source; and (2) specify in the restitution order, upon determination of the amount owed to each victim, the manner in which and the schedule according to which the restitution is to be paid. Specifies that a restitution order: (1) shall constitute a lien against all property of the offender and may be recorded in any Federal or State office for the recording of liens against real or personal property; and (2) may be enforced by the United States and by a victim named in the order in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action. Title IV: Law Enforcement Block Grants - Repeals the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994 (title I of the VCCLEA), replacing it with a law enforcement block grant program. Requires the Director of BJA to pay to each unit of local government which qualifies for a payment an amount equal to the sum of any amounts allocated to such unit under such title for each payment period. Directs that sums paid to such units be used by such units for reducing crime and improving public safety, including: (1) hiring, training, and employing on a continuing basis new, additional law enforcement officers and necessary support personnel, paying overtime to presently employed officers and personnel, and procuring equipment, technology, and other material directly related to basic law enforcement functions; (2) enhancing school security measures; and (3) establishing crime prevention programs that are organized or supervised by, or involve substantial participation of, law enforcement officials and that are intended to discourage, disrupt, or interfere with the commission of criminal activity. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the timing of payments; (2) payment adjustments; (3) repayment of unexpended amounts; (4) qualification for payment; (5) review by governors; (6) sanctions for noncompliance; (7) allocation and distribution of funds; (8) utilization of the private sector; and (9) public participation. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Truth in Sentencing Grants - Repeals provisions of the VCCLEA regarding violent offender incarceration and truth-in-sentencing incentive grants. Sets forth provisions governing a truth-in-sentencing grant program. Authorizes the Attorney General to provide grants to eligible States and to eligible States organized as regional compacts (States) to build, expand, and operate: (1) space in correctional facilities in order to increase the prison bed capacity for persons convicted of a serious violent felony; and (2) temporary or permanent correctional facilities, including facilities on military bases, for the confinement of convicted nonviolent offenders and criminal aliens for the purpose of freeing suitable existing prison space for persons convicted of a serious violent felony. Directs that 50 percent of the total amount of funds made available under this title for each of FY 1995 through 2000 be available for general eligibility grants and 50 percent for truth-in-sentencing incentive grants for each State that meets the following requirements: (1) for general grants, such State, since 1993, has increased the percentage of convicted violent offenders sentenced to prison and the average prison time and percentage of sentence actually to be served in prison by such offenders; and (2) for sentencing incentive grants, a State submits an application to the Attorney General providing assurances that it has enacted laws and regulations which include truth-in-sentencing laws that require persons convicted of a serious violent felony to serve not less than 85 percent of the sentence imposed or of the court-ordered maximum sentence for States that practice indeterminate sentencing, truth-in-sentencing laws which have been enacted but not yet implemented that require such State, within three years, to provide that persons convicted of such a felony serve not less than 85 percent of the sentence imposed (or of the court-ordered maximum sentence), and laws requiring that the sentencing or releasing authorities notify and allow the defendant's victims or the family of victims the opportunity to be heard regarding the issue of sentencing and any post-conviction release. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) special rules; (2) the formula for grants; and (3) accountability. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits the use of funds for other purposes authorized by the VCCLEA in FY 1995 through 1999 unless the truth-in-sentencing programs are fully funded in such years. Title VI: Exclusionary Rule Reform - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit, in a proceeding in a court of the United States, the exclusion of evidence on the ground that: (1) the search or seizure was in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution if it was carried out in circumstances justifying an objectively reasonable belief that it was in conformity with the Fourth Amendment (makes the fact that evidence was obtained pursuant to and within the scope of a warrant prima facie evidence of the existence of such circumstances); and (2) it was obtained in violation of a statute, administrative rule or regulation, or rule of procedure unless exclusion is expressly authorized by statute or by rule prescribed by the Supreme Court pursuant to statutory authority. Title VII: Stopping Abusive Prisoner Lawsuits - Amends the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act to prohibit an adult convicted of a crime who is confined in any correctional facility from bringing a civil action for deprivation of rights until such plain, speedy, and effective administrative remedies as are available are exhausted. (Sec. 702) Directs the court, on its own motion or on motion of a party, to dismiss specified actions brought by an adult convicted of a crime and confined in any correctional facility if the court is satisfied that the action fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted or is frivolous or malicious. (Sec. 703) Repeals a provision of such Act requiring that the minimum standards provide for an advisory role for employees and inmates of a correctional facility in the formulation, implementation, and operation of the system for resolution of inmate grievances. (Sec. 704) Amends the Federal judicial code to require: (1) the court to dismiss a case in a forma pauperis proceeding if the allegation of poverty is untrue or if the action fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted or is frivolous or malicious, even if partial filing fees have been imposed by the court; (2) a prisoner in a correctional institution who files an affidavit to include a statement of all assets such prisoner possesses; and (3) the court to ask the correctional institution for information relating to the prisoner's assets and to require full or partial payment of filing fees according to the prisoner's ability to pay. Title VIII: Further Streamlining Deportation of Criminal Aliens - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to expand the definition of "aggravated felony" to include various offenses such as an offense relating to: (1) commercial bribery, counterfeiting, forgery, or trafficking in vehicles the identification numbers of which have been altered for which a sentence of five years' imprisonment or more may be imposed; (2) perjury or subornation of perjury for which a sentence of five years' imprisonment or more may be imposed; and (3) a failure to appear before a court pursuant to a court order to answer or dispose of a charge of a felony for which a sentence of two years' imprisonment or more may be imposed. (Sec. 802) Authorizes the Attorney General to issue an order of deportation without an administrative hearing or administrative review for any alien who was not lawfully admitted for permanent residence or who had permanent resident status on a conditional basis and whom the Attorney General determines is deportable and has been convicted of an aggravated felony. Prohibits the Attorney General from executing such an order until 14 calendar days from the date the order was issued, unless waived by the alien, to give the alien the opportunity to apply for judicial review. Limits judicial review of such determinations. Provides that an alien convicted of an aggravated felony shall be conclusively presumed to be deportable. (Sec. 803) Restricts defenses to exclusion and deportation for certain aliens convicted of aggravated felonies. (Sec. 804) Limits collateral attacks on deportation orders. (Sec. 805) Directs the Commissioner to operate a criminal alien tracking center. (Sec. 806) Permits the Attorney General to authorize deportation hearings by electronic or telephonic media with the alien's consent or, where waived or agreed to by the parties, in the alien's absence. Title IX: Amendments to Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act - Repeals provisions of the VCCLEA regarding drug courts and crime prevention provisions concerning: (1) the Ounce of Prevention Council; (2) the local crime prevention block grant program; (3) model intensive grant programs; (4) the family and community endeavor schools grant program; (5) assistance for delinquent and at-risk youth; (6) police recruitment; (7) the Local Partnership Act; (8) the National Community Economic Partnership Act; (9) urban recreation and at-risk youth; (10) community-based justice grants for prosecutors; and (11) the Family Unity Demonstration Project Act. Repeals the Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth in Sentencing Incentive Grants program under the VCCLEA.
Bill· HJRESH.J.Res. 19 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that nothing in the Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions and no person shall be required by the United States or any State to participate in prayer.
Bill· HJRESH.J.Res. 16 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Constitutional Amendment - Declares that: (1) nothing in the Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions; (2) no person shall be required by the United States or any State to participate in prayer; and (3) neither the United States nor any State shall prescribe the content of any such prayer.
Bill· HRH.R. 1 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 - Applies, by a specified conditional date, provisions of the following laws to the legislative branch: (1) the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938; (2) title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (3) the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990; (4) the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; (5) titles I and V of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993; (6) the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA); (7) provisions relating to Federal labor management relations; (8) with the exception of the U.S. Capitol Police, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988; (9) the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act; and (10) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Requires that an action to abate a violation of OSHA for which a citation is received take place as soon as possible, but no later than the fiscal year after the citation is issued. (Sec. 4) Establishes in the legislative branch an Office of Compliance to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the application of such laws to the legislative branch; (2) an examination of the procedures used by the instrumentalities to enforce the application of such laws; and (3) a determination as to whether to direct an instrumentality to make improvements in its regulations and procedures so as to assure that they are as effective as those specified in this Act. Authorizes the Office's Board of Directors to direct an instrumentality that has no such procedures to adopt the requisite procedures. Requires the Board to issue regulations governing such applicability which shall be subject to congressional approval. Makes applicable to the legislative branch any provision of Federal law to the extent that it relates to terms and conditions of employment (including protection from discrimination in personnel actions, health and safety of employees, and family and medical leave). Directs the Office, on an ongoing basis, to: (1) determine which of such laws should apply to the legislative branch; (2) study the application to the legislative branch of laws enacted after enactment of this Act; and (3) issue regulations to apply such laws to the legislative branch subject to congressional approval. Sets forth House and Senate procedures for concurrent resolutions to disapprove such regulations. (Sec. 6) Requires the Office to: (1) carry out an education program for Members of Congress and other employing authorities of the legislative branch respecting the laws made applicable to them and a program to inform individuals of their rights under such laws and this Act; (2) publish statistics on the use of the Office by congressional employees; and (3) develop a system for the collection of demographic data on the composition of the congressional employees. Requires the Board to submit to the Congress annual reports on the information collected under such system. (Sec. 7) Sets forth procedure for consideration of alleged violations of the laws made applicable to the legislative branch consisting of the following steps: (1) counseling through the Office; (2) mediation with the Office; (3) a formal complaint and hearing by a board; (4) judicial review if a congressional employee is aggrieved by a dismissal, final decision, or an order by the hearing board or if a head of an employing office is aggrieved by a final decision or would be subject to an order issued by such board; and (5) as an alternative to steps 3 and 4, a civil action in a U.S. district court. (Sec. 14) Declares that any intimidation of, or reprisal against, any employee because of the exercise of a right under this Act constitutes an unlawful employment practice that may be remedied in the same manner as a violation of law made applicable to the legislative branch under this Act. (Sec. 15) Requires all counseling, mediation, and hearings and deliberations of a hearing board to be confidential. Permits the records of hearing boards to be made public if required for judicial review. Authorizes the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to have access to the hearing of the hearing board only after the board has made a decision with respect to the matter. (Sec. 17) Provides that this Act shall not be construed to authorize enforcement by the executive branch of any of the laws made applicable to congressional employees under this Act. Limits a congressional employee to the judicial proceeding provided by this Act to redress prohibited practices. (Sec. 18) Requires the Office to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the ways that public access to information held by the Congress may be improved, streamlined, and made consistent between the House and the Senate; and (2) the application of the Freedom of Information Act and the Right to Privacy Act to the legislative branch.
Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 3 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 January 1995
Declares that it is the sense of the Congress that the Office of Personnel Management should: (1) identify those individuals under the civil service disability retirement program who could benefit from vocational rehabilitation; and (2) advise them of the various vocational rehabilitation programs available to them, including those administered by the U.S. Employment Service and State vocational education divisions.