Education

A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, to permit separate patent extensions for each product under a patent which is subject to full regulatory review and approval.

United States · United States Congress · 27 November 1991

Amends Federal patent law to permit separate patent extensions for certain drug products: (1) under a patent which is subject to full regulatory review and approval; and (2) which were developed at a qualified nonprofit institution of higher education.

Environmental Risk Reduction Act

United States · United States Congress · 27 November 1991

Environmental Risk Reduction Act - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to use resources under all environmental laws to reduce risks to human health and welfare and ecological resources through the assessment and ranking of relative risks and options for their management. Requires the Administrator to establish within the Science Advisory Board: (1) a Committee on Relative Risks to provide advice on ranking the relative risks of different stressors to human health and welfare and ecological resources; and (2) a Committee on Environmental Benefits to provide advice on estimating quantitative benefits of reducing risks. Directs the Committees to report findings to the Administrator and the Congress. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to: (1) protect human health and the environment on the basis of assessments of risk and evaluation of options for reducing risks; and (2) develop and revise, as necessary, guidelines to ensure consistency and technical quality in risk assessments by specifying minimum standards for risk assessment approaches. Sets forth minimum requirements for guidelines. Requires the Administrator to conduct a core environmental risk assessment research program to insure that the risk assessment process is based on adequate environmental data and scientific understanding. Directs the Administrator to conduct a research program to: (1) design and evaluate methods and networks to collect monitoring data on the current and changing condition of the environment; (2) implement monitoring programs and manage data from such programs in formats readily accessible to the public; and (3) provide annual statistical reports of the results of such programs to the Congress and the public. Declares that the Administrator will conduct a core program to establish a firm scientific basis for initial and subsequent risk assessment guidelines. Requires at least half of research conducted under this Act to be under agreements with universities or not-for-profit organizations under which full funding will be obligated for at least three years of the contract. Authorizes appropriations. Establishes an Interagency Panel on Risk Assessment and Reduction for purposes of coordinating Federal research, data gathering, and implementation of environmental risk assessment and risk reduction activities. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on: (1) a prioritized list of the human health and welfare and ecological resource risks considered by the Committee on Relative Risks; (2) public awareness of the likelihood, seriousness, magnitude, and irreversibility of each risk; (3) alternative options for reducing risks and estimated costs and benefits to society; (4) the time required for reducing risks through each option; (5) evaluation of the uncertainty associated with aspects of the assessment process; and (6) research or data collection that would reduce such uncertainty. Provides for biennial updates of such report.

GrowAmerica Act

United States · United States Congress · 27 November 1991

Greater Recovery Opportunity for Workers Act of 1991 (GrowAmerica Act) - Title I: Reduction in Individual Income Taxes - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for reducing individual income tax rates for 1992 and 1993. Title II: Savings Incentives - Subtitle A: Private Retirement Savings - Establishes a simplified retirement plan for small business to be known as PRIME accounts (private retirement incentives matched by employers). Allows an employee to make pre-tax contributions of up to $3,000 annually to a PRIME account and requires an employer to match such contributions up to three percent of the employee's compensation. Declares that such accounts are not to be treated as pension plans. Excludes such accounts from limitation on the maximum amount allowed for retirement savings deductions. Specifies the pension plan rules that are applicable to PRIME accounts. Establishes a 25-percent penalty on withdrawals made from such accounts during the first three years. Sets forth penalties for: (1) account trustees for failure to provide requirement information to employers; and (2) employers for failure to make required notifications to employees. Subtitle B: Savings Without Penalties - Authorizes penalty-free distributions from eligible retirement plans for: (1) first-time homebuyers; (2) higher education expenses; (3) a period of involuntary unemployment; and (4) financially devastating medical expenses. Title III: Additional Economic Growth Incentives - Increases the limitation on the amount of depreciable assets which may be expensed. Provides for the treatment of rental and nonrental real estate activities under the limitations on losses from passive activities.

A resolution reauthorizing the Albert Einstein Congressional Fellowship Program.

United States · United States Congress · 27 November 1991

Authorizes the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to enter into an agreement with the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education to establish an Albert Einstein Congressional Fellowship Program providing for two fellowships within the Senate in each fiscal year, beginning in FY 1991. Provides for the agreement only if the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology meets certain program requirements. Albert Einstein Senate Fellowship Program Resolution - Reauthorizes the provisions of the following measures of the 102d Congress: (1) S.Res. 173; (2) S.Res. 208; and (3) S.Res. 228.

International Cooperation Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 27 November 1991

International Cooperation Act of 1991 - Title I: Economic Assistance - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise policy provisions concerning economic assistance. Sets forth the objectives of U.S. economic cooperation policy and development and economic assistance programs as the: (1) alleviation of poverty through the development of human resources; (2) promotion of broad-based economic growth; (3) improved environmental, natural resource, and agricultural management to achieve environmentally and economically sustainable patterns of development; and (4) promotion of democracy, respect for human rights, and political, social, and economic pluralism. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for development assistance. Declares that the Administrator of the agency primarily responsible for administering this title (administering agency) should target a specified amount of such funding for agriculture, rural development, and nutrition assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for population planning, health, education, and human resources assistance. Declares that the Administrator should target specified amounts of human resource development funding for child survival activities and for the prevention and control of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Repeals provisions concerning contributions to the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Permits funds authorized to be appropriated for human resources development to be used for assistance to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities and displaced children who have been abandoned or orphaned as a result of poverty or disasters. Authorizes the use of agriculture, rural development, and nutrition assistance for strengthening and expanding marine fisheries and aquaculture programs. Provides that funds made available for family planning projects shall be available only for projects which offer a broad range of family planning methods and services. Authorizes the President to furnish assistance for the prevention and control of AIDS. Revises provisions concerning private sector, environment, energy, and other development assistance. States that Appropriate Technology International qualifies for U.S. development assistance. Declares that a specified amount of economic support assistance should be made available for such organization. Authorizes assistance to be provided to developing countries to support private sector activities meeting specified criteria. Permits the President to issue guarantees assuring against losses incurred in connection with loans made for such activities. Sets forth terms and conditions for such guarantees. Authorizes the President to make direct loans for such activities, subject to certain conditions. Establishes ceilings for direct loans and for contingent liability for guarantees. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993. Declares that beneficiary countries should bear a share of the costs of development assistance programs under this Act. Requires the Administrator to ensure that: (1) development assistance activities incorporate the active participation of local women; (2) sex-disaggregated data is included in country development strategy statements for major sectors in which assistance is to be provided and in project papers and program assistance approval documents; (3) programs are designed so that the percentage of women who benefit from such assistance exceeds the approximate transitional level of participation of women in the sector for which assistance is being provided; and (4) program assistance evaluations include an assessment of the extent to which women are participating in the activity and the impact of the activity on the self-reliance of women and improvement of their incomes. Requires a specified amount to be made available each fiscal year as matching funds to support activities of the missions of the agency which demonstrate potential for integrating women into programs. Increases the percentage of funds to be made available or channeled for each fiscal year (currently, FY 1986 through 1989) to private and voluntary organizations for specified development activities. Authorizes the Administrator to support and encourage development education programs. Requires the Administrator to establish a program performance evaluation capacity to: (1) develop a program performance information system to afford the administering agency's managers a means for monitoring achievement of impact and interim performance of the agency's major programs; (2) prepare and disseminate reports on the agency's progress in meeting development objectives for major assistance categories and recipient countries; (3) strengthen the implementation of foreign assistance projects; and (4) coordinate with the Inspector General of such agency to ensure complementarity of efforts. Directs the President to report annually to the Congress on: (1) progress toward achieving the four basic objectives set forth under this title; and (2) a country-by-country analysis of the impact on economic development in each country during the preceding three to five years of U.S. economic assistance programs, with a discussion of U.S. interests that were served by such assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for American schools, hospitals, and libraries abroad. Raises the ceiling on the principal amount of housing guaranties authorized to be issued under the worldwide shelter program. Continues the authority of the housing guaranty program through FY 1993. Repeals provisions concerning the issuance of guaranties for projects using solar energy technology and agricultural and protective credit and self-help community development programs. Requires fees to be charged for housing guaranties. Raises the ceiling on the total face value of guaranties authorized to be issued with respect to any country and on the average face value of guaranties in any fiscal year. Provides that the principal amount of guaranties issued shall be comparable to the amount issued for FY 1984, subject to dollar value limitations. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 to pay the cost of guaranties with a specified face value and for administrative expenses of the housing guaranty program. Authorizes the issuance of guaranties in connection with loans made for housing and infrastructure in Israel for Soviet refugees. Exempts such guaranties from specified limitations on principal amount, amount of guaranties per country, or average face value. Removes restrictions on Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) loans for mining operations. Repeals provisions that limit OPIC equity investments to countries in Subsaharan Africa and the Caribbean basin. Increases the amount of OPIC's one-time transfer to the fund established to carry out its activities. Raises the ceiling on the maximum contingent liability for outstanding OPIC guarantees. Authorizes OPIC to draw specified amounts from a noncredit account revolving fund to pay estimated subsidy costs of program levels for the loan guarantee and direct loan programs. Revises provisions concerning OPIC's insurance reserves. Authorizes OPIC to transfer a specified amount from the noncredit account revolving fund for administrative expenses of the direct loan and loan guarantee programs. Makes provisions concerning income and revenues applicable to income and revenues from OPIC's noncredit activities (currently, revenue and income from any source). Changes from mandatory to discretionary OPIC's authority to charge fees for its services. Requires investors in projects receiving OPIC financing to certify to OPIC that any contract for the export of goods as part of a project requires that U.S. insurance companies have a fair and open opportunity to provide insurance against risk of loss of the export. Exempts from such requirement investors who do not have a controlling interest in a project. Directs the U.S. Trade Representative to report to the Congress on OPIC actions with respect to such certifications. Authorizes the President, acting through the Administrator, to provide assistance for microenterprises in developing countries. Directs the administering agency to establish specified criteria for determining the financial intermediaries that will receive such assistance. Requires a significant portion of such assistance to be used to support direct credit assistance by, and the institutional development of, financial intermediaries with a primary emphasis on assisting people living in absolute poverty, especially women. Outlines funding sources for such assistance. Permits the President, in order to generate local currencies for providing such assistance, to use development and economic support fund assistance to provide assistance to developing countries on a loan basis repayable in local currencies. Sets forth minimum levels of assistance to be provided under this Act. Requires the Administrator to develop a monitoring system to evaluate the agency's microenterprise development activities. Authorizes the President to use development and economic support assistance or assistance from the Development Fund for Africa to support human rights and activities to improve the performance of democratic institutions. Requires a substantial portion of such assistance to be provided to nongovernmental organizations. Prohibits such assistance from being used to influence the outcome of an election in any country. Permits Development Fund for Africa assistance to be used only for countries in Subsaharan Africa. Requires the President to report to specified congressional committees on activities designed to promote democracy that are funded by the Department of State, the Agency for International Development (AID), or the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), along with recommendations for ways to improve coordination of responsibilities among such agencies. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for contributions to international organizations. Earmarks specified amounts of such funds for: (1) the United Nations Development Program; (2) the United Nations Children's Fund; (3) the United Nations Environment Program; (4) the Organization of American States (OAS), with an amount set aside for establishing an electronic network for the exchange of science and technology information among universities in OAS member countries; (5) the Special Program for Africa of the International Fund for Agricultural Development; (6) the United Nations Development Fund for Women; (7) the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; and (8) the United Nations University Endowment Fund. Permits the President to continue U.S. participation in, and make contributions to, the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Applies evaluation and auditing procedures for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank to the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, the Asian Development Fund, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Provides that if Israel is denied its right to participate in any United Nations agency, the United States shall suspend its participation in, and contributions to, such agency until the denial of rights is reversed. Permits the President to use development or economic support assistance or assistance from the Development Fund for Africa for grants to, or contracts with, nongovernmental organizations to enable such organizations to: (1) purchase debt obligations owned by developing countries to commercial lending institutions or other private parties; and (2) cancel such obligations subject to the President's approval, to the extent that such countries make available assets or policy commitments to promote the objectives of this title. Authorizes grantees or contractees to retain interest earned on the proceeds of debt-for-development or debt-for-environment purchases or exchanges pending the disbursement of such proceeds and interest for the purposes for which assistance was provided. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for international disaster assistance. Raises the ceiling on the amount that may be obligated against appropriations for use in providing such assistance. Limits the amount that may be obligated against appropriations for development assistance and assistance from the Development Fund for Africa. Authorizes appropriations for economic support fund (ESF) assistance for FY 1992 and 1993 for: (1) Israel; (2) Egypt; (3) Turkey; (4) the International Fund for Ireland; (5) Cyprus (for a scholarship program, bicommunal projects, and measures aimed at the reunification of the island and designed to promote peace between the two communities on Cyprus); (6) Nepal; (7) the South Pacific Regional Program (with earmarked funds for scholarships for study at postsecondary institutions of education in the United States); (8) regional cooperative programs in the Middle East; and (9) other recipients or purposes. Redesignates the Trade and Development Program as the Trade and Development Agency. Revises the authorities of the Director of the Agency. Requires the Agency to disseminate information about its activities to the private sector. Sets forth the duties of the Inspector General of the administering agency with respect to the Agency. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for operating expenses of the administering agency and its Office of the Inspector General. Directs the President to report annually to the Congress on: (1) progress toward achieving the four basic objectives set forth under this title; and (2) a country-by-country analysis of the impact on economic development in each country during the preceding three to five years of U.S. economic assistance programs, with a discussion of U.S. interests that were served by such assistance. Requires the President to maintain within the administering agency a Center for University Cooperation in Development and a Center for Voluntary Cooperation in Development. Provides that the respective purposes of such centers shall be to strengthen the partnership for development between the U.S. Government and: (1) U.S. and developing country institutions of higher education engaged in education, research, and public service programs relevant to developing countries; and (2) U.S. private voluntary organizations, cooperatives, and credit unions engaged in activities relevant to such countries. Directs the Administrator to establish an Advisory Committee on University Cooperation in Development and an Advisory Committee on Voluntary Cooperation in Development. Repeals provisions concerning the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should continue to make efforts to improve the management of U.S. economic assistance programs. Requires the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the feasibility and impact on U.S. foreign policy and foreign assistance objectives of: (1) reducing the number of countries receiving economic assistance; and (2) improving coordination within the U.S. Government and with other donors and improving management of U.S. economic assistance programs. Title II: Military Assistance and Sales and Related Programs - Chapter 1: Military Assistance and Related Programs - Revises policies and objectives of U.S. military assistance programs. Revises the President's authorities to furnish foreign military financing assistance, to remove the authority to detail members of the armed forces to foreign countries, or to transfer funds to countries to meet obligations for payments for arms sales. Exempts from appropriations charges, any defense article or service that is made available under special drawdown authority. Permits financing assistance to be provided on a grant, credit, or guaranty basis. Directs the President, in determining how financing will be provided, to take into account: (1) U.S. national security and foreign policy interests in furnishing such assistance to a country; and (2) the national security and self-defense needs and economic conditions of the country. Requires repayment on credits within a 12-year period unless a longer period is authorized by law. Sets a minimum five percent interest rate on credits. Authorizes financing for the procurement by leasing of defense articles from U.S. commercial suppliers to be provided to Israel and Egypt if there are compelling foreign policy or national security reasons for such articles being provided by lease rather than by government-to-government sale. Permits the financing of the procurement of defense articles and services not sold by the U.S. Government only if the country or international organization proposing to make such procurement has signed an agreement with the United States specifying the conditions under which the procurement may be financed. Requires sales under the Arms Export Control Act which are wholly paid from funds made available on a grant basis under this Act or were transferred or made available under former authorities prior to this Act's enactment to be priced to exclude the costs of salaries of members of the U.S. armed forces (other than members of the Coast Guard). Prohibits assistance from being furnished under this chapter in any case involving coproduction or licensed production outside the United States of any defense article of U.S. origin unless the President furnishes full information on the proposed transaction to the appropriate congressional committees. Prohibits the obligation of certain assistance for the procurement of: (1) any vessel of war built pursuant to a prime contract awarded to a foreign shipyard; or (2) any weapons system or other major system for a vessel of war built pursuant to such a contract awarded to a foreign rather than a U.S. shipyard because of unfair foreign competition. Exempts from such prohibition vessels of war built in the foreign country which is the recipient of such assistance or built pursuant to a prime contract signed before the effective date of this Act or procurement for the maintenance, repair, or replacement of such systems. Authorizes appropriations for foreign military financing for FY 1992 and 1993 for: (1) Israel; (2) Egypt; (3) Turkey; (4) Greece; and (5) other recipients or purposes. Revises provisions concerning eligibility for the receipt of defense articles and services. Raises the ceiling on the amount of defense articles and services and military training to be drawn down under certain emergencies. Limits the amount of such articles, services, and training to be drawn down for purposes of international narcotics control and international disaster assistance. Directs the President to establish monitoring and auditing controls to make financed arms sales subject to requirements no less stringent in accountability than requirements of Federal Acquisition Regulations applicable to sales under the Arms Export Control Act relating to improper business practices and personal conflict of interest. Places a ceiling on the value of additions to stockpiles for FY 1992 and 1993. Revises provisions concerning the location of stockpiles. Extends the President's authority to transfer excess defense articles to countries on NATO's southern flank through FY 1996. Requires excess defense articles to be made available to maintain the military balance in the Eastern Mediterranean. Directs the President to ensure, over a three-year period beginning in FY 1993, that the ratio of the value of such articles made available for Turkey to those made available for Greece closely approximates the ratio of the amount of foreign military financing provided for Turkey to the amount provided for Greece. Authorizes the President to transfer excess defense articles to major drug transit countries for counternarcotics purposes. Amends the Arms Export Control Act to raise the ceiling on the aggregate acquisition cost to the United States of excess defense articles ordered by the President. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to remove a reporting requirement with respect to nonlethal defense articles furnished to foreign countries. Repeals provisions of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 concerning transfers of excess defense articles. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for: (1) international military education and training; (2) peacekeeping operations; and (3) antiterrorism assistance. Declares that the President, in providing assistance under this Act, should take into account the cooperation provided by countries in matters connected with international terrorism. Amends the Arms Export Control Act to revise requirements of a report by the President on military exports. Chapter 2: Foreign Military Sales Program - Amends the Arms Export Control Act to repeal provisions concerning purposes of military sales or leases. Requires the President to take the following steps to address financial management problems with respect to payments on account of foreign military sales: (1) certify that payments with respect to such sales are properly recorded by case and country; (2) improve the coordination and uniformity of the military services systems used to account for, control, and report upon the operation of the foreign military sales program; and (3) reconcile the discrepancies between reported disbursements and performance for all uncompleted foreign military sales agreements executed prior to March 1989. Directs the President to notify the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the termination of any discrepancy reconciliation. Designates Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea as major non-NATO allies. Provides that New Zealand shall be eligible for special treatment authorized for such allies only to the extent that the President notifies the appropriate congressional committees that such treatment is in the national security interest. Authorizes the President to make additional designations with advance notification to the appropriate congressional committees. Raises the threshold on the dollar amount of defense equipment or services on which the President is required to submit specified certifications. Revises provisions concerning presidential certifications and congressional procedures for certain arms transfers. Adds to the list of information required in the President's quarterly report on military exports information on all concluded defense coproduction agreements. Imposes sanctions on foreign parties to coproduction agreements that violate restrictions concerning unauthorized third party transfers or unauthorized dispositions of defense articles or services or technical data if the President notifies the Congress or the Congress so determines by joint resolution. Lists such sanctions as: (1) the suspension of authority to produce defense articles abroad pursuant to such agreements; and (2) a prohibition on the issuance and approval of licenses with respect to the foreign party. Disqualifies for financing under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for 12 months any contracts of a person convicted or debarred for a violation of international traffic in arms regulations under the Arms Export Control Act. Increases the amount of defense trade registration fees required to be credited to a Department of State account. Repeals provisions of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 concerning munitions control registration fees. Amends the Export Control Act to require the President to review biennially and revise, as necessary, international traffic in arms regulations. Prohibits funds authorized by any Act from being made available to facilitate the sale of M-833 antitank shells or comparable shells containing a depleted uranium penetrating component to any country other than a NATO member or major non-NATO ally. Chapter 3: Technical and Conforming Amendments; Repeal of Obsolete and Inconsistent Provisions - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to apply termination of assistance provisions (with respect to violations of agreements providing defense articles or services) to defense articles or services provided under the Arms Export Control Act. Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Arms Export Control Act. Revises a provision regarding the Guaranty Reserve Fund and redesignates the Fund as the Foreign Military Loan Liquidating Account. Repeals provisions concerning: (1) information to the Congress on credit sales and guaranties; (2) the availability of funds for procurement of defense articles and services outside the United States; (3) discrimination; (4) restraint in arms sales to Subsaharan Africa; (5) foreign military sales credit standards; and (6) foreign military sales to less developed countries. Chapter 4: Transfers of Spoils of War - Spoils of War Act of 1991 - Permits spoils of war in the possession or control of the United States to be transferred to any other party only to the extent and in the same manner that property of the same type, if otherwise owned by the United States, may be so transferred. Title III: International Narcotics Control - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for international narcotics control. Revises provisions concerning international narcotics control. Exempts maritime law enforcement operations in archipelagic waters from a prohibition on U.S. participation in foreign police actions. Makes a prohibition on the use of narcotics control funds for the procurement of weapons or ammunition inapplicable (subject to congressional notification requirements) to: (1) weapons or ammunition for the defensive arming of aircraft used for narcotics control purposes; or (2) firearms and related ammunition provided to Department of State employees for narcotics control activities. Requires the President (currently, the Secretary of State) to maintain records on aircraft use under this title. Authorizes foreign military financing assistance under the Arms Export Control Act to be made available to finance the leasing of aircraft. Authorizes (currently, requires) the reallocation of funds withheld from countries which fail to take steps to halt illicit drug production or trafficking. Revises congressional reporting and certification requirements with respect to international narcotics control. Requires the President to notify the appropriate congressional committees annually of countries determined to be major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries. Repeals obsolete provisions of specified Acts. Makes prohibitions on the provision of assistance to foreign law enforcement agencies inapplicable, during FY 1992 and 1993, to: (1) transfers of defense articles and services for counternarcotics purposes; and (2) foreign military financing and international military education and training for narcotics-related purposes. Makes provisions of law that restrict assistance to countries inapplicable with respect to narcotics-related assistance, provided that the President notifies the appropriate congressional committees. Title IV: Special Authorities, Restrictions, Reporting Requirements, Administrative and General Provisions, Definitions, and Conforming Amendments and Repeals - Chapter 1: Contingency and Other Special Authorities - Authorizes appropriations to the President for FY 1992 and 1993 for unanticipated contingencies in programs within the International Affairs Budget Function. Authorizes the President to provide assistance (other than foreign military financing or international military education and training) to a country that is: (1) emerging as a democracy; or (2) emerging from civil strife and has a democratically elected government or is making progress toward a democratic form of government. Raises the ceiling on funds available for unanticipated contingencies. Requires congressional notification prior to the transfer of funds between accounts. Prohibits the transfer of funds authorized for the costs of loan or guarantee programs in accordance with requirements of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990. Revises provisions concerning the special waiver authority of the President with respect to prohibitions on assistance. Raises the ceiling on the amount of assistance that may be allocated for national security interests for any one country unless such country is a victim of active (currently, Communist) aggression. Repeals provisions concerning U.S. obligations in West Germany and a certification by the President of inadvisability to specify the nature of the use of funds. Chapter 2: Restrictions on Assistance and Exemptions from Restrictions - Applies a prohibition on assistance for police training to the furnishing of excess defense articles for law enforcement purposes. Exempts from such prohibition: (1) international narcotics control assistance; (2) assistance in protecting and maintaining wildlife habitats and in developing wildlife management and plant conservation programs; (3) antiterrorism assistance; (4) specified assistance for law enforcement in Latin America and the Caribbean; and (5) other exempted assistance. Revises prohibitions concerning restrictions on assistance. Adds to the list of restrictions prohibitions on assistance for: (1) a country whose government engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations; (2) a country whose elected head of government is deposed by military coup; (3) a country which is more than one year in arrears to the U.S. Government on any U.S. Government loan or credit under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or specified provisions of the Arms Export Control Act; (4) projects designed to increase exports of agricultural, textile, or apparel commodities from developing countries if such exports would be in competition with U.S. exports or be expected to cause injury to U.S. exporters of the same or a similar commodity; and (5) a country that provides lethal military equipment to a government that has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism. Authorizes the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, at the request of the President, to evaluate the value of any property that is the subject of expropriation by a foreign country. Exempts from restrictions on foreign assistance (except for countries that support terrorism or violate human rights) assistance for: (1) the needs of individuals with disabilities or displaced children; (2) child survival activities; (3) the prevention and control of AIDS; (4) immunization and oral rehydration; (5) environmentally sound, sustainable resource management; and (6) efficient energy systems. Chapter 3: Reports - Revises provisions regarding: (1) U.S. assistance policies and human rights; and (2) congressional notification for program changes. Outlines required elements of annual congressional presentation documents on economic assistance. Chapter 4: Administrative and General Provisions - Revises provisions concerning the use of private enterprise for the procurement of commodities and defense articles. Authorizes the use of Federal facilities for technical assistance purposes when such facilities are not competitive with private enterprise. Revises provisions concerning procurement standards and procedures. Sets forth provisions concerning the generation and use of local currencies. Authorizes the President to adopt as a U.S. contract or obligation any contract with a U.S. or third-country contractor that had been funded with assistance prior to the termination of such assistance. Permits nongovernmental organizations to invest local currencies accrued as a result of economic assistance provided by this Act and other specified Acts and to use interest earned on investments for assistance purposes. Exempts funds for Israel and Egypt from any restriction on the availability of funds. Prohibits appointments to specific positions within the administering agency without the advice and consent of the Senate. Permits assistance funds to be used to reimburse Federal or State agencies, private and voluntary organizations, or institutions of higher education that detail employees for assistance programs that require special technical skills. Excludes such employees from applicable personnel ceilings during the detail period. Removes funding limitations on assistance for the construction of living quarters, offices, schools, and hospitals abroad and for assistance to schools educating dependents and personnel abroad. Requires the Administrator to ensure that for assistance projects there is displayed an acknowledgment that such projects were funded by the people of the United States. Revises provisions concerning discrimination against U.S. personnel. Chapter 5: Definitions - Sets forth specified definitions. Chapter 6: Conforming Amendments and Repeals - Makes technical and conforming amendments to specified Acts. Repeals specified Acts. Title V: Europe - Chapter 1: Support for East European Democracy Act - Amends the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 to make eligible for SEED benefits any Eastern European country taking steps toward: (1) political pluralism and economic reform; (2) respect for human rights; and (3) a willingness to build a friendly relationship with the United States. (Currently, most SEED programs target Hungary and Poland.) Includes Albania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the list of eligible countries. Extends specified structural adjustment, debt reduction, and stabilization assistance to such countries. Requires the President to support adoption of agricultural policies in eligible countries that are based on free-market policies and to discourage policies that distort market signals through protective import barriers or government export subsidies. Authorizes AID to provide assistance to support private sector development in Eastern Europe and U.S. participation in capital projects. Permits the President, acting through the AID Administrator, to use funds for labor market transition assistance to eligible Eastern European countries. Extends technical assistance and training for labor market transition assistance to eligible Eastern European countries. Removes a provision authorizing appropriations for Peace Corps programs in Poland and Hungary. Extends assistance for the development of Peace Corps and credit unions to eligible Eastern European countries. Applies provisions governing the use of Polish currency generated by agricultural assistance to local Eastern European currencies generated by such assistance. Repeals provisions concerning: (1) OPIC support for Poland and Hungary; (2) Trade and Development Program activities in Poland and Hungary; (3) tax treatment of loans with below market interest rates for Poland and Israel; and (4) the trade credit insurance program for Poland. Extends Export-Import Bank programs to Czechoslovakia. Urges the President to seek bilateral investment treaties with eligible Eastern European countries to establish a legal framework for U.S. investment in such countries. Extends educational and cultural exchange programs and the scholarship partnership program to eligible Eastern European countries. Removes funding provisions concerning the scholarship partnership program. Authorizes the AID Administrator to use funds available for the scholarship partnership program for scholarships to enable Eastern European students to study at American institutions of higher education in Europe. Makes a specified amount of nonconvertible Polish currencies held by the United States available for the Research Center on Jewish History and Culture of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow, Poland. Declares that the President should allocate a specified amount annually for NATO's plan for expanded East European participation. Extends assistance for the support of democratic institutions and environmental protection and energy efficiency activities to eligible Eastern European countries. Authorizes the President, acting through the AID Administrator and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to provide assistance for environmental and energy activities in eligible Eastern European countries, with emphasis on assistance for policies encouraging and providing incentives for end-use energy efficiency and conservation and reliance on renewable energy resources. Requires the President to work with officials of the Government of Czechoslovakia to establish a regional program to facilitate cooperative activities to address the public health aspects of environmental degradation. Earmarks funds for such program. Revises provisions concerning medical assistance to Poland. Authorizes the President, acting through the AID Administrator, to: (1) provide medical training, health care planning assistance, and other assistance to improve health care to eligible Eastern European countries; and (2) provide assistance to support the infrastructure for a housing sector in such countries. Directs the SEED Program coordinator to establish an Eastern European Business Information Center System to serve as a central clearinghouse and data resource service for U.S. and Eastern European businesses providing information relating to: (1) business conditions in Eastern Europe; (2) legal and regulatory information needed by U.S. companies seeking to do business in Eastern Europe; (3) investment and trade opportunities for U.S. companies; and (4) voluntary assistance efforts to Eastern European countries. Requires the SEED Program coordinator to make information accessible to local enterprises seeking trade with or investment from the United States through the establishment of Eastern European trade information centers. Declares that the President should establish American Business Centers to support American business initiative in Eastern Europe. Repeals a provision concerning economic and commercial officers at U.S. embassies and missions in Hungary and Poland. Authorizes and allocates appropriations for SEED programs for FY 1992 and 1993. Sets forth provisions concerning the reallocation or reduction of such funds. Treats the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, Hungary, as an international organization for purposes of detailing U.S. Government personnel. Chapter 2: Other Provisions Relating to the Region - Authorizes additional appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 to carry out the Soviet-East European Research and Training Act of 1983. Revises reporting requirements under such Act. Condemns the resurgence of organized anti-Semitism and ethnic animosity in Romania. Urges the Government of Romania to speak out against anti-Semitism and work to promote harmony among ethnic and religious groups. Calls on: (1) the Romanian people to resist extremist organizations and strengthen the forces of tolerance and pluralism; (2) the Romanian Government to take steps toward greater respect for internationally recognized human rights; and (3) the President of the United States to ensure that progress by such Government in combating anti-Semitism and in protecting the rights and safety of its ethnic minorities shall be a significant factor in determining levels of assistance to Romania. Sets forth congressional findings with respect to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. Amends the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 to establish the Andrei Sakharov Educational Exchange Program to facilitate cooperation in the fields of environmental protection and health sciences through exchanges of graduate students. Includes such exchange program in the list of actions to be taken under the SEED Act. Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to the crisis in Yugoslavia. Amends the Anglo-Irish Agreement Support Act of 1986 to remove a certification requirement and to revise reporting requirements. Title VI: Middle East - Makes ESF assistance to Israel available on a cash transfer basis. Requires the President to ensure that the level of such transfer does not cause an adverse impact on the total level of nonmilitary exports from the United States to Israel. Makes foreign military financing for Israel available on a grant basis. Makes certain amounts of such financing available for advanced weapon systems research and development and the procurement of defense articles and services. Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1991 to reduce the amount of defense articles and services and military education and training that were authorized to be drawn down for Israel under such Act. Permits ESF assistance for Egypt to include sector grants only if Egypt implements agreed upon reforms in the relevant sector. Permits specified law enforcement assistance to be provided to Egypt only through U.S. institutions of higher education or through the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program of the Department of Justice. Requires foreign military financing for Egypt to be provided on a grant basis. Earmarks assistance allocated by AID for democratic initiatives and human rights for the growth of indigenous nongovernmental organizations that contribute to increased pluralism, democracy, and respect for human rights and the rule of law in the Middle East and North Africa. Earmarks ESF assistance for FY 1992 and 1993 for the West Bank and Gaza Program. Declares that specified amounts of development assistance should be used to finance cooperative development and cooperative development research projects among the United States, Israel, and eligible East European countries. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should support educational, cultural, and humanitarian activities that bring Israelis together with Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to Lebanon. Declares that specified amounts of ESF and development assistance should be made available for Lebanon. Prohibits assistance to Syria until the President reports to the appropriate congressional committees that the Government of Syria: (1) has demonstrated willingness to enter into negotiations with Israel; (2) does not deny its citizens the right to emigrate and does not impose taxes with respect to emigration; (3) is assisting the U.S. Government in obtaining the release of American hostages in Lebanon; (4) no longer supports international terrorist groups; (5) is withdrawing its armed forces from Lebanon; (6) is no longer acquiring chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons and will not use weapons currently in its arsenal to threaten its neighbors; (7) is cooperating with U.S. antinarcotics efforts and taking steps to remove members of the government who are involved in the drug trade; and (8) has made progress in improving human rights. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should encourage all Arab states to: (1) support efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East and to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict; and (2) take specific steps with respect to Israel and terrorism. Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees on: (1) the impact on Israel of U.S. commercial and government-to-government transfers of defense articles and services to the Middle East; and (2) policies being pursued and steps being taken to preserve Israel's qualitative edge. Amends the International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1985 to revise U.S. policy with respect to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Restricts negotiations with the PLO until the PLO amends or supersedes its charter to reflect recognition of Israel and ceases the use of terrorism. Requires the President to report to the Speaker of the House and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on specified issues involving the PLO. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should lead an effort to repeal United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 (equates Zionism with racism). Requires the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees on whether the Government of Kuwait has taken steps to: (1) end arbitrary arrest, torture, and other extrajudicial actions and bring to justice those responsible for such actions; (2) ensure that those detained have access to legal counsel, the right to an open and speedy trial, and other internationally recognized standards of due process; (3) allow the presence and activities of international human rights and humanitarian organizations; (4) comply with international law relating to deportations; and (5) ensure that the October 1992 elections are free and fair and permit universal suffrage. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) U.S. businesses engaged in rebuilding Kuwait should use U.S. subcontractors and U.S. goods and services; (2) the Department of Commerce should monitor and encourage this policy; and (3) the President should seek appropriate United Nations Security Council action to establish an international tribunal to try all individuals who were involved in the planning or execution of war crimes and crimes against humanity during and after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Directs the President to report to the relevant congressional committees on any spoils of war that were obtained subsequent to August 2, 1990, and that were transferred to any party before the date of enactment of this Act. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the 1981 Israeli preemptive strike against the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak was a legitimate and justifiable exercise of self-defense which also reduced the threat of Iraqi nuclear aggression against countries bordering Iraq; and (2) the United States should seek the repeal of United Nations Security Council Resolution 487 which condemned the strike. Title VII: Latin America and the Caribbean - Chapter 1: Central America and the Caribbean - Subchapter A: Central America - Declares that it shall be U.S. policy to: (1) support Central American countries in efforts to build democracy, restore peace, establish respect for human rights, expand economic opportunities, and improve living conditions; (2) support dialogue as the proper means of resolving armed conflicts in Central America; (3) assist in the implementation of, and secure international cooperation and support for, recommendations of the International Commission on Central American Recovery and Development; (4) support the United Nations Development Program for its Special Plan of Economic Cooperation for Central America; (5) organize a partnership among donor countries and Central American countries to mobilize resources and promote a forum for dialogue on issues of development, democracy, social justice, and human rights. Prohibits military assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to Guatemala during FY 1992 and 1993, except in connection with a peace agreement. Establishes the Lasting Peace Fund for Guatemala. Authorizes the President to transfer amounts available for military assistance to the Fund. Makes funds available only upon notification to the appropriate congressional committees that the Guatemalan Government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit have signed a peace agreement. Permits funds to be available for: (1) costs of retraining, relocation, and reemployment in civilian pursuits of former combatants and noncombatants affected by the conflict; and (2) costs of monitoring activities associated with the peace agreement. Prohibits the authorities of the Arms Export Control Act from being used to sell to the Guatemalan Government, or issue licenses for the export to Guatemala of: (1) weapons or ammunition; or (2) aircraft, unless the aircraft are unarmed and the Guatemalan Government has agreed that they will not be armed. Permits FY 1992 and 1993 development and ESF assistance and assistance under the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 for Guatemala to be used only by civilian government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Requires such assistance to be targeted for: (1) programs that address poverty, basic human needs, and environmental concerns; (2) the improvement of democratic institutions and the promotion of political pluralism; (3) the National Reconciliation Commission; (4) fiscal reform and administration; or (5) programs that promote trade and investment. Prohibits such assistance from being used for partisan political purposes or as an instrument of counterinsurgency. Waives assistance target requirements if the President notifies the appropriate congressional committees that Guatemala has made progress in eliminating human rights violations and in bringing to trial those responsible for major human rights cases. Declares that the President should: (1) take into account the extent to which the Nicaraguan Government has brought the armed forces under civilian control and undertaken investigations into, and prosecution of those responsible for, human rights violations prior to providing assistance for FY 1992 and 1993; and (2) consider the extent to which foreign military financing for Nicaragua will further the goals of strengthening civilian control over the military, ending human rights abuses, and stemming the export of lethal military equipment prior to providing such financing for such fiscal years. Prohibits assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 for FY 1992 and 1993 from being available for: (1) the Sandinista Popular Army unless requested and authorized by the President of Nicaragua; and (2) any member of the Nicaraguan resistance who has not disarmed or is not abiding by the terms of the cease-fire and the addenda to the Toncontin Agreement. Waives provisions of law that prohibit assistance to countries in arrears on assistance payments to the United States with respect to assistance for Nicaragua. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Nicaraguan Government should expedite the processing of claims by private citizens based on expropriation of property by the Sandinista Government. Authorizes a specified amount of ESF assistance for FY 1992 and 1993 to be made available to carry out the Concerted Plan of Action in Favor of Central American Refugees. Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to strengthening democratic legislatures in Central America. Declares that a specified amount of development and economic support assistance should be used for the Central American Journalism Program and Regional Administration of Justice Program's Center for the Administration of Justice to support democracy building activities in the region. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) begin negotiations with the Government of Panama to consider whether the two Governments should allow the permanent stationing of U.S. military forces in Panama beyond December 31, 1991; and (2) consult with the Congress throughout those negotiations. Subchapter B: The Caribbean - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to set forth the Caribbean Regional Development Act of 1991. Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to development and economic assistance for the Caribbean. Provides that priority in providing development assistance should be given to supporting indigenous democratic Caribbean institutions that represent and benefit the poor. Requires priority in the allocation of assistance to the Caribbean to be given to: (1) increased food production; (2) rural development; (3) community-based agro-industries; (4) small- and medium-sized farm and manufacturing enterprises; (5) the expansion of tourism; (6) regional integration; (7) the upgrading of technical and managerial skills; (8) support for renewable natural resources; (9) private sector development; (10) democratic development and the administration of justice; and (11) human services and human resources development. Directs the President, in providing assistance to a Caribbean country, to take into account whether the government of such country has failed to protect worker rights and is taking steps to implement laws that demonstrate advancement in providing such rights. Prohibits the administering agency from providing assistance for the use of any substance in a Caribbean country if such use is prohibited under the country's or U.S. public health laws. Declares that the agency should: (1) ensure the active participation of women in the development process; and (2) take into account the perspectives of the poor in the development process. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) all assistance to the Haitian Government should remain suspended until democratic government is restored; (2) the United States, when democratic government is restored, should provide assistance to such government only if it abides by the Haitian Constitution and respects freedom of expression and human rights; (3) the President should consider, during any period when assistance is suspended to Haiti, whether assistance through private and voluntary organizations should be continued for humanitarian purposes; (4) the United States should provide a specified amount of economic assistance to Haiti during FY 1992 and 1993; and (5) if any assistance is suspended, the balance for any fiscal year should remain available as long as there are reasonable prospects of a return to democracy and constitutional government in Haiti. Prohibits foreign military financing assistance for Haiti (except nonlethal assistance) during FY 1992 and 1993. Encourages the Government of the Dominican Republic to improve respect for the human rights of Haitian laborers engaged in the sugar cane harvesting industry in the Dominican Republic. Withholds a specified amount of economic support assistance from the Dominican Republic until the President notifies the appropriate congressional committees of the steps taken by the Government of the Dominican Republic to improve such human rights. Declares that the President should consider increasing the Dominican Republic's allocation of the U.S. sugar quota and providing additional economic and development assistance if the Government of the Dominican Republic makes progress in specified matters concerning such laborers. Permits assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to be provided to the Government of Guyana only if the President reports to the appropriate congressional committees that such government is in power as a result of free and fair elections. Exempts from such restriction international narcotics control assistance or assistance for the holding of free and fair elections. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President, following the submission of the report regarding Guyana, should provide assistance for Guyana under such Acts. Declares that a specified amount of assistance should be used to meet basic human needs. Condemns the armed forces of Suriname for the December 1990 coup and for disregard for civilian authority. Urges the armed forces to permit a peaceful transfer of power to the elected civilian government. Calls upon the President to withhold assistance from Suriname until a peaceful transfer of power has taken place, and to use assistance to bolster civilian rule. Applauds the actions of the United Nations Human Rights Commission of March 6, 1991 (concerning human rights in Cuba), and calls on the Government of Cuba to cooperate fully with the Commission. Prohibits the issuance of licenses for certain transactions involving U.S.-controlled firms in third countries and Cuba unless a license would be authorized for such transactions if undertaken by a firm organized under any State law. Applies such prohibition to a foreign subsidiary or affiliate of a domestic concern which is controlled in fact by such concern. Subchapter C: Provisions Relating to Both Central America and the Caribbean - Requires advance congressional notification for the transfer or issuance of licenses for the export of helicopters or military aircraft to any country in Central America or the Caribbean. Directs the Secretary of State to notify the appropriate congressional committees whenever any helicopters or other military aircraft are provided to such countries by any foreign country. Chapter 2: South America - Subchapter A: Andean Initiative - Authorizes appropriations for development and economic support assistance for FY 1992 and 1993 for Andean countries. Requires priority in the use of funds for Bolivia and Peru to be given to support programs that focus on providing coca farmers with alternative sources of income. Declares that specified amounts of such assistance should be used for law enforcement assistance, protection against narco-terrorist attacks, and assistance for human rights offices in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for foreign military financing assistance for Andean countries. Requires such assistance to be designed to: (1) enhance the ability of the recipient government to control illicit narcotics production and trafficking; (2) strengthen respect for human rights and the rule of law to control narcotics production and trafficking; and (3) assist the armed forces of the Andean countries in their support roles for such countries' law enforcement agencies. Permits the provision of such assistance only if: (1) such country has a democratic government; and (2) the government of such country does not engage in a consistent pattern of human rights violations. Permits such assistance to be used for certain law enforcement training and equipment for purposes of narcotics control efforts. Limits the amount of military and law enforcement assistance for Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. Prohibits a Peruvian police organization that engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations from being considered as a law enforcement unit. Permits assistance or the transfer of excess defense articles under this Act to an Andean country only if the President determines that: (1) such country is implementing programs to reduce the flow of cocaine to the United States; and (2) the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of such country are not engaged in a consistent pattern of human rights violations and the government of such country has made progress in protecting human rights. Exempts from the human rights condition assistance for programs providing coca farmers with alternative sources of income. Waives provisions of law that prohibit assistance to countries in arrears on loan payments to the United States with respect to narcotics-related assistance to Andean countries. Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to actions taken by the Government of Colombia to combat drug trafficking. Subchapter B: Other Provisions Relating to South America - Congratulates the Governments of Argentina and Brazil for taking certain steps with respect to nuclear nonproliferation. Chapter 3: Other Provisions Pertaining to the Region - Authorizes a specified amount of economic assistance for FY 1992 and 1993 to be made available for efforts to deal with the cholera epidemic in Latin America. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to permit the delivery of military assistance and sales to the armed forces of a Latin American or Caribbean country with a civilian government only with the prior approval of the country's head of government. Makes law enforcement assistance available for countries with democratically-elected governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prohibits the use of such funds for: (1) lethal equipment; and (2) the participation of Department of Defense personnel and members of the U.S. armed forces in law enforcement training. Permits law enforcement training in the Caribbean to be provided only under the auspices of the Department of Justice Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program. Earmarks funds for such assistance. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress on the status and treatment of indigenous peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean. Authorizes the President to direct the AID Administrator to release the Institute Centroamericano de Administration de Empresas from an obligation to make payments on a specified Alliance for Progress loan. Title VIII: Enterprise for the Americas Initiative - Enterprise for the Americas Act of 1991 - Chapter 1: Foreign Assistance Act Debt Reduction - Supports improvement in the lives of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean through market-oriented reforms and economic growth with actions to promote debt reduction, investment reforms, community based conservation and sustainable use of the environment, and child survival and child development. Makes eligible for Enterprise for the Americas Facility benefits (established pursuant to the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954) Latin American or Caribbean countries that: (1) have democratically-elected governments; (2) have not provided support for international terrorism; (3) cooperate on international narcotics control matters; (4) do not engage in a consistent pattern of human rights violations; (5) have in effect, received approval for, or are making progress toward, specified International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrangements and structural or sectoral adjustment loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or the International Development Association; (6) have put in place major investment reforms in conjunction with an Inter-American Development Bank loan or are implementing or making progress toward an open investment regime; and (7) have agreed with commercial bank lenders on a financing program for debt or debt service reduction. Authorizes the President to reduce the amount owed to the United States (as a result of concessional loans made pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or predecessor foreign economic assistance legislation) by any country eligible for Facility benefits. Sets forth requirements with respect to the exchange of obligations, repayment of principal, and interest on new obligations issued by beneficiary countries. Requires beneficiary countries that enter into Americas Framework Agreements to establish Enterprise for the Americas Funds. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into Americas Framework Agreements concerning the operation and use of Americas Funds with countries eligible for Facility benefits. Directs administering bodies in each beneficiary country to administer the Americas Funds and to make grants. Requires grants from the Funds to be used for activities that link the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources with local community development and for child survival and development activities. Subjects grants of more than $100,000 to veto by the U.S. Government or the government of the beneficiary country. Redesignates the Environment for the Americas Board (established pursuant to the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954) as the Enterprise for the Americas Board. Requires the Board to: (1) advise the Secretary on the negotiations of Americas Framework Agreements; (2) ensure that a suitable administering body is identified for each Americas Fund; and (3) review the programs, operations, and fiscal audits of administering bodies. Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to increase the number of representatives of the Board. Chapter 2: Export-Import Bank Debt Reduction - Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to set forth provisions concerning the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative parallel to those set forth in chapter 1 of title VIII of this Act. Makes eligible for Facility benefits Latin American or Caribbean countries that: (1) have in effect, received approval for, or are making progress toward, specified IMF arrangements and structural or sectoral adjustment loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or the International Development Association; (2) have put in place major investment reforms in conjunction with an Inter-American Development Bank loan or are implementing or making progress toward an open investment regime; and (3) have agreed with commercial bank lenders on a financing program for debt or debt service reduction. Permits the President, for purposes of facilitating debt-for-equity, debt-for-development, or debt-for-nature swaps, to sell to any eligible purchaser any Export-Import Bank loan made to an eligible country before January 1, 1991. Authorizes appropriations. Chapter 3: Participation of the Inter-American Development Bank - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to work closely with the management of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to ensure the full implementation of the IDB's proposed investment sector reform program and the coordination of U.S. bilateral assistance programs with IDB efforts to enhance liberalization efforts in countries served by the IDB. Amends the Inter-American Development Bank Act to authorize appropriations for a contribution to the Enterprise for the Americas Investment Fund, provided that certain conditions are met. Requires U.S. assistance to the Fund to be disbursed only for the following purposes: (1) technical assistance for purposes of identifying and resolving domestic constraints to investment; (2) assistance to private enterprises; (3) assistance in building human capital, alleviating poverty, and reducing barriers to economic and social progress; and (4) assistance to support host country capacity for insuring the environmental soundness of investment activities. Limits the amount to be used for any of the preceding purposes. Requires the Secretary to instruct the U.S. representative to the Fund to vote against any action which may have an adverse environmental impact unless an environmental assessment is available at least 120 days before the vote. Makes Latin American or Caribbean countries eligible for Enterprise for the Americas Facility benefits eligible for Fund assistance. Chapter 4: International University for the Americas - Requires the Secretary of State to determine the most appropriate location for the International University for the Americas, an institution to be established for promoting economic integration and the strengthening of democratic institutions in the Western Hemisphere and for commemorating the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus. Authorizes a specified amount of development and economic support assistance for Latin America and the Caribbean to be made available for the University. Chapter 5: Reports - Directs the President to report annually to the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate on the implementation of this title. Title IX: Asia and the Pacific - Chapter 1: East Asia and the Pacific - Requires the President, in determining whether to furnish assistance or make sales of defense articles or services to Burma (Myanmar) during FY 1992 and 1993, to make a specified certification with respect to international narcotics control in Burma and to take into account whether the Burmese Government has: (1) ceded legal authority to a civilian government as mandated by the 1990 elections; (2) released persons arrested for the peaceful expression of their political views; and (3) ceased harassment of persons and political parties attempting to exercise freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. Sets forth notification requirements with respect to certain assistance for Burma. Declares that the Congress would welcome decisions by the President to: (1) decline to negotiate a new textile agreement with Burma; (2) impose economic sanctions on Burma under the Customs and Trade Act of 1990; and (3) call upon industrialized countries to impose similar sanctions upon Burma. Authorizes certain development and economic support assistance to be available for: (1) training and education assistance for Burmese outside of Burma who are displaced as a result of civil conflict; and (2) activities which support democratic pluralism in Burma. Reaffirms that genocide is a crime under international law which the United States undertakes to prevent and calls upon the United Nations to take appropriate action for the prevention and suppression of genocide in Cambodia. Makes a specified amount of development and economic support assistance available for Cambodian civilians. Releases additional funds in the event of a settlement of the Cambodian conflict acceptable to the United States. Makes an additional amount of development and economic support assistance available for humanitarian assistance to children and war victims in Cambodia. Authorizes the President to use development and economic support assistance funds to provide for the nonmilitary training of Cambodians in skills that would be used to support an internationally acceptable political settlement in Cambodia. Requires the President to terminate assistance to any Cambodian organization that is cooperating with the Khmer Rouge in military operations. Directs the President to conduct an onsite assessment within Cambodia to determine requirements for the development of infrastructure and the eradication of explosive mines. Requires the President to report to the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate on all instances of military cooperation since January 1, 1991, between the Khmer Rouge and any faction of the noncommunist resistance and all instances of human rights abuses by the Khmer Rouge. Prohibits the sale, and the issuance of licenses for export, to China of any item on the U.S. Munitions List for military end-users if the President determines that: (1) any U.S. defense article or technology was used in certain missiles or aircraft transferred to Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, or Syria by China in contravention of the Arms Export Control Act; and (2) any chemical weapon or nuclear equipment or materials were transferred to such countries by China. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to the sale or export of systems or components designed for inclusion in civil products and controlled as defense articles only for purposes of export to a controlled country, unless the President determines that the intended recipient is the Chinese military or security forces. Prohibits the provision of FY 1992 and 1993 foreign military financing assistance and assistance for international military education and training to Fiji unless the President certifies to the Congress that Fiji has held elections in which there has been broad participation by all communities. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should provide specified amounts to support humanitarian projects in Laos for efforts to resolve questions concerning Vietnam prisoners of war or those missing in action. Sets forth provisions concerning Malaysia's policy of denying first asylum to Indochinese asylum-seekers. Expresses the sense of the Congress that additional assistance should be provided for Mongolia in recognition of Mongolia's movement toward democracy and a free market economy. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to set forth the Multilateral Assistance Initiative for the Philippines. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States should participate with multilateral financial institutions and other bilateral donors in an economic reform and development program in the Philippines; and (2) a multiyear commitment of resources by the United States, donors, and such institutions and a reform effort and leadership role by the Government of the Philippines will be necessary to ensure economic growth in the Philippines and enhanced participation of the Filipino people in the democratic process. Authorizes the President to provide assistance to promote the goals of this Act. Links such assistance to progress by the Government of the Philippines in implementing its economic, structural, judicial, and administrative reform program. Authorizes appropriations. Limits the amount of appropriations for FY 1992. Expresses the sense of the Congress that prior to requesting additional amounts to carry out this Act, the President should take into account: (1) the progress being made by the Philippines toward achieving reform objectives; (2) the extent of participation by the bilateral donors and multilateral financial institutions; and (3) the efforts to coordinate the assistance program. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the coordination of objectives and programs by donors, institutions, and the Government of the Philippines is critical to the success of the multilateral assistance program; (2) all donors should simplify procurement and disbursement procedures to ensure that conditions on the provision or use of assistance are complementary; and (3) the Philippines should establish internal procedures that will ensure the most effective use of such assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 and 1993 for the South Pacific Regional Program. Earmarks an amount of such assistance for scholarships for study at U.S. postsecondary institutions of education. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the future of Taiwan should be settled peacefully, free from coercion, and in a manner acceptable to the Taiwanese people; and (2) good relations between the United States and China depend on the willingness of the Chinese authorities to refrain from the use or the threat of force in resolving Taiwan's future. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should encourage the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to consider for OECD membership the Governments of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Chapter 2: South Asia - Amends the International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1985 to earmark development and economic support assistance for humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and for the implementation of bilateral and multilateral reconstruction efforts for Afghanistan and the establishment of a broad-based freely-elected Afghan Government. Congratulates Bangladesh on the transition to a democratically-elected government and welcomes the economic adjustment measures being implemented in coordination with the IMF. Expresses appreciation for Bangladesh's support for international law and collective security. Urges the President to provide debt relief under the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to Bangladesh. Calls upon the Government of India to promote adherence to human rights. Condemns abuses by militants in Kashmir and Punjab and urges all militant groups to cease the use of force to achieve political objectives. Urges the Secretary to raise Indian human rights issues with the Government of India. Calls upon Pakistani authorities not to provide arms or training to militants in Punjab or Kashmir. Welcomes the establishment of a democratically-elected government in Nepal and supports the economic development effort of such government. Authorizes economic support assistance for Nepal for FY 1992 and 1993. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to extend a certain waiver of a prohibition on assistance to Pakistan through April 1, 1993. Prohibits the President from waiving such prohibition unless he makes a specified certification regarding nuclear nonproliferation in Pakistan. Sets forth provisions concerning human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. Requires the President, in determining whether to provide assistance or make sales of defense articles or services to Sri Lanka during FY 1992 and 1993, to take into account whether the Government of Sri Lanka has: (1) established a public register of detainees and ensured that detainees have access to lawyers and family members; (2) taken steps to deter disappearances and killings of civilians by persons under control of government forces; (3) taken measures to minimize civilian casualties in combat operations in the north and the east; and (4) made serious efforts to investigate and prosecute those involved in the murder of journalist Richard DeZoysa. Encourages the Government of Sri Lanka to provide human rights education and training. Chapter 3: Economic Cooperation Projects in China and Tibet - Expresses the sense of the Congress that U.S. economic cooperation projects in China and Tibet should adhere to specified principles, including to: (1) ensure that employment decisions are nondiscriminatory; (2) ensure that methods of production do not pose a danger to project employees and the surrounding environment; (3) ensure that no convict or forced labor is used in the projects; (4) protect freedoms of assembly, association, and expression of project employees; (5) promote the training of employees; (6) discourage compulsory political indoctrination on project premises; and (7) urge the Chinese Government to release a list of the names of individuals detained solely for nonviolent expression of their political views. Directs the Secretary of State to forward a copy of such principles to member nations of the OECD and encourage them to promote such principles. Requires U.S. parent companies of such projects to register with the Secretary and indicate whether such projects will implement the principles. Sets forth specified reporting requirements. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the appropriate congressional committees on: (1) enforcement procedures with respect to prohibitions on the importation of convict-made goods; and (2) investigations with respect to goods produced by convict or forced labor in China and Tibet. Title X: Africa - Chapter 1: Development Fund for Africa - Authorizes appropriations for the Development Fund for Africa for FY 1992 and 1993. Chapter 2: Other Assistance for Africa - Amends the African Development Foundation Act to authorize appropriations for the African Development Foundation for FY 1992 and 1993. Requires funds from the Development Fund for Africa to be used to assist sector projects supported by the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC). Authorizes the use of such funds without regard to prohibitions on assistance to countries in arrears on assistance payments. Encourages the President to provide increased assistance to promote the development of democratic institutions in Subsaharan Africa. Declares that a specified amount of economic support assistance should be earmarked for Subsaharan Africa. Directs the AID Administrator to provide for the establishment of an African Center for Conflict Resolution to analyze, research, and resolve conflicts in Africa. Requires funds from the Development Fund for Africa to be made available for the Center. Chapter 3: Provisions Relating to Specific Countries - Requires the President, beginning with FY 1992, to provide: (1) nonpartisan election and democracy-building assistance to Angola for support in developing democratic institutions; (2) assistance for the voluntary relocation and resettlement of refugees and displaced persons and for the demobilization and retraining of former military members of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the armed forces of the Government of Angola; (3) humanitarian assistance; and (4) assistance to implement the peace accords. Prohibits such assistance if the Angolan Government or UNITA violates the peace accords. Requires the President, in determining whether to provide assistance to Burundi during FY 1992 and 1993, to take into account that the Government of Burundi has: (1) made progress in reforming its military by engaging in a massive Hutu recruitment program; (2) taken steps to reverse discrimination against the Hutu; and (3) embarked on a major repatriation effort to accommodate the return of Hutu. Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to Kenya. Suspends economic and military assistance to Kenya. Waives such suspension if the President reports to the appropriate congressional committees that the Government of Kenya is taking steps to: (1) release political detainees and end the prosecution of individuals for the expression of their political beliefs; (2) cease physical abuse or mistreatment of prisoners; (3) restore judicial independence; and (4) restore freedom of expression to the Kenyan people. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should continue to support the peacekeeping efforts in Liberia carried out by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Permits funds authorized by this Act for foreign military financing and unexpended foreign military financing and economic support assistance to be made available to support the efforts of ECOWAS to expand its military involvement in peacekeeping efforts in Liberia. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to provide assistance for civil strife relief, rehabilitation, and general recovery in Liberia. Permits assistance to Liberia during FY 1992 and 1993 only if the President reports to the Congress that the Government of Liberia has achieved progress toward reconciliation and free and fair elections monitored by international observers. Provides that such restriction shall not apply to humanitarian assistance or assistance to enhance progress toward reconciliation and free and fair elections. Waives a prohibition on assistance to countries in arrears on assistance payments with respect to assistance for Liberia. Commends the Malawi Government's response to the influx of refugees from Mozambique. Condemns the abuse of human rights of Malawian citizens. Urges President Banda to release prisoners of conscience, end incommunicado detention and torture of prisoners, and permit freedom of speech and association in Malawi. Prohibits foreign military financing for the Malawi Young Pioneers and permits such assistance only for the Malawian military's effort to secure the Nacala Railroad, programs to support conservation and biological diversity, and for activities to assist in the Mozambique peace process. Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to Mozambique. Conditions the provision of economic support assistance and foreign military financing for FY 1992 and 1993 for Mozambique on steps by the Government of Mozambique to increase respect for human rights and promote a political settlement to the conflict in such country. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States should support the elimination of apartheid and the establishment of democratic majority rule in South Africa through a policy to bring about a nonracial democracy; (2) U.S. firms and the Government should provide specified assistance to disadvantaged South Africans; and (3) the President should seek the cooperation of U.S. allies in Western Europe and Japan to join in multilateral initiatives to aid disadvantaged South Africans. Makes economic support and development assistance and assistance from the Development Fund for Africa available for assistance to disadvantaged South Africans. Requires priority in providing such assistance to be given to South African nongovernmental organizations whose staff are selected on a nonracial basis and which have the support of the disadvantaged communities being served. Authorizes excess assistance for disadvantaged South Africans to be used only for assistance for programs in the health, education, and housing sectors. Prohibits the transfer of such funds to any entity controlled by the South African Government, unless specified conditions are met. Declares that the President, before obligating funds for disadvantaged South Africans, should: (1) consult with South African organizations representative of the majority population of South Africa; and (2) seek a commitment from the South African Government that it will provide additional resources to meet the needs of disadvantaged South Africans. Prohibits assistance to the Communist Party of South Africa or affiliated organizations. Requires the President to ensure that recipients of assistance in South Africa are not engaged in human rights violations and have in place democratic processes for internal decisionmaking and the selection of leaders. Prohibits the provision of foreign military financing, military education and training, and economic support and development assistance to Zaire during FY 1992 and 1993 unless the President reports to the appropriate congressional committees that: (1) free and fair national elections have been held in Zaire; and (2) the elected government demonstrates a commitment to protect freedom of expression and bring about a reformed and independent judiciary and reform of, and applications of, the rule of law to Zaire security forces. Chapter 4: Horn of Africa Recovery and Food Security - Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to equitable distribution of relief and rehabilitation assistance and international relief efforts in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and Djibouti). Authorizes the President to: (1) provide international disaster assistance for civil strife and famine relief and rehabilitation in the Horn of Africa; and (2) transfer funds from unobligated security assistance (without regard to a specified 20 percent increase limitation) to carry out this chapter. Makes available a percentage of assistance for management support activities. Urges the President to provide supplemental emergency food assistance for civilian victims of civil strife in the Horn of Africa. Encourages the President to consult with other nations, armed and unarmed parties in the Horn of Africa, and the United Nations Secretary General to bring about negotiated settlements of the armed conflicts in the Horn of Africa. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should: (1) direct the U.S. representative to the United Nations to take specified steps with respect to peace and the establishment of an arms embargo in the region; (2) play an active role in other fora in pressing for settlements to conflicts; and (3) participate in regional and international peace consultations. Declares that development assistance in the Horn of Africa should be targeted to aid the poor. States that U.S. Government aid institutions should seek to: (1) build upon the capabilities and experiences of organizations active in local grassroots relief, rehabilitation, and development efforts; (2) consult with such organizations and incorporate their views into the policymaking process; and (3) support the expansion of their activities without compromising their private nature. Declares that development assistance should be: (1) targeted to the voluntary relocation and repatriation of displaced persons and refugees; and (2) carried out in coordination with strategies for debt relief of countries in the region and with efforts to establish an international fund for reconstruction of developing nations which settle civil wars. Requires development assistance and assistance from the Development Fund for Africa to be channeled through private and voluntary or specified international organizations unless the President makes the required certification under this chapter. Prohibits economic support assistance and foreign military financing and international military education and training assistance to Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan unless the President certifies that the government of the country has: (1) begun to implement peace or national reconciliation agreements; (2) demonstrated a commitment to human rights; (3) manifested a commitment to democracy and has held or established a timetable for free and fair elections; and (4) agreed to distribute development assistance without discrimination. Chapter 5: Other Provisions - Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) special efforts should be undertaken to reduce trade barriers and to promote economic interchange between the United States and developing countries in Subsaharan Africa; and (2) the countries of Subsaharan Africa are to be applauded for their stance during the Persian Gulf conflict and commended for their support of the United States. Permits international military education and training to be provided to a Subsaharan African country only if the President considers whether: (1) that country has a government that was democratically-elected as the result of free and fair elections or is committed to respecting human rights and freedom of expression and has achieved progress in a process of democratization; (2) the armed forces of such country are involved in human rights violations or the government of the country fails to respect human rights; and (3) the armed forces of such country or other elements of the government of that country are engaged in destabilization efforts aimed at any other country. Requires the President, when obligating funds for countries that do not meet such conditions, to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the reasons for providing such assistance. Provides that any sanction imposed by any State or governmental subdivision that is directed at South Africa or persons engaging in commercial or financial transactions in or with South Africa and that also applies to Namibia shall be null and void with respect to Namibia unless such sanction is consistent with Federal law. Expresses the sense of the Congress that a study should be undertaken by the Office of Technology Assessment, in a cross-section of Subsaharan African countries, of the formulation and the economic, social, and environmental impact of adjustment programs supported or leveraged by AID through the Development Fund for Africa. Title XI: Aid, Trade, and Competitiveness - Aid, Trade, and Competitiveness Act of 1991 - Requires the AID Administrator to establish a capital projects office to: (1) develop a program that would focus solely on developmentally sound capital projects; and (2) consider opportunities for U.S. high-technology firms in putting together capital projects for developing countries and SEED eligible East European countries. Sets forth the activities of the capital projects office. Directs the President to report annually to the Congress on the extent to which: (1) U.S. Government resources have been expended to support capital projects in such countries and the extent of interagency coordination; and (2) U.S. Government capital projects and tied-aid programs have affected U.S. exports. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury, if a new agreement within OECD that meets the objective of reducing the level of concessional financing by member countries other than the United States has not been reached by February 1, 1992, to report to the Congress, together with the President of the Export-Import Bank, on: (1) the status of the negotiations; (2) the causes for the failure to reach an agreement by that date; and (3) the reasons the U.S. Government believes that continued negotiations will result in achieving such objective. Urges the President to use specified types and amounts of assistance for grants for capital projects. Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the feasibility of allowing AID to offer credit guarantees for the financing of capital projects. Authorizes additional appropriations for FY 1993 for the Trade and Development Agency. Title XII: Peace Corps - Amends the Peace Corps Act to: (1) extend the authorization of appropriations for the Peace Corps through FY 1993; and (2) establish the Foreign Currency Fluctuations, Peace Corps, Account to pay expenses for Peace Corps operations which exceed appropriations for such expenses as a result of currency exchange rate fluctuations. Authorizes appropriations for such Account. Requires the Director of the Peace Corps to contract with an eligible organization to conduct three evaluations of the health care needs of Peace Corps volunteers and the adequacy of the Peace Corps health care system. Provides for the submission of such evaluations to the Director and specified congressional committees. Requires the Director and the Secretary of Labor to report to such committees on: (1) the information provided by the Peace Corps to its volunteers and applicants on the benefits and services to which volunteers and trainees may be entitled in the event they sustain injuries or become disabled during their Peace Corps service or training; (2) the efforts by the Peace Corps and the Department of Labor to coordinate the provision of such information to Peace Corps volunteers and applicants and the processing of claims by volunteers and trainees under the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA); (3) the number of Peace Corps volunteers and trainees who have filed claims under FECA and the percentage of claims that have been approved; and (4) the timeliness of approvals or denials of such claims. Earmarks funds for FY 1992 and 1993 for establishing Small Business Development Programs in the Soviet Union or any successor entity. Title XIII: International Development and Finance - Chapter 1: International Monetary Fund - Amends the Bretton Woods Agreements Act to authorize the U.S. Governor of the International Monetary Fund to consent to: (1) an increase in the U.S. quota in the Fund; and (2) the amendments to the Articles of Agreement of the Fund approved in resolution 45-3 of the Fund's Board of Governors. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the Fund to approve the Fund's pledge to sell a specified amount of the Fund's gold to restore the resources of the Reserve Account of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility Trust to meet obligations to lenders who have made loans to the Trust for financing programs of members previously in arrears to the Fund. Permits the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the Fund to support Soviet membership in the Fund only after the President certifies to the Congress that the Soviet Union has taken specified actions to indicate: (1) the implementation of free market policies; (2) the reduction in size and scope of government expenditures; and (3) the embrace of democratic processes. Authorizes the Secretary to instruct the Executive Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support expansion of access by the Soviet Union to the Bank's resources only after the President makes such certification. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) encouragement should be given to the efforts being made to address the political and economic problems of nations making the transition to more open political and economic systems; and (2) consideration should be given to developing relationships between such nations, the Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and other international financial institutions as part of assisting such nations in making such transitions. Requires the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the Fund to encourage the Fund to adopt procedures for the publication of economic reviews of the major industrialized nations and other commentary, as appropriate. Expresses the sense of the Congress that procedures should be instituted to review the activities of the Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for purposes of coordinating the international economic activities of international financial institutions at the Board, management, and staff levels. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the Fund to: (1) advocate specified actions concerning poverty alleviation and policy framework papers; and (2) urge renewal of debt and debt service reduction programs. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the debt of the Soviet Union held by commercial banks outside the Soviet Union and the prospects for repayment of such debt. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the Fund to encourage environmental considerations in Fund programs. Requires the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of the Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to urge such entities to develop and report to member nations on criteria for determining whether a nation seeking a loan is engaged in arms and weapons expenditures that are: (1) appropriate to its national circumstances; or (2) an impediment to sound management of its economy and achievement of sustained long-term growth. Chapter 2: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Affiliates - Subchapter A: International Finance Corporation - Amends the International Finance Corporation Act to authorize the U.S. Governor of the International Finance Corporation to subscribe to additional shares of the Corporation's capital stock. Authorizes appropriations. Subchapter B: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development - Amends the Bretton Woods Agreements Act to require the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to advocate specified measures to alleviate poverty. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association should: (1) give greater programmatic and budgetary priority to the survival and development of children; and (2) make a commitment to devoting at least five percent of the annual lending of such entities to primary health and basic education, respectively. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the Bank to urge: (1) renewal of debt and debt service reduction programs; (2) the establishment of a program to provide technical assistance to the Baltic States and the Soviet Union in support of democratic reforms, human rights, the rule of law, and market-oriented reforms; and (3) the coordination of such program with the programs of other donors. Subchapter C: Financial Assistance for Global Environmental Protection - Global Environmental Protection Assistance Act of 1991 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to contribute a specified amount to the Global Environmental Facility of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development if the Secretary has certified to specified congressional committees that the Facility has made progress toward implementing certain measures set forth in this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to report to the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the progress made by the multilateral development banks in achieving objectives concerning debt-for-nature exchanges and lending for the environment. Chapter 3: Asian Development Bank - Amends the Asian Development Bank Act to authorize the U.S. Governor of the Asian Development Bank to subscribe to additional shares of the Bank's capital stock. Authorizes appropriations. Chapter 4: African Development Fund - Amends the African Development Fund Act to authorizes the U.S. Governor of the African Development Fund to contribute a specified amount to the sixth replenishment of the Fund. Authorizes appropriations. Chapter 5: Export-Import Bank - Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to authorize the President to waive limitations on Export-Import Bank financing for exports to the Soviet Union if such waiver is in the national interest. Directs the Bank to: (1) develop a program for providing guarantees and insurance with respect to the export of high technology items to eligible SEED program countries; and (2) inform high technology companies about Bank programs for U.S. companies interested in exporting high technology goods to such countries. Requires the Bank, in the case of any long-term loan or guarantee of at least $10,000,000, to ensure that U.S. insurance companies are accorded a competitive opportunity to provide insurance against risk of loss in connection with such transactions. Sets forth procedures to be taken in cases where such opportunity is denied. Directs the Bank to report to the Congress on the demand for loans, guarantees, and insurance for trade between the United States and the Baltic States and the Soviet Union and to make recommendations for the promotion of trade between the United States and such countries. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should determine that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are not Marxist-Leninist countries for purposes of prohibitions on Export-Import Bank assistance for Marxist-Leninist countries. Chapter 6: Multilateral Development Banks - Subchapter A: Energy Efficiency - International Energy Efficiency Financing Act of 1991 - Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to require the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of the multilateral development banks to: (1) demonstrate programs for measuring the application of systems energy efficiency planning and techniques; and (2) advocate procedures that require assessments of the impacts of proposed actions that would have a significant impact on energy efficiency before votes in favor of such actions. Directs the Secretary to seek the adoption of policies which result in access to the public of energy efficiency assessments by the borrowing countries and the lending institutions. Subchapter B: Alleviation of Poverty, Reduction of Barriers to Economic and Social Progress, and Other Provisions - Requires the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the regional multilateral development banks to advocate the establishment of an organizational unit to aid bank management policies for the reduction of poverty and of barriers to economic and social progress and equity. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of the international financial institutions to: (1) encourage borrowing countries to involve women in development activities; (2) urge such institutions to reflect the diversity of the population in hiring practices and to strengthen and expand recruitment, hiring, and promotion of minorities and women; and (3) urge such institutions to adopt compensation policies to ensure that comparable pay is provided for people in comparable jobs. Requires the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of the multilateral development banks to oppose any loan, except for basic human needs, to Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan until the President certifies to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committees on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs and Foreign Affairs, respectively, that the government of the country has: (1) begun to implement peace or national reconciliation agreements; (2) demonstrated a commitment to human rights; (3) manifested a commitment to democracy and has held or established a timetable for free and fair elections; and (4) agreed to distribute development assistance without discrimination. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of the international financial institutions to encourage borrowing countries to engage in fair labor practices and to report to the Secretary on actions to promote such practices. Subchapter C: Financial Integrity - Requires the Secretary to instruct such directors to ensure the establishment of an office of Inspector General in such institutions. Chapter 7: Consolidation of Reports - Requires annual reports submitted by the Chairman of the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Policies to include summaries of reports required under the Bretton Woods Agreements Act. Title XIV: Miscellaneous - Expresses the sense of the Congress that a major effort should be made to strengthen the right to food in international law to assure the access of all persons to adequate food supplies. Declares that the Secretary of State, through the U.S. representative to the United Nations, should propose to the United Nations General Assembly that a Declaration and a Convention concerning the right to food be adopted and submitted to countries for ratification. United States Environmental Security and Foreign Policy Act of 1991 - Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to global environmental security. Gives the Secretary of State primary responsibility for overseeing environmental agreements and activities between the United States and foreign countries and international organizations and commissions. Requires the Secretary to report biennially to the Congress on: (1) multilateral environmental initiatives and negotiations concluded or in process; (2) bilateral agreements on the environment; (3) U.S. participation in, and support of, environment programs in international organizations and multilateral development banks; (4) international cooperation activities with respect to research and monitoring of environmental and natural resource conditions; and (5) environmental policies and activities of the United States in providing foreign assistance. Expresses the sense of the Congress that a major effort should be made to reform and restructure the United Nations mechanism for responding to international disasters and other humanitarian emergencies. Requires the Secretary, through the U.S. representative to the United Nations, to develop a proposal for strengthening the United Nations response to such emergencies. Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to nuclear non-proliferation regimes. Requires the President to report annually to the Congress on the progress made and obstacles encountered in establishing regional nuclear non-proliferation regimes.

Comprehensive Child Health Immunization Act

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Comprehensive Child Health Immunization Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish in the Federal Register a designation of those Standards for Immunization Practices, developed and published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) under the auspices of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (standards), that the Secretary determines can be implemented without cost. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations that require: (1) all individuals or entities receiving assistance from the Secretary for public sector immunization and social service programs, or for private sector immunization services provided through reimbursements made under the Social Security Act (SSA) or with vaccines made available by the CDC, to comply with the standards; and (2) States receiving Federal funds that are used to provide vaccines to ensure that recipients of such vaccines adhere to the standards. Requires the Secretary to utilize and expand existing audit procedures to monitor compliance. Authorizes the Secretary to provide assistance to enable entities that receive Federal immunization grant funds to implement those standards that the Secretary determines will necessitate the commitment of additional financial resources and increase the access of children to immunizations. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop, for use by States in enrolling and recertifying individuals with respect to programs under the PHSA, SSA, special food program of the Child Nutrition Act, and other programs designated by the Secretary, model questions concerning immunization status and medical history and model packets of information concerning the risks and benefits associated with vaccines, locations of immunization providers with respect to each State, and other material determined appropriate by the Secretary; and (2) require States to incorporate the model questions into the forms and procedures utilized for such programs and to provide the appropriate information so developed to recipients of benefits provided under such programs. Requires: (1) such model questions and informational packets to be administered and provided to recipients of benefits under other federally administered health programs; and (2) the Secretary to develop and apply, and require States to apply, procedures relating to the referral of individuals for immunization services, including a plan for the provision of transportation assistance for children eligible to receive assistance under the SSA. Amends the SSA to require a State, to be eligible to receive payments for Aid to Families with Dependent Children and family support services and for social services block grants, to provide assurances to the Secretary that child care providers within the State that receive assistance will utilize the questions concerning immunization status with respect to the children served and provide such information as developed pursuant to this Act to their parents or guardians. Amends the National School Lunch Act to bar participation by institutions unless they provide such assurances. Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require States to provide such assurances to qualify for grants under such Act. Amends the PHSA to direct the Secretary to award demonstration grants to enable eligible State and local entities to fully implement plans for the Infant Immunization Initiative. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) eligible entities; (2) maintenance of support; (3) grant amounts (based on the size and demonstrated need of the entity); (4) use of grants (such as for the establishment of express vaccination facilities in health clinics, the provision of vaccinations in hospital emergency rooms, through in-home visits and in day or child care centers, Head Start institutions, and in schools, the establishment of mobile vaccination teams, and other activities determined appropriate by the Secretary); (5) grants to local communities for innovative programs designed to increase access to immunizations; and (6) reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to provide assistance to specified State and local entities to support the additional operational activities of immunization sites necessary to maintain compliance with the standards relating to infrastructure changes and to support innovative approaches designed to increase the access of children to immunization services. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to provide for the development and distribution of consumer educational materials concerning childhood immunizations. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to modify regulations with respect to the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program under the SSA to require States to undertake aggressive outreach efforts in contacting parents concerning the immunization of their children and in tracking the immunization status of children through information submitted to the State from immunization providers seeking reimbursement under such Act. Authorizes appropriations to the CDC to pay the costs associated with the utilization of the National Health Interview Survey compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics. Amends the PHSA to direct the Secretary to establish a research and demonstration grant program to award to States or other entities determined appropriate by the Secretary grants for the development of computerized immunization registries. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) application requirements; (2) the use of grant funds (to develop and implement a computerized system for the identification and tracking of children for immunization purposes, to identify appropriate mechanisms for collecting, updating, maintaining, and accessing data concerning the immunization of children, to implement procedures under which vaccine providers will have access to the current immunization records of their patients, and to carry out any other activities determined appropriate by the Secretary); (3) reporting requirements; (4) development of a nationwide, computerized registry containing immunization information concerning children throughout the United States and procedures to collect information, to give health care providers access to information, and to track the immunization status of children; and (5) coordination with other programs. Authorizes appropriations for grants and for the purchase of computer equipment. Amends the PHSA and the SSA to require the Secretary to establish demonstration programs under which grants will be awarded to enable eligible States to purchase vaccines for distribution to, and use by, private health care providers. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) eligibility of States for grants; (2) maintenance of support; (3) use of grant funds; and (4) reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the PHSA to direct the Secretary to establish and administer a National Fund for Disease Outbreak Control. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary, upon the determination by the Secretary that an unanticipated disease outbreak requiring additional vaccine purchases occurs, to utilize the Fund to provide the CDC with the resources necessary to control the spread of such disease through the implementation of necessary preventive measures, including the reimmunization of children in disease-affected areas who have not yet received the recommended second-dose immunization against the disease. Requires the Director of the National Vaccine Program to make appropriations available to appropriate Federal agencies to enable such agencies to carry out special research with respect to the development of: (1) vaccines that are safe and effective in younger infants and newborns; (2) vaccine combinations to decrease the number of injections and required vaccine provider visits; and (3) new vaccines, including vaccines for chicken pox and rotovirus strains common throughout the United States. Directs the CDC to develop program guidance for all entities receiving a grant under this Act or any other childhood immunization grant under the PHSA requiring grantees to: (1) describe in detail their objectives, plans, and specific activities to reach out to high-risk populations for immunization purposes; and (2) submit end-of-year reports to the Director of the CDC. Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees concerning the immunization status of pre-school and school-aged children nationwide.

Job Training and Basic Skills Act of 1992

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Job Training and Basic Skills Act of 1991 - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to revise and extend employment and training assistance programs. Title I: Adult and Youth Employment and Training Programs - Subtitle A: Policy, Authorization of Appropriations, and Definitions - Declares it to be the policy of the United States to: (1) provide financial assistance to States and local service delivery areas (SDAs) to meet the training needs of low-income adults and youth and assist them in obtaining unsubsidized employment; (2) increase funds available for programs of training services for the disadvantaged by at least ten percent of the baseline each fiscal year to provide for growth in the number of eligible adults and youth served beyond the current five percent of the eligible population in need of these services; and (3) encourage provision of longer and more comprehensive education, training, and employment services to the eligible population, with increased funding to maintain current service levels. Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to authorize appropriations for FY 1993 and succeeding fiscal years. Defines "basic skills deficient" as reading or computing skills at or below eighth grade level. Adds the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, literacy organizations, and organizations serving older workers to the the list of community-based organizations. Revises the definition of "economically disadvantaged" to refer to the official poverty line. Revises the definition of "supportive services" to include: (1) drug and alcohol abuse counseling and referral; and (2) individual and family counseling. Subtitle B: Job Training Partnership - Includes representatives of public assistance agencies and local welfare agencies on private industry councils (PICs) under JTPA. Revises other provisions for PIC membership. Applies the requirement for a job training plan to training services for the disadvantaged only. Revises requirements for the contents of such plans to provide for linkages with appropriate agencies and for outreach to recruit locally determined target groups. Adds community-based organizations to those entities reviewing such plans. Revises requirements for training services for the disadvantaged performance standards to: (1) promote delivery of services to the hard-to-serve; and (2) add measurement of increased basic education attainment and occupational skills (as well as the current measurement of increased employment and earnings and reduced dependency). Provides for the following additional factors in performance standards for youth programs: (1) attainment of employability competencies; (2) secondary and postsecondary school completion or its equivalent; (3) dropout prevention and recovery; and (4) enrollment in other education, training, or employment program or apprenticeship, or enlistment in the armed forces. Allows variations in standards to reflect differences between in-school and out-of-school programs. Requires the private industry council to determine levels for competency standards based on such factors as entry skill levels and other hiring requirements. Sets forth additional elements of performance standards. Retains the requirement that the Secretary prescribe performance measures, but states that such standards shall not be taken into consideration in the award of incentive grants. Provides that Governor's incentive grant awards shall be to service delivery areas (SDAs) conducting adult and youth programs which: (1) meet specified performance standards established by the Secretary, serve more than a specified minimum percentage of out-of-school youth, and exceed performance standards for hard-to-serve- populations; (2) place participants in employment providing wages at placement exceeding the appropriate performance criteria, as well as employer-assisted employment benefits (including health benefits); (3) meet specified performance standards established by the Governor; and (4) establish linkages with other programs to avoid duplication and enhance delivery of services. Retains the requirement for the Secretary to prescribe performance standards for dislocated workers employment and training assistance based on placement and retention in unsubsidized employment. Retains the requirement that such standards make appropriate allowance for the difference in cost resulting from serving workers receiving cetain needs-related payments. Changes from discretionary to mandatory the authority of State Governors to prescribe, within certain parameters, variations in performance standards for training services for the disadvantaged and for dislocated workers employment and training assistance. Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide information and technical assistance on performance standards adjustments; (2) collect data that identify hard-to-serve individuals and long-term welfare dependency; (3) provide guidance on setting performance goals at the service provider level that encourages increased service to the hard-to-serve, particularly long-term welfare recipients; and (4) review performance standards to ensure that they provide maximum incentive in serving the hard-to-serve, particularly long-term welfare recipients, including those receiving benefits under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Supplement Security Income (SSI) programs under, respectively, part A of title IV, and title XVI, of the Social Security Act. Authorizes Governors to prescribe additional performance standards for these programs, which must be reported in the coordination and special services plan. Directs the Secretary to prescribe performance standards for: (1) employment and training programs for Native Americans and migrant and seasonal farm workers; (2) the Jobs Corps; and (3) the jobs for employable dependent individuals incentive bonus program. Directs the Secretary to prescribe a system for adjustments in JTPA performance standards for special populations to be served. (Current law requires prescriptions of such variations, but without system.) Authorizes the Secretary to modify JTPA performance standards not more often than once every two program years (except that Job Corps standards may be modified each program year). Prohibits such modifications from being retroactive. Sets forth required responses to failures to meet standards, including a process for correction. Requires each State Governor to provide technical assistance to SDAs failing to meet the performance standards. Requires the Governor, if an SDA continues to fail to meet performance standards for two program years, to impose a reorganization plan. Allows the alternative administrative entity under such reorganization plan to be a newly formed private industry council or any jointly selected by the Governor and the chief elected official of the largest local government in the SDA or substate area. Allows SDAs to appeal to the Secretary for revision of such reorganization plans. Defines "employment,"for purposes of JTPA performance standards, as employment for more than 20 hours per week. Requires SDAs, in selecting service providers, to consider provision of support services, including child care. Requires selection of service providers to be made on a competitive basis and to include: (1) a determination of such provider's ability to meet program design specifications that take into account JTPA's purposes and the goals established in the Governor's coordination and special services plan; and (2) documentation of compliance with procurement standards established by the Secretary, including the reasons for selection. Revises limitations on certain costs for specified programs, including general administrative costs, combined administration and support services costs, and training-related services costs. Prohibits duplication of supportive services which are available free to participants through other services. Adds provisions for SDA transfer and agreement. Provides for reallotment of funds for training services for the disadvantaged. Revises requirements for the Governor's coordination and special services plans to include: (1) descriptions of State coordination measures, projected grants uses, and services to older workers; (2) criteria for coordinating activities under JTPA with State and local services on aging and with programs operated under specified provisions of the Older Americans Act of 1965; and (3) initiatives under the State innovation and coordination program. Revises provisions for State education coordination and grants. Eliminates specified provisions for training programs for older workers. Requires identification of any State- or SDA-rule, regulation, or policy funded by JTPA. Requires State labor market information programs to include training and technical assistance to support comprehensive career guidance and participant outcome activities for local programs assisted under JTPA. Revises general program requirements for service delivery systems. Exempts normal tuition charges for training or education from certain requirements for a breakdown of cost components. Exempts from specified cost limitations certain administrative expenses related to training incurred by community-based organizations. Limits the duration of on-the-job training to a period not in excess of that generally required for acquisition of skills needed for that position, but never exceeding six months. Requires on-the-job contracts to: (1) specify types and duration of training and other services; and (2) if an intermediary brokering contractor is used for placements, specify certain additional services and factors. Revises provisions relating to disposal of assets and program income. Revises certain Federal and fiscal administrative provisions. Allows the use of certain advance payment methods when contracting with nonprofit organizations of demonstrated effectiveness. Requires States to establish fiscal control and fund accounting procedures to ensure proper disbursal and accounting of Federal funds. Requires the State Governor to establish procurement standards for the State, local areas, and SDAs to ensure that specified criteria are met. Requires State Governors to: (1) conduct annual on-site monitoring of each SDA and substate area to ensure compliance with such procurement standards; (2) impose corrective action to secure prompt compliance; (3) impose specified sanctions in the event of failure to take required corrective action; and (4) certify annually the State's implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of such standards. Directs the Secretary to: (1) annually review the procurement standards; and (2) upon determination that the Governor has not fulfilled such requirements, to impose such corrective actions and sanctions. Directs the Secretary to review the implementation of these requirements and report with recommendations to the Congress on the effectiveness of such fiscal control provisions. Adds provisions relating to program income. Revises reporting, recordkeeping, and investigative requirements. Requires recipients to maintain and provide to the Secretary standardized records of a sufficient number of individual participants to provide an adequate sample size to allow for preparation of natural estimates to meet specified requirements. Requires the Secretary, Inspector General, or Comptroller General to furnish States or SDAs which are going to be investigated with the monitoring guides to be used by reviewers (for audits other than the initial survey or one investigating possible criminal or fraudulent conduct). Requires States, administrative entities conducting the programs, and recipients (other than sub-recipients) to monitor the performance of service providers in complying with the agreements under JTPA. Revises requirements for information in reports. Directs the Secretary to ensure that all elements required for reports are defined and reported uniformly. Requires Governors to ensure that procedures are developed for retention of records for specified periods. Requires the head of the Directorate for Civil Rights in the Department of Labor to report annually on the administration and enforcement of nondiscrimination provisions. Authorizes appropriations to increase the number of Directorate personnel in order to prepare such reports. Subtitle C: Training Services for the Disadvantaged - Revises JTPA title II provisions for training services for the disadvantaged adults and youth. (Divides JTPA title II into: (1) part A, Adult Opportunity Program; (2) part B, Summer Youth Employment and Training Programs; and Part C, Youth Program.) Revises adult program allotment provisions to establish State set-asides for education, performance incentives, and auditing and administration. Allows individuals, whether employed or unemployed, to be eligible for adult program services as long as they are adults (age 22 through 72) who are economically disadvantaged. Requires that at least 60 percent of program participants in each SDA be individuals who, in addition to being economically disadvantaged adults, are in one or more of the following categories: (1) basic skills deficient; (2) school dropouts; (3) recipients of each cash welfare payments; (4) offenders; (5) individuals with disabilities; (6) homeless; (7) unemployed for the previous six months or longer; (8) limited-English proficient; or (9) in an additional category identified by an SDA and approved by the Governor and the Secretary. (Retains the current provisions that allow up to ten percent of program participants in an SDA not to be economically disadvantaged if they have encountered barriers to employment.) Allows for transfers of limited portions of funds among JTPA title II programs. Establishes adult program design requirments, including: (1) assessment of participants' skill levels and service needs; (2) development of service strategies to identify employment goals, appropriate achievement objectives, and appropriate services; (3) review of participant progress; and (4) if appropriate, basic and occupational skills training work experience be accompanied by other services designed to increase a participant's basic education or occupational skills. Allows an exception from such combination requirement only if: (1) the participant's assessment and service strategy indicate that the additional services are not appropriate; and (2) the activities are not available to the participant through the Employment Service or other public agencies. Allows continued provisions of counseling and supportive services to a participant for up to one year after termination from the program. Revises authorized services for which adult program funds may be used. Eliminates employment-generating activities from the list of such authorized services. Divides the lists of such services into direct training and training-related and supportive services. Authorizes State Governors, through agreements with various entities, to provide for job training and placement programs for older individuals (55 years of age and who are economically disadvantaged) for employment opportunities with private businesses, with such programs to be developed in conjunction with SDAs and consistent with SDA plans. Requires consideration to be given to assisting such programs involving training for jobs in growth industries and jobs reflecting the use of new technological skills. Requires Governors to: (1) coordinate delivery of such services with those under the Older Americans Act of 1965; and (2) give priority to service providers with demonstrated effectiveness in providing such services. Requires SDAs to link with: (1) other specified Federal programs; and (2) State, local, and private programs, as appropriate. Allows an SDA to transfer up to ten percent of adult program funds to the youth programs under certain conditions. Directs the Comptroller General to: (1) conduct a study to determine the number and percentage of adults assisted under JTPA title II part A provisions for disadvantaged adults that remain employed for at least nine months after receiving such assistance; and (2) report such study findings to appropriate congressional committees within three years. Revises part B provisions for summer youth employment and training programs to limit administrative costs to 15 percent. Requires SDAs to: (1) expend funds for basic and remedial education as described in the State job training plan (but allows such funds to be provided for the year-round youth employment and training program, the Job Corps, the JOBS program, alternative or secondary schools, or other employment and training programs); (2) assess participant skill levels and service needs and develop service strategy for participants; and (3) provide follow-up services for participants for whom a service strategy has been developed. Allows individual concurrent enrollment in such programs and in disadvantaged youth programs. Sets forth part C provisions for the disadvantaged youth programs. Revises allotment formulas to establish set-asides for State education coordination and grants. Revises eligibility requirements for in-school youth and out-of-school youth. Requires that at least 70 percent of the funds for in-school youth and for out-of-school youth, respectively, be used for participation of specified targeted groups (with provisions for additional categories). Requires the youth program to be conducted, and services made available during the year or on a multiyear basis as appropriate. Establishes year-round program design requirements, including: (1) assessment of participants' skill levels and service needs; (2) development of service strategies to identify achievement objectives, appropriate employment goals, and appropriate services; (3) review of participant progress; and (4) if appropriate, basic skills training, occupational skills training, pre-employment and work maturity skills training, work experience combined with skills training, and supportive services. Requires that work experience, job search, job search skills training, and job club activities be accompanied by additional services which: (1) are designed to increase a participant's basic education or occupational skills; and (2) may be provided, sequentially or concurrently, under other education and training programs. Allows continued provision of counseling and supportive services to a participant for up to one year after termination from the program. Requires SDAs to establish linkages with the appropriate educational agencies responsible for services to participants. Provides that authorized youth services may include, but need not be limited to, the services described under the headings of direct training, training related services, and participant support services under part A adult program provisions. Provides that additional authorized youth services may include specified features. Requires SDAs to link the youth program with: (1) other specified Federal education and training programs; and (2) as appropriate, State, local, and private programs. Allows an SDA to transfer up to ten percent of youth program funds to the adult program under certain conditions. Subtitle D: Special Programs - Provides, with respect to JTPA title III employment and training assistance for dislocated workers, that an eligible dislocated worker participating in training (except on-the-job training) shall be deemed to be in training with the approval of the State agency for purposes of unemployment compensation. Subtitle E: National Programs - Revises JTPA title IV part A employment and training programs for Native Americans and migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Includes references to American Samoans under such Native American programs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) designate a single organizational unit to have as its primary responsibility the administration of all Native American programs authorized under JTPA; and (2) promote recruitment and promotion of Indians, Alaska Natives, American Samoans, and Hawaiian Natives to positions in such unit. Establishes the Advisory Council on Native American Indian Job Training Programs. Revises the formulas for reservations of funds for Native American programs and for migrant and seasonal farmworker programs. Authorizes the Secretary to waive, under Native American programs and the migrant and seasonal farmworker programs, the requirement of biennial competition for grants for those grantees that: (1) have performed satisfactorily on their existing grant; and (2) submit a satisfactory two-year plan for the succeeding period. Requires JTPA grants for Native American programs and for migrant and seasonal farmworker programs to be consistent with specified standard competitive procurement procedures and auditing procedures. Amends JTPA title IV part B provisions for the Job Corps. Increases from ten to 20 percent the allowable number of nonresidential participants enrolled in the Job Corps in any year. Prohibits the Secretary from reducing the number of residential participants in Job Corps programs during any program year below the number during 1989 in order to increase the number of nonresidential participants. Revises JTPA title IV part D provisions for national activities. Sets forth provisions for training and information programs. Directs the Secretary to carry out specified staff training activities at national, regional, State, and local levels. Authorizes the Secretary to establish a clearinghouse to identify, develop, and disseminate innovative materials and successful program models, and to carry out other specified functions. Directs the Secretary to consult with the Secretaries of Education and of Health and Human Services to coordinate such clearinghouse activities with other relevant entities. Revises JTPA title IV part E provisions for the cooperative labor market information program. Authorizes the Secretary to engage in research, demonstration, or other activities (including ones that States may carry out) to determine the feasibility of various methods of organizing and making accessible nationwide information on the quarterly earnings for all individuals for whom such information is collected in the United States. Requires a report to the Congress on the findings resulting from such activities. Increases the annual amount of funds reserved for the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee. Adds a new part H, Replication of Successful Programs, to JTPA title IV. Directs the Secretary to make competitive grants for replication of successful programs through the associated activities of: (1) public or private nonprofit organizations' technical assistance; and (2) State and SDA planning and program development. Establishes a new part I of JTPA title IV, the Fair Chance Youth Opportunities Unlimited Program. Authorizes the Secretary to establish such national program of Fair Chance Youth Opportunities Unlimited grants to pay 50 percent of the cost of comprehensive education, training, and employment services for youth in high poverty areas in urban and rural areas. Requires such grants to be awarded to the local service delivery area (on behalf of the participating community) in which the target area is located (or to designated grantees if the target area is a Native American Indian reservation or an Alaska Native village). Authorizes the Secretary to select as grant recipients up to 25 communities in the first fiscal year the program is authorized (and a total of 40 over the first five fiscal years). Makes such grants over a three-year period, with each year conditional upon compliance. Authorizes the Secretary to extend the renewal period for an additional two years. Authorizes participating communities to apply for grants for use on behalf of target areas. Requires that a designated target area have not more than 25,000 population, except in the case of single high school districts. Makes all youth aged 14 through 21 in the target area eligible to participate in assisted programs and activities. Requires each participating community to develop an integrated service delivery system in each target area which meets specified minimum criteria for services. Requires such program to also have an education component, outreach and recruitment efforts, youth program models, and measurable goals and outcomes. Sets forth requirements for maintenance of State and local funding levels, limitations on the use of program funds, applications, and Federal and local shares. Directs the Secretary to provide for technical assistance, independent evaluations, and a report. Subtitle F: General Provisions - Revises provisions for JTPA title V, Jobs for Employable Individuals Incentive Bonus Program. Grants each participating State a bonus for providing job training under JTPA to: (1) absent parents of children receiving aid to famiilies with dependent children (AFDC) under the Social Security Act, who subsequent to such training pay child support; and (2) blind or disabled individuals receiving supplemental security income (SSI) under the Social Security Act, who subsequent to such training are successfully placed in and retain employment. Makes the incentive bonus equal to the total, for up to two years after termination of the individuals from JTPA activities; (1) amounts of such child support paid by such absent parents; and (2) reduction in Federal contributions to the SSI amounts received by such blind or disabled individuals. Revises provisions for State use of such incentive bonus funds. Allows Job Corps centers (as well as SDAs) to make incentive payments to service providers. Extends to January 1, 1997, the deadline for the Secretary's report to the appropriate congressional committees on evaluation of the effectiveness of the incentive bonus program. Directs the Secretary to issue revised performance standards for the incentive bonus program pursuant to the amendment made by this Act. Directs the Secretary to provide guidance and technical assistance to States and SDAs relating to documentation required to verify the eligibility of participants under part A and B of title II of JTPA. Authorizes the Secretary to establish rules and procedures necessary for an orderly transition to programs established by, and implementation of, the amendments made by this title. Title II: State Human Resource Investment Councils - Directs each State receiving assistance under specified applicable Federal programs to establish a single State human resource investment council to: (1) review the provision of services and use of funds under applicable Federal human resource programs; (2) advise the Governor on methods of coordinating and using such services, funds, and resources, and on State and local standards and measures relating to such programs; (3) work cooperatively with the directors of the designated State units administering the State vocational rehabilitation programs and the directors of the State educational agencies to enhance employment and vocational education and training opportunities under applicable programs for individuals with disabilities; and (4) carry out a State Council's duties and functions as prescribed under applicable Federal law. Sets forth requirements for such State council's composition, including representation of business and industry, labor and community-based organizations, and State and local entities. Allows a State that receives financial assistance under an applicable program council to establish a consolidated council which shall have the authority and perform the duties, of a State council and an applicable program council. Makes conforming and technical amendments to the following Federal laws having applicable programs for purposes of such State human resource investment council: (1) the Adult Education Act; (2) the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act; (3) the JTPA; (4) the Wagner-Peyser Act; and (5) the JOBS program under AFDC provisions of the Social Security Act. Makes conforming and technical amendments to the following other Federal laws with reference to such State job training coordinating councils and such consolidated councils: (1) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; (2) the Education and Training for a Competitive America Act of 1988; (3) the Displaced Homemakers Self-Sufficiency Assistance Act; and (4) the National and Community Service Act of 1990. Title III: Nontraditional Employment for Women - Nontraditional Employment for Women Act - Amends JTPA to define "nontraditional employment," as applied to women, to refer to occupations or fields of work where women comprise less than 25 percent of the individuals employed. Requires service delivery area (SDA) job training plans to include: (1) goals for the training of women in nontraditional employment and the training-related placement of women in nontraditional employment and apprenticeship; (2) a description of efforts to be undertaken to accomplish such goals, including efforts to increase awareness of such training and placement opportunities; and (3) procedures for annual reporting of the extent to which the SDA has met such goals and of a statistical breakdown of women trained and placed in nontraditional occupations, including specified types of information. Requires the State Governor's coordination and special services plan also to include such goals and descriptions of efforts for the training and placement of women in nontraditional employment under JTPA and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act. Directs the State job training coordinating council to: (1) review, summarize, and annually disseminate the results of SDAs' and Governor's efforts to train and place women in nontraditional employment; and (2) obtain from the sex equity coordinator under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act a summary of activities and an analysis of results under that Act and disseminate such summary annually. Requires State education coordination grant recipients to provide statewide coordinated approaches, including model programs, to train, place, and retain women in nontraditional employment. Allows the use of funds under title II (Training Services for the Disadvantaged) of JTPA for outreach activities relating to education, training, work experience, and retention of women in nontraditional employment. Directs the Secretary of Labor to use a specified portion of funds for national activities under JTPA for FY 1992 through 1995 to make grants to States to develop demonstration and exemplary programs to train and place women in nontraditional employment. Limits such grants to no more than six per fiscal year. Allows States receiving such assistance to award grants to service providers and SDAs under specified conditions. Directs the Secretary of Labor to report, with recommendations, to the Congress within five years on the extent of success of States and SDAs, and the effectiveness of such demonstration programs, in training, placing, and retaining women in nontraditional employment. Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to mean that the Congress is taking a position on the issue of comparable worth. Provides that failure to meet the goals in this Act shall not itself constitute a violation of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any other Federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age.

A bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1992 for the Maritime Administration, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Authorizes appropriations for the Maritime Administration for: (1) operating-differential subsidies; (2) manpower, education, and training; (3) operating programs; (4) national security support capabilities; and (5) the Ready Reserve Force.

Industrial Diversification and Economic Adjustment Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Industrial Diversification and Economic Adjustment Act of 1991 - Title I: Industrial Diversification Study - Directs the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), to study the extent to which diversification of defense industries to non-defense production can be effectuated. Requires a report from the Secretary of Commerce on the study's results. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Presidential Council on Economic Diversification and Adjustment - Establishes in the Executive Office of the President the Council on Economic Diversification and Adjustment, co-chaired by the Secretaries of Commerce and Labor, and the Office of Economic Diversification and Adjustment. Outlines Council duties, including the identification of defense-related impact problems of States, metropolitan areas, or communities requiring assistance, the dissemination of aid and assistance information, and the development of strategies and plans for Federal, State, and local economic adjustment efforts necessitated as the result of the termination or reduction of a defense contract or the closure or realignment of a defense facility which substantially adversely affects the local community involved. Requires the Council to prepare and distribute an economic diversification and adjustment handbook containing explanations, outlines, information, and directories concerning the economic diversification required for workers in a community as the result of curtailment of defense production. Requires the Secretary of Defense to notify the Council at least one year in advance of a pending or proposed change in defense spending that would affect local employment in the defense industry. Requires the Council to submit an annual report to the Congress on the required economic diversification and adjustment for the previous year. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Defense Industrial Diversification Accounts - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow any qualified defense facility to establish a defense industrial diversification account for the purpose of providing qualified plant and equipment in the United States or the retraining of employees in order to diversify qualified defense facilities from predominately relying on defense contracts to nondefense lines of business. Restricts deposits to such accounts to the sum of: (1) depreciation allowances with respect to eligible plant and equipment; (2) net proceeds from the sale or other disposition of such plant and equipment, or insurance or indemnity attributable to such plant and equipment; and (3) receipts from investment of amounts in such accounts. Allows deposits to such accounts during the five-year period after its establishment. Restricts deposits after the fifth taxable year to receipts from investments. Provides for the nontaxability of earnings deposited into such accounts. Allows withdrawals over a ten-year period for: (1) acquisition, construction, or reconstruction of qualified plant and equipment; (2) the payment of principal on indebtedness incurred in connection with plant and equipment acquisition, construction, or reconstruction; or (3) the retraining or continued education of employees. Provides for taxation of nonqualified withdrawals. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to report to the Secretary of Defense annually on such accounts. Provides for computing the alternative minimum tax on earnings deposited in such accounts. Title IV: Small Business Diversification - Establishes in the SBA a Committee on Defense and Economic Diversification and an Office of Economic Diversification. Directs the Committee to: (1) carry out programs under title V of this Act; (2) identify defense-related problems of small businesses that require assistance; (3) disseminate information useful to small business concerns; (4) prepare a plan for coordinating the efforts of the SBA and the Administration's programs for assisting firms adversely affected by defense cutbacks; and (5) work with and coordinate efforts with the President's Office of Economic Diversification and Adjustment to assist small businesses in finding alternative procurement opportunities with Federal agencies. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Small Business Assistance - Empowers the Administrator of the SBA to make either loans or grants to a qualified small manufacturing firm to assist such firm to diversify from defense-related to nondefense-related business. Outlines loan and grant limits, conditions, and specific purposes. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to carry out this title. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Economic Adjustment Assistance for Employees - Prohibits an employer or defense agency from ordering a closing or a significant workforce reduction in a defense facility which is prompted by the cancellation of a defense contract, or a significant reduction in the volume of defense work in relation to total defense work in such facility, until the end of a 90-day period after the employer or defense agency has served written notice to appropriate employee representatives and to the State dislocated worker unit. Defines a "significant workforce reduction" as a reduction of: (1) at least 50 employees if such amount constitutes at least 33 percent of the workforce; or (2) at least 300 employees. Requires all displacements of workers employed by a defense agency, or of civilian workers employed by the armed services, to be reported by the management of the defense facility to the Office of Economic Diversification and Adjustment and to the State employment security agency acting as the agent of the Secretary of Labor for the administration of the program under this title. Requires the Office to certify eligibility of displaced workers under this title for benefits. Amends the Job Training Partnership Act to decrease from 80 to 75 percent the portion of funds available under such Act for job training and retraining that are to be divided among the States. Increases from 20 to 25 percent of such amount the funds that are to be set aside for special grants to substates for special employment problems (intending displaced worker assistance under this Act to qualify as one such special problem). Directs the Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the Council, to develop statistical data on the permanent dislocation of defense workers due to reductions in defense expenditures, termination or reduction of defense contracts, or the closure or realignment of defense facilities. Requires the Secretary to publish a report after compilation of such data. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from individual retirement accounts early withdrawal penalties any withdrawals made by dislocated workers and used for either mortgage payments on a primary residence or rent payments for one year following the worker's layoff. Title VII: Community Economic Adjustment Planning - Requires the Secretary of Defense, upon release of the President's budget or any announcement of the realignment or closure of a qualified defense facility, to promptly notify any State or local government affected by the realignment, closure, or contract slowdown or termination which is being proposed or will likely result. Makes eligible for economic adjustment planning assistance any community which: (1) is likely to be substantially and seriously affected by the realignment or closure of a defense facility, or the slowdown, termination, or cancellation of any defense contract; and (2) prepares an analysis and forecast of the effect of any such action on the local economy and workforce as well as a proposal for an economic adjustment plan to reduce the adverse effect of any such action. Requires the Council to review the analyses, forecasts, and proposals submitted. Requires the Council to: (1) publish a list annually of the communities eligible for economic adjustment planning assistance after review of such documentation; and (2) allow a community which failed in such termination to petition the Council for review of such determination for inclusion on such list. Provides that any community found eligible for such assistance by the Council shall be eligible for community planning assistance offered by the Secretary of Defense under specified Federal armed forces provisions. Provides that any substantially and seriously affected community shall also be eligible for economic adjustment assistance authorized under title IX of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965. Title VIII: Commercial and Defense Production Integration - Establishes within DOD the Office of Commercial and Defense Production Integration to develop and implement policies, practices, and procedures designed to achieve an effective integration of commercial production processes and defense procurement practices. Attempts to accomplish such integration by increasing the use of commercial products in defense procurement, lowering unit costs in defense production through streamlining acquisition procedures, encouraging integrated processes for manufacturing civilian and defense products, and encouraging research and development of products having both civilian and military applications. Calls for the elimination of unique military specifications in the procurement of defense products and the identification of commercial suppliers that have exhibited high standards of product quality and reliability in commercial or defense production. Requires the Office to assist the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition in the acquisition and increased usage of nondevelopmental items in defense procurement (items that are generally available in the commercial marketplace). Directs the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Office, to conduct not less than three projects to demonstrate the feasibility of achieving effective integration of commercial production processes and military procurement practices. Requires the Secretary to notify the Congress at least 30 days in advance of the commencement of each such project, and requires project reports. Title IX: Commission on Military Budget Reform - Establishes the Commission on Military Budget Reform to conduct a study of the desirability and feasibility of the Congress instituting a three-year budget cycle program for DOD. Requires the Commission, in carrying out such study, to consider: (1) the advantages and disadvantages of the three-year budget program; (2) the likely savings from the program; (3) the effects of the program on other activities and programs of DOD, on short- and long-range national security planning, and on foreign military sales; (4) the favorable and adverse effects that multiyear defense budgets have had on the defense budget processes of foreign nations that have adopted such programs; and (5) alternative means of carrying out such a program. Requires a findings report from the Commission to the Secretary and the Congress. Provides powers of the Commission as well as other administrative provisions. Terminates the Commission 30 days after its report. Authorizes appropriations.

Youth Apprenticeship Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Youth Apprenticeship Act of 1991 - Establishes an Institute for Youth Apprenticeship (the Institute) as an independent establishment to administer youth apprenticeship demonstration programs set up under this Act. Directs the Board Chairperson to establish guidelines, criteria, and procedures for youth apprenticeship demonstration programs, based on such report, including curriculum guidelines, criteria for demonstration program sites and for apprenticeship occupations, and competency criteria and certification procedures for apprentices and trainers. Directs the Institute Executive Director to enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private organizations to develop and evaluate youth apprenticeship demonstration programs. Requires each eligible entity entering into such a contract with the Board to establish partnerships among secondary and postsecondary schools and employers, labor organizations, and community and civic leaders to provide apprenticeship training to students. Requires at least one: (1) secondary school wage incentive demonstration program under which the Institute shall pay 50 percent of the apprenticeship wage; and (2) one secondary school disadvantaged youth demonstration program. Authorizes two postsecondary school demonstration programs (i.e. two contracts with partnerships for programs solely for postsecondary students). Makes such partnerships responsible for program and curriculum development, coordination and quality assurances, and assessment and evaluation of apprentices and training programs. Sets forth requirements for partnership training for various levels of secondary school students and for postsecondary students. Sets forth requirements for employers to pay: (1) 100 percent of the apprentice wage rate in secondary school programs (but 50 percent in the wage incentive program); (2) 100 percent of the apprentice wage rate and costs of continuing basic skills courses in postsecondary programs; and (3) costs of on-the-job training. States that employers shall not be required to hire apprentices upon completion of the apprenticeships. Directs the Institute to coordinate programs by: (1) providing technical assistance to partnerships; (2) operating an apprenticeship clearinghouse for the partnerships; (3) disseminating model programs and practices to the partnerships; (4) gathering input from all sources on proposals for the labor mobility of apprentices; (5) consult with the Office of Work-Based Learning of the Department of Labor and the Division of Vocational and Technical Education of the Department of Education; and (6) comply with specified evaluation and report requirements. Sets forth provisions relating to: (1) nondiscrimination; (2) notice, hearing, and grievance procedures; (3) nonduplication and nondisplacement; and (4) evaluation and reports. Authorizes appropriations. Abolishes the Board and Institute, terminates all programs established by this Act, and repeals this Act and the amendments it makes not later than 69 months after the initiation of the youth apprenticeship demonstration programs.

Enterprise for the Americas Initiative Act of 1992

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Enterprise for the Americas Initiative Act of 1991 - Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 to authorize the President to sell a Latin American or Caribbean country up to 40 percent of its qualified, Paris Club-rescheduled debt (owed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation for export credit guarantee purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities), but only if such country uses a certain amount of its local currency (computed according to a specified formula), other than the price paid for the debt, through an Environmental Fund for certain eligible activities. (Designates the Environmental Fund for Mexico the Good Neighbor Environmental Fund for the Border.) Requires the President to report to the Congress on the effect of a hemispherical free trade zone with such countries on the United States economy. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish the Institute for North American Studies in a higher education institution (or consortium of such institutions) in Texas to promote better agricultural, economic, social, and political relationships between North American countries through cooperative study, training, and research. Requires the Institute to provide a facility for such activities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the President to establish the United States-Mexico Environmental Board to advise the governments of the United States and Mexico on the implementation of environmental projects to improve the quality of life of citizens of both countries. Requires the President to notify the Congress prior to any debt reduction resulting from credit extended for the sale of agricultural commodities.

Educational Research, Development, and Dissemination Excellence Act

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Educational Research, Development, and Dissemination Excellence Act - Title I: General Provisions Regarding Office of Educational Research and Improvement - Amends the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to revise certain provisions relating to the purpose, administration, functions, and structure of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). Eliminates provisions for the National Advisory Council on Educational Research and Improvement. Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary), acting through OERI, to carry out specified policies, in accordance with the policies and priorities established by the Board. Requires that OERI consist of programs and units in accordance with specified current GEPA provisions, as well as those added under this Act. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the appropriate congressional committees data on OERI, including numbers of current personnel, broken down by sex, race, and civil service classification, current vacancies, and projections of future personnel needs. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996 for OERI programs and units (both current ones and ones added by this Act). Allocates specified portions of such funds for certain purposes. Title II: National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board - Amends GEPA to establish within OERI a National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board (the Board). Makes the Board, acting through the Assistant Secretary, responsible for: (1) determining priorities to guide OERI's work and congressional oversight of it; (2) establishing standards for conduct and evaluation of all research, development, and dissemination carried out under auspices of the Department of Education (the Department); (3) making periodic recommendations to the President, the Congress, and the Secretary on administrative and statutory changes both to improve coordination of education research, development, and dissemination carried out by the Federal Government and to develop a comprehensive and integrated system for dissemination of results of education research and developments; and (4) regularly review and evaluate implementation of its recommended priorities and policies by the Department and the Congress. Directs the Board to develop a research priorities program. Requires the Board to survey and assess the state of knowledge in education research and development to identify disciplines and areas of inquiry where knowledge is insufficient and which warrant further investigation, taking into account the views of both education researchers and practicing educators. Requires the Board to consult with the National Goals Panel and other authorities on education to identify national priorities for the improvement of education. Requires that such research priorities program recommend priorities for investment of OERI resources over the next five-, ten-, and 15-year periods. Requires including as priorities those areas of inquiry in which further research and development: (1) is necessary to attain the identified goals for improvement of education; (2) promises to yield the greatest practical benefits to teachers and other educators in improving education; and (3) will not be undertaken in sufficient scope or intensity by other Federal and non-Federal entities engaged in education research and development. Sets forth required contents of such program, including goals for OERI expenditures within recommended priority areas, specific objectives expected to be achieved by such expenditures, and recommendations as to relative distribution of resources within each priority area among the various entities engaged in such education research and development. Requires the Secretary to publish a biennial report, and submit such report and any public comment and suggestions to the President and the Congress, on the Board's proposed research priorities. Directs the Board to establish and maintain an ongoing program to improve coordination of education research, development, and dissemination activities within the Department and the Federal Government generally. Requires specified inventories and reports in connection with such coordination program. Directs the Board to develop (after soliciting and giving due consideration to public comments) standards for the conduct and evaluation of all OERI research, development, and dissemination activities, to assure that such activities meet the highest standards of professional excellence. Requires such standards to include ones for peer review, evaluation of applications for, and periodic review and evaluation of, all grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements by OERI. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations implementing such standards within 60 days of their transmittal by the Board. Authorizes the Board to establish subcommittees, convene workshops and conferences, and collect data. Sets forth Board powers and membership qualifications, in general. Requires that the 20 Board voting members be appointed by the Secretary, with specified numbers representing educational researchers, classroom teachers, State and local school officials, librarians, parents, nonprofit foundations, business and industry, and State Governors. Designates specified Federal officials as ex-officio, nonvoting members. Requires that the Board be chaired by the Chair of the National Goals Panel. Sets forth provisions for terms of office and meetings. Title III: National Research Institutes - Amends GEPA to establish the following National Research Institutes within OERI: (1) the National Institute for Education of At-Risk Students; (2) the National Institute for Innovation in Educational Governance and Management; (3) the National Institute for Early Childhood Development and Education; and (4) the National Institute on Student Achievement. Sets forth provisions relating to such Institute's: (1) Directors; (2) authorities and duties; (3) targeting historically underrepresented researchers and institution; (4) appointment of scientific and professional employees; (5) advisory councils; (6) coordination of research on cross-cutting issues; and (7) transition within OERI. Sets forth separate provisions relating to the role of each such Institute. Title IV: National Education Dissemination System - Amends GEPA to establish within OERI an Office of Dissemination and School Improvement (Dissemination Office), through which the Secretary shall carry out a national education dissemination system for school improvement to identify, validate, and disseminate to educators, parents, and policymakers those educational programs that have been shown to improve educational opportunities for all students. Sets forth provisions relating to Dissemination Office functions and duties, including: (1) identification, designation, and dissemination of exemplary and promising programs; (2) 16 education resources information clearinghouses; (3) an America On-Line interactive electronic network to link all Department entities to share information and resources, be extended to libraries, schools, universities, colleges, and homes, and be linked to any electronic online dissemination system operated by the Government Printing Office; (4) a system of regional educational laboratories; and (5) an America 2000 communities special assistance program, with grants for Learning Grant Institutions and District Education Agents within eligible communities, development of a comprehensive America 2000 plan for assuring educational success for all students in the community, and implementation of a community-wide plan for educational improvement. Title V: National Education Research Library - Amends GEPA to establish within OERI a National Education Research Library (the Library), to be maintained as a governmental activity, to: (1) provide a central location within the Federal Government for information about education; (2) provide comprehensive reference services on education-related matters; and (3) promote greater cooperation and resource-sharing among education information providers and repositories in the United States. Requires the Library to establish and maintain a one-stop central information and referral service to respond to inquiries from the public concerning: (1) Department of Education (Department) programs and activities; (2) Department and other Federal agency education-related publications; (3) OERI services and resources available to the public, including the ERIC Clearinghouses, the National Research and Development Centers, and the Regional Laboratories; (4) statistics and other information produced by the National Center for Education Statistics; and (5) referrals to additional sources of information and expertise about educational issues. Directs the Library to maintain and publicize a toll-free telephone number for public inquiries. Directs the Library to deliver comprehensive reference services of various types on education-related subjects to Department employees, other Federal employees, and members of the general public, with first priority to Department employees' requests. Directs the Library to promote greater cooperation and resource-sharing among libraries and archives with significant collections in the area of education, through various means. Requires the Library to be administered by an Executive Director appointed by the Secretary from among persons with significant training or experience in library and information science. Transfers to the Library all functions of the Department's: (1) Research Library; (2) Reference Section; (3) Information Branch; and (4) Information Technology Branch (except those relating to automatic data processing and other electronic equipment used for Department internal administrative purposes). Directs the Library, within 90 days after enactment of this Act, to promulgate a comprehensive collection development policy to govern its operations, acquisitions, and services to users. Sets forth required components of such policy. Directs the Executive Director, on the basis of such policy, to develop a multiyear plan for elimination of cataloging arrearages and for response to preservation needs.

Enterprise Communities Incentives Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Enterprise Communities Incentives Act of 1991 - Declares it to be the purpose of this Act to establish a demonstration program of incentives for the creation of tax enterprise zones in order to: (1) revitalize economically and physically distressed areas; (2) promote meaningful employment for zone residents; and (3) encourage individuals to reside in the zones in which they are employed. Title I: Designation and Tax Incentives - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the designation of tax enterprise zones by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during calendar years 1993 through 1996. Sets forth eligibility criteria for rural areas. Sets forth the eligibility criteria for such designation, including: (1) a population of not less than 4,000; (2) pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress; (3) a high unemployment rate; and (4) a required course of action designed to reduce the various burdens borne by employers or employees in the area. Provides that a course of action under private entities may not be federally funded and may include: (1) a reduction of tax rates or fees; (2) an increase in public services; (3) a reduction in government paperwork requirements; (4) business community commitments to provide jobs and job training; (5) special preference to minority contractors; (6) gifts of land for the operation of neighborhood businesses; (7) pooled health insurance; (8) loans by local financial institutions for business start-ups; and (9) special preference to low-income housing projects and private activity bonds. Allows an enterprise zone employment credit to small employers as a general business credit of ten percent of the qualified zone wages paid plus qualified zone employee health insurance costs. Allows such credit for the first five years of the employee's employment. Makes the rehabilitation credit available for buildings in the tax enterprise zone that are at least 30 years old. Provides a shorter recovery period (20 years) for nonresidential real property. Allows a 60-month amortization period (in lieu of depreciation) for child care facilities. Allows the deferral of capital gain for ten years if the gain is reinvested in tax enterprise zone property. Limits the dollar amount of deferred gain. Declares that loss on any qualified zone corporate investment shall be treated as an ordinary loss. Allows a deduction for the purchase of enterprise zone stock on the original issue by a qualified issuer. Limits such amount to $50,000 for any taxable year, or $250,000 during the taxpayer's lifetime. Increases the research credit for research conducted in tax enterprise zones. Increases the low-income housing credit for qualified buildings in a tax enterprise zone where a portion of such building is used as a qualified child care center. Increases such credit for low-income buildings in tax enterprise zones and the State housing credit ceiling for buildings in such zones. Sets forth incentives with respect to tax-exempt bond provisions for projects in tax enterprise zones. Provides a tax exemption for work-based education organizations in tax enterprise zones. Allows businesses a credit for work-based education contributions as part of the general business credit. Title II: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Tax Enterprise Zones - Requires enterprise zones to receive priority in the designation of foreign trade zones. Title III: Studies - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller General each to report to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance on the effectiveness of the incentives provided by this Act in achieving its purposes. Title IV: Community-Based Crime Control and Alternatives for High-Risk Youth in Enterprise Zones - Directs the Attorney General, through the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the Department of Justice after specified consultations, to make grants to units of general local government that establish or expand community-oriented policing programs and complementary, comprehensive prevention efforts to reduce and prevent drug abuse and crime, particularly among youth and adolescents, offenders and other populations at high risk for involvement in drug abuse and crime. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Housing and Community Development Activities in Enterprise Zones - Amends the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 to direct the board of directors of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation to appoint an Advisory Council for Neighborhood Development Initiatives to advise the board with respect to: (1) assistance to community development corporations for development activities in tax enterprise zones; (2) grants for housing and community development in such zones; and (3) activities for high-risk youth in such zones. Authorizes appropriations. Allows the sale of federally-held properties within tax enterprise zones to nonprofit and for-profit organizations at a price not exceeding 50 percent of the appraised value of such property. Requires such property to be used for housing, commercial enterprises, job training, or drug treatment. Title VI: Drug Exposed Children - Amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to authorize supplemental grants to carry out demonstration programs for certain drug-exposed infants, toddlers, and children. Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that the clearinghouse for alcohol and drug abuse information collect and disseminate information and instructional materials regarding drug-exposed children. Provides for consultation and technical assistance to educational personnel regarding educational needs of such children. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the making of grants to institutions of higher education for teacher training for educating such children. Title VII: Substance Abuse Treatment Corps - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish within the Public Health Service the Substance Abuse Treatment Corps to increase the availability of treatment for alcohol and drug abuse in geographic areas with a significant incidence of abuse and an inadequate availability of services. Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out such purpose only through assigning Corps members to provide services for such areas. Allows the Secretary to assign a Corps member to an entity only if the entity, among other requirements, enters into an agreement with the Secretary regarding the allocation, between the Secretary and the entity, of costs relating to the assignment. Directs the Secretary to establish a program of entering into contracts with students in specified fields under which the students agree to serve in the Corps upon obtaining their degrees in consideration of the Federal Government's agreeing to pay tuition, other expenses, and a stipend. Applies, except as inconsistent, provisions relating to the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program to this program. Directs the Secretary to establish a program of entering into contracts with individuals who have been licensed or certified in certain fields, or who are students in such fields, under which the individuals agree to serve in the Corps in consideration of the Federal Government's agreeing to repay up to a specified sum of educational loans of the individuals. Applies, except as inconsistent, provisions relating to the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program to this program. Authorizes appropriations for the scholarship and loan repayment programs established by this Act. Title VIII: Drug-Free Schools Emergency Target Grants - Amends the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1986 to revise provisions with respect to emergency grants to authorize the Secretary to make drug-free schools emergency target grants to eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) and consortia of LEAs (currently, limited to LEAs) that: (1) demonstrate significant need for additional assistance for purposes of reducing and preventing drug and alcohol use and drug-related crime among students served by such agencies (currently, to combat drug and alcohol use among such students, and excludes the following provisions); (2) support projects that require cooperative linkages between schools and communities to reduce and prevent drug and alcohol use among schoolchildren; (3) demonstrate the most effective approaches to reducing and preventing drug and alcohol use among schoolchildren; and (4) promote the goal that every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a discipined environment conductive to learning. Specifies: (1) authorized activities by LEAs with grant funds; and (2) eligibility and application requirements for such grants by LEAs and consortia of LEAs. Directs the Secretary, in awarding grants, to give special preference to applications that: (1) hold particular promise for reducing and preventing the incidence of drug and alcohol use and drug-related violence in elementary and secondary schools; (2) are based on a rigorous and comprehensive research design; and (3) have demonstrated that they will integrate the resources of families, community groups, and the media into an effective, community-based assault on drug and alcohol use in schools. Requires the Secretary to conduct an evaluation of this program. Sets forth provisions with respect to: (1) grant amounts and distribution of funds; and (2) set-asides from appropriations to conduct such evaluation, provide training and technical assistance to LEAs, and disseminate the results of the program. Authorizes appropriations. Requires a local or intermediate educational agency or consortium to include in any application to the State educational agency for a drug and alcohol abuse prevention grant a statement of how any emergency target grants funded by the Government under this Act are integrated into the overall prevention plan set forth in the application. Title IX: Medicaid Coverage for Pregnant Women and Family Members - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to provide federally reimbursed Medicaid coverage of alcoholism and drug dependency residential treatment services for pregnant women whose family income is below 185 percent of the Federal poverty level and for their Medicaid-eligible children and spouses. Lists the required services included in such coverage as: (1) individual, group, and family counseling and addiction education and treatment; (2) room and board in a structured environment with on-site supervision 24 hours a day; (3) child day health services; (4) parental assistance in obtaining developmental assistance for their preschool children and public education for themselves and their school-age children; (5) easier access to apppropriate health, social, and child care services; and (6) planning and assistance in reentering society. Requires that such coverage continue for at least 12 months (unless such coverage is found to be no longer therapeutically necessary), except that the coverage of pregnant women must continue for one year following the end of pregnancy. Limits the size of a residential treatment facility to no more than 40 beds, except under prescribed conditions.

Postreproductive Health Care Act

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Postreproductive Health Care Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to mandate grants for: (1) prevention and outpatient treatment and counseling for health conditions unique to, more serious, or more prevalent for women of menopausal age or older, or for which the medical risk or types of medical intervention are different; and (2) related education and training of health professionals. Authorizes appropriations.

Youth Apprenticeship Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Youth Apprenticeship Act of 1991 - Establishes an Institute for Youth Apprenticeship (the Institute) as an independent establishment to administer youth apprenticeship demonstration programs set up under this Act. Directs the Board Chairperson to establish guidelines, criteria, and procedures for youth apprenticeship demonstration programs, based on such report, including curriculum guidelines, criteria for demonstration program sites and for apprenticeship occupations, and competency criteria and certification procedures for apprentices and trainers. Directs the Institute Executive Director to enter into contracts with public and nonprofit private organizations to develop and evaluate youth apprenticeship demonstration programs. Requires each eligible entity entering into such a contract with the Board to establish partnerships among secondary and postsecondary schools and employers, labor organizations, and community and civic leaders to provide apprenticeship training to students. Requires at least: (1) one secondary school wage incentive demonstration program under which the Institute shall pay 50 percent of the apprenticeship wage; and (2) one secondary school disadvantaged youth demonstration program. Authorizes two postsecondary school demonstration programs (i.e. two contracts with partnerships for programs solely for postsecondary students). Makes such partnerships responsible for program and curriculum development, coordination and quality assurances, and assessment and evaluation of apprentices and training programs. Sets forth requirements for partnership training for various levels of secondary school students. Sets forth requirements for employers to pay: (1) 100 percent of the apprentice wage rate in secondary school programs (but 50 percent in the wage incentive program); (2) 100 percent of the apprentice wage rate and costs of continuing basic skills courses in postsecondary programs; and (3) costs of on-the-job training. States that employers shall not be required to hire apprentices upon completion of the apprenticeships. Directs the Institute to coordinate programs by: (1) providing technical assistance to partnerships; (2) operating an apprenticeship clearinghouse for the partnerships; (3) disseminating model programs and practices to the partnerships; (4) gathering input from all sources on proposals for the labor mobility of apprentices; (5) consult with the Office of Work-Based Learning of the Department of Labor and the Division of Vocational and Technical Education of the Department of Education; and (6) comply with specified evaluation and report requirements. Sets forth provisions relating to: (1) nondiscrimination; (2) notice, hearing, and grievance procedures; (3) nonduplication and nondisplacement; and (4) evaluation and reports. Authorizes appropriations. Abolishes the Board and Institute, terminates all programs established by this Act, and repeals this Act and the amendments it makes not later than 69 months after the initiation of the youth apprenticeship demonstration programs.

Higher Education Loan Program Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Higher Education Loan Program Act of 1991 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to establish a Federal Direct Loans program as part D of title IV of HEA. (Eliminates the current part D, Income Contingent Direct Loans Demonstration Project.) Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to carry out such Federal direct loan program (the program) for qualified students at institutions of higher education during the period beginning on July 1, 1993. Directs the Secretary to make program payments for any fiscal year to: (1) each institution of higher education having a program agreement; and (2) the lending agent if such an institution designates one. Requires such payments to be made on the basis of the estimated needs of the institution's students, considering their demand and eligibility for subsidized and unsubsidized direct loans under the program. Sets forth program payment rules, in general and for initial payments. Declares that an institution with an approved application and agreement with the Secretary shall be deemed to have a contractual obligation (entitlement) from the United States for making the program payments specified in that application. Sets forth requirements for such applications of and agreements with institutions of higher education. Provides for allowing institutions to designate lending agents to receive advances of program payments. Sets forth types of entities eligible to be designated lending agents. Entitles an institution to a payment for each fiscal year during which it makes student loans under such an agreement in lieu of reimbursement for its expenses in administering its student loan program during such year. Sets forth formulas for determining such payments. Requires each institution to use such payments first to carry out specified HEA provisions relating to administrative expenses and then for such additional administrative costs as that institution determines necessary. Deems an institution with such program agreement to have a contractual right to such payments. Provides for student eligibility for, and the amount of, loans under the program. Limits program eligibility, among other criteria, to qualified students carrying at least one-half the normal academic workload and maintaining good standing, who are U.S. citizens and not more than 50 years old. Prohibits such loans for proprietary school study. Provides for determining loans to students, based on cost of attendance and other types of student aid. Sets forth annual and aggregate limits for loans for and graduate or professional students. Sets forth terms of loans under the program. Provides for deferments of repayment during specified periods of education. Sets forth requirements for multiple disbursement of student loans. Sets forth loan repayment rules, including minimum repayment amounts. Requires, if a borrower so requests, that repayment be made in accordance with a graduated schedule established by the Secretary. Allows the Secretary and the borrower to agree to increase the specified repayment period, but prohibits it from extending beyond 20 years. Directs the Secretary to notify the student borrower, at the beginning of the repayment period, of the availability of the flexible repayment program. Provides for eight percent annual interest rates on loans. Sets forth requirements for consolidation loans. Directs the Secretary to enter into agreements to provide loans to consolidate eligible student loans for those in repayment status who are not delinquent by more than 90 days.

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require applicants for Federal student financial assistance to prove a minimum level of academic achievement before receiving such assistance.

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require applicants for Federal student financial assistance to prove a minimum level of academic achievement before receiving such assistance.

Lindy Claiborne Boggs Higher Education Partnership Act

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Lindy Claiborne Boggs Higher Education Partnership Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to establish a program to provide grants to eligible partnerships of research institutions and historically Black colleges to establish scholarship programs for eligible minority students committed to pursuing doctoral degrees at the research institution members of such partnerships. Establishes a national selection board to select such partnerships, giving priority to institutions in States with high percentages of minority students that have participated in previous such collaborative partnerships (and for at least one partnership with institutions in New Orleans, Louisiana). Authorizes appropriations.

Higher Education Access Act

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Higher Education Access Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to carry out, by contract, an advanced placement test fee payment program for low-income individuals who are enrolled in an advanced placement class and plan to take an advanced placement test. Requires the Secretary to disseminate information on the availability of test fee payments under such program to eligible individuals through secondary school teachers and guidance counselors. Authorizes appropriations.

Competitive American Schools Act

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Competitive American Schools Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to provide grants to assist local educational agencies to increase the number of school days to not less than 240 days each year. Authorizes appropriations.

Middle Class Education Equity Act

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Middle Class Education Equity Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965, with respect to the Pell Grant program, to: (1) extend program authority; (2) eliminate a requirement for advance payment distribution to institutions; (3) increase the maximum award amount to $4,000 for academic year 1992-1993, with inflation adjustments thereafter; (4) increase the minimum award amount to $400; and (5) exclude the net value of the family's principal place of residence and a family farm on which the family resides from need analysis determinations under such program.

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against income tax for interest on education loans.

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit for interest paid or incurred on a qualified education loan for a six-year period (whether or not consecutive). Limits such credit to $300 per individual whose education expenses are being financed by such loan. Allows higher limits for taxpayers with large amounts of education loan interest (not to exceed $500). Sets forth limits on the gross income of taxpayers eligible for such credit.

Savings Account for a Valued Education Act of 1992

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Savings Account for a Valued Education Act of 1992 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual income tax deduction for contributions to a savings account established to pay the educational expenses (tuition, supplies, meals, and lodging) of the taxpayer's child or certain other relatives at an institution of higher education or a vocational school. Limits the deduction to $1,500 annually (adjusted for inflation) for each account. Disallows the deduction for contributions to an account maintained for any individual aged 19 or older. Requires any account balance to be distributed after the beneficiary attains age 30. Permits an exclusion from the gross income of the contributor or the beneficiary of account distributions used to pay educational expenses of the latter. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization), unless a contributor or the beneficiary engages in specified prohibited transactions in connection with it. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions not used for educational purposes. Requires the account trustee to report to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the account's beneficiary concerning the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to report. Allows taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize deductions to deduct for contributions to an education savings account. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account. Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop and implement activities to support participation in the Savings Account for a Valued Education program; (2) encourage employees to participate in payroll deductions for such accounts; and (3) encourage participation in programs to provide needy youngsters with access to such accounts.

To establish a national research program to improve the production and marketing of sweetpotatoes and increase the consumption and use of sweetpotatoes by domestic and foreign consumers.

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Agricultural Research Service, to make sweet potato research grants to land-grant colleges and universities. Authorizes appropriations.

Comprehensive Health Care Access Improvement and Cost Containment Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Comprehensive Health Care Access Improvement and Cost Containment Act of 1991 - Title I: Improving Access to Health Care - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for a percentage of qualified health insurance expenses for incomes of less than $40,000. Limits such credit to $2,500. Excludes Medicare payments and subsidized expenses from treatment as qualified expenses. Provides for the advance payment of such credit to eligible individuals. Coordinates such credit with the: (1) health insurance credit allowed in determining the earned income credit; (2) deductions for health insurance expenses of self-employed individuals; and (3) itemized deduction for medical and dental expenses. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary), to establish a public awareness program to inform the public of the availability of the credit for health insurance expenses. Increases the deductible for health insurance costs for self-employed individuals from 25 percent to 100 percent and makes such deduction permanent. (Currently, it expires December 31, 1991.) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to prohibit the preemption of State mandated benefits. Directs the Secretary to request the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (Association) to develop a model set of regulations and laws to provide a uniform, low-cost, minimum insurance benefit package to include hospital, physician, primary care, preventive care and other selected services for purchase by individuals, businesses and governmental entities. Directs the Association to submit a copy of such model regulations and laws to specified congressional committees after the enactment of this Act. Provides that if the Association does not develop such a model set of regulations and laws, the Secretary shall develop such a model and submit a copy as required above. Amends title XIX (Block Grants) of the Public Health Service Act to add a new part D under which the Secretary shall allocate funds to States to pay for the Federal share of the costs of establishing qualified State uninsurable pool programs that provide health insurance for medically uninsurable individuals. Provides criminal penalties for false statements made in connection with the furnishing of items or services for which payment may be made by a State from funds allotted to the State under new part D. Authorizes appropriations to carry out new part D. Title II: Containing Costs of Health Care - Directs the Secretary to request the Association to develop a plan for standardizing public and private insurance forms. Directs the Association to submit a copy of the plan to specified congressional committees after the enactment of this Act. Provides that it shall not be considered a violation of the antitrust laws for hospitals to jointly undertake, in the provision of care, the purchasing, contracting for, or sharing of high technology services. Amends title VI (Assistance for Construction and Modernization of Hospitals and Other Medical Facilities) of the Public Health Service Act to add a new part D under which the Secretary shall establish and carry out demonstration projects to assist hospitals in acquiring and sharing high technology equipment and services. Authorizes appropriations to carry out such new part D. Title III: Medical Malpractice Reform - Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of resolving medical malpractice claims in the same manner provided for resolving worker's compensation claims. Requires a report to the Congress on such study. Directs the Secretary to provide for demonstration projects by States that seek to reduce infant mortality by improving access in urban and rural underserved areas to obstetric services for eligible pregnant women under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act. Requires a report to the Congress on the demonstration projects carried out and on how project results may be used to implement programs to lower infant mortality and morbidity through improving the access of pregnant women to obstetric services in urban and rural underserved areas. Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide liability protections for certain health care professionals of community health centers, migrant health centers, and health centers for the homeless. Prohibits the Secretary from making or renewing grants to such centers unless they implement appropriate policies and procedures to assure against malpractice and have no history of having malpractice claims filed against them, or, if such a history exists, they have fully cooperated with the Attorney General in defending against any such claims and either have taken, or will take, such corrective steps to assure against such claims in the future. Directs the Secretary to develop and make available to the public each year a compendium of the various State initiatives undertaken to address the obstetric access crisis in urban and rural areas. Requires the Secretary to provide a grant to a public or private non-profit organization to conduct a study on the rate of medical malpractice actions or claims relating to obstetrical care for patients whose care is paid for by Medicaid as compared to those whose care is paid for by private insurance. Requires a report to the Congress on such study. Title IV: Encouraging Preventive Health Care - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide coverage of a comprehensive health assessment and immunizations for prevention or treatment of infectious diseases. Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide additional authorization of appropriations for provision of education and information regarding cancer. Title V: Improving Long-Term Care for the Elderly - Subtitle A: Comprehensive Long-Term Care Services for Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease - Part I: Expanded Medicare Benefits - Amends the Medicare program to add a new part C under which is created a long-term care program for individuals with Alzheimer's Disease. Part II: Expanding Medicaid Buy-In - Amends the Medicaid program to provide for expanding Medicaid buy-in of Medicare cost-sharing to cover long-term care for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and additional indigent Medicare beneficiaries. Subtitle B: Tax Incentives to Promote Access to Long-Term Care - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction for qualified elderly care expenses to the extent such expenses exceed five percent of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income. Defines such expenses as non-compensated payments for in-home custodial care provided to a qualifying elderly individual. Describes such an individual as one who has attained 65 years of age and who is a parent, grandparent, or dependent of the taxpayer. Includes the rendering of medical services or goods by a physician or registered professional nurse as a charitable contribution and provides for valuation of such services or goods. Excludes from gross income distributions from individual retirement accounts or annuities to pay long-term care expenses or to purchase insurance covering such expenses.

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit prison inmates from receiving Pell Grants.

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit awarding of Pell Grants to prison inmates.

To improve the operational efficiency of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Amends the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Act to allow members of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation whose terms have expired to continue to serve for a certain transition period under specified conditions. Eliminates a requirement that conditioned funding for such fellowships on there being a specified minimum amount of contributions from private sources to the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Trust Fund.

Designating February 9 through February 15, 1992, as "Vocational-Technical Education Week".

United States · United States Congress · 26 November 1991

Designates February 9 through 15, 1992, as Vocational-Technical Education Week.

A bill to ensure that the ceiling established with respect to health education assistance loans does not prohibit the provision of Federal loan insurance to new and previous borrowers under such loan program, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 25 November 1991

Declares that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, Federal loan insurance may be provided under specified provisions of the Public Health Service Act to new and previous borrowers in FY 1992. Sets the ceiling for the total principal amount of new loans made and installments paid in that year.

Landfill Conservation and Community Recycling Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 25 November 1991

Landfill Conservation and Community Recycling Act of 1991 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize a State that is in compliance with an approved solid waste management plan under this Act to: (1) impose fees on the disposal or incineration of solid waste generated outside the State; (2) prohibit the disposal or incineration of solid waste generated outside the State in a landfill or incinerator if such waste contains materials that could be composted or recycled; and (3) enact laws that authorize solid waste planning districts to impose fees on, and prohibit, the disposal or incineration of waste generated outside such districts. Permits such districts to exercise such authority only if they have solid waste management plans in compliance with the State plan. Directs States to submit solid waste management plans to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Requires such plans to include capacity estimates, permit programs, overall strategies, waste inventories, prohibitions on open dumps, source reduction, recycling, and composting elements, personnel training and public education provisions, and reporting requirements. Makes plans subject to the Administrator's approval. Requires the Administrator to collect: (1) a 50 cent per ton fee on solid waste that is generated in one State and disposed of or incinerated in another State; and (2) a 50 cent per ton surcharge on solid waste that is generated by a State that is not in compliance with a management plan and that is disposed of or incinerated in another State. Provides for the deposit of such fees in the Community Recycling Fund. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants from the Fund to local communities for purposes of establishing or expanding recycling or source reduction programs.

Access to Health Care for All Americans Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 23 November 1991

Access to Health Care for All Americans Act of 1991 - Title I: Access and Affordability of Health Insurance for Small Employers - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a deduction of 100 percent (currently, 25 percent) of the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals and to remove provisions terminating on a specified date the deductibility of such costs. Imposes a tax on insurers who fail to meet certain requirements regarding accident and health contracts for eligible small employers. Includes in those requirements issuance of contracts providing benefits identical to Medplan core benefits and contracts providing benefits identical to Medplan standard benefits. Sets forth pricing and marketing requirements. Requires that the contracts be guaranteed issue. Requires core and standard benefits to include: (1) inpatient and outpatient hospital services; (2) inpatient and outpatient surgical services; (3) inpatient and outpatient physicians' services; (4) diagnostic and screening services; (5) prenatal care; (6) ambulance services; and (7) durable medical equipment. Requires, in addition, that standard benefits include: (1) inpatient or outpatient treatment for a mental disorder; and (2) inpatient and outpatient treatment of a chemical dependency disorder. Limits deductibles, out-of-pocket expenses, and copayments. Requires guaranteed eligibility. Regulates preexisting condition limitations. Requires guaranteed renewability. Sets forth rating, disclosure, and recordkeeping requirements. Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into an agreement with any State to apply State standards instead of the requirements of this Act if the Secretary determines that the State standards will carry out the purposes of this Act. Prohibits any such agreement from waiving the requirement of offering contracts with benefits identical to Medplan core benefits and contracts with benefits identical to Medplan standard benefits. Defines "eligible small employer" to mean those with between one and 50 employees. Preempts any provision of State law: (1) requiring any employer member of a qualified small employer purchasing group to offer any services, category of care, or services of any class or type of provider; (2) requiring any provider of insurance to pay a tax on premiums received from members of such a group; or (3) restricting certain aspects of managed care. Title II: Health Care Cost Control - Subtitle A: Encouraging Managed Care Plans - Mandates development of recommended standards regarding the benefits, coverage, and delivery systems provided under managed care plans, as well as the standards by which managed care entities operate. Establishes the Managed Care Advisory Committee. Preempts, with regard to managed care plans, provisions of State law relating to: (1) reimbursement rates or selective contracting; (2) differential financial incentives; (3) utilization review methods; or (4) benefits. Subtitle B: Medical Malpractice Reform - Chapter 1: Definitions and Findings - Sets forth definitions and findings with regard to this subtitle. Chapter 2: Expedited Medical Malpractice Settlements - Allows any claimant to bring a civil action for damages against a person for harm caused during the provision of medical care under State law, except as superseded by this chapter. Provides, in certain circumstances, for recovery of attorney's fees by the prevailing party if the opposing party failed to accept an offer of settlement. Chapter 3: Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures - Establishes the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board of Advisors to advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services on the establishment of a model voluntary alternative dispute resolution (ADR) program. Mandates a program to encourage States to develop and implement voluntary ADR procedures that meet the requirements of this subtitle. Requires a State which does not adopt its own procedures to adopt the model system. Allows a claimant or defendant to offer to proceed with an ADR procedure. Requires assessment of attorney's fees and costs against a recipient of such an offer who refuses to proceed if the refusal was unreasonable or not in good faith. Creates a rebuttable presumption that the refusal was unreasonable and not in good faith. Chapter 4: Uniform Standards for Medical Malpractice Cases - Applies this chapter to any medical malpractice action in any Federal or State court and any medical malpractice claim resolved through an ADR system. Limits: (1) lump sum payments for future losses; (2) noneconomic damages; and (3) attorney's fees. Makes the liability of each defendant for noneconomic damages several and not joint. Sets forth time limits. Requires proof of malpractice by clear and convincing evidence in cases related to delivery of a baby when the health care professional did not previously provide prenatal care to the claimant (sometimes referred to as "drop in deliveries"). Chapter 5: Uniform Disciplinary Reforms - Requires States to comply with this chapter. Requires each State to: (1) allocate all fees for licensing or certification of each type of health care practitioner to the State agencies responsible for the conduct of licensing and disciplinary actions regarding that type of practitioner; and (2) allow the general public to be represented on State practitioner disciplinary boards. Prohibits monetary liability on the part of any individual serving on a State disciplinary board. Requires each State to: (1) have in effect a statewide risk management program; and (2) establish a health care disciplinary trust fund. Requires all punitive damages from all medical malpractice and medical products civil actions to be transferred to the fund. Mandates use of fund amounts to provide additional resources to the boards and to provide additional resources for State consumer protection activities. Chapter 6: Medical Products - Limits whether punitive damages, otherwise permitted by applicable law, may be awarded against a health care producer (defined as a designer, manufacturer, producer, or seller of a drug or device) in certain circumstances and, if so, specifies that specified evidence may be considered in determining the amount of the damages. Makes approval of a drug or device by the Food and Drug Administration an absolute defense to a claim of strict liability. Chapter 7: Community Health Centers - Amends the Public Health Service Act to mandate a grant to an entity that represents recipients of grants under provisions relating to migrant and community health centers for the establishment of a nationwide risk retention group as provided for in the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986. Requires that all such centers become members in the group and purchase the professional liability insurance offered by the group. Authorizes appropriations to carry out provisions relating to the group. Requires amounts saved by centers as a result of the group to be used for additional services by the centers and to defend against medical malpractice claims arising from center services. Authorizes appropriations to carry out specified provisions relating to the centers. Chapter 8: Miscellaneous Provisions - Provides for severability and for compliance deadlines. Title III: Rural Health Improvement Initiatives - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission to each submit to the Congress a report recommending a methodology for the elimination of the system of determining separate average standardized amounts for hospitals in large urban, other urban, or rural areas. Amends the Public Health Service Act to modify priorities for awarding National Health Service Corps scholarship and loan repayment contracts. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income repayment under the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations to carry out specified provisions relating to area health education centers. Authorizes competitive grants for networks among rural and urban health care providers to preserve and share health care resources and enhance the quality and availability of health care in rural areas. Allows the networks to be statewide or regional. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for certain health professionals providing services in rural health professional shortage areas during periods when they are not receiving scholarships or loan repayments under National Health Service Corps programs. Allows, with regard to elections to expense depreciable business assets, a higher aggregate cost to be taken into account for rural health care property in a rural health professional shortage area. Allows a deduction for a limited amount of the interest paid on medical education loans by an individual performing services under an agreement with an applicable rural community to perform professional services in the community. Authorizes use of the deduction in computing adjusted gross income. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize competitive grants for the development and implementation of a plan for mental health outreach programs in rural areas. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Improved Access to Long-Term Care - Subtitle A: Long-Term Care Insurance Promotion - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a procedure for the certification of health insurance policies for the elderly as meeting minimum standards and requirements, including: (1) meeting or exceeding the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Model Act Standards; (2) guaranteed renewability; (3) limited exclusion of preexisting conditions; (4) a specified period during which purchasers may rescind their purchase; and (5) simplified language. Mandates a study and report to the Congress on health insurance policies for the elderly. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit for a percentage of qualified long-term care premiums paid. Mandates: (1) an agreement between the Secretary of the Treasury and each State for the advance payment to certain individuals of the tax credit in the form of certificates usable for the purchase of long-term care insurance; and (2) a program to inform the public of the availability of the credit and filing procedures. Excludes distributions from qualified retirement plans, when used by certain individuals to pay for long-term care insurance contracts, from provisions imposing an additional tax on early distributions from such plans. Prohibits recognizing a gain or loss from the exchange by certain individuals of a life insurance, endowment, or annuity contract for a long-term care insurance contract. Subtitle B: Other Provisions Relating to Long-Term Care - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income any distribution from an individual retirement plan used to pay premiums for any qualified long-term health insurance policy. Requires any amount paid under a life insurance contract on the life of an insured who is terminally ill, has a dread disease, or has been permanently confined to a nursing home to be treated as an amount paid by reason of the death of the insured. Requires, for provisions relating to definitions and special rules involving life insurance companies, references to life insurance to be treated as including a reference to a terminal illness or dread disease rider, defined as a provision of a life insurance contract which provides for payments to or for the benefit of an insured upon the insured becoming a terminally ill individual or incurring a dread disease. Amends provisions defining "life insurance contract" to include a terminal illness or dread disease rider or any qualified long-term care rider in the definition of "qualified additional benefits."

Albert Einstein Teacher Fellowship Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991

Albert Einstein Teacher Fellowship Act of 1991 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to establish the Albert Einstein Teacher Fellowship Program to provide fellowships for outstanding secondary school science or mathematics teachers. Authorizes appropriations.

Haitian Refugee Protection Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991

Haitian Refugee Protection Act of 1991 - Directs the President to: (1) assure the protection of Haitian nationals under U.S. control; and (2) reallocate at least 2000 federally funded FY 1992 refugee admissions to Haiti. Provides for temporary protected status for certain Haitian nationals. Makes Haitian nationals who entered the United States as of the date of enactment of this Act eligible for assistance under the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980.

Initiative for Soviet Democracy Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991

Initiative for Soviet Democracy Act of 1991 - Title I: United States Soviet Democracy Center - Establishes the U.S.-Soviet Democracy Center, to be comprised of separate divisions relating to law, business, and English language training. Authorizes the Center to: (1) pursue scholarly inquiry into the current legal, business, and English language needs of the Soviet Union by contract with, or through stipends, grants, or fellowships to, U.S. and Soviet scholars and experts; (2) develop programs to make research, education, and training in such fields more available and useful to persons in government, private enterprise, and voluntary associations; (3) conduct training, symposia, and continuing education in such fields for practitioners, policymakers, and other citizens; and (4) train Peace Corps volunteers who are assigned in Russian culture and language. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should conclude an agreement with the Government of the Soviet Union to authorize the establishment of the Center's headquarters in Moscow. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Volunteer Programs - Amends the Peace Corps Act to authorize the President to detail 100 Peace Corps volunteers to serve in internships and perform advisory services in the fields of business, law, and public policy in the Soviet republics for two-year periods. Provides for the selection of volunteers holding graduate degrees in business, law, or public policy. Designates such volunteers as the United States-Soviet Democracy Corps. Authorizes the President to detail 200 Peace Corps volunteers to serve as teachers of English in the Soviet republics for two-year periods. Designates English language training as the Soviet-American English Language Initiative. Requires the U.S.-Soviet Democracy Center to provide training in Russian culture and language for a six-month period to Peace Corps volunteers selected under this title. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Educational Exchange Program - Authorizes the Director of the U.S. Information Agency to award fellowships to enable young Soviet lawyers, lawmakers, and academics to visit and observe U.S. governmental institutions for a period of one year. Designates such program as the Leadership by Example Groups (LEGS) program. Authorizes appropriations.

Sustainable Energy Transition Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991

Sustainable Energy Transition Act of 1991 - Title I: Sustainable Energy Transition Strategies - Requires each State or regional consortium formed under this Act to prepare and submit to the Secretary of Energy a sustainable energy transition strategy. Prescribes general contents of such a strategy. Authorizes the States to form regional consortia to develop a strategy. Title II: Substainable Energy Transition Trust Fund - Subtitle A: Tax and Trust Fund Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the passive loss exemption to the alternative minimum income tax with respect to working interests in oil and gas property; (2) phase-out the depletion allowance for oil, gas, and coal production; (3) impose a phased-in carbon-content excise tax upon the production or importation of specified energy sources; and (4) establish the Sustainable Energy Transition Trust (SETT) Fund to provide financial assistance to participating States and consortia members. Subtitle B: Distribution and Use of Funds - Outlines a SETT fund allocation and administration scheme consisting of a Designated, an Incentive, and a Support Fund. Prescribes criteria for State receipt of moneys from such funds. Directs the Secretary to establish a nonpartisan advisory committee (the Transition Fund Advisory Board) to advise on implementation of this Act. Title III: Energy Transition Information Clearinghouse - Establishes an Energy Transition Information Clearinghouse within the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy. Funds such Clearinghouse with allocations from the Trust Fund. Title IV: Research and Training - Directs the Secretary to: (1) support State energy research and development efforts in the area of renewable energy and energy efficiency; (2) promote the establishment of regional research and development councils; (3) review and revise Department of Energy research activities in order to designate appropriate regional research centers to support State activities; and (4) support certain education and training programs for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in community colleges and vocational-technical institutions. Title V: State and Regional Standards - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to permit the States to adopt incentive programs for the purchase of more energy efficient automobiles. Authorizes the States or regional consortia to adopt stricter-than-Federal energy efficiency standards for products found by the State or consortium to use a significant amount of energy. Title VI: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations.

National Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Management Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991

National Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Management Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize appropriations to carry out such Act for FY 1993 through 1998. Title I: State Solid Waste Management - Revises requirements for State solid waste management plans and establishes requirements for plan guidelines. Requires such plans to include: (1) an estimate of the capacity of the State to manage such waste; (2) an overall waste management strategy that covers the ten-year period beginning on the date of approval of a plan; (3) source reduction and recycling goals; (4) requirements for annual diversion away from disposal by combustion or landfilling of materials otherwise destined for disposal by such methods, with specified diversion rates for metals, glass, paper, plastics, and yard waste; (5) scrap tire requirements; (6) personnel training and public education; (7) requirements for the management of household hazardous waste, yard waste, and large household appliances; (8) actions to be taken to promote markets for recovered materials; (9) requirements for procurement of products made of recovered materials; (10) requirements for disclosure of costs of municipal solid waste management services to consumers; and (11) biennial reporting requirements. Repeals provisions concerning plan provisions for recycled oil. Sets forth submission, approval, and implementation procedures for State plans. Directs each State to identify the amounts and types of solid waste expected to be generated or transported in such State during the planning period. Provides for biennial updates of such inventory. Sets forth minimum requirements for scrap tire management under State solid waste management plans. Declares that plans must: (1) address the reduction and elimination of existing scrap tire piles that contain more than 3,000 tires; (2) address current and future disposal, recycling, recovery, and reuse of scrap tires; and (3) encourage the environmentally sound recycling of such tires through all available means. Prohibits: (1) the disposal of scrap tires in a landfill, monocell, or monofill, unless there is no reasonably available recycling alternative for such tires and such tires are shredded; (2) the operation of collection sites, except in compliance with specified regulations; (3) the storage of more than 3,000 scrap tires for more than 60 days at collection sites, unless necessary for further reuse, recovery, or recycling; and (4) the commingling of tires generated 18 months after this Act's enactment date with existing scrap tire piles. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), together with the heads of appropriate Federal agencies, to: (1) determine the extent of scrap tire piles on Federal property; and (2) implement a plan for, and report to the Congress on, the abatement of such piles. Repeals a provision concerning grants for discarded tire disposal. Authorizes a State to collect fees on the combustion or disposal in a landfill of municipal solid waste generated in another State. Establishes maximum limits for such fees. Prohibits fees from being changed more often than once every two years. Terminates such authority if a State is not in compliance with an approved solid waste management plan. Requires States to distribute out-of-state waste differential funds in equal amounts to: (1) political subdivisions in whose jurisdictions the facilities which accept the waste are located; and (2) political subdivisions for carrying out municipal solid waste management programs. Defines "out-of-State waste differential funds" as funds collected that exceed the amount that would have been collected if the waste had originated in the State. Prohibits States or political subdivisions from restricting or imposing fees on the transportation, storage, recycling, treatment, or disposal of solid waste on the basis that the waste originates in or is transported from another State. Permits States or political subdivisions to petition a State to reduce or eliminate a fee. Grants congressional approval to interstate compacts for the management of municipal solid waste. Authorizes States to establish programs for inspecting shipments of municipal solid waste that originate in other States for ensuring that such shipments contain only municipal solid waste. Requires a State that exports at least 30 percent of the solid waste generated annually to implement the following: (1) permit requirements for facilities (transfer stations) that remove solid waste from collection vehicles and place the waste in other transportation units for delivery to other waste management facilities; (2) a requirement that waste exported from the State through transfer stations be accompanied by a manifest listing entities that generated the waste and a statement that the waste was inspected; and (3) inspection programs for such waste. Authorizes a State to deny entry of waste shipped from another State if the shipment is not accompanied by a manifest. Authorizes States that are not imposing fees on waste generated in other States to impose limitations on waste imported for combustion or disposal purposes. Declares that such a limitation shall be no less than the amount of: (1) imported waste being transported annually into the State, as of the date of decision to impose the limitation; or (2) such amount expressed as a percentage of the total amount of waste being combusted or disposed of in landfills annually, as of the date of such decision. Provides for resolution by the Administrator of disputes concerning such amounts. Authorizes States that impose the percentage limitation to require, as a condition of any facility operating permit, that the amount of waste generated outside the State and managed at the facility may not exceed the amount equal to multiplying the percentage of the limitation by the total amount of waste managed at the facility. Permits political subdivisions to elect not to participate in import limitations for facilities in their jurisdictions upon notification of the State Governor. Title II: Federal Solid Waste Management Requirements - Requires the Administrator to specify a schedule for the promulgation of regulations for solid waste categories other than those under this title for which regulations are necessary. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for the management of ash from municipal waste combustion units. Requires landfills into which such ash is disposed to provide for groundwater monitoring and to have double liners with leachate collection systems above and between such liners and leak detection systems. Permits the placement of such ash into a monofill with groundwater monitoring, a leachate collection system, and a single composite liner designed to prevent the migration of any constituent. Authorizes alternative landfill design requirements if demonstrated that such design prevents the migration of hazardous constituents. Permits disposal of ash in sanitary landfills if the ash is tested and meets specified criteria. Directs the Administrator, in developing regulations for the management of such ash, to promulgate criteria and testing procedures for identifying characteristics of ash that may pose a hazard to human health or the environment. Provides for the testing of ash by ash management facilities when disposal of ash occurs in facilities with alternative designs or the ash is to be recycled or reused. Requires ash failing in any characteristic under criteria and testing procedures to be disposed of in a landfill or monofill meeting this title's requirements or to be treated. Directs the Administrator to validate criteria and testing procedures by conducting an analysis of leachate at facilities disposing of or reusing ash from municipal waste combustion units. Authorizes the Administrator to issue a corrective action order or commence a civil action when there has been a release of a hazardous constituent from a facility regulated under this title. Provides for civil penalties for noncompliance with orders. Permits States to submit programs for implementation and concurrent enforcement of this title's requirements to the Administrator. Authorizes the Administrator or States, under certain conditions, to grant variances from ash disposal requirements to owners or operators of municipal waste combustion units. Limits such variances to a specified time period. Repeals a provision of the Solid Waste Disposal Act which exempts facilities burning household and specified nonhazardous waste from regulation requirements under such Act. Sets forth prohibitions on scrap tire disposal in conformance with prohibitions set forth under title I for State solid waste management plans. Prohibits the operation of scrap tire monofills, except in compliance with this Act. Exempts specified persons from such prohibitions (except for disposal prohibitions) if no threat of an adverse health or environmental effect will result from the exemption. Authorizes the Administrator to impose alternative requirements as a condition for an exemption. Directs the Administrator to provide financial assistance to States for implementing scrap tire management requirements. Grants a preference for assistance to applicants who have shown progress in eliminating scrap tire piles. Permits States to apply for assistance in conjunction with neighboring States. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to provide specifications for the quality and end uses of products made from: (1) mixed solid waste; and (2) compost made of yard trimmings, food scraps or food processing byproducts, specified nontoxic paper products soiled with food, or agricultural byproducts that have been separated from municipal solid waste at the source of generation. Requires the Administrator to promulgate standards for mixed municipal solid waste composting facilities. Directs States to issue permits to facilities in compliance with municipal solid waste management requirements. Prohibits the following activities, except in compliance with a permit: (1) the combustion of municipal solid waste; (2) the disposal of such waste in a landfill or the disposal of municipal solid waste combustor ash in a landfill or monofill; (3) the operation of a mixed municipal solid waste composting facility or of an intermediate processing or materials recovery facility; and (4) the operation of a scrap tire collection site or monofill. Directs States, as a condition of a permit, to require municipal waste combustion units and mixed municipal solid waste composting facilities to separate and prevent glass, metals, household hazardous waste, and other appropriate wastes from being accepted at such facilities. Requires States to provide regulatory authority to implement permit requirements. Provides that permits shall be for terms up to ten years. Authorizes the issuance of a single permit for a facility with multiple units. Requires facilities subject to permit requirements to pay annual fees to cover all State costs in administering the permit program. Sets forth requirements for the total amount of fees collected and calculations of fees. Authorizes States to promulgate regulations that provide that a class of facilities shall be deemed to be operating in compliance with a permit if the facilities will have minimal adverse health and environmental effects. Title III: Recycling - Permits packagers, effective December 31, 1995, to use only packages that: (1) are made of a material meeting a specified recovery rate by certain deadlines; (2) are made of materials that contain at least 25 percent, 35 percent, and 50 percent post-consumer material, effective December 31, 1995, December 31, 1998, and December 31, 2001, respectively; (3) are designed to be refilled or reused for their original purposes at least five times (requires 50 percent of packages produced to be returned for refilling or reuse); and (4) are reduced in volume or weight by specified percentages when compared to similar packages produced five years earlier. Provides that achievement of such a reduction shall qualify as compliance with packaging requirements for a period of five years. Requires the list of materials covered by such requirements to include, at a minimum, glass, metals, and plastic resins. Exempts from packaging requirements: (1) any part of a package used to provide tamper-resistant or -evident seals; (2) packages required by any Federal law or regulation related to health or safety; (3) any part of a package consisting of a flexible film which is in direct contact with food and is necessary to prevent spoilage; (4) packaging for drugs, drug products, or medical devices; and (5) packages determined by the Administrator to be de minimis. Directs packagers to submit annual certifications of compliance with packaging requirements to the Administrator with respect to each type of package used. Requires certificates to be submitted each time a package is reformulated or replaced. Requires paper manufacturers, no later than December 31, 1995, to ensure that specified types of paper are recovered, in the aggregate, at a rate of at least 40 percent. Directs the Administrator to establish a higher recovery rate for paper to be met no later than December 31, 2000. Authorizes the Administrator to establish recovery rates for additional materials. Sets forth reporting requirements for manufacturers of materials subject to recovery requirements. Directs the Administrator to complete a study to: (1) determine minimum content standards for paper products, products made from materials for which recovery rates are established, and products made from glass, metals, plastics, and rubber; and (2) analyze the manner in which compliance with such standards and with packaging requirements could be enforced for imports. Sets alternative minimum content standards for paper and other materials if recovery rates are not met. Prescribes monetary penalties for noncompliance with recovery rates or minimum content standards. Authorizes the Administrator, for any violation after a third violation of such standards or rates, to ban the sale in commerce of the concerned package or product. Provides for the use of penalties for technical assistance for solid waste management and resource recovery and conservation. Prohibits the intentional introduction of lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium into a package or packaging component during manufacturing or distribution. Sets forth the maximum allowable concentration level of the sum of such elements in packaging. Makes such regulations inapplicable (for a specified period) for packaging: (1) that was manufactured prior to the effective deadlines for maximum concentration levels; (2) to which lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium have been added to comply with Federal health or safety requirements or, because it is essential for the protection, safe handling, or function of the contents of the package, provided that the manufacturer, supplier, or distributor petitions EPA for the exemption; or (3) that would not exceed the maximum concentration levels but for the addition of post-consumer materials. Provides for the renewal of exemptions if the Administrator determines that a renewal is warranted. Requires packaging manufacturers or suppliers to furnish certificates of compliance with such requirements to the public, upon request. Prohibits: (1) the combustion of batteries or providing batteries as part of material to be composted at mixed municipal solid waste composting facilities; and (2) the disposal of lead-acid batteries, other than provided under the recycling requirements of this Act. Exempts from such prohibition the combustion, composting, or disposal of lead-acid batteries by owners or operators of municipal solid waste landfills, combustion units, composting facilities, or collection programs if such individuals: (1) inadvertently receive lead-acid batteries commingled with municipal solid waste that are not readily removable from the waste stream; (2) have established contractual requirements or other procedures to assure that such batteries are not received or accepted; and (3) are in compliance with applicable rules. Exempts small sealed consumer lead-acid batteries from such prohibition. Permits the disposal of lead-acid batteries only by delivery to retailers, wholesalers, or manufacturers of batteries of the same general type, regulated lead smelters or collection or recycling facilities, automotive dismantlers, or governmental curbside collection programs. Sets forth disposal requirements for such individuals. Prohibits battery retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers from refusing to accept batteries of the same type as the batteries sold. Directs wholesalers to remove used batteries from the place of business of the retailer. Requires notices to be posted in battery retail establishments that: (1) state that it is illegal to throw away such batteries and that Federal law requires acceptance of batteries for recycling and the return of batteries to authorized collectors, recyclers, processors, or automotive dismantlers; and (2) encourage the recycling of used batteries. Prohibits the sale of lead-acid batteries unless such batteries bear a label that identifies that they contain lead and sets forth requirements for recycling and acceptance. Prohibits State or local governments from enforcing labeling requirements unless identical with this Act's requirements. Requires the Administrator to: (1) study and report to the Congress on the collection, storage, recycling, and disposal of small sealed consumer batteries (including lead-acid batteries); and (2) publish a rule to regulate the management of such batteries or a determination that regulations are not needed. Authorizes the export of lead-acid batteries for recycling. Revises provisions concerning Federal procurement of recycled goods. Repeals a provision which limits the applicability of Federal procurement regulations to procurement occurring after the effective date of enactment of such regulations. Sets forth requirements for agency procurement programs. Requires procuring agencies to eliminate from specifications for procurement items: (1) practices that discriminate against the use of recovered materials in procurement items; and (2) any disincentives to source reduction. Revises procurement guidelines to include within such guidelines a designation of items which have been reduced in weight or volume or which will result in a decrease in the generation of waste by the procuring agency. Directs the Administrator to revise procurement guidelines for paper and requires Federal compliance with such guidelines by January 1, 1997. Requires the Administrator, by specified deadlines, to prepare final guidelines for: (1) compost made from yard and other organic waste; (2) asphalt made with crushed glass; (3) lead-acid batteries; (4) rubberized asphalt; (5) items produced with recovered rubber, plastic, or metals; (6) additional paper products; and (7) products produced with fibers recovered from pulp and paper mill sludge. Sets forth reporting requirements for procuring agencies. Directs the Administrator to establish a clearinghouse within EPA to provide information about procurement of items produced with recovered materials. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to provide technical assistance to States and local governments for development of expertise in the marketing of recovered materials. Title IV: Underground Storage Tanks - Authorizes appropriations for the regulation of underground storage tanks for FY 1993 through 1998. Makes amounts in the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund (established pursuant to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986) available for regulating such tanks under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Prohibits more than 15 percent of the grants made after FY 1992 to States for underground storage tank release detection, prevention, and correction programs from being used by States to provide financial assistance to certain financially distressed petroleum tank owners. Title V: Other Provisions - Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations containing standards and criteria for environmental marketing claims. Grants the Federal Trade Commission enforcement authority with respect to violations concerning such claims. Requires the Administrator to establish an Independent Advisory Board on Environmental Marketing Claims. Sets forth requirements with respect to claims of recycled content, recyclability, reusability, compostability, or degradability of a product. Provides for the triennial review, and revision, as necessary, of regulations. Permits interested persons to petition the Administrator to promulgate additional regulations. Prohibits the issuance of general environmental seals of approval unless such seals are awarded according to criteria and standards as stringent as those contained in the regulations. Directs the Administrator to conduct a public information and education campaign to enable consumers to: (1) distinguish regulated environmental marketing claims from other claims; (2) have information about the criteria and standards used by the Administrator; and (3) have a better understanding about the environmental effects of products and packages. Prohibits States or political subdivisions from enforcing standards or criteria with respect to such claims unless identical to those promulgated by the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to require plastic containers manufactured or offered for sale in the United States to be coded to identify the principal plastic resin used in such containers. Establishes a symbol and numbers identifying specific types of resins for such codes. Prohibits States or political subdivisions from enforcing requirements applicable to coding of plastic containers unless identical to those promulgated by the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to provide technical assistance to State and local governments for solid waste management and resource recovery and conservation. Retains the authority of States and political subdivisions to impose more stringent requirements pursuant to this Act. Requires solid waste facilities to grant access to EPA or State representatives for inspection purposes. Makes records obtained from such individuals available to the public, except those deemed as confidential. Prescribes penalties for willful disclosure of confidential records. Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for specified violations of this Act. Authorizes the Administrator to require owners or operators of facilities where the presence of waste presents a health or environmental hazard to conduct monitoring, testing, and analysis. Prescribes civil penalties for failures to comply with such requirements. Authorizes the Administrator to: (1) treat Indian tribes as States under the Solid Waste Disposal Act; (2) delegate primary enforcement authority for programs under such Act to Indian tribes; and (3) provide grant and contract assistance to tribes to carry out such Act. Sets forth conditions under which Indian tribes may be treated as States. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on: (1) recommendations for addressing hazardous and solid wastes and underground storage tanks within Indian country; (2) methods to maximize Indian participation in, and administration of, programs under such Act; and (3) the amount of assistance required and how the Administrator intends to provide such assistance to Indian tribes for the administration of such programs. Requires the Administrator to establish an inventory of: (1) sites within Indian country at which hazardous waste has been stored or disposed; and (2) open dumps within Indian country at which solid waste has been disposed. Directs the Administrator to assist Indian tribes in upgrading open dumps to comply with applicable requirements.

Classrooms for the Future Act

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991

Classrooms for the Future Act - Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to award competitive grants to eligible consortia to develop instructional programs and technology-based systems for complete courses or units of study for a specific subject and grade level, if these are commercially unavailable locally. Requires that an eligible consortium consist of: (1) State or local educational agencies in partnership with businesses; and (2) institutions of higher education or other public or private nonprofit organizations. Requires priority to be given to applications describing programs that are developed: (1) so that the program may be adapted and applied nationally; and (2) to raise the achievement levels of students, particularly disadvantaged students who are not realizing their potential. Sets forth application requirements and criteria for awarding such grants. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to States to carry out specified types of activities to improve access to technology. Requires States to use such grants to: (1) identify schools or school districts which have a large number of educationally disadvantaged students and limited access to technology-based learning resources; and (2) develop jointly, with local educational agencies or individual schools, strategies to improve accessibility and use of technology-based learning resources, including specific plans for teacher and school personnel training, hardware or software acquisition (if this is a major barrier to accessibility), and partnership arrangements with businesses, institutions of higher education, and other public or private nonprofit organizations. Sets forth State plan requirements. Directs the Secretary to coordinate and share information regarding curriculum-based educational technology programs assisted under this Act with other Federal agencies which administer programs supporting development of such programs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) collect information about products developed pursuant to this Act and the evaluation of such products; and (2) disseminate such information in regular reports to State and local educational agencies and other appropriate organizations or individuals. Requires that any royalties paid to any State or local educational agency as a result of assistance provided under this Act be used for further development of curriculum-based learning resources authorized by this Act. Authorizes appropriations.

To provide sanctions against any country that does not prohibit large-scale driftnet fishing by nationals and vessels of that country, to enhance fisheries conservation programs, to extend the Fish and Seafood Promotion Act of 1986, and to stabilize the price received by harvesters of sockeye salmon.

United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1991

Title I: High Seas Large-Scale Driftnet Fishing - Requires: (1) publication of a list of countries that conduct, or do not prohibit their nationals from conducting, large-scale driftnet fishing beyond the exclusive economic zone of any country; (2) barring from leaving or entering U.S. ports any large-scale driftnet fishing vessel registered in such countries; and (3) prohibition of importation from those countries of shellfish, fish and fish products, and sport fishing equipment. Mandates certification under the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 of any country: (1) for which that import prohibition is insufficient to terminate such fishing; or (2) that retaliates against the United States because of that import prohibition. Title II: Fisheries Conservation Programs - Amends the Fisherman's Protective Act of 1967 to authorize, when certification is made under the Act, a prohibition on the importation of any products (currently, of fish products or wildlife products) from the offending country. Adds references to the District of Columbia and territories or possessions of the United States to the definition of "United States" under the Act. Removes provisions defining "taking" of wildlife products to include certain conduct whether or not the conduct is legal under the laws of the offending country. Mandates a memorandum of understanding between the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Defense regarding increasing the effectiveness of enforcement of domestic laws and international agreements that conserve and manage living marine resources of the United States. Declares it to be U.S. policy to address environmental issues during multilateral, bilateral, and regional trade negotiations. Mandates certain actions by the U.S. Trade Representative regarding environmental concerns and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and other trade negotiations. Title III: Extension of Fish and Seafood Promotion Act and Other Matters - Amends the Fish and Seafood Promotion Act of 1986 to extend the termination date of the National Fish and Seafood Promotion Council. Authorizes appropriations from the Fisheries Promotional Fund for specified activities of the Council. Requires the Council to carry out a consumer education and marketing and promotion program to encourage the consumption of sockeye salmon. Amends Federal law (commonly known as the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act) to authorize transfers from a specified fund to the Fisheries Promotion Fund in certain fiscal years. Declares that it is the sense of the Congress that harvesters and processors of sockeye salmon should begin negotiations well in advance of the fishing season for sockeye salmon regarding the price to be paid to the harvesters during that season.

A resolution to amend the Albert Einstein Congressional Fellowship Program.

United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991

Authorizes the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to enter into an agreement with the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education to establish an Albert Einstein Congressional Fellowship Program providing for two fellowships within the Senate in each fiscal year, beginning in FY 1991. Provides for the agreement only if the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology meets certain program requirements.

Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991

Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 1991 - Title I: Additional Safeguards to Protect Taxpayers' Rights - Subtitle A: Taxpayers' Advocate - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the Office of Taxpayers' Advocate, headed by the Taxpayers' Advocate, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Requires the Office to: (1) assist taxpayers in resolving problems with the IRS; (2) identify areas in which taxpayers have problems in dealings with the IRS; (3) propose changes in the administrative practices of the IRS to mitigate such problems; and (4) identify potential legislative changes which may be appropriate to mitigate such problems. Requires the Taxpayers' Advocate to annually report to specified congressional committees on Office activities. Requires the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to establish procedures requiring a formal response to all recommendations submitted to the Commissioner by the Taxpayers' Advocate. Authorizes the terms of a Taxpayer Assistance Order to require the Secretary of the Treasury to take certain actions (currently, only to cease or refrain from taking such actions). Subtitle B: Modifications to Installment Agreement Provisions - Requires prior notification to taxpayers under an installment agreement to pay tax liability before altering, modifying, or terminating such an agreement. Provides for administrative review of denials of requests for installment agreements. Suspends the failure to pay penalty during any period an installment agreement is in effect. Subtitle C: Interest - Extends from ten days to 21 days the period for which interest will not be imposed after notice and demand for payment, if such payment is less than $100,000. Provides for the abatement of interest in the case of an assessment due to the error or delay of an IRS managerial act. Increases the interest rate for overpayment of tax from two percent to three percent (making such rate equal to the interest rate for underpayment of tax). Waives interest on all overpayments refunded within 45 days after a return is filed. Subtitle D: Joint Returns - Requires separate deficiency notices in the case of a joint income tax return if the most recent data available to the IRS shows that such spouses did not file a joint return with each other. Allows the disclosure of collection activities to an individual requesting such information in the case of a joint return where such individual is no longer married to or resides in the same household as the other joint filer. Removes limitations on filing a joint return after filing separate returns. Subtitle E: Collection Activities - Authorizes the Secretary, if it is determined to be in the best interest of the taxpayer and the United States, to: (1) withdraw a notice of a lien; (2) return property that has been levied upon; and (3) offer compromises in civil or criminal cases. Requires the Secretary, at the request of the taxpayer, to make reasonable efforts to notify credit reporting agencies and financial institutions of such withdrawal notice. Subtitle E (sic): Erroneous and Fraudulent Information Returns - Requires payee statements to provide the phone number of the person providing payment. Establishes civil damages for the fraudulent filing of information returns. Requires the Secretary to take reasonable steps to corroborate the accuracy of an information return when making a determination of a deficiency by a third party, when such return is disputed by the taxpayer. Subtitle F: Modifications to Penalty for Failure to Collect and Pay Over Tax - Declares that a person shall not be liable for any penalty for failure to collect and pay over tax if such person: (1) is not a significant owner, or highly compensated employee of the trade or business; (2) notifies the Secretary within ten days after such failure; and (3) such notification was before any notice by the Secretary with respect to such failure. Requires the Secretary to disclose certain information where more than one person is liable for a penalty. Subtitle G: Awarding of Costs and Certain Fees - Repeals the "substantially justified" test for determining whether a taxpayer may recover costs and fees incurred as part of an administrative or court proceeding. Provides for the awarding of reasonable litigation or administrative costs to a prevailing party who represents himself in an administrative or court proceeding. Makes IRS employees personally liable in certain cases. Provides that any failure to agree to an extension of time for the assessment of any tax shall not be taken into account in determining whether a prevailing party has exhausted all administrative remedies. Subtitle H: Other Provisions - Revises provisions on the required content of tax due, deficiency, and other notices. Provides for the treatment of returns prepared for or executed by the Secretary for purposes of certain tax penalties. Provides protection for taxpayers who rely on certain guidance published by the IRS. Title II: Form Modifications, Studies - Subtitle A: Form Modifications - Directs the Secretary to: (1) ensure that taxpayers are aware of permission to pay tax in installments, extensions of time for payment of tax, and compromises of tax liability; (2) improve procedures for taxpayers to notify the Secretary of changes in names and addresses; (3) include in a specified publication a section on the rights and responsibilities of divorced individuals; (4) ensure that employees are aware of their responsibilities under the Federal tax system and that the public is aware of penalties for failure to collect and pay over tax; and (5) notify taxpayers any payments that cannot be associated with any outstanding tax liability. Subtitle B: Studies - Requires the Secretary to report to the tax-writing committees on: (1) a pilot program for appeals of certain enforcement actions (including lien, levy, and seizure actions; (2) a study on ways to assist the elderly, physically impaired, foreign-language speaking, and other taxpayers with special needs to comply with IRS laws; (3) the scope and content of the IRS taxpayer-rights education program for its officers and employees; and (4) cases involving complaints about misconduct of IRS employees and the disposition of such complaints. Requires the Comptroller General to report to the tax-writing committees on: (1) a study of notices of deficiency; (2) the accuracy and clarity of 25 of the most commonly used IRS forms, notices, and publications; and (3) a study of IRS employee-suggestion programs.

To provide demonstration grants to secondary schools for the purpose of extending the length of the academic year at such schools.

United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991

Directs the Secretary of Education to provide demonstration grants to secondary schools to extend the length of the academic year for three consecutive years at such schools to not fewer than 200 academic days, with each such day consisting of not fewer than seven hours of actual instruction. Allows such grants to extend over a period of not more than three fiscal years. Makes grant payments subject to annual approval by the Secretary and availability of fiscal year appropriations. Sets forth application requirements, including a 20 percent non-Federal match with good-faith exceptions. Sets forth selection requirements, including, to the extent practicable, schools that: (1) have a high percentage of students from single-parent homes or homes where both parents work; (2) are located in economically depressed communities with high percentages of individuals with alcohol and other drug abuse problems and individuals involved in gang activities; and (3) are equitably distributed among various regions and among rural and urban areas. Provides for selection of replacement schools in cases of noncompliance. Requires notification of the participating secondary schools' State and local education agencies. Directs the Secretary to study the effects of such academic year extension under such program, including: (1) a test to measure learning retention; (2) effects on the learning process in general, including increased daily attendance, parental involvement, postsecondary attendance, positive behavorial and social skills, and reduced alcohol and other drug abuse, gang-related activities, and drop-out rate; and (3) the extent the program is believed to be successful by the participating students, teachers, parents, and State and local educational agencies. Requires the Secretary to submit a preliminary and a final report to the Present, the Congress, and each State educational agency of secondary schools receiving such grants. Authorizes appropriations.

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1992

United States · United States Congress · 21 November 1991

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1992 - Title I: Department of Labor - Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 1992 - Makes appropriations for FY 1992 for the following agencies within the Department of Labor: (1) Employment and Training Administration; (2) Labor-Management Services; (3) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (4) Employment Standards Administration; (5) Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (6) Mine Safety and Health Administration; (7) Bureau of Labor Statistics; and (8) departmental management. Prohibits the use of funds to grant variances, interim orders, or letters of clarification to employers which will allow exposure of workers to chemicals or other workplace hazards in excess of existing Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards for the purpose of conducting experiments on workers' health and safety. Directs the Secretary of Labor, acting under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, to promulgate a final occupational health standard concerning occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens. Requires the final standard to be based on the proposed standard concerning occupational exposures to the hepatitis B virus, the human immunodeficiency virus and other bloodborne pathogens. Title II: Department of Health and Human Services - Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 1992 - Makes appropriations for FY 1992 for the following agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services: (1) Health Resources and Services Administration; (2) Centers for Disease Control; (3) National Institutes of Health; (4) Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration; (5) Assistant Secretary for Health; (6) Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; (7) Health Care Financing Administration; (8) Social Security Administration; (9) Administration for Children and Families; (10) Human Development Services; and (11) Office of the Secretary. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make available through assignment not more than 60 employees of the Public Health Service to assist in child survival activities and to work in AIDS programs through and with funds provided by the Agency for International Development, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, or the World Health Organization. Prohibits the use of funds to pay for any experiment, or other activity that presents a danger to the physical, mental, or emotional well-being of a human participant or subject without written, informed consent of the participant or subject (or their parents or legal guardian, if they are under 18 years old). Prohibits any of the funds appropriated in this title for the National Institutes of Health and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration from being used to pay the salary of an individual, through a grant or extramural mechanism, at a rate in excess of $125,000 per year. Prohibits the use of funds by the National Institutes of Health, or any other Federal agency, or recipient of Federal funds on any project that entails the capture or procurement of chimpanzees obtained from the wild. Makes funds available to the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH) for extramural facilities construction grants if awarded competitively. Authorizes the Director to make available one percent of all NIH appropriations to high-priority activities. Prohibits such appropriations from being increased or decreased by more than the one percent by such transfers. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine quarterly the extent to which contingency funds may be necessary for management of certain social security hospital and medical insurance trust funds. Prohibits the use of funds to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term. Reduces travel expenses for the Department and requires reduction for travel costs to be from amounts set forth in budget estimates submitted for appropriations. Permits the Director of NIH to transfer a portion of funds which become available on September 30, 1992, to other Institutes for cancer research if deemed appropriate. Directs the National Cancer Institute to establish a Matsunaga-Conte Prostate Cancer Research Center with funds provided under this Act. Prohibits the use of funds to conduct the SHARP survey of adult sexual behavior and the American Teenage Survey of adolescent sexual behavior. Provides additional funding for the National Institute on Aging. Permits the Director of NIH to transfer a portion of such funds as deemed appropriate to other Institutes for research directly related to Alzhelimer's disease. Makes funds available for information resource management. Reduces funds appropriated for the Office of Inspector General. Extends the moratorium against foster care cuts resulting from Federal compliance rules. Amends the Public Health Service Act to increase the number of board members of the National Foundation for Biomedical Research. Title III: Department of Education - Department of Education Appropriations Act, 1992 - Makes appropriations for FY 1992 for the following purposes and agencies within the Department of Education: (1) compensatory education for the disadvantaged; (2) impact aid; (3) school improvement programs; (4) bilingual and immigrant education; (5) educational excellence; (6) rehabilitation services and handicapped disability research including the Helen Keller National Center); (7) special institutions for persons with disabilities including the American Printing House for the Blind, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and Gallaudet University; (8) vocational and adult education; (9) student financial assistance; (10) guaranteed student loans (liquidation of contract authority); (11) higher education; (12) Howard University; (13) higher education facilities loans; (14) college housing and academic facilities loans; (15) education research, statistics, and improvement; (16) libraries; (17) departmental management; and (18) special education. Sets forth general provisions relating to auditing of certain institutions and to prohibitions on use of funds for certain forms of busing, other transportation, or transfers of students for purposes of desegregation. Prohibits the use of funds to prevent the implementation of programs of voluntary prayer and meditation in the public schools. Makes funds available for civic education programs and emergency grants. Provides for the transfer of educational excellence funds to the Community and Migrant Health Centers program, Comprehensive Child Development Centers, and new America 2000 educational excellence activities, if enacted into law. Provides that the deadline for enacting new authorization for the America 2000 initiatives may be delayed until April 1, 1992, if it is determined that sufficient progress is being made towards final approval of such legislation, except that this delay does not apply to programs administered by Department of Health and Human Services. Makes funds available for tribally controlled postsecondary vocational institutions. Makes funds available for the college housing and academic facilities loans program. Makes funds available the National Clearinghouse for Science and Mathematics, regional consortia, star schools, and territorial teacher training. Makes funds available for a biotechnology information education demonstration project under the Higher Education Act. Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Commission on Responsibility for Financing Post-Secondary Education to accept, use, and dispose of money, gifts or donations of services or property. Title IV: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1991 for the following agencies: (1) ACTION; (2) Corporation for Public Broadcasting; (3) Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; (4) Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission; (5) National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; (6) National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; (7) National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality; (8) National Council on Disability; (9) National Labor Relations Board; (10) National Mediation Board; (11) Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; (12) Physician Payment Review Commission; (13) Prospective Payment Assessment Commission; (14) Railroad Retirement Board; (15) United States Institute of Peace; (16) Soldiers' and Airmen's Home; (17) United States Naval Home; and (18) the National Commission on Children. Title V: General Provisions - Prohbits the use of funds to pay student assistance or any remuneration to an applicant for admission, student, teacher, or other employee of an institution of higher education if such individual has engaged in conduct on or after August 1, 1969, which involves the use of force (or assistance to others in such use) or the threat of force or the seizure of a property under the control of an institution of higher education, to require or prevent the availability of certain curricula, or to prevent such institution's faculty, administrative officials, or students from engaging in their duties or pursuing their studies. Requires that sums necessary for FY 1992 pay raises for programs funded by this Act be absorbed within the levels appropriated in this Act. Reduces funds appropriated under this Act for salaries and expenses, including certain travel costs. Appropriates additional funds for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and the Federal Mines Safety and Health Review Commission for salaries and expenses. Delays the obligations of funds under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act until September 30, 1992.

G. O. Griffith, Jr., of Mississippi, to be Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs, Department of Education, vice Michelle Easton.

United States · United States Senate · 20 November 1991

Elementary Science Facilities Act

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1991

Elementary Science Facilities Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to allot funds to State educational agencies to award grants to local educational agencies to provide hands-on instruction equipment and materials to elementary schools to improve mathematics and science education. Authorizes appropriations. Sets forth requirements for: (1) State allotments; (2) State and local applications; (3) grant award priorities; (4) participation of private schools; (5) State and Federal responsibilities; and (6) limitation on use of grant funds only for science equipment or materials and mathematical manipulative materials necessary for hands-on instruction.

Educators' and Drug-Exposed Children's Assistance Act

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1991

Educators' and Drug-Exposed Children's Assistance Act - Amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to establish a program authorizing the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to make supplemental grants to States for demonstration programs regarding certain drug-exposed infants, toddlers and children. Sets conditions for such grant assistance. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Public Health Service Act to require certain national clearinghouse activities relating to drug-exposed children. Directs the Secretary, in conjunction with such clearinghouse activities to provide consultation and technical assistance to educational personnel regarding educational needs of drug-exposed children and recommend effective strategies for assisting such children. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to schools of education at institutions of higher education for development, and instruction in the use of curricula and instructional materials that provide teachers and other personnel with effective strategies for educating drug-exposed children. Gives priority to schools located in or near communities with large numbers or rates with respect to drug abuse problems or drug-exposed infants or preschool or school children. Sets conditions for such grant assistance. Authorizes appropriations.

To amend title XI of the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to provide support for programs at urban universities designed to address campus and community crime issues.

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1991

Amends title XI (Partnerships for Economic Development and Urban Community Service) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a Campus-Community Crime Intervention Program. Authorizes the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to award program grants to and enter into cooperative agreements with institutions of higher education to design and implement programs that address pressing and severe crime problems in urban institutions of higher education and the surrounding community, including the root causes of such problems. Requires such awards to be made in a manner that: (1) achieves a regionally equitable distribution of such grants; and (2) serves eight urban institutions of higher education with documented campus and community crime problems. Sets the duration of each grant or cooperative agreement at five years. Sets a maximum amount for each grant or cooperative agreement. Sets forth application requirements and allowable activities. Authorizes the Secretary to award demonstration program grants to or enter into cooperative agreements with institutions of higher education to support programs demonstrating to urban institutions of higher education across the Nation the role that such institutions can play as partners in their communities to address pressing and severe crime problems and such problems' root causes. Directs the Secretary to enter into eight such demonstration grants or contracts. Sets forth application requirements and authorized activities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1993 through 1997 to carry out this Act.

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the establishment of, and the deduction of contributions to, education savings accounts to assist families in saving for their childrens' education.

United States · United States Congress · 20 November 1991

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual income tax deduction for up to $2,000 annually of contributions to a savings account established to pay the educational expenses (tuition, supplies, meals, and lodging) of any individual under age 19 at an institution of higher education or a vocational school. Disallows the deduction for contributions to an account maintained for any individual aged 19 or older. Requires any account balance to be distributed after the beneficiary attains age 27. Excludes from gross income any account distributions that are used to pay educational expenses of the eligible beneficiary. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization) unless a contributor or the beneficiary engages in specified prohibited transactions in connection with it. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions not used for educational purposes. Requires the account trustee to report to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the account's beneficiary concerning the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to report. Allows taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize deductions to deduct for contributions to an education savings account. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account.

Medicare Outpatient Diabetes Education Coverage Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1991

Medicare Outpatient Diabetes Education Coverage Act of 1991 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide coverage of outpatient education services under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) for individuals with diabetes.

Head Start Entitlement Act of 1992

United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1991

Head Start Entitlement Act of 1992 - Amends the Head Start Act to entitle all of specified eligible children who are three years of age or older to receive services through a Head Start program. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reserve specified funds under such Act for parent-child centers.

Technology for the Classroom Act of 1991

United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1991

Technology for the Classroom Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to award competitive grants to eligible consortia to develop instructional programs and technology-based systems for complete courses or units of study for a specific subject and grade level, if these are commercially unavailable locally. Requires that an eligible consortium consist of: (1) State or local educational agencies in partnership with businesses; and (2) institutions of higher education or other public or private nonprofit organizations. Requires priority to be given to applications describing programs that are developed: (1) so that the program may be adapted and applied nationally; and (2) to raise the achievement levels of students, particularly disadvantaged students who are not realizing their potential. Sets forth application requirements and criteria for awarding such grants. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to States to carry out specified types of activities to improve access to technology. Requires States to use such grants to: (1) identify schools or school districts which have a large number of educationally disadvantaged students and limited access to technology-based learning resources; and (2) develop, in conjunction, with local educational agencies or individual schools, strategies to improve accessibility and use of technology-based learning resources, including specific plans for teacher and school personnel training, hardware or software acquisition (if this is a major barrier to accessibility), and partnership arrangements with businesses, institutions of higher education, and other public or private nonprofit organizations. Sets forth State plan requirements. Directs the Secretary to coordinate and share information regarding curriculum-based educational technology programs assisted under this Act with other Federal agencies which administer programs supporting development of such programs. Directs the Secretary to: (1) collect information about products developed pursuant to this Act and the evaluation of such products; and (2) disseminate such information in regular reports to State and local educational agencies and other appropriate organizations or individuals. Requires that any royalties paid to any State or local educational agency as a result of assistance provided under this Act be used for further development of curriculum-based learning resources authorized by this Act. Authorizes appropriations.