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Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 133 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1991
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United Nations should provide the Kurdish refugees with protection so they may return to their homes; (2) the Kurds are political, not economic, refugees; (3) the United States should call for the immediate cessation of the ongoing genocide being committed by Saddam Hussein against the Kurdish people; and (4) the United States should continue to provide humanitarian aid to Kurdish refugees both inside and outside of Iraq.
Bill· SS. 875 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1991
Military Construction Authorization Act, 1992 and 1993 - Subdivision 1: Fiscal Year 1992 - Title I: Army - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire military family housing units, to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design, and to improve existing military family housing units in specified amounts at specified installations. Authorizes appropriations to the Army for fiscal years beginning after 1991 for military construction projects, unspecified minor construction projects, architectural and engineering design services, the construction of defense access roads, military family housing functions within the Department, and for the homeowners assistance program. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to increase the authorization for a military construction project at Fort Riley, Kansas. Extends certain prior-year military construction projects. Title II: Navy - Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire military family housing units, to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design, and to improve existing military family housing units in specified amounts at specified installations. Authorizes appropriations to the Navy for fiscal years beginning after 1991 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Department. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title III: Air Force - Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire military family housing units, to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design, and to improve existing military family housing units in specified amounts at specified installations. Authorizes appropriations to the Air Force for fiscal years beginning after 1991 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Department. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Extends certain prior-year military construction projects. Title IV: Defense Agencies - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to carry out military construction projects and acquire real property in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire military family housing units and to improve existing military family housing units in specified amounts at specified installations. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to make contributions for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Infrastructure program, and authorizes appropriations to the Secretary for fiscal years beginning after 1991 for such contributions. Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal years beginning after 1991 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Department. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to enter into contracts for the design and construction of military construction projects at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Authorizes the Secretary to transfer excess NATO Infrastructure funds (if any) to fund authorized defense agency projects, or to transfer unobligated defense agency funds to the NATO Infrastructure program. Title V: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years beginning after 1991 for acquisition, architectural and engineering services, and construction of facilities for the Guard and Reserve forces in specified amounts. Title VI: Expiration of Authorizations - Terminates all authorizations contained in titles I through IV of this Subdivision on October 1, 1993, or the date of enactment of the Military Construction Authorization Act for FY 1994, whichever is later, with specified exceptions. Subdivision 2: Fiscal Year 1993 - Title I (SIC): Army - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design, and to improve existing military family housing units in specified amounts at specified installations. Authorizes appropriations to the Army for fiscal years beginning after 1992 for military construction projects, repair of real property, unspecified minor construction projects, architectural and engineering design services, and military family housing functions. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title II: Navy - Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design, and to improve existing military family housing units in specified amounts at specified installations. Authorizes appropriations to the Navy for fiscal years beginning after 1992 for military construction projects, unspecified minor construction projects, repair of real property, architectural and engineering design services, and military housing functions. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title III: Air Force - Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire military family housing units, to carry out architectural and engineering services and construction design, and to improve existing military family housing units in specified amounts at specified installations. Authorizes appropriations to the Air Force for fiscal years beginning after 1992 for military construction projects, unspecified minor military construction projects, repair of real property, architectural and engineering design services, and military family housing functions. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title IV: Defense Agencies - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to make contributions for the NATO Infrastructure program, and authorizes appropriations to the Secretary for fiscal years beginning after 1992 for such contributions. Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal years beginning after 1992 for military construction, repair of real property, land acquisition, and military family housing functions. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Authorizes the Secretary to transfer excess NATO Infrastructure funds (if any) to fund authorized defense agency projects, or to transfer unobligated defense agency funds to the NATO Infrastructure program. Title V: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1992 for acquisition, architectural and engineering services, repair of real property, and construction of facilities for the Guard and Reserve forces. Title VI: Expiration of Authorizations - Terminates all authorizations contained in titles I through IV of this Subdivision on October 1, 1994, or the date of enactment of the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, whichever is later, with specified exceptions. Subdivision 3 - Title VII: General Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to contribute amounts to States for the acquisition or construction of facilities for use by the reserve forces. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out certain facilities projects that cost $300,000 or less (currently, $200,000) using operation and maintenance funds. Extends through FY 1993 (currently, 1991) the authority of the Secretary concerned to enter into: (1) long-term facilities contracts; and (2) contracts for the leasing of military family housing facilities. Authorizes the heads of defense agencies (currently, only the Secretaries of the military departments) to use one-step turn-key selection procedures to enter into contracts for the construction of authorized military construction projects. Repeals provisions which: (1) prohibit the Secretary of Defense from entering into any more than three such contracts during a fiscal year; and (2) terminate the authority to enter into such contracts after October 1, 1991. Provides that certain defense contract limitations shall not apply to the acquisitions of military or family housing projects obtained through governments of NATO subsidiary bodies for elements of the armed forces deployed in Europe and adjacent waters. Increases the amounts authorized to be expended for minor military construction projects not otherwise authorized by law. Excludes up to 300 square feet from the applicable maximum net floor space allowances permitted for certain military pay grades for military housing for the provision of recreation space within existing space at locations in Alaska. Extends permanently (currently, terminates as of FY 1991) the authority to expend funds under the homeowners assistance program. Extends benefits under such program to military personnel with dependents (currently, must be unaccompanied by dependents) and to personnel who are transferred due to a base closure within three years of such closure (currently, within fifteen months). Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to carry out a military construction project not otherwise authorized by law if the Secretary determines that the project: (1) is vital to the protection of the quality of the environment, health, or safety; and (2) is so urgent that deferral of such project until the next Military Construction Authorization Act would be inconsistent with the protection of health, safety, and environmental quality. Requires the Secretary concerned to report to the appropriate congressional committees when a decision is made to carry out a construction project under this section. Limits the maximum amount to be obligated by a Secretary in any fiscal year on such projects. Directs the Secretary of Energy to convey to the Secretary of Defense jurisdiction and control of a tract of land in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Empowers the Secretary of a military department to lease a property (currently, only acquisitions or options to acquire are permitted) for a military project. Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1984 to authorize the Secretary of a military department to enter into agreements for up to 2,000 family housing units under the Military Housing Rental Guarantee program, such units being in addition to the acquisition of any units currently permitted under the program. Extends the authority to enter into such agreements through FY 1993 (currently, 1991). Repeals a Federal provision requiring the Secretary of a military department to provide a member of the armed forces with notice of and an opportunity for a hearing and record inspection before being permitted to withhold amounts from such member's pay for a breach of a rental housing lease or for damages caused to such housing by such member.
Law· SS. 838 (102nd)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1991
Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Adoption and Family Services Act of 1991 - Title I: Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act - Subtitle A: General State Program - Amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to require (currently, authorize) grants to States to assist the States in improving the child protective service system in certain actions (currently, to assist the States in developing, strengthening, and carrying out child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment programs). Replaces provisions allowing waiver of certain State eligibility requirements with provisions requiring a State to annually submit a plan to the Secretary specifying the child protective service system area the State intends to address with funds under the grant. Sets forth required contents of the plan. Modifies the purposes of grants to State to include: (1) neglect as well as abuse; (2) the handling of suspected abuse- or neglected-related fatalities; (3) civil and criminal court handling (currently, prosecution) of abuse and neglect cases; and (4) the handling of cases involving a combination of jurisdictional authorities. Changes the requirements States must meet to be eligible for the grants. Revises the knowledge and experience requirements and the composition requirements for the State multidisciplinary task forces. Requires a State task force study, mandated by current provisions before receiving assistance, to be repeated every three years. Modifies the contents of the study. Subtitle B: Community-Based Prevention Grants - Replaces provisions authorizing Federal challenge grants to encourage States to support child abuse and neglect prevention activities with provisions authorizing community-based child abuse and neglect prevention grants to assist States in supporting such activities. Conditions State eligibility on the State having a trust fund (currently, a trust fund or other funding mechanism) which is available only for those activities. Modifies the allotment formula. Makes the trust fund (currently, the trust fund advisory board) responsible for administering and awarding Federal grants to recipients carrying out such activities. Modifies the required contents of grant applications. Subtitle C: Certain Preventive Services Regarding Children of Homeless Families or Families at Risk of Homelessness - Allows certain demonstration grants for preventive services regarding children of homeless families or families at risk of homelessness to be used, in certain circumstances, for emergency housing-related assistance and temporary rent subsidies. Subtitle D: Child Abuse Treatment Improvement Grants - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, to make grants to improve the treatment of children exposed to abuse or neglect and the families of such children. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Reauthorization of Certain Programs - Authorizes appropriations for existing programs relating to: (1) services to children whose parents are substance abusers; (2) child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment; (3) community-based child abuse and neglect prevention; and (4) the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1990. Title II: Children With Disabilities Temporary Care - Children With Disabilities Temporary Care Reauthorization Act of 1991 - Amends the Temporary Child Care for Children with Disabilities and Crisis Nurseries Act of 1986 (formerly the Temporary Child Care for Handicapped Children and Crisis Nurseries Act of 1986) to authorize appropriations to carry out the Act. Title III: Reauthorization of Programs with Respect to Adoption and Family Violence - Amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1978 to authorize appropriations to carry out the Act. Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to authorize appropriations to carry out the Act.
Bill· SS. 840 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 17 April 1991
Day Care Provider Tax Simplification Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a revised allocation formula for determining deductions allowable to home day care providers for the business use of their homes.
Law· HRH.R. 1776 (102nd)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 1991
Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1991 - Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, and aircraft; (3) research, development, test, and evaluation; (4) retirement pay and benefits; (5) alteration of bridges; (6) environmental compliance; and (7) oil pollution response. Authorizes the Coast Guard end strength for active duty personnel and the average military training student load. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report to the Congress on the functions, powers, and duties vested in the Secretary and exercised through the Commandant of the Coast Guard that would be transferred to the Secretary of the Navy when the Coast Guard operates as a service of the Navy. Amends Federal law to modify requirements and procedures regarding enlisted personnel boards and involuntary retirement. Declares such provisions inapplicable to reductions in force ordered by the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating. Authorizes the Commandant of the Coast Guard to accept the services of individuals ordered to perform community service by a court. Authorizes the Commandant to enter into a lease for at least 30 years with an option to renew at the option of the Commandant to acquire a site at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Authorizes the Coast Guard to spend appropriated amounts for the construction and renovation of housing units at the site. Extends the termination date of the Coast Guard's Advisory Committee to the Academy. Amends the Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Act to require every power vessel of twenty meters or over in length (currently, every power vessel of three hundred gross tons and upward) to have a radiotelephone capable of operation from its navigational bridge. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to submit to the Congress a report on Coast Guard housing. Repeals provisions of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1988 amending Federal law to require the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to submit to specified congressional committees a two-year budget estimate. Authorizes a specified vessel to transport a limited number of passengers when the North Carolina Maritime Museum operates the vessel for educational purposes. Establishes the Houston-Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee. Amends provisions of Federal law relating to the use of fire-retardant materials in certain passenger vessels to change from 1993 to 1998 the date on which certain requirements apply to vessels in operation before 1968. Requires the owner or operator of a vessel exempted from such provisions to notify the Coast Guard of structural alterations to the vessel and to comply with any combustible material requirements the Coast Guard prescribes consistent with preservation of the historic integrity of the vessel. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to: (1) request reimbursement from the Secretary of the Treasury for all costs incurred after FY 1990 by the Coast Guard in providing security for the President and his family at or near Kennebunkport, Maine; and (2) notify the Congress if all costs are not reimbursed. Prohibits, for the purposes of the Presidential Protection Assistance Act, deeming such services to be temporary.
Bill· HRH.R. 1792 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 16 April 1991
International Cooperation Act of 1991 - Title I: Statement of Policy; Economic Assistance Programs - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise policy provisions. Declares that it should be U.S. policy that the financial, material, and human resources authorized by this Act should serve the following goals: (1) to promote and consolidate democratic values, market principles, and peace; (2) to protect against transnational threats; and (3) to meet humanitarian needs. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should: (1) concentrate development assistance in countries which will make the most effective use of such assistance; (2) focus development assistance on activities which the United States can provide most effectively and which meet the particular economic assistance requirements of a country; and (3) not provide assistance if the relevant sector or economic policies of a country are unfavorable to the sustainability or impact of the assisted project. Authorizes the President to provide development assistance to support economic growth and democratic development and to address humanitarian needs and global problems. Authorizes appropriations for development assistance for FY 1992. Permits the President to use development assistance funds for: (1) capital and infrastructure assistance; (2) development education programs to educate U.S. citizens about developing countries; and (3) assistance to nongovernmental organizations to strengthen their capacity to carry out programs for the economic and social development of developing countries. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the well-being of countries is affected by how the world's environment and physical resource base are managed and that consumption patterns, systems of industrial and agricultural production, and the use of natural resources have an impact on long-term development and growth and survival of all countries; (2) environmentally responsible management of physical resources is necessary by countries to insure their availability for future generations and to assure that the burdens of improved resource management do not fall disproportionately on the poor; and (3) economic assistance programs should assist countries in carrying out programs and policies that promote environmentally sound economic development. Declares that recipient countries should bear a share of the costs of development assistance programs under this Act. Prohibits economic assistance from being used for military or paramilitary purposes. Exempts from such prohibition assistance involving the participation of military personnel in training activities and conferences. Authorizes the President to: (1) make investments in, loans for, and guarantees assuring against losses incurred in, projects in developing countries that meet specified private sector criteria; and (2) make loans (currently, issue guarantees against losses incurred in connection with loans) for housing and urban projects. Revises provisions concerning the housing and urban development guarantee program. Prohibits assistance for such projects if the credit subsidy associated with the borrower would exceed 25 percent. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the President to furnish assistance to countries and organizations to strengthen administration of justice in developing countries and emerging democracies. Permits the President to provide such assistance if a country: (1) has recently emerged or is in the process of emerging as a democracy; or (2) has recently emerged or is emerging from civil strife and has a democratically elected government or is making substantial progress toward a democratic form of government. Authorizes appropriations. Revises provisions concerning international narcotics control. Permits funds for economic support assistance, foreign military financing, or international military education and training to be transferred and consolidated with funds for international narcotics control if: (1) such assistance is withheld from the country for which it was allocated because of laws that require the withholding of assistance from countries that have not cooperated with the United States or taken steps to halt illicit drug production and trafficking; and (2) such funds are used for assistance to countries that have taken significant steps to halt illicit drug production or trafficking. Makes provisions of law that prohibit assistance to countries in default on obligations owed to the United States inapplicable with respect to narcotics-related assistance. Revises congressional reporting requirements with respect to international narcotics production and trafficking. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for such assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for American schools, libraries, and hospital centers abroad. Permits the President to use funds available under this title for grants to, or contracts with, nongovernmental organizations to enable such organizations to: (1) purchase debt obligations owed by developing countries to commercial lending institutions, foreign governments, or other parties; and (2) cancel such obligations subject to the President's approval, to the extent that such country makes available assets or policy commitments to promote the goals of this Act. 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 Federal agencies to: (1) furnish services and commodities on an advance-of-funds or reimbursement basis to friendly countries, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations; and (2) contract with individuals for personal services abroad or in the United States to perform such services in lieu of Federal employees. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for international disaster assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for grants to international organizations. Permits the President to withhold contributions from an organization if such organization is denying Israel or other designated countries the right to participate in such organization's activities. Withholds contributions from Libya, Iran, Cuba, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Authorizes the withholding of contributions from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East unless the Agency assures that no U.S. contribution is used to assist any refugee who: (1) is receiving military training as a member of the PLO or any other guerrilla organization; or (2) has engaged in any act of terrorism. Declares that the President should (currently, requires) seek evaluation and auditing of programs of the United Nations, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 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 Asian Development Bank. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for operating expenses of the agency (administering agency) designated by the President to administer this title and of the Office of Inspector General of such agency. Permits such agency to expend funds in advance of appropriations to maintain operations at posts abroad for up to three days. Declares that the President should establish a program performance evaluation capacity to: (1) develop a program performance information system to afford such 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. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the sustained participation of U.S. private voluntary organizations, cooperatives, and credit unions that are engaged in development activities serves as an important means of improving the lives of the poor in developing countries; (2) sustained participation of U.S. colleges and universities in the economic development programs of developing countries is vital to such countries' achievement of economic growth and open democratic political systems; and (3) such sustained participation would be enhanced by providing such organizations the opportunity to participate in the planning, development, and implementation of programs involving such organizations. Encourages the President to establish a partnership with such organizations to achieve the attainment of goals concerning development assistance. Title II: Military Assistance and Related Assistance and Sales Programs - Chapter I: Consolidation and Revision of Accounts - Revises policy provisions concerning military assistance. Revises the President's authority to furnish military assistance to friendly countries to permit the President to: (1) finance the sale of defense articles or services; or (2) finance the procurement of such articles (under certain circumstances) by any member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or any major non-NATO ally through leases from U.S. commercial suppliers. Requires sales under the Defense Trade and Export Control Act (formerly, 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) and unfunded estimated costs of civilian retirement and other benefits. 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 such agreements to grant the U.S. Government the right to deobligate any furnished funds that have not been committed for an approved use three years after the effective date of such an agreement. Authorizes assistance provided under this chapter to be on a grant, credit, or guarantee basis. Outlines criteria to be considered by the President in determining the terms of assistance. Outlines disbursement procedures for funds used to finance the procurement of defense articles and services. Makes such assistance available to a foreign country to make payments to the United States for credits or loans for defense articles or services granted under predecessor military sales or foreign assistance legislation. Revises provisions concerning eligibility for the receipt of defense articles or services and makes them applicable to the financing of such articles or services. Makes defense articles sold or leased under the Defense Trade and Export Control Act or furnished under predecessor foreign assistance or military sales legislation subject to the eligibility provisions of this title. Raises the ceiling on the value of defense articles and services authorized to be made available under certain emergencies. Revises and combines provisions concerning transfers of excess defense articles. Authorizes the transfer of: (1) excess defense articles (currently, nonlethal articles) to countries for which a foreign military financing program was justified in the fiscal year in which the transfer is authorized; and (2) excess property of the Coast Guard on the same basis as Department of Defense property is transferred. Declares that decisions to furnish foreign military financing assistance should take into account whether such assistance will: (1) contribute to an arms race; (2) increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict; or (3) prejudice the development of multilateral arms control arrangements. Permits such assistance to be provided for civic action in Africa. Authorizes appropriations for such assistance for FY 1992. Revises provisions concerning the location of stockpiles. Places a ceiling on the value of additions to stockpiles during FY 1992. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for: (1) international military education and training; and (2) peacekeeping activities. Removes conditions on the type of arms on the U.S. Munitions List that may be provided for antiterrorism assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for antiterrorism assistance. 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 a provision concerning the availability of funds for procurement of defense articles and services outside the United States. Permits the President to waive requirements under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 concerning the disposition of defense articles and services furnished before the effective date of this title. Chapter 2: Foreign Military Sales Program - Amends the Arms Export Control Act to rename such Act as the Defense Trade and Export Control Act. Repeals a provision concerning purposes for military sales or leases. Deems references to the Arms Export Control Act to be references to the Defense Trade and Export Control Act. Authorizes the President, by notifying the Congress, to designate a country as a major non-NATO ally or terminate such a designation. Deems Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, and the Republic of Korea to have been so designated by the President. Revises provisions concerning presidential certifications and congressional procedures for certain arms transfers. Raises the threshold on the dollar amount of defense equipment or services on which the President is required to submit specified certifications. Deems to be defense articles or services (for purposes of import and export controls) articles or services having military or intelligence applications. Requires articles and services that have gained a predominant civil application to be removed from the U.S. Munitions List. 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 Defense Trade and Export Control Act. Authorizes the President to impose controls to prevent the proliferation of nuclear-capable missiles and chemical, biological, and related weapons. Permits charges for defense articles sold or licensed or approved for export after September 30, 1991, to exclude nonrecurring costs of research on or development or production of such articles. Replaces the authorities of specified Federal officials under the Defense Trade and Export Control Act with the authority of the President. Repeals an exemption to a prohibition on the resale of military firearms furnished to foreign governments. Repeals provisions concerning: (1) reports and price availability estimates; (2) discrimination; (3) restraint in arms sales to Subsaharan Africa; (4) foreign military sales credit standards; (5) foreign military sales to less developed countries; and (6) the crediting of registration fees. Title III: Overseas Private Investment Corporation; Trade and Development Agency - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise provisions concerning the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Limits the amount of OPIC's equity investments under a pilot program to 49 percent per project for projects in Eastern Europe. Directs OPIC to give preferential consideration in its investment insurance, reinsurance, and guarantee activities to investment projects sponsored by or involving U.S. small business or cooperatives. Permits OPIC to establish a revolving fund to be available solely for a pilot equity finance program. Authorizes (currently, requires) OPIC to charge fees for any service performed under this title. Provides for annual (currently, triennial) financial audits of OPIC. Authorizes the Inspector General of the administering agency (currently, the Agency for International Development) to conduct audits, investigations, and security activities with respect to OPIC. Eliminates OPIC's exemption from Federal taxation. Revises the authorities of the Director of the Trade and Development Agency (replaces the Trade and Development Program). 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. Title IV: Special Authorities, Restrictions on Assistance, and Reports - Revises provisions concerning special authorities of the President with respect to the furnishing of assistance and arms export sales, credits, and guaranties. Raises the ceilings on the amount of arms sales or leases, foreign assistance, and foreign currencies authorized to be furnished or used under the President's special authority to waive restrictions on assistance. Raises the ceilings on the amounts of such assistance that may be provided to any one country. Exempts from such limitation assistance for countries that are the victims of active (currently, Communist or Communist-supported) aggression. Authorizes the President to use funds (other than funds for foreign military financing or international military education and training) under this Act for unanticipated contingencies. Places an annual ceiling on such assistance. Prohibits such assistance from being used for gifts to foreign officials. Makes specified amounts of economic support and foreign military financing assistance available for emergency use to promote economic, political, or military stability. 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. Applies assistance termination provisions to any provision of law concerning such terminations. Revises provisions concerning prohibitions 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 a military coup; and (3) a country that is a major drug producing or transit country if the country has not cooperated with the United States and has not taken adequate steps to control the illicit cultivation, production, trafficking, and abuse of narcotic and psychotropic drugs. Exempts from such prohibition assistance: (1) that is important to U.S. national interests, provided that such assistance will further U.S. nonproliferation objectives; (2) for the alleviation of suffering resulting from a natural or man-made disaster; (3) that benefits needy people; and (4) that will be furnished through nongovernmental organizations to promote respect for human rights and democracy. Prohibits the provision of such assistance until the President reports to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Requires the President to maintain a list of Communist countries for purposes of restricting assistance. Authorizes the President to remove or exempt a country from the list or prohibitions on assistance, provided that such removal or exemption is reported to the Speaker of the House and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Directs the President to report to such individuals on the rescission of a determination that a country provides support for international terrorism. Prohibits assistance to any country which is more than one year in arrears to the U.S. Government on loan payments under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or former authorities of the Arms Export Control Act. Prohibits economic assistance from being made available to: (1) any organization or program which supports or manages a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization; or (2) any foreign nongovernmental organization which performs or promotes abortion as a method of family planning. Requires funds for voluntary family planning services to be available only for projects which offer a broad range of family planning methods and services. Declares that the President should consider, in determining whether to provide economic assistance, whether assistance would be furnished to support any project designed to increase exports of agricultural, textile, or apparel commodities from developing countries that: (1) would be in direct competition with U.S. exports; and (2) can be expected to cause injury to U.S. exporters of the same or a similar commodity. Prohibits economic assistance from being used to influence the outcome of any election. Prohibits U.S. armed forces detailed to provide defense services, military education and training, or management of overseas military assistance programs from performing combat duties outside the United States in connection with such services. Outlines required elements of annual congressional presentation documents on foreign assistance. Revises provisions regarding U.S. assistance policies and human rights. Directs the President to report annually to the Congress on human rights practices in countries that are members of the United Nations. Revises provisions concerning congressional notification for program changes. Title V: General Provisions - Revises provisions regarding presidential authorities under this Act. Authorizes the President to designate an agency to administer economic assistance under this Act. Revises provisions regarding general authorities. Permits contracts which entail commitments for the expenditure of funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to be extended for up to ten (currently, five) years. Revises provisions regarding administrative uses of funds. Permits funds to be used for programs under the Agricultural Act of 1949 and the Food for Progress Act of 1985. Removes funding limitations on assistance for the construction of living quarters, offices, schools, and hospitals abroad and for assistance to schools educating dependents of personnel abroad. Permits economic assistance funds to be used to reimburse Federal or State agencies or institutions of higher education that detail employees for economic assistance programs that require specialized technical skills. Provides that if an amount appropriated for any fiscal year to carry out a provision of this Act is less than the authorization amount and the provision calls for earmarked funds, such funds shall be deemed to be reduced to an amount bearing the same ratio to such funds as the amount appropriated bears to the authorization amount. Sets forth provisions concerning the generation and use of local currencies. Revises provisions concerning the use of local currencies owned by the United States. Authorizes 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. 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. Allows (currently, requires) the use of excess personal property or property already owned by a Federal agency (if a substantial savings would occur) in lieu of, or supplementary to, the procurement of new items for U.S.-assisted programs. Revises provisions concerning the use of excess property. Removes a ceiling on the amount of domestic excess property that may be held. Prohibits excess property from being used for economic assistance purposes unless approval is given and the President makes specified determinations regarding such property. Authorizes the use of economic assistance funds to pay transportation charges on shipments by the American National Red Cross and by registered U.S. private voluntary organizations. Revises provisions concerning personnel. Permits personnel detailed to foreign governments or international organizations to be assigned on a leave without pay status. Authorizes the detailing of Department of Defense personnel to any civil office to carry out this Act. Revises provisions concerning discrimination against U.S. personnel. Title VI: Technical and Conforming Provisions - Prohibits U.S. courts from declining on the ground of the Federal Act of State Doctrine to make a determination on the merits of international law in any case in which claim of title or right to property is asserted by any party, based upon a confiscation after January 1, 1959, by a state in violation of international law. Exempts from such prohibition cases in which: (1) an act of a foreign state is not contrary to international law or cases with respect to a right to property acquired pursuant to an irrevocable letter of credit issued in good faith prior to the time of taking; or (2) the President determines that application of such doctrine is required by U.S. foreign policy interests. Amends Federal provisions governing coins and currency to grant the Secretary of the Treasury: (1) responsibility with respect to foreign credits owed to or by the United States; and (2) sole authority to establish for all foreign currencies or credits the exchange rates at which such currencies are to be reported by Federal agencies. Authorizes the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, at the request of the President, to report on the value of any property of any U.S. person expropriated by a foreign government. Prohibits Federal employees from effecting arrests in foreign countries as part of foreign police actions with respect to narcotics control. Lists exceptions to such prohibition. Prohibits Federal employees from interrogating or being present during the interrogation of any U.S. person arrested in a foreign country with respect to narcotics control efforts without such person's written consent. Exempts from such prohibition members of the U.S. armed forces carrying out responsibilities under Status of Forces arrangements. Makes technical and conforming amendments to specified Acts. Repeals specified Acts. Title VII: Special Assistance Initiatives - Chapter I: Development Fund for Africa - Authorizes project and program assistance for development in Subsaharan Africa. Requires the purpose of such assistance to be to help the poor majority of men and women in Subsaharan Africa to participate in a process of long-term development through economic growth that is equitable, participatory, environmentally sustainable, and self-reliant. Provides that such assistance should also promote sustained economic growth, encourage private sector development, promote individual initiatives, and help to reduce the role of central governments in areas more appropriate for the private sector. Declares that: (1) the local-level perspective of the rural and urban poor in Subsaharan Africa should be taken into account during the planning process for project assistance under this Act; and (2) consultations should be undertaken with private and voluntary organizations which have demonstrated effectiveness in or commitment to the promotion of local grassroots activities on behalf of development in Subsaharan Africa; (3) local people should be consulted and involved in projects that have a local focus; and (4) the President should ensure that development activities expand the participation and integration of African women in certain critical sectors. Requires assistance provided by this Act to emphasize projects to address critical sectoral priorities for development. Authorizes assistance to promote national economic policy reforms. Requires such reforms to include provisions to protect vulnerable groups, especially poor farmers and the urban poor, from possible negative consequences of such reforms. Designates as the critical sectoral priorities for long-term development: (1) increased agricultural production and the maintenance and restoration of renewable natural resources; (2) improved health conditions; (3) voluntary family planning services; (4) improved relevance and efficiency of education; and (5) development of income generating opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed. Imposes minimum levels of assistance for certain critical sectors. Declares that assistance provided under this Act should be concentrated in countries that will make the most effective use of such assistance. Allows assistance to be made available to: (1) assist Subsaharan African countries to increase their capacity to participate in donor coordination mechanisms at the country, regional, and sector levels; and (2) assist sector projects supported by the Southern African Development Coordination Conference. Authorizes assistance to South Africa for: (1) grants to nongovernmental organizations promoting efforts to foster a just society and help the victims of apartheid; (2) assistance to political detainees and prisoners and their families and to support actions of black community organizations to resist, through nonviolent means, the enforcement of apartheid policies; and (3) activities to assist in an end to apartheid and in the establishment of a society based on nonracial principles. Permits such grants to be only for organizations whose character and membership reflect the objective of a majority of South Africans for an end to apartheid and for interracial cooperation and justice. Authorizes appropriations. Expresses the sense of the Congress that there should be periodic evaluations of the progress of the administering agency in achieving assistance goals in Subsaharan Africa. Chapter 2: Assistance for Eastern Europe - Sets forth U.S. policy and objectives with respect to assistance for Eastern Europe. Declares that the United States should provide assistance for eligible East European countries that are taking steps toward: (1) political pluralism; (2) economic reform; (3) respect for human rights; and (4) a willingness to build a friendly relationship with the United States. Defines an eligible East European country as Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and any other East European country taking such steps. Requires the basic objectives of such assistance to be the promotion of democracy and the encouragement of free market systems. Lists authorized types of assistance. Permits the President to furnish assistance to eligible East European countries. Provides that any authority in the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 to furnish assistance for Poland or Hungary may be deemed to authorize assistance for any eligible East European country. Permits the President to use any funds made available for assistance for Eastern Europe under the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1991 to provide balance of payments support with respect to eligible East European countries. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should use the authorities provided under the SEED Act and this Act to provide stabilization assistance to assist Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and other East European countries the President deems appropriate. Authorizes appropriations. Permits the President to: (1) designate Enterprise Funds for any country in Eastern Europe in the same manner and with the same authorities and limitations applicable to the Enterprise Funds for Poland and Hungary established pursuant to the SEED Act; and (2) provide funding and support to the Funds. Authorizes U.S. agencies that are authorized to provide assistance or conduct programs for Poland or Hungary pursuant to the SEED Act to provide such assistance or conduct such programs for eligible East European countries. Permits the President to authorize agencies to implement programs for management and technical assistance for governments and private enterprises in Eastern European countries. Makes appropriations to carry out this chapter available for contracting with individuals for personal services. Chapter 3: 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 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. Title VIII: Presidential Contingency Fund - Authorizes appropriations to the President for FY 1992 for unanticipated contingencies in programs within the International Affairs Budget Function. Title IX: Authorizations for Fiscal Year 1993 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1993 to carry out programs for which appropriations for FY 1992 are authorized by this Act.
Bill· SS. 799 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1991
Amends the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act of 1965 to exempt from specified wage requirements tenants in federally assisted housing hired for construction or rehabilitation of their principal residence (Defined as the building of residence, any building in the same project, or real property managed as part of the project).
Bill· HRH.R. 1753 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1991
Omnibus Adoption Act of 1991 - Title I: National Advisory Council on Adoption - Establishes the National Advisory Council on Adoption (the Council), to be appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Terminates such Council after four years. Title II: Adoption Data Collection System - Directs the Secretary of HHS to: (1) report to the Congress, within 30 days, on the status of the implementation of the adoption data collection system required under specified provisions of the Social Security Act, including specific assurances relating to such system; (2) report monthly to the Congress on the progress made in implementing such system; and (3) consult with the Council in developing regulations to carry out such reporting requirements and assurances. Title III: Adoption Education Programs - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to establish a program of fellowships for graduate study in social work, in innovative programs concerning the effects of adoption on the adopted children, their adoptive families, and their biological parents who make an adoption plan. Directs the Secretary of Education to award up to 50 such fellowships. Sets forth provisions for student selection procedures, stipends, payments to institutions, fellowship conditions, consultation with the Council, and an authorization of appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996. Directs the Secretary of Education, within one year after enactment of this Act, to make grants to States to carry out adoption education programs. Sets forth provisions for grants amounts, applications and agreements, program guidelines, consultation with the Council, and an authorization of appropriations for FY 1992 through 1994. Title IV: Adoption Benefits for Federal Employees and Military Personnel - Amends Federal law relating to Federal employees to allow their sick leave (including advance sick leave) to be used for purposes relating to the adoption of a child. Includes prenatal and maternal benefits (other than those relating to a surrogate parenting arrangement) for the biological mother of an adoptive child among the types of benefits which may be provided under Federal employee benefits plans. Directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to establish minimum standards for this type of benefits, in accordance with specified guidelines. Amends Federal law relating to members of the uniformed services to require establishment of a program to reimburse them for expenses they incur for prenatal and maternal care provided to the biological mother of a child they legally adopt. Limits such reimbursement to care provided on or after the date on which the member notifies the appropriate administering Secretary. Prohibits such reimbursement for expenses incurred in carrying out a surrogate parenting arrangement. Includes prenatal care among types of authorized care for military dependents. Includes care for preexisting conditions among the types of authorized care for adopted children of uniformed service members. Defines adopted child, for purposes of Federal law relating to members of the uniformed services, as a child with respect to whom a written plan of adoption has been entered into pursuant to the laws of the State in which the child resides. Directs OPM and the Secretary of Defense to coordinate their development of regulations and guidelines to carry out their responsibilities under this title, and to consult with the Council in such development. Title V: Adoption Tax Credit - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to establish a refundable tax credit for certain amounts of adoption expenses, for taxpayers at certain income levels. Title VI: Maternal Health Certificates Program - Directs the Secretary of HHS, within 180 days after enactment of this Act, to establish a program to provide maternal health certificates for eligible pregnant women to use to cover expenses incurred in receiving services at a maternal and housing services facility. Bases eligibility on an individual's having an annual individual income of not greater than 175 percent of the applicable official poverty line income. Determines such income without taking account of: (1) the income of any parent or guardian of the individual; or (2) the income of an estranged spouse who has been living apart from the woman for at least six months. Prohibits finding an individual ineligible for such program solely on the grounds that they do not receive aid under the State plan for aid for families with dependent children (AFDC) under the Social Security Act. Sets limits on the amount of expenses which such program certificates may cover. Directs the Secretary of HHS to consult with the Council in developing regulations for such program. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1994 for such maternal health certificates program. Title VII: Rehabilitation Grants for Maternity Housing and Services Facilities - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to carry out a program to make grants to eligible nonprofit entities for rehabilitation of existing structures for use as facilities to provide housing and services to pregnant women. Sets forth provisions for such grant program authority, applications, limitations on numbers and amounts of grants, and reporting requirements. Directs the Secretary of HUD to consult with the Council in issuing such program regulations. Authorizes appropriations for such program for FY 1992 through 1994. Title VIII: Sense of Congress Regarding Changes in State Adoption Laws - Expresses the sense of the Congress that each State should adopt and enforce specified types of adoption laws, rules, or regulations, which include provisions for: (1) disclosure of all relevant information, including background information (except actual identification of the child or biological parents), to the prospective adoptive parent, with criminal penalties for unauthorized disclosure, (2) pre-placement investigations of the prospective adoptive parent; (3) disclosure to the court of all costs incurred by or on behalf of each party to the adoption; (4) guaranteed adequate legal representation for the biological mother; (5) filing of a petition for adoption with the appropriate court within one year after placement; and (6) coverage by the health plan of the adoptive parent of pregnancy and childbirth expenses (excluding surrogate parenting arrangements) for the child and the biological mother, or for any dependent child of the plan enrollee, and plan coverage of pre-existing conditions of adopted children.
Law· HRH.R. 1720 (102nd)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1991
District of Columbia Mental Health Program Assistance Act of 1991 - Amends the Saint Elizabeths Hospital and District of Columbia Mental Health Services Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide funds to the Mayor of the District of Columbia for the completion of repairs and renovations to Saint Elizabeths Hospital and for other capital improvements necessary for the safe and cost effective delivery of mental health services. Earmarks specified funds for capital improvements to: (1) facilities not located at Saint Elizabeths Hospital; and (2) housing facilities for seriously and chronically mentally ill individuals. Extends from October 1, 1991, to October 1, 1993, the deadline for District of Columbia assumption of mental health functions, resources, and programs for its residences. Requires the Mayor to submit a master plan to specified congressional committees by October 1, 1992 (currently, October 1, 1991), for the use of that portion of Saint Elizabeths Hospital not yet transferred to the District of Columbia. Directs the Congress to approve such plan within two years, rather than one year, after it is submitted to the committees.
Bill· HRH.R. 1750 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1991
Lead Exposure Reduction Act of 1991 - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit the importing, manufacturing, processing, or distribution in commerce of certain products containing more than a specified percentage of lead. Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to modify the allowable lead percentage for such products under certain conditions. Permits the Administrator to extend dates for compliance with such requirements for one year and to establish a performance standard for lead leaching from plumbing fittings and fixtures in lieu of the applicable restriction if such standard is at least as protective of human health and the environment as such restriction. Requires the Administrator to waive such requirements with respect to certain toys and recreational game pieces that are collectible items and scale models intended for adult acquisition. Directs the Administrator to publish regulations banning the sale of lead solder to plumbers and plumbing supply wholesalers and retailers. Prohibits the sale or promotion of: (1) any packaging which may be used for food for human consumption (or any food in such packaging) that includes any additive to which lead has been intentionally introduced, beginning 24 months after this Act's enactment; and (2) any packaging or product in packaging that includes such an additive, beginning 48 months after this Act's enactment. Sets allowable concentration levels for the incidental presence of lead in such packaging. Prohibits the sale or promotion of packaging exceeding such levels. Authorizes the Administrator to exempt from such requirements: (1) packaging manufactured prior to this Act's enactment date; and (2) packaging to which lead has been added to comply with Federal, State, or local health or safety requirements. Requires certificates of compliance with lead requirements to be retained by packaging manufacturers or distributors and made available to purchasers. Prohibits the manufacture, import, or distribution in commerce of food cans containing more than .2 percent lead by dry weight. Prohibits the importing, manufacturing, processing, or distributing in commerce of foils for wine bottles containing more than .1 percent lead by dry weight. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to delay the application of such requirements under certain conditions. Prohibits the sale of leaded gasoline at a price lower than that of unleaded gasoline sold at the same establishment. Prohibits, within six months of this Act's enactment, the sale of leaded gasoline for use in motor vehicles (other than farm vehicles) in a metropolitan statistical area or consolidated metropolitan statistical area with a 1980 population of 250,000 persons or more. Requires, effective January 1, 1996, manufacturers or importers of fuels containing lead or lead additives to submit quarterly reports to the Administrator on the lead content and volume of such fuels. Exempts from lead content requirements: (1) paint used by artists; (2) products used for medical purposes; (3) products used in connection with national security; (4) products used in the nuclear industry; and (5) products used in the mining industry to determine the presence of noble metals in geological materials. Directs persons manufacturing, processing, or importing any product containing more than .1 percent lead by dry weight to submit specified information to the Administrator. Exempts owners or operators of recycling facilities and manufacturers, processors, or importers of lead-acid batteries from such requirement. Requires the Administrator to update, and publish a compilation of, such information. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on such information and on recommendations for minimizing the release of lead into the environment and preventing human exposure to lead. Permits persons submitting inventory information to claim such information as confidential. Sets forth provisions concerning confidentiality applications. Requires the Administrator to promulgate regulations that provide for the labeling of products (other than lead-acid batteries) that pose a risk of human exposure to lead. Requires the labeling of toys and recreational game pieces that are collectible items and scale models to disclose that such items contain lead and are not suitable for children. Prohibits: (1) the placement into landfills and incineration of lead-acid batteries; and (2) the disposal of such batteries other than by recycling in accordance with this Act. Prohibits the disposal of batteries except by delivery to: (1) battery retailers or wholesalers; (2) regulated lead smelters or collection or recycling facilities; or (3) automotive dismantlers. Sets forth specified delivery and disposal requirements for battery retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. Directs battery retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers to accept from customers used batteries of the same type, and in an approximately equal quantity to, the batteries sold. Requires battery retailers to post notices in public areas of retail establishments that: (1) state that it is illegal to throw away motor vehicle or lead-acid batteries; (2) state that Federal law requires battery retailers to accept used batteries for recycling and allows a person to give used batteries to battery collectors, recyclers, or processors or to automotive dismantlers; and (3) encourage recycling of used batteries. Prescribes civil penalties for violations of notice requirements. Makes it unlawful to sell a lead-acid battery that does not bear a permanent label stating that: (1) the battery contains lead; and (2) Federal law requires recycling and the seller must accept the return. Permits the Administrator to issue warnings and citations for noncompliance with battery labeling and notice requirements. Permits the export of lead-acid batteries for purposes of recycling. Directs the Administrator to undertake a program to promote monitoring, detection, and abatement of lead-based paint and other lead exposure hazards. Requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish protocols, criteria, standards, and a voluntary accreditation program with respect to laboratory analysis of lead in paint films, soil, and dust. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, to establish: (1) protocols, criteria, and standards for laboratory analysis of lead in blood; and (2) certification programs to assure the quality and consistency of such analyses, unless voluntary accreditation programs are operating nationwide. Requires the Secretary of Labor to develop minimum core curricula for technical training courses for lead-based paint abatement workers, supervisors, designers, inspectors, and building owners. Provides that such courses shall address factors associated with lead testing and abatement in various types of housing units. Authorizes the Secretary to evaluate such programs and to encourage State certification programs or the development of national proficiency tests. Requires the Administrator to conduct research and report to the Congress on methods for evaluating emerging products and techniques for detecting lead in paint films and dust. Directs the Administrator to conduct research and report to the Congress on the efficacy of lead abatement and management techniques for housing based on levels of lead in dust and in occupants' blood. Requires the Administrator to conduct research and report to the Congress on products for encapsulating or stripping lead-based paint. Directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish performance criteria and standards for encapsulants and strippers. Requires the Administrator to issue guidelines for the management of lead-based paint debris. Prohibits the funding of travel of EPA employees outside the United States unless such guidelines are issued. Requires the Administrator to undertake a research project on lead exposure in children who have elevated blood lead levels greater than ten micrograms per deciliter. Directs the Secretary of Labor and the Administrator to conduct a long-term research study on the sources of lead exposure in construction workers. Requires the Administrator to sponsor public education and outreach activities to increase awareness of the scope and severity of lead poisoning from household sources, potential exposure to lead in schools and day care centers, and the need for abatement and management action. Directs the Administrator to issue guidelines concerning the action levels for lead in soil. Directs the Administrator to appoint a Coordinator for Lead Activities. Requires the Administrator to award grants to institutions of higher education for purposes of establishing Centers for the Prevention of Lead Poisoning. Limits the Federal share of Center operation costs. Limits grants to two-year periods. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, to: (1) encourage State public health officials to report blood-lead measurements to the Director; and (2) report to the Congress on the status of such reporting and the feasibility and desirability of instituting a national requirement for mandatory pre-school blood-lead screening. Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary, acting through the Director, to establish a blood-lead laboratory reference project to assist State and local governments in establishing and improving the quality of laboratory measurements performed for childhood lead poisoning prevention programs. Requires the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to update a report submitted pursuant to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 to include information on childhood and adult lead poisoning and estimates of adverse health outcomes associated with lead exposure. Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to deem a food to be adulterated if: (1) it is packaged in a container containing solder or another ingredient with a lead content greater than .2 percent by dry weight; or (2) it is ceramic ware and the ability of such ceramic ware to leach lead does not conform with standards for ceramic ware established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Requires the Secretary to establish standards and testing procedures with respect to lead in ceramic ware. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1754 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 11 April 1991
SSI Community Living Amendments of 1991 - Title I: Income Supplements - Amends title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) of the Social Security Act to authorize appropriations which shall be allotted among States on the basis of each State's population and which States shall use to provide SSI-eligible individuals with income to obtain necessary and regular assistance with daily living activities in a natural residential setting. Sets the Federal share of the program's cost at 50 percent. Requires States to develop systems to: (1) determine and, every six months, review an individual's need for such income; (2) target such income to individuals living in a natural residential setting with four or fewer individuals and to individuals having the greatest need for regular assistance; and (3) oversee the provision of such assistance. Sets forth data collection and reporting requirements. Prohibits the receipt of such income from affecting an individual's eligibility for assistance under specified programs. Title II: Quality Assurance for SSI Recipients in Group Living Arrangements - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide States with information, on at least a quarterly basis, identifying any place (excluding institutionalized care facilities) in which three or more SSI recipients reside. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with any State under which the State assists the Secretary in carrying out responsibilities related to the payment of benefits to representative payees under the SSI program and title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act, and the Secretary covers State costs in carrying out such agreement. Permits the Secretary to condition such agreement on States imposing certain standards on representative payees. Authorizes appropriations for grants to States which agree to use such funds to establish procedures for identifying and investigating possible unlicensed and substandard SSI recipient group living arrangements. Gives States 30 days after determining that an SSI recipient is living in such an arrangement to take action to ensure that the facility meets such standards or find an alternative living arrangement for such individual. Permits States to use grants to provide services to other groups of low-income aged, blind, or disabled individuals in particular need of obtaining housing assistance and other related services or use such grants to develop and enforce standards for any category of institutions, foster homes, or group living arrangements in which a significant number of SSI recipients reside or are likely to reside. Apportions grant funds among States on the basis of each State's share of SSI recipients. Title III: Effective Date - Makes the Act's amendments effective on October 1, 1992.
Bill· HRH.R. 1692 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 April 1991
Comprehensive Long-Term Care for the Elderly Act of 1991 - Amends part A (Hospital Insurance) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to entitle individuals eligible for part A benefits who are unable to perform at least two specified daily living activities without assistance to comprehensive long-term care provided by nursing homes and home health care services providers under applicable State case management plans. Describes the home-based items and services covered under Medicare. Outlines administrative provisions governing payment for services (including coinsurance payments for nursing home care) and development of case management plans. Amends part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of the Medicare program to provide for coverage of in-home care furnished to a chronically dependent individual for up to 80 hours in any calendar year. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit taxpayers with qualified elderly dependents in their households an income tax credit of $1,000 per dependent, and $5,000 per severely impaired dependent. Phases down such credits for adjusted gross incomes over $150,000. Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to: (1) establish a sliding fee scale for recipients of services; (2) reauthorize at unspecified levels and extend through FY 1995 funding for various services; (3) require training for service providers providing services to older individuals; and (4) restrict solicitation of voluntary contributions. Amends the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to reauthorize funding at unspecified levels for the Senior Companion Program through FY 1993.
Bill· SS. 792 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1991
Indoor Radon Abatement Reauthorization Act of 1991 - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to extend through FY 1994 the authorization of appropriations for: (1) an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publication entitled "A Citizen's Guide to Radon"; (2) model construction standards and techniques for controlling radon levels in new buildings; (3) technical assistance and grants to States for radon programs; and (4) regional radon training centers. Makes eligible for State grant assistance activities that: (1) assist public and Indian housing authorities in establishing radon programs; and (2) target outreach and technical assistance to licensed child care facilities in low-income Priority Radon Areas. Requires regional radon training centers to provide training to State and local building code officials on model construction standards and techniques for controlling radon levels. Directs the EPA Administrator, by January 1, 1992, to designate as Priority Radon Areas areas in which the average radon level is likely to exceed the national average by more than a de minimis amount. Requires homes owned by Federal agencies or Government corporations in Priority Radon Areas to be tested for radon before sales contracts to sell such homes are signed. Provides that such testing shall be undertaken on or below the second floor and supervised by a person who has received instruction pursuant to an EPA or approved State program and who uses approved radon measurement devices and methods. Makes test results available to potential buyers of such homes. Requires Federal agencies to adopt procedures to assure that new Federal buildings or schools constructed with Federal funds in Priority Radon Areas conform to model construction standards for controlling radon levels. Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to disseminate information on health threats posed by radon, proper radon testing methods, radon mitigation techniques, and Priority Radon Areas to: (1) public housing and Indian housing assisted under the United States Housing Act of 1937 in Priority Radon Areas; and (2) tenants in housing funded by the Secretary in Priority Radon Areas. Authorizes the Administrator to establish a national educational campaign to increase public awareness about radon health risks and to motivate public action to reduce radon levels. Requires the Administrator to study and report to the Congress on the extent of radon contamination in work places. Authorizes the Administrator to undertake diagnostic and remedial efforts to reduce radon in high-risk work places. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to: (1) evaluate existing efforts to promote radon testing in homes and ways to increase such testing; and (2) report to the Congress on the effectiveness of alternative strategies to promote such testing.
Bill· SS. 779 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 9 April 1991
Radon Assessment and Mitigation Act of 1991 - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to extend the authorization of appropriations for: (1) grants and technical assistance to States for radon programs; (2) an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publication entitled "A Citizen's Guide to Radon"; and (3) model construction standards and techniques for controlling radon levels in new buildings. Limits the Federal share of grants to States for radon programs to 50 percent of a program's cost. Adds to the list of activities eligible for grant assistance: (1) technical assistance to public water supply systems concerning mitigation of radon in public water supplies and public education activities to assist homeowners in the assessment and mitigation of radon in water supplies; (2) activities to adopt new construction standards for reducing radon levels in new buildings; and (3) technical and financial assistance to public interest groups to encourage radon testing and mitigation at local levels. Requires the EPA Administrator to make available final radon control standards and techniques for new buildings by January 1, 1992. Directs the appropriate Federal official to require single family or multifamily housing constructed in a high risk radon area with Federal financial assistance to be constructed in accordance with such standards. Requires regional radon training centers to provide for the training of contractors and others in the building community in the implementation of such standards. Directs the Administrator to establish a radon design award program to provide for annual awards for the best residential design incorporating radon control or mitigation standards. Requires the Administrator to designate high risk radon areas on a biennial basis. Prohibits Federal officials, within one year of the date of designation of an area as a high risk radon area, from approving financing of a residence covered by Federal housing assistance programs, unless such officials have been provided with results of radon tests for the residence. Prescribes civil penalties for persons who knowingly act to reduce the accuracy of such tests. Directs the Administrator to submit to the Congress a plan describing activities to be undertaken by Federal agencies to mitigate radon in Federal buildings. Requires the Administrator to: (1) implement an outreach program to provide information about radon to the medical community; and (2) develop and distribute informational material concerning radon tailored to doctors in general practice and in specialties related to lung cancer. Directs the Administrator, in FY 1992 through 1994, to support at least five applications for regional radon training centers. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1654 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1991
Directs the Administrator of General Services to construct on Federal land on the South Campus of the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, a building to house the Environmental Protection Agency and a parking facility for occupants and visitors. Provides that construction of such building and facility shall be carried out through a lease-purchase arrangement containing certain terms. Authorizes appropriations for design and site testing for the building.
Bill· SS. 757 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act - Title I: Ensuring Adequate Food Assistance - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to remove the excess shelter deduction cap for purposes of food stamp program (program) eligibility. (Sets forth transitional caps through FY 1995.) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to adjust the basic benefit level upwards by specified increments at the beginning of each fiscal year until it reaches 105 percent of the cost of the thrifty food plan. Eliminates food stamp reductions for households reapplying for program reinstatement within 30 days. Excludes third party payments for transitional housing for the homeless from consideration as program income. Increases funding for the nutrition assistance program in Puerto Rico. Excludes general assistance vendor payments from consideration as program income. Title II: Promoting Self-Sufficiency - Excludes from consideration as program income: (1) the first $50 a month received as child support; and (2) child support payments to non-household members. Increases annually the fair market value limit of vehicles that program recipients may own. Excludes from financial resources the value of a vehicle a household depends upon to carry heating fuel or water for home use where it has no other access to fuel or water. Increases dependent care deductions and participant and State agency reimbursements in connection with employment and training activities. Title III: Simplifying the Provision of Food Assistance - Permits related adults living in the same household to apply for separate program benefits under specified conditions. Permits a participating family made up of, or including, an elderly or disabled member to own $3,000 in allowable financial resources. (Current law refers to a family member 60 years of age or older.) Makes program authorization of appropriations permanent. Title IV: Implementation and Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for provisions of this Act.
Bill· SS. 741 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
National Energy Efficiency and Development Act of 1991 - Title I: Energy Policy Initiatives - Subtitle A: National Energy Strategy - Requires the first National Energy Policy Plan submitted by the President to the Congress after enactment of this Act to include a least-cost energy strategy prepared by the Secretary of Energy (Secretary). Requires such strategy to contain: (1) a comprehensive inventory of available energy and energy efficiency resources and their costs; (2) a proposed two-year program for assuring adequate supplies of such resources, along with identification of actions possible under existing Federal law; and (3) recommendations for any new Federal authority needed to achieve the purposes of this Act. Subtitle B: Director of Climate Protection - Directs the Secretary to appoint a Director of Climate Protection to: (1) serve as the Secretary's representative for interagency and multilateral policy discussions of global climate change; (2) monitor domestic and international policies for their effects on the generation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases; and (3) have the authority to participate in departmental planning activities. Title II: Measures to Improve the Energy Efficiency of the United States Economy - Subtitle A: Research and Development - Amends the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989 (REEETCA) to authorize appropriations for energy efficiency research and development. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress triennially on energy efficiency policy options. Subtitle B: Industrial Energy Efficiency - Directs the Secretary to pursue a research and development program and enter into cost-shared joint ventures to improve efficiency in energy intensive industries (such as steel, chemicals, glass, paper, and aluminum). Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to develop, directly or by contract, a voluntary national program to devise standards for energy audits and the installation of insulation in industrial facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish (and report to the Congress on): (1) a reporting system for industry to supply annual energy use and energy intensity information; and (2) voluntary energy efficiency improvement targets for energy-intensive industries. Directs the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration to expand the scope and frequency of the data it collects on energy use in the United States; and (2) report annually to the Congress on such data. Subtitle C: Efficiency in Commercial and Residential Buildings and Other Products - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NECPA) to direct the Secretary to establish a program to provide technical assistance to States and localities in updating energy efficiency provisions of residential and commercial building codes. Requires each State or locality, by four years after enactment of this Act, to certify that it has reviewed and updated such codes so that they meet or exceed the requirements of the Council of American Building Officials' Model Energy Code (CABO-MEC). Requires each State or locality, by three years after such certification, to further certify that all new residential commercial buildings built during such period meet updated code requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to promulgate procedural guidelines for, and provide technical assistance to, States which adopt residential energy efficiency rating systems. Requires all residential buildings, by five years after enactment of this Act, to have numerical energy efficiency ratings. Requires disclosure to potential purchasers of such ratings. Makes any residential building which fails to meet CABO-MEC standards ineligible for Federal mortgage financing programs. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to advise the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development on energy standards for manufactured housing; and (2) test the performance and cost-effectiveness of manufactured housing built to such standards. Creates in the Treasury the State Energy Efficiency Project Fund to provide for grants to States to undertake energy efficiency projects in State- and locally-owned buildings. Requires an annual report to the Congress on Fund activities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to provide financial and technical assistance to support the voluntary development of a national window rating program to establish energy efficiency ratings for windows and window systems. Requires the Secretary to establish such a system if no voluntary program succeeds within two years after enactment of this Act. Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prescribe labeling rules for such rating system, unless labeling is not technologically or economically feasible or is not likely to help consumers make purchasing decisions. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to set minimum energy efficiency standards for certain types of lamps, appliance motors, commercial air conditioning and heating equipment, utility distribution transformers, showerheads, and commercial office equipment. Requires: (1) the FTC to prescribe labeling for such products; and (2) manufacturers to provide labeling meeting FTC requirements. Provides for enforcement of such labeling requirements. Directs the Secretary to establish, for a five-year period, a program to train and certify energy efficiency contractors. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Federal Energy Management - Amends NECPA to require all Federal agencies to install all energy conservation measures which are cost-effective on a ten-year life-cycle cost basis. Permits such agencies to accept gas or electric utility incentives designed to encourage cost-effective energy demand management or energy conservation. Requires the Secretary to develop a simplified method of contracting for shared energy savings contract services that will reduce the administrative effort and cost on the part of the government as well as the private customers. Directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration to analyze significant energy consuming products in the Federal Supply Schedule and develop and implement a method to identify products which offer cost-effective opportunities to reduce energy consumption and costs. Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines for the transfer of up to $1,000,000 per project to encourage Federal agencies to undertake energy efficiency projects in federally owned facilities. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a financial bonus program to reward outstanding facility energy managers in Federal agencies. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the President to promulgate rules prohibiting each executive agency from acquiring any automobile with a fuel economy that is not greater than the average fuel economy for that particular model type for the previous model year. Directs the Secretary to submit to the Congress, and update every two years, a plan for demonstrating energy efficiency and renewable energy resource technologies in federally owned facilities. Amends REEETCA to require the Secretary to finance at least one joint venture for the demonstration of fuel cell technology in Federal facilities in order to accelerate commercial application of such cells. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to study and report on the use of Federal purchasing power to encourage the development of more energy efficient products. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Utility Energy Efficiency - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to direct States to require State-regulated utilities to employ a planning and selection process for new energy resources that evaluates the full range of existing and incremental resources in order to meet expected future demand at the lowest possible cost to society. Declares that the rates allowed to be charged by a State-regulated utility shall be such that: (1) the utility's investments in and expenditures for energy conservation, energy efficiency resources, and other demand-side management resources are at least as profitable as those for the construction of new generating equipment or the acquisition of other new supply-side resources; and (2) the utility is encouraged to make investments and expenditures for all cost-effective improvements in the energy efficiency of power generation and supply. States that the full cost of an energy resource shall include specified external costs associated with its use. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress and certify which States have complied with such requirements. Declares that, beginning four years after enactment of this Act, energy efficiency measures shall be considered as "qualifying facilities" eligible for certain PURPA programs in States that have not adopted procedures to meet the requirements of this Act. Directs the Western, Southwestern, and Southeastern Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) to ensure that they and their customer utilities acquire all cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. Requires each long-term firm power contract between a PMA and a customer utility to require the utility to develop and implement an energy efficiency and renewable energy program. Requires such PMAs to implement programs directly to acquire cost-effective conservation and renewable energy resources in the region in conjunction with such utility programs. Requires the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to: (1) develop a similar least-cost plan; and (2) execute similar long-term firm contracts with its customer utilities. Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to: (1) develop an office of energy efficiency to coordinate FERC's energy conservation and efficiency activities; and (2) establish procedures for expedited review of any interstate power sales conducted in accordance with the purchasing utility's least-cost energy plan. Subtitle F: Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require a producer or importer of 100,000 gallons or more per year of lubricating oil to increase annually the percentage (set by the Secretary) of recycled oil either: (1) by refining, rerefining, or reprocessing it into petroleum products (including fuels); or (2) by purchasing certain oil recycling credits. Exempts certain facilities from such requirements. Requires annual reports to specified congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to list or identify used oil as a hazardous waste for certain purposes. Subtitle G: Tire Recycling Incentives - Tire Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require tire producers or importers to increase annually the percentage (set by the EPA Administrator) of scrap tires recycled either: (1) by retreading or processing new tire products; or (2) by purchasing certain tire recycling credits. Requires the EPA Administrator to report to the Congress on scrap tire recycling. Sets forth civil penalties for violations of this subtitle. Directs the EPA Administrator to: (1) publish in the Federal Register minimum requirements for State scrap tire management and procedures under which such requirements shall be incorporated into State solid waste management plans; (2) provide for expedited review of State plans which include specified scrap tire recycling measures; and (3) establish standards to minimize health and environmental damages from the improper disposal and storage of tires. Requires such standards to provide for: (1) bans on the disposal of tires in land disposal facilities and on the intentional infliction of damage on tire casings to preclude casings from being used in retreading; (2) State inventories of scrap tire collection facilities, tire advisory boards, and scrap tire abatement plans; (3) agreements between facilities which distribute more than 1,000 tires annually and licensed tire haulers for the exclusive hauling of scrap tires by licensed haulers; and (4) prohibitions on the transportation of scrap tires by transporters without transportation identification numbers. Specifies exceptions. Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for States for the issuance of permits to scrap tire collection facilities. Requires the Administrator to promulgate guidelines for States for facility emergency plans. Requires facility owners or operators to notify the State immediately in the event of an emergency with potential offsite impacts. Requires all regulated facilities to have appropriate financial responsibility or insurance to maintain the facility for at least five years after closure. Exempts specified persons from permit requirements. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for the State to use to issue permits to scrap tire recycling facilities. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, together with the heads of agencies responsible for public lands or military installations, to implement a plan to remediate tire piles. Directs the Administrator to develop a guideline for procuring items that make use of scrap or used tires. Requires Federal departments, if the Administrator fails to promulgate such guideline, to procure items containing at least 75 percent of post-consumer scrap rubber from scrap tires if the rubber is available within a reasonable time at a reasonable price and meets performance standards. Directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to publish standards to determine the life-cycle costs and benefits of items that make use of rubber from scrap or used tires as compared with items that make use of rubber other than from scrap or used tires. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report to the Congress on: (1) direct worker environmental health effects relating to asphalt made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; (2) the recyclability of asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; and (3) the estimated life of existing asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires. Permits States to: (1) enter into consent agreements with owners and operators of scrap tire collection facilities for proper management and abatement of scrap tires; and (2) levy fines on facilities for noncompliance. Imposes fines on tire facilities and landfills for specified violations of this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle H: Insular Areas Energy Assistance - Authorizes the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to grant financial assistance to Insular area governments to carry out energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Measures to Promote the Use of Renewable Energy - Subtitle A: Renewable Energy Technology Transfers - Amends REEETCA to authorize appropriations for: (1) renewable energy research and development programs; (2) State conservation programs; (3) State research and applied technology transfer programs; (4) Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory information and publications; (5) four pilot programs to demonstrate model technology transfer and design assistance programs; (6) an advanced research and development information computer network; and (7) at least ten photovoltaic demonstration projects of at least ten megawatts in size to supply electric power to a power grid. Directs the Secretary to develop a Strategic Technology Transfer Implementation Plan for the national and international transfer of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology information. Amends the Federal Power Act and PURPA to: (1) make small biomass and hydropower production facilities specifically "eligible facilities" under such Act; and (2) define "alternative power production facility." Subtitle B: Amendments to the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) to promote the development and application in lesser-developed countries of specified renewable energy and energy efficiency resource technologies. Authorizes CORECT to establish renewable energy industry outreach offices in the Pacific Rim and in the Caribbean Basin. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the range of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies available to meet the energy needs of lesser-developed countries. Authorizes appropriations. Earmarks funds to assist U.S. manufacturers of renewable energy and energy efficient technology in exporting their products to lesser-developed countries. Title IV: Measures to Promote the Use of Alternative Motor Vehicles and Fuels - Subtitle A: Alternative Transportation Fuels - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements and joint ventures to demonstrate the feasibility (including safety of specific vehicle design) of using natural gas or other alternative fuels for mass transit. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide financial assistance to encourage the development and commercialization of natural gas and other alternative fuel use in passenger fleets, light duty, and heavy duty trucks. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a training and certification program for technicians who are responsible for vehicle installation of equipment that converts gasoline or diesel-fuel vehicles to the capability to run on natural gas or other alternative fuels. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques related to improving natural gas and other alternative fuel vehicle technology. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) institute an awareness program to educate potential purchasers of the costs, emission characteristics, and other features of alternative fuels; (2) report to the Congress on Federal purchasing policies which inhibit Federal purchase of alternative-fuel vehicles; (3) report to the Congress on how Federal, State, and local traffic control measures could promote the use of alternative-fuel vehicles; and (4) develop a plan for establishment of Federal and State trust funds to provide loans to convert vehicles to operate on alternative fuels or purchase alternative-fuel vehicles. Amends the Natural Gas Act to exclude the sale of natural gas as a vehicle fuel from the price regulation jurisdiction of FERC. Declares that a company shall not be considered a natural gas company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 solely because it distributes or sells natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel. Exempts from State regulation as a public utility (unless otherwise primarily engaged in business as such) any person or entity transporting or selling alternative vehicle fuels. Directs the Secretary to establish a fund to provide 50 percent of the cost of establishing offices of alternative fuels in State governments, as well as alternative fuel programs launched by such offices. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to study whether the use of alternative fuels in nonroad vehicles and engines would contribute substantially to reduced reliance on imported energy sources. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations requiring, where feasible, nonroad vehicles and engines to use alternative fuels if such study concludes that such use could reduce reliance on imported energy sources by ten percent nationwide within a ten-year period. Subtitle B: Alternative Fuel Fleet Requirement - Requires every person who owns, operates, leases, or otherwise controls a motor vehicle fleet of specified composition in a metropolitan statistical area of over 250,000 population which is also an EPA-classified nonattainment area to increase the percentage of alternative-fueled vehicles in such fleet by specified increments annually until it reaches 90 percent in the year 2000. Directs the Secretary to allocate credits to covered persons who exceed the required quota of alternative-fueled vehicles. Establishes administrative and civil penalties (together with appropriate enforcement procedures) for violations of the requirements or prohibitions of this subtitle. Subtitle C: Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration - Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to identify EPA-classified nonattainment areas in the United States in which the use of conventionally fueled vehicles contributes significantly to that nonattainment and in which the use of electric vehicles could contribute to attainment of applicable National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Directs the Secretary, after identifying such areas, to request applications from, and eventually select, manufacturers to develop, demonstrate, certify, manufacture, sell, warranty, and service electric vehicles in one or more of them. Requires: (1) the selected manufacturers to offer electric vehicle purchasers certain discounts; and (2) the Secretary to reimburse them the amount of such discounts. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such program. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Transportation and Energy Efficiency - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to establish average fuel economy standards for passenger automobiles and automobiles other than passenger automobiles (light trucks) for model years 1996 and thereafter. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to modify such standards, in response to a petition, according to a specified procedure. Requires the EPA Administrator to report annually to specified congressional committees on a study which: (1) examines the accuracy of fuel economy testing of passenger automobiles and light trucks; and (2) assesses the extent to which fuel economy deteriorates during the lifetime of such vehicles. Directs the Secretary of Energy to distribute at least 100 explanatory booklets each year to every dealer and additional numbers if requested. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide for a review and report to the Congress by the National Academy of Sciences on the current state of research and development in light truck fuel economy and passenger automobile fuel economy and an assessment of the potential for improving the fuel efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of passenger automobiles and light trucks. Requires the Secretary of Energy to study and report to the Congress on the future options for regulating the fuel efficiency of such vehicles beyond 2001. Provides for the judicial review of average fuel economy standards (including modifications thereof) established under this Act. Doubles the civil penalty for repeated violations of the fuel economy standard. Requires such penalty to be adjusted for inflation. Title VI: Measures to Displace Petroleum as a Vehicle Fuel - Replacement Fuels and Alternative Fuels Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to: (1) establish a program to promote the development and use of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels; and (2) prescribe the minimum percentage of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels, on an energy equivalent basis, to be sold in calendar years 1996 and 1997 by any refiner for use as a motor fuel. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to authorize the Secretary of Transportation, if the average fuel economy standard for passenger automobiles is increased above 27.5 miles per gallon for any model year, to increase the maximum increase in average fuel economy for a manufacturer attributable to dual energy and natural gas dual energy automobiles until alternative and replacement motor fuel sales indicate that such fuels are displacing conventional petroleum as a motor fuel. Sets forth civil penalties for violations of this Act and a procedure for appealing such penalties. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Measures to Promote the Use of Natural Gas - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to conduct a program of research, development, and demonstration of cofiring (of natural gas and pulverized coal), including gas reburn technologies (which reduce nitrogen oxide emissions), in electric utility units and large industrial boilers in order to determine optimal natural gas injection levels for both environmental and operational benefits. Provides for financial assistance to or cooperative agreements with public or private entities under such program. Sets the Federal shares of costs at 50 percent. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to expand the program for research, development, and demonstration for natural gas and electric heating and cooling technologies for residential and commercial buildings. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Act to direct FERC to develop an incentive formula for rates and charges for the sale or transportation of natural gas. Sets as the development goals for such formula: (1) allowing natural gas companies to earn a fair rate of return; (2) providing proper price signals to the marketplace; and (3) rewarding pipeline efficiency. Repeals FERC's authority to delay decision-making on ratemaking orders beyond the 30-day rehearing requirement without cause. Requires FERC to take final action on a rehearing application within 60 days after it is filed. Permits natural gas companies to file for FERC approval joint rates negotiated by them for the transportation of natural gas through each of their pipelines in sequence on the way to market. Exempts such rates from coverage under specified antitrust law. Declares that, in the setting of natural gas company rates, a plant shall be recognized so long as it is used and useful in discharging the company's utility business (even if it is already completely depreciated). Declares that pipeline sales rates shall be presumed just and reasonable if workably competitive alternatives exist for such sales. Sets forth conditions under which new natural gas company services (where competitive, certified services already exist) do not need a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Amends the Natural Gas Act to provide automatic abandonment of the sales obligation upon contract expiration, subject to a pipeline's right to extend. Declares that any fixed charge paid by an interstate pipeline to a first seller for gas supply security shall be recoverable on an "as-billed basis" in the pipeline's demand charges, unless FERC determines, after a hearing, that the pipeline does not offer a reasonably competitive alternative to its sales service. Requires the Secretary to condition the approval of any natural gas import application upon FERC action to redress any anti-competitive impacts on U.S. gas producers, including competitive disparities resulting from different rate designs applied to the transportation of domestic gas and imported supplies. Directs the Secretary to expand and continue, through joint ventures, a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques to increase: (1) intensive recovery of natural gas in place in discovered reservoirs or formations; and (2) economic recovery from nonconventional sources, including tight formation, Devonian shales, and geopressurized brines. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1968 to exempt from Natural Gas Act coverage and FERC jurisdiction the construction or operation of any facilities if the natural gas company constructing such facilities: (1) holds a certificate pursuant to which it has agreed to provide open access transportation service; and (2) the company agrees that such certificate shall apply to any transportation service through the new facilities. Requires all such facilities to be constructed in accordance with applicable environmental protection and safety laws and regulations, except the National Environmental Policy Act of 1978 (NEPA). Directs FERC to create an environmental review process under NEPA providing that pipeline construction projects which are confined to existing utility or highway corridors, and do not involve construction in high value wetland areas, shall be afforded a rebuttable presumption of no significant impact. Makes FERC the lead agency with primary authority for compliance with NEPA in any case where FERC authorization of the construction or operation of facilities or projects under the Natural Gas Act may be deemed a major Federal action. Amends the Natural Gas Act to grant FERC the power to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity in a two-phase process: (1) the first phase, which shall constitute a final order, involving all matters requiring FERC review and approval except environmental matters; and (2) the second phase, addressing required environmental matters only. Directs FERC to revise its environmental review procedures to allow pipelines to submit Environmental Assessments (EAs) at the time of filing for approval of proposed facilities, using general standards specified by FERC. Requires the revised procedures to presume EAs valid subject to FERC review for compliance with its own standards. Requires FERC to permit a certificate applicant to elect a contractor, consultant or other FERC designee to prepare the environmental impact statement at the applicant's expense. Requires FERC to develop procedures to ensure against conflicts of interest in such contracting. Directs the Office of Technology Assessment to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the global trends of production, usage, and transportation of natural gas and the ways in which these trends can affect domestic energy policy and the U.S. natural gas industry; and (2) State and locally imposed institutional and regulatory barriers to increase national natural gas usage. Title VIII: Tax Treatment of Energy Resources - Subtitle A: Renewable Energy Production Incentive - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a renewable energy production credit for electric power plants that operate on solar, wind, and geothermal energy. Sets the credit at two cents (inflation-adjusted annually) per kilowatt hour produced and sold by the taxpayer to an unrelated person. Applies such credit only to facilities built during taxable years 1991 through 1996. Sets forth decreasing credit allowances for 1997 through 2001. Sets the credit for geothermal properties at half the credit for other renewable energy properties. Subtitle B: Transportation - Limits the exclusion from gross income of parking provided by the taxpayer's employer to parking located on the employer's premises only. (Currently the parking may be located on or near the premises.) Requires the employer to operate such facility and restrict substantially all its use to employees. Expands the working condition fringe exclusion from gross income to include up to $75 per month of any van pooling or reimbursement for public mass transit use provided by the taxpayer's employer. Subtitle C: Buildings and Housing Tax Credits - Allows an individual a tax credit of up to $100 of qualified oil retrofit conservation expenditures ($50 in the case of a married individual filing a separate return) for the taxpayer's principal residence. Defines oil retrofit component to include: (1) flame retention burners; (2) insulation measures and water-heater wraps; (3) automatic thermostat controls; and (4) window insulation measures. Subtitle D: Utilities - Excludes from gross income the amount (if in cash) or value (if in kind) of any subsidy (rebate) provided by a public utility to a customer in connection with the purchase, installation, use, or maintenance of any energy or water conservation measure or for energy savings delivered by such measures. Denies any deduction or credit to the extent of any such subsidy excluded from gross income. Declares that this tax exclusion does not apply to any payment to a qualified cogeneration facility or qualifying small power production facility under PURPA. Subtitle E: Automobiles and Trucks - Safe and Efficient Vehicles Incentives Act of 1991 - Establishes: (1) taxes on the sale of each new motor vehicle whose fuel economy is less, or whose composite safety factor is less, than the respective sales-weighted average fuel economy or average composite safety factor of all new motor vehicles within the same class; and (2) rebates for the purchase of each new motor vehicle whose fuel economy is greater, or whose composite safety factor is greater, than the respective sales-weighted average fuel economy or composite safety factor of all new motor vehicles within the same class. Sets forth formulae for the calculation of such taxes and rebates. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to publish in the Federal Register and notify each manufacturer or importer of such formulae annually. Requires labeling boldly displaying such taxes and rebates on all vehicles for sale. Provides for collection of taxes and disbursement of rebates. Sets forth formulae for the calculation of sales-weighted average fuel economies and composite safety factors. Subtitle F: Domestic Oil and Gas Production Incentives - Removes the net income limitation on the percentage depletion allowance deduction for oil and gas wells. Allows a tax credit for up to ten percent of the qualified cost of each barrel of crude oil produced from an economically marginal well (including certain stripper wells) or recovered through a tertiary recovery method. Provides for carryback or carryforward of unused credit. Allows a tax credit for specified percentages of the taxpayer's qualified investment in crude oil and natural gas exploration and development wells. Eliminates intangible drilling costs as tax preference items. Allows deduction of specified drilling costs from the Alternative Minimum Tax calculation. Repeals the taxable income limitation on the percentage depletion allowance. Allows the carryforward of excess depletion allowances. Repeals a specified Revenue Ruling with respect to mineral sharing arrangements. Allows the nonconventional source fuels credit to offset the Alternative Minimum Tax liability. Repeals the January 1, 1993, termination date for such credit, thus making it permanent.
Bill· SS. 743 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
National Energy Efficiency and Development Tax Act of 1991 - Subtitle A: Renewable Energy Production Incentive - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for qualified technologies properties (power plants) that use solar, wind, and geothermal energy. Applies such credit to electricity produced by power plants: (1) placed in service after December 31, 1991, and before January 1, 2002, for which an energy credit has not been allowed; and (2) sold after December 31, 1991, and before January 1, 2009. Subtitle B: Transportation -Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income qualified employer-provided commuter services between an employee's residence and workplace. Includes as qualified services: (1) transportation furnished in a commuter highway vehicle (such as a van); and (2) transportation on public buses, trains, or subways that is paid for or reimbursed by the employer. Limits the exclusion from gross income for parking to parking on (not "on or near," as under current law) the employer's premises, with further specified qualifications. Subtitle C: Buildings and Housing Tax Credits - Allows a tax credit for qualified oil retrofit conservation expenditures in the principal residence of a taxpayer. Describes such expenditures as: (1) flame retention replacement burners; (2) insulation measures, including insulation of water heaters; (3) automatic thermostat controls; and (4) window insulations. Subtitle D: Utilities - Excludes from gross income the amount or value of any subsidy provided by a public utility to a customer in connection with the purchase, installation, use, or maintenance of any energy or water conservation measure or for energy savings delivered by such measures. Denies the use of any tax credit or deduction to the extent such subsidy is excluded from gross income. Subtitle E: Automobiles and Trucks - Safe and Efficient Vehicles Incentives Act of 1991 - Amends Federal law to establish: (1) taxes on the sale of any new motor vehicle (light-duty and medium-duty vehicles and trucks) whose fuel economy is less than the sales-weighted average fuel economy or whose composite safety factor is greater (sic) than the sales-weighted average composite safety factor of all new motor vehicles within the same class; and (2) rebates for the purchase of any new motor vehicle whose fuel economy is greater than the sales-weighted average fuel economy or whose composite safety factor is greater than the sales-weighted average composite safety factor of all new motor vehicles within the same class. Sets forth formulae for determining the fuel economy tax (or rebate) and the safety tax (or rebate). Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to publish in the Federal Register and send to each manufacturer or importer of motor vehicles the applicable formulae for each class of vehicle in the next model year. Requires each manufacturer or importer of new light-duty or medium-duty motor vehicles to calculate according to the applicable formulae the fuel economy and safety taxes and rebates for each vehicle. Requires them to include such information on labels affixed to such vehicles. Provides for the collection of such taxes and the disbursement of such rebates. Authorizes appropriations. Requires, not later than July 1, 1992, and each July 1, thereafter, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to calculate the sales-weighted average fuel consumption and the Secretary of Transportation to calculate the composite safety factor and the sales-weighted average composite safety factor for all light-duty and medium-duty vehicles and trucks with respect to the determination of fuel economy and safety taxes and rebates. Requires each manufacturer or importer of such vehicles to conduct crash tests necessary to determine the composite safety factor of such vehicle whenever such crash test data does not result from the Secretary of Transportation's crash tests. Subtitle F: Domestic Oil and Gas Production - Excludes oil or gas wells from the net income limitation on the percentage depletion allowance. Establishes a marginal production income tax credit for producers who maintain economically unproductive oil wells. Applies the credit to domestic crude that is: (1) from stripper well property; (2) heavy oil; or (3) oil recovered through a tertiary recovery method. Fixes the credit at ten percent of the qualified cost (determined in accordance with a formula set forth in this Act) of each barrel of such oil produced by the producer during the tax year. Establishes a crude oil and natural gas exploration and development tax credit. Allows a ten percent credit for qualifed investments exceeding $1,000,000, 20 percent for those of $1,000,000 or less. Permits the credit as an offset against both minimum tax liability and regular liability. Repeals provisions that identify intangible drilling costs as a tax preference item for purposes of determining alternative minimum tax liability and corporate preference reductions. Allows 50 percent of the marginal production depletion preference (currently the alternative tax energy preference deduction) as a deduction in computing the alternative minimum tax. Increases from 65 to 100 percent (and thus eliminating) the taxable income limitation on the percentage depletion deduction for oil and gas property. Permits a taxpayer to elect to carry forward to the next succeeding taxable year any portion of excess depletion allowances. Provides that the tax imposed on mineral sharing arrangements shall be determined: (1) without regard to a specified revenue ruling, and similar ruling, concerning the operating interest in oil and gas property received for drilling the well; and (2) with regard to the rules in effect before such ruling. Allows the nonconventional source fuels credit to offset the alternative minimum tax liability. Repeals the restriction applying such credit only to fuels produced after December 31, 1979, and before January 1, 1993 (thus extending the credit through December 31, 2002).
Law· SS. 725 (102nd)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
Persian Gulf Conflict Supplemental Authorization and Personnel Benefits Act of 1991 - Title I: Authorization of Fiscal year 1991 Supplemental Appropriations for Operation Desert Storm - Authorizes supplemental appropriations for FY 1991 to the Department of Defense (DOD) for its current and future balances in the Defense Cooperation Account (Cooperation Account). Requires Cooperation Account funds to be used for: (1) incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm; and (2) replenishment of the working capital account for DOD to be known as the Persian Gulf Working Capital Account (Capital Account). Authorizes appropriations to the Capital Account for FY 1991. Requires Capital Account funds to be used for incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm, but only to the extent that funds for such use are not available in the Cooperation Account. Requires Cooperation Account funds to replenish funds used from the Capital Account. Reverts Capital Account balances to the Treasury upon its termination. Authorizes funds from both Accounts to be transferred to appropriation accounts of DOD as necessary to meet Operation Desert Storm incremental costs. Increases the transfer authority provided in current law for DOD transfers to accomodate such increased transfer authority. Requires all such transfers to comply with a congressional notice-and wait requirement. Requires monthly reports through FY 1992 on such transfers to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees (the defense committees) and to the Comptroller General. Title II: Waiver of Personnel Ceilings Affected by Operation Desert Storm - Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to waive any military personnel end strength in such department as prescribed in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991. Allows certain grade strength limitations to be suspended. Requires such Secretary to certify to the defense committees that the exercise of such authority is necessary because of personnel actions relating to Operation Desert Storm. Authorizes additional appropriations to DOD from the Cooperation Account for increases in military personnel costs for FY 1991 through 1995 resulting from the exercise of such waiver and suspension authorities. Title III: Benefits for Persons Serving in the Armed Forces During the Persian Gulf Conflict - Part A: Military Compensation and Benefits - Increases, as of August 1, 1990, the rate of special pay for duty subject to hostile fire or imminent danger. Terminates such increase 180 days after termination of the Persian Gulf War. Increases from $60 to $75 the monthly family separation allowance for the period beginning January 15, 1991, and ending at the beginning of the first month after a 180-day period after the end of the Persian Gulf conflict. Requires that the variable housing allowance being paid to reserve members called to active duty in the Persian Gulf be calculated using the rate to which the member is entitled in the area of the member's principal place of residence in lieu of a permanent duty location. Authorizes the payment of active duty special pay to reserve optometrists, veterinarians, nurse anesthetists, and certain other non-physician health care providers called or ordered to active duty in connection with activities in the Persian Gulf. Authorizes the payment of such special pay to physicians, dentists, optometrists, veterinarians, nurse anesthetists, and other non-physician health care providers who are: (1) involuntarily retained on active duty; (2) recalled to active duty; or (3) agreeing to remain on active duty for less than one year in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict. Authorizes continued payment of board certification pay to physicians, dentists, and other health care providers who have completed residency training and were scheduled for board certification or recertification, but were unable to complete such process due to a duty assignment in connection with the Persian Gulf conflict. Conditions such payments upon the completion of such certification or recertification requirements within 180 days after release from such duty assignment or such additional time thereafter as determined necessary by the Secretary of Defense. Requires foreign language proficiency pay to be paid to members assigned to duty in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict who meet all eligibility criteria for such pay except that they have not been certified by the Secretary concerned to be proficient in a foreign language necessary for national defense purposes. Conditions such payment upon the completion of such certification within 180 days after release from such duty assignment or such additional time thereafter as determined necessary by the Secretary. Establishes a death gratuity of $6,000 for all deaths resulting from injury or illness incurred during the Persian Gulf Conflict or 180 days after such conflict. Directs the Secretary to pay a death gratuity to each Servicemen's Group Life Insurance (SGLI) beneficiary of each deceased member of the armed forces who died after August 1, 1990, and before the date of enactment of this Act. Makes the amount of such death gratuity an amount equal to the SGLI coverage at the time of death. Requires the appropriate SGLI recipient to make application to the Secretary for the payment of such death gratuity within one year after the enactment of this Act. Entitles survivors of members who die as a result of injury or illness sustained while on active duty during the Persian Gulf War to payment for all accrued leave of such member. (Currently, there are limitations to the authorized build-up of such leave.) Removes the ceiling on savings deposit for service members carried in a missing person status during the Persian Gulf Conflict. Requires the payment of a basic allowance for quarters to reserve members without dependents called to active duty in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict who are unable to occupy the primary residence owned or rented by such member because of such active duty. Part B: Military Personnel Policies and Programs - Allows a retired member of the armed forces who is ordered to return to active duty in connection with Operation Desert Storm to be ordered to such active duty in the highest grade in which the member previously satisfactorily served on active duty. States that a member ordered to active duty in a grade higher than his or her retired grade shall be deemed to have been promoted to such grade. Delays until October 1, 1991, the implementation of a required increase in the annual deductible for services provided under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) in the case of dependents of active duty personnel serving or who have served in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict. Allows any health care provider furnishing health care under CHAMPUS to dependents of military personnel serving on active duty in the Persian Gulf to waive any required copayment from such dependents during the Persian Gulf Conflict. Requires the provider to certify to the Secretary of Defense that the amount charged to the Government under such waiver was not increased above the amount the provider would have charged the Government had the payment not been waived. Provides certain transitional health care benefits under CHAMPUS to reservists called to active duty in connection with the Persian Gulf Conflict, and to active duty personnel involuntarily retained on active duty or voluntarily agreeing to remain on active duty for less than one year in connection with Operation Desert Storm. Provides such transitional health care for 30 days after release from active duty or the date on which the member and his or her dependents are covered by an employer-sponsored health plan. Provides such coverage for dependents of such reservists or active-duty personnel. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to remove certain fiscal year restraints in such Act concerning spending in support of the Persian Gulf Conflict. Directs the Secretary to carry out a study of DOD policies relating to the family interests and responsibilities of reserve members called to active duty and of active and reserve members deployed overseas. Requires a report on study results. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to extend to October 1, 1991, the effective date for certain reductions in inpatient mental health services to be implemented under such Act. Provides funding from the Cooperation Account to pay for the costs incurred in delaying such reductions in services. Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that armed forces policy should provide that mothers of newborn children under six months of age shall not be: (1) deployed on active duty; or (2) activated if such activation requires separation from such child, or deployed, in the case of a mother serving in the reserves. Part C: Veterans Benefits and Programs - Persian Gulf War Veterans' Benefits Act of 1991 - Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions to include the Persian Gulf War within the definition of "period of war" for purposes of eligibility for general veterans' benefits, veterans' pensions, and survivors' benefits for a veteran's spouse and dependents. Requires, in the case of pension eligibility of the surviving spouse of a Persian Gulf War veteran, that such spouse marry the veteran before January 1, 2001. Extends the eligibility for one-time dental care for dental conditions found to have been incurred while on active duty to those who served at least 90 days on active duty during the Persian Gulf War. Extends to such veterans a presumption of service-connection for psychosis that becomes manifest within two years from discharge from active duty and before the end of the two-year period beginning on the last day of the Persian Gulf War. Makes veterans of the Persian Gulf War and subsequent wars eligible for drugs and medicine required due to being permanently housebound or in need of regular aid and attendance. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish readjustment counseling to any veteran who served on active duty after May 7, 1975, in an area at a time during which hostilities occurred in such area. Defines "hostilities" as an armed conflict comparable to the danger members are subjected to in combat with enemy forces during a period of war. Requires the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to each submit two reports to the Congress concerning the need for rehabilitative services for military personnel participating in the Persian Gulf War who experience post-traumatic stress disorder. Increases from $50,000 to $100,000 the maximum amount of life insurance coverage available to servicemen and veterans under the SGLI and Veterans' Group Life Insurance programs. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that persons insured under either program are notified of such increase and given an opportunity to increase their coverage. Increases the monthly educational assistance benefits available to active-duty military personnel under the Montgomery GI Bill to: (1) $350 for those serving on active duty for three years or more; and (2) $275 for those serving two years on active duty. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, after FY 1993, to continue such increased rates and to further increase such rates to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index. Increases in FY 1992 and 1993 the monthly educational assistance benefits available to reserve members serving at least six years in the reserves to: (1) $170 for full-time study; (2) $128 for three-quarter-time study; and (3) $85 for half-time study. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense, after FY 1993, to continue such increased rates and to further increase such rates to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index. Authorizes veteran representatives of the Persian Gulf War to be included on the Veterans' Advisory Committee on Education. Revises veterans' reemployment rights with respect to disabled veterans to state that a person shall be considered qualified for an employment position if such person, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of such position. Requires the employer to make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of the individual disabled, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on its business. Excludes employers employing less than a certain number of personnel as of a specified date from such requirements. Requires an employer to make reasonable efforts to requalify a service member returning to his or her employment position held before such service. Makes each veteran who served on active duty for 90 days or more during the Persian Gulf War eligible for housing loan benefits under the veterans' home loan program. Part D: Federal Employee Benefits - Directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to establish a leave bank program under which: (1) employees of any executive agency may donate any unused annual leave to a leave bank established by OPM; (2) the total donated annual leave is divided equally among the annual leave accounts of employees who have been members of the armed forces serving on active duty during the Persian Gulf War and who return to civilian employment with their agencies; and (3) such participants may use such donated annual leave in the same manner as any other annual leave to their credit. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a similar program for the benefit of health-care professionals returning to employment within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Part E: Higher Education Assistance - Persian Gulf Conflict Higher Education Assistance Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial aid programs under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to ensure that men and women serving on active duty during the Persian Gulf War who are borrowers of student loans under such Act are not placed in a worse position financially in relation to those loans because of such service. Requires the Secretary to publish such waivers or modifications in the Federal Register. Expresses the sense of the Congress that all institutions offering postsecondary education should provide a full refund or credit to any reserve member serving on active duty in the Persian Gulf for the portion or period of instruction such member was unable to complete because the individual was called up for such service. Directs the Secretary of Education to report to the Congress on the implementation of this provision. Amends the Public Health Service Act to exempt members of the armed forces from required payments on loans under such Act for the training of professional health personnel for the duration of active duty during the Persian Gulf conflict. Terminates the provisions concerning student loan modifications and waivers, and interrupted education refunds or credits, as of the end of FY 1997. Part F: Programs for Farmers and Ranchers - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary, for purposes of this part), with respect to a producer on a farm who is an activated reservist (called or ordered to active duty in the Persian Gulf) during a crop year, to provide for the protection of the producer's crop acreage base for any crop to the extent necessary to provide fair and equitable treatment. Allows producers on a farm to be eligible for payments for rice or upland cotton under the Agricultural Act of 1949 without regard to minimum planting requirements of such Act if: (1) one or more of the producers is an activated reservist during any part of the crop year; and (2) the producers satisfy all other appropriate requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to provide for a temporary waiver or modification of the application of subtitles A through E of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (erodible land conservation requirements): (1) for the period during which the producer is an activated reservist; (2) if necessary to prevent undue hardship caused as a result of the producer's active duty during the Persian Gulf War or to provide equitable treatment; and (3) if the waiver or modification will not significantly detract from the purposes and objectives of such subtitles. Requires a report from the Secretary concerning temporary waivers and modifications so granted. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide relief to any borrower under any farmer program loan under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act if the borrower is an activated reservist. Directs the Secretary to modify the terms and conditions of such loans in order to alleviate conditions of distress and to assist in keeping the farm or ranch of an activated reservist in operation until his or her return. Allows the Secretary to modify loans or to take other specified action in order to maintain a farm or ranch until the reservist returns. Requires the Secretary to notify persons operating a farm or ranch of an activated reservist who is a farmer program borrower of these relief provisions. Authorizes the Secretary to provide for procedures by which the spouse or other close relative of an activated reservist may participate in, or make decisions related to, a program administered by the Secretary under the Agricultural Act of 1949 or other specified Acts concerning the operation of the activated reservist's farm or ranch. Allows the Secretary to rely on the representations of the spouse or close relative made under such procedures, under certain conditions. Directs the Secretary to conduct outreach projects in order to inform households of which a member is serving on active duty in the armed forces of possible eligibility for participation in the Food Stamp Program authorized under the Food Stamp Act of 1977. Requires the Secretary to report on the effectiveness of the outreach projects. Part G: Budget Treatment - Authorizes supplemental appropriations from the Cooperation Account for the payment of new or enhanced benefits authorized under title III of this Act for FY 1991 through 1995, with specified spending prohibitions. Authorizes appropriations from the Cooperation Account for title III costs accruing after FY 1995. Provides that certain title III benefit costs are to be considered incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm. Prohibits the payment of any title III benefit payable during FY 1991 through 1995 unless funds are specifically appropriated from the Cooperation Account for transfer to the applicable appropriations. Prohibits payment of Montgomery GI Bill rate increases during FY 1992 or 1993 unless a specific appropriation from the Cooperation Account for such purpose occurs. Title IV: Reports on Foreign Contributions and the Costs of Operation Desert Storm - Requires the Director of OMB to prepare periodic reports on the incremental costs associated with Operation Desert Storm and the contributions made to the United States by foreign countries to offset these costs. Requires each such report to include periodic and cumulative costs, as well as nonrecurring costs and cost offsets. Requires the Secretaries of State and the Treasury to jointly prepare periodic reports on the contributions made by foreign countries as part of the international response to the Persian Gulf Crisis. Outlines specific types of contributions to be included in such report. Requires both of the above series of reports to be submitted in unclassified form, to the extent practicable. Title V: Report on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf Conflict - Directs the Secretary of Defense to report to the congressional defense committees on the conduct of the hostilities in the Persian Gulf, including a discussion of the accomplishments and shortcomings of the armed forces in such conflict, as well as casualty information. Requires a preliminary and final report on such matters. Title VI: General Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to provide assistance to ensure that families of military personnel serving on active duty obtain needed child care services, with special focus on children of personnel serving in the Persian Gulf or otherwise deployed in connection with Operation Desert Shield. Authorizes appropriations from the Cooperation Account for such purpose. States that such funds are in addition to other funds used for child care programs for members of the armed forces. Authorizes the Secretary to provide assistance to ensure that families of military personnel serving on active duty receive educational assistance and family support services necessary to meet the needs arising out of Operation Desert Storm. Outlines provisions concerning the types of assistance, areas of assistance, and the types of educational and family support assistance to be provided. Authorizes appropriations from the Cooperation Account. Directs the Secretary of the Army to convey to Caroline County, Virginia, or the Commonwealth of Virginia all rights and interest to a parcel of land located at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. Directs the Secretary to identify the size and location of the property to be so conveyed. Outlines property conveyance conditions, and requires reversion to the United States if such property is not used for the construction and operation of a regional correctional facility. Prohibits housing certain prisoners in such correctional facility. Repeals a provision of the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 made inconsistent by such provision. States that the Congress: (1) supports and endorses national, State, and local grassroots efforts to support our servicemen and women who participated in Operation Desert Storm, as well as their families at home; (2) encourages Federal, State, and local governments, as well as private business and industry, to organize task forces intended to provide support for the families of military personnel deployed in the Persian Gulf region and to organize celebrations for returning servicemen and women; and (3) encourages those governments, businesses, and industries to include Vietnam Veteran organizations in all activities conducted for the benefit of the troops returning home from Operation Desert Storm. Amends a provision of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 relating to the filing of financial disclosure statements by certain senior Government officials to extend the time for such filing, in the case of an individual serving in the armed forces or in support of the armed forces, to a date that is the later of 180 days after the last day of the individual's: (1) service in an area; or (2) hospitalization as a result of injury received or illness contracted while serving in such area. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Army Corps of Engineers and other Federal agencies should award contracts for the rebuilding of Kuwait, and should encourage the Government of Kuwait to award such contracts, according to the following priority: (1) to U.S. firms that are committed to employing U.S. workers under the contract; (2) to other U.S. firms; and (3) to firms from allied nations that committed troops to the liberation of Kuwait during the Persian Gulf Conflict. Expresses the sense of the Congress that any U.S. firm that receives such a contract should: (1) employ U.S. citizens under such contract; and (2) provide a preference to veterans in hiring for work under such contract. Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the President should take steps to provide assistance to U.S. small and minority-owned businesses seeking to be awarded contracts for the rebuilding of Kuwait; (2) the Administrator of the Small Business Administration should conduct a public information campaign to advise such businesses about becoming so involved; and (3) U.S. firms that are awarded such contracts should award subcontracts under such contracts to U.S. small and minority-owned businesses. Directs the President to submit quarterly reports with respect to contracting for the rebuilding of Kuwait. Expresses the sense of the Congress that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by any provision of law may be obligated or expended, directly or indirectly, for rebuilding Iraq while Saddam Hussein remains in power there. Directs the Secretary of Defense, as of six months after enactment of this Act, to withhold payments normally provided to a foreign nation for expenses of indirect-hire civilian DOD personnel in that nation if such nation has pledged to make contributions to the United States to assist in defraying the cost of Operation Desert Shield and has not paid the full amount so pledged. Releases amounts so withheld upon payment of the full amount pledged. Authorizes the Secretary to waive such withholding upon certification to the Congress that such waiver is in the national security interest. Requires the Secretary, in allocating to defense installations and facilities the defense acquisition workforce reductions required for FY 1991, to use considerable flexibility in order to respond to the influx of work expected to enter the defense acquisition system as a result of Operation Desert Storm. States that any installation or facility that will experience a significant workload increase during FY 1991 as a result of Operation Desert Storm activities is not required to make defense acquisition workforce reductions during FY 1991. Title VII: Miscellaneous Technical Amendments - Makes various technical, clarifying, or conforming amendments to Federal armed forces provisions, military pay and allowances provisions, National Guard provisions, and various public laws and specified Acts. Title VIII: Authorization of Supplemental Appropriations for Department of Energy National Security Programs for Fiscal Year 1991 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 for: (1) operating expenses incurred in carrying out national security programs for weapons activities production and surveillance; and (2) carrying out environmental restoration and waste management programs necessary for national security programs. States that provisions contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 concerning the applicability of recurring general provisions shall apply in the same manner to this title. Directs the Secretary of Energy to develop a program to relocate within ten years operations performed at the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado, to a replacement facility at which public health and safety can be assured. Requires a report concerning implementation of such relocation.
Bill· SS. 742 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
National Energy Efficiency and Development Act of 1991 - Title I: Energy Policy Initiatives - Subtitle A: National Energy Strategy - Requires the first National Energy Policy Plan submitted by the President to the Congress after enactment of this Act to include a least-cost energy strategy prepared by the Secretary of Energy (Secretary). Requires such strategy to contain: (1) a comprehensive inventory of available energy and energy efficiency resources and their costs; (2) a proposed two-year program for assuring adequate supplies of such resources, along with identification of actions possible under existing Federal law; and (3) recommendations for any new Federal authority needed to achieve the purposes of this Act. Subtitle B: Director of Climate Protection - Directs the Secretary to appoint a Director of Climate Protection to: (1) serve as the Secretary's representative for interagency and multilateral policy discussions of global climate change; (2) monitor domestic and international policies for their effects on the generation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases; and (3) have the authority to participate in departmental planning activities. Title II: Measures to Improve the Energy Efficiency of the United States Economy - Subtitle A: Research and Development - Amends the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989 (REEETCA) to authorize appropriations for energy efficiency research and development. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress triennially on energy efficiency policy options. Subtitle B: Industrial Energy Efficiency - Directs the Secretary to pursue a research and development program and enter into cost-shared joint ventures to improve efficiency in energy intensive industries (such as steel, chemicals, glass, paper, and aluminum). Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to develop, directly or by contract, a voluntary national program to devise standards for energy audits and the installation of insulation in industrial facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish (and report to the Congress on): (1) a reporting system for industry to supply annual energy use and energy intensity information; and (2) voluntary energy efficiency improvement targets for energy-intensive industries. Directs the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration to expand the scope and frequency of the data it collects on energy use in the United States; and (2) report annually to the Congress on such data. Subtitle C: Efficiency in Commercial and Residential Buildings and Other Products - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NECPA) to direct the Secretary to establish a program to provide technical assistance to States and localities in updating energy efficiency provisions of residential and commercial building codes. Requires each State or locality, by four years after enactment of this Act, to certify that it has reviewed and updated such codes so that they meet or exceed the requirements of the Council of American Building Officials' Model Energy Code (CABO-MEC). Requires each State or locality, by three years after such certification, to further certify that all new residential commercial buildings built during such period meet updated code requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to promulgate procedural guidelines for, and provide technical assistance to, States which adopt residential energy efficiency rating systems. Requires all residential buildings, by five years after enactment of this Act, to have numerical energy efficiency ratings. Requires disclosure to potential purchasers of such ratings. Makes any residential building which fails to meet CABO-MEC standards ineligible for Federal mortgage financing programs. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to advise the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development on energy standards for manufactured housing; and (2) test the performance and cost-effectiveness of manufactured housing built to such standards. Creates in the Treasury the State Energy Efficiency Project Fund to provide for grants to States to undertake energy efficiency projects in State- and locally-owned buildings. Requires an annual report to the Congress on Fund activities. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to provide financial and technical assistance to support the voluntary development of a national window rating program to establish energy efficiency ratings for windows and window systems. Requires the Secretary to establish such a system if no voluntary program succeeds within two years after enactment of this Act. Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prescribe labeling rules for such rating system, unless labeling is not technologically or economically feasible, or is not likely to help consumers make purchasing decisions. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to set minimum energy efficiency standards for certain types of lamps, appliance motors, commercial air conditioning and heating equipment, utility distribution transformers, showerheads, and commercial office equipment. Requires: (1) the FTC to prescribe labeling for such products; and (2) manufacturers to provide labeling meeting FTC requirements. Provides for enforcement of such labeling requirements. Directs the Secretary to establish, for a five-year period, a program to train and certify energy efficiency contractors. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Federal Energy Management - Amends NECPA to require all Federal agencies to install all energy conservation measures which are cost-effective on a ten-year life-cycle cost basis. Permits such agencies to accept gas or electric utility incentives designed to encourage cost-effective energy demand management or energy conservation. Requires the Secretary to develop a simplified method of contracting for shared energy savings contract services that will reduce the administrative effort and cost on the part of the government as well as the private customers. Directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration to analyze significant energy consuming products in the Federal Supply Schedule and develop and implement a method to identify products which offer cost-effective opportunities to reduce energy consumption and costs. Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines for the transfer of up to $1,000,000 per project to encourage Federal agencies to undertake energy efficiency projects in federally owned facilities. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such projects. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a financial bonus program to reward outstanding facility energy managers in Federal agencies. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the President to promulgate rules prohibiting each executive agency from acquiring any automobile with a fuel economy that is not greater than the average fuel economy for that particular model type for the previous model year. Directs the Secretary to submit to the Congress, and update every two years, a plan for demonstrating energy efficiency and renewable energy resource technologies in federally owned facilities. Amends REEETCA to require the Secretary to finance at least one joint venture for the demonstration of fuel cell technology in Federal facilities in order to accelerate commercial application of such cells. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to study and report on the use of Federal purchasing power to encourage the development of more energy efficient products. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Utility Energy Efficiency - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to direct States to require State-regulated utilities to employ a planning and selection process for new energy resources that evaluates the full range of existing and incremental resources in order to meet expected future demand at the lowest possible cost to society. Declares that the rates allowed to be charged by a State-regulated utility shall be such that: (1) the utility's investments in and expenditures for energy conservation, energy efficiency resources, and other demand-side management resources are at least as profitable as those for the construction of new generating equipment or the acquisition of other new supply-side resources; and (2) the utility is encouraged to make investments and expenditures for all cost-effective improvements in the energy efficiency of power generation and supply. States that the full cost of an energy resource shall include specified external costs associated with its use. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress and certify which States have complied with such requirements. Declares that, beginning four years after enactment of this Act, energy efficiency measures shall be considered as "qualifying facilities" eligible for certain PURPA programs in States that have not adopted procedures to meet the requirements of this Act. Directs the Western, Southwestern, and Southeastern Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) to ensure that they and their customer utilities acquire all cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. Requires each long-term firm power contract between a PMA and a customer utility to require the utility to develop and implement an energy efficiency and renewable energy program. Requires such PMAs to implement programs directly to acquire cost-effective conservation and renewable energy resources in the region in conjunction with such utility programs. Requires the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to: (1) develop a similar least-cost plan; and (2) execute similar long-term firm contracts with its customer utilities. Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to: (1) develop an office of energy efficiency to coordinate FERC's energy conservation and efficiency activities; and (2) establish procedures for expedited review of any interstate power sales conducted in accordance with the purchasing utility's least-cost energy plan. Subtitle F: Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Used Oil Energy Production Act of 1991 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require a producer or importer of 100,000 gallons or more per year of lubricating oil to increase annually the percentage (set by the Secretary) of recycled oil either: (1) by refining, rerefining, or reprocessing it into petroleum products (including fuels); or (2) by purchasing certain oil recycling credits. Exempts certain facilities from such requirements. Requires annual reports to specified congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to list or identify used oil as a hazardous waste for certain purposes. Subtitle G: Tire Recycling Incentives - Tire Recycling Incentives Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require tire producers or importers to increase annually the percentage (set by the EPA Administrator) of scrap tires recycled either: (1) by retreading or processing new tire products; or (2) by purchasing certain tire recycling credits. Requires the EPA Administrator to report to the Congress on scrap tire recycling. Sets forth civil penalties for violations of this subtitle. Directs the EPA Administrator to: (1) publish in the Federal Register minimum requirements for State scrap tire management and procedures under which such requirements shall be incorporated into State solid waste management plans; (2) provide for expedited review of State plans which include specified scrap tire recycling measures; and (3) establish standards to minimize health and environmental damages from the improper disposal and storage of tires. Requires such standards to provide for: (1) bans on the disposal of tires in land disposal facilities and on the intentional infliction of damage on tire casings to preclude casings from being used in retreading; (2) State inventories of scrap tire collection facilities, tire advisory boards, and scrap tire abatement plans; (3) agreements between facilities which distribute more than 1,000 tires annually and licensed tire haulers for the exclusive hauling of scrap tires by licensed haulers; and (4) prohibitions on the transportation of scrap tires by transporters without transportation identification numbers, with specified exceptions. Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for States for the issuance of permits to scrap tire collection facilities. Requires the Administrator to promulgate guidelines for States for facility emergency plans. Requires facility owners or operators to notify the State immediately in the event of an emergency with potential offsite impacts. Requires all regulated facilities to have appropriate financial responsibility or insurance to maintain the facility for at least five years after closure. Exempts specified persons from permit requirements. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations for the State to use to issue permits to scrap tire recycling facilities. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, together with the heads of agencies responsible for public lands or military installations, to implement a plan to remediate tire piles. Directs the Administrator to develop a guideline for procuring items that make use of scrap or used tires. Requires Federal departments, if the Administrator fails to promulgate such guideline, to procure items containing at least 75 percent of post-consumer scrap rubber from scrap tires if the rubber is available within a reasonable amount of time at a reasonable price and meets performance standards. Directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to publish standards to determine the life-cycle costs and benefits of items that make use of rubber from scrap or used tires as compared with items that make use of rubber from other sources. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to determine and report to the Congress on: (1) direct worker environmental health effects relating to asphalt made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; (2) the recyclability of asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires; and (3) the estimated life of existing asphalt road surfaces made from crumb rubber from scrap tires. Permits States to: (1) enter into consent agreements with owners and operators of scrap tire collection facilities for proper management and abatement of scrap tires; and (2) levy fines on facilities for noncompliance. Imposes fines on tire facilities and landfills for specified violations of this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle H: Insular Areas Energy Assistance - Authorizes the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to grant financial assistance to Insular area governments to carry out energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Measures to Promote the Use of Renewable Energy - Subtitle A: Renewable Energy Technology Transfers - Amends REEETCA to authorize appropriations for: (1) renewable energy research and development programs; (2) State conservation programs; (3) State research and applied technology transfer programs; (4) Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory information and publications; (5) four pilot programs to demonstrate model technology transfer and design assistance programs; (6) an advanced research and development information computer network; and (7) at least ten photovoltaic demonstration projects of at least ten megawatts in size to supply electric power to a power grid. Directs the Secretary to develop a Strategic Technology Transfer Implementation Plan for the national and international transfer of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology information. Amends the Federal Power Act and PURPA to: (1) make small biomass and hydropower production facilities specifically "eligible facilities" under such Act; and (2) define "alternative power production facility." Subtitle B: Amendments to the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT) to promote the development and application in lesser-developed countries of specified renewable energy and energy efficiency resource technologies. Authorizes CORECT to establish renewable energy industry outreach offices in the Pacific Rim and in the Caribbean Basin. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the range of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies available to meet the energy needs of lesser-developed countries. Authorizes appropriations. Earmarks funds to assist U.S. manufacturers of renewable energy and energy efficient technology in exporting their products to lesser-developed countries. Title IV: Measures to Promote the Use of Alternative Motor Vehicles and Fuels - Subtitle A: Alternative Transportation Fuels - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements and joint ventures to demonstrate the feasibility (including safety of specific vehicle design) of using natural gas or other alternative fuels for mass transit. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a program to provide financial assistance to encourage the development and commercialization of natural gas and other alternative fuel use in passenger fleets, light duty trucks, and heavy duty trucks. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Labor to establish a training and certification program for technicians who are responsible for vehicle installation of equipment that converts gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicles to the capability to run on natural gas or other alternative fuels. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques related to improving natural gas and other alternative fueled vehicle technology. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) institute an awareness program to educate potential purchasers of the costs, emission characteristics, and other features of alternative fuels; (2) report to the Congress on Federal purchasing policies which inhibit Federal purchase of alternative-fueled vehicles; (3) report to the Congress on how Federal, State, and local traffic control measures could promote the use of alternative-fueled vehicles; and (4) develop a plan for establishment of Federal and State trust funds to provide loans to convert vehicles to operate on alternative fuels or purchase alternative-fueled vehicles. Amends the Natural Gas Act to exclude the sale of natural gas as a vehicle fuel from the price regulation jurisdiction of FERC. Declares that a company shall not be considered a natural gas company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 solely because it distributes or sells natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel. Exempts from State regulation as a public utility (unless otherwise primarily engaged in business as such) any person or entity transporting or selling alternative vehicle fuels. Directs the Secretary to establish a fund to provide 50 percent of the cost of establishing offices of alternative fuels in State governments, as well as alternative fuel programs launched by such offices. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to study whether the use of alternative fuels in nonroad vehicles and engines would contribute substantially to reduced reliance on imported energy sources. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations requiring, where feasible, nonroad vehicles and engines to use alternative fuels if such study concludes that such use could reduce reliance on imported energy sources by ten percent nationwide within a ten-year period. Subtitle B: Alternative Fuel Fleet Requirement - Requires every person who owns, operates, leases, or otherwise controls a motor vehicle fleet of specified composition in a metropolitan statistical area of over 250,000 population which is also an EPA-classified nonattainment area to increase the percentage of alternative-fueled vehicles in such fleet by specified increments annually until it reaches 90 percent in the year 2000. Directs the Secretary to allocate credits to covered persons who exceed the required quota of alternative-fueled vehicles. Establishes administrative and civil penalties (together with appropriate enforcement procedures) for violations of this subtitle. Subtitle C: Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration - Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary to identify EPA-classified nonattainment areas in the United States in which the use of conventionally fueled vehicles contributes significantly to that nonattainment and in which the use of electric vehicles could contribute to attainment of applicable National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Directs the Secretary, after identifying such areas, to select manufacturers to sell and service electric vehicles in such areas. Requires: (1) the selected manufacturers to offer electric vehicle purchasers certain discounts; and (2) the Secretary to reimburse them the amount of such discounts. Requires annual reports to the Congress on such program. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Transportation and Energy Efficiency - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to establish average fuel economy standards for passenger automobiles and light trucks for model years 1996 and thereafter. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to modify such standards, according to a specified procedure. Requires the EPA Administrator to report annually to specified congressional committees on a study which: (1) examines the accuracy of fuel economy testing of passenger automobiles and light trucks; and (2) assesses the extent to which fuel economy deteriorates during the lifetime of such vehicles. Directs the Secretary of Energy to distribute at least 100 explanatory booklets each year to every dealer and additional numbers if requested. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide for a review and report to the Congress by the National Academy of Sciences on the current state of research and development in light truck fuel economy and passenger automobile fuel economy and an assessment of the potential for improving the fuel efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of passenger automobiles and light trucks. Requires the Secretary of Energy to study and report to the Congress on the future options for regulating the fuel efficiency of such vehicles beyond 2001. Provides for the judicial review of average fuel economy standards (including modifications thereof) established under this Act. Doubles the civil penalty for repeated violations of the fuel economy standard. Requires such penalty to be adjusted for inflation. Title VI: Measures to Displace Petroleum as a Vehicle Fuel - Replacement Fuels and Alternative Fuels Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to: (1) establish a program to promote the development and use of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels; and (2) prescribe the minimum percentage of domestic-produced replacement and alternative fuels on an energy equivalent basis, to be sold in calendar years 1996 and 1997 by any refiner for use as a motor fuel. Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to authorize the Secretary of Transportation, if the average fuel economy standard for passenger automobiles is increased above 27.5 miles per gallon for any model year, to increase the maximum increase in average fuel economy for a manufacturer attributable to dual energy and natural gas dual energy automobiles until alternative and replacement motor fuel sales indicate that such fuels are displacing conventional petroleum as a motor fuel. Sets forth civil penalties for violation of this Act and a procedure for appealing such penalties. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Measures to Promote the Use of Natural Gas - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to conduct a program of research, development, and demonstration of cofiring (of natural gas and pulverized coal), including gas reburn technologies (which reduce nitrogen oxide emissions), in electric utility units and large industrial boilers in order to determine optimal natural gas injection levels for both environmental and operational benefits. Provides for financial assistance to or cooperative agreements with public or private entities under such program. Sets the Federal shares of costs at 50 percent. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to expand the program for research, development, and demonstration for natural gas and electric heating and cooling technologies for residential and commercial buildings. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Act to direct FERC to develop an incentive formula for rates and charges for the sale or transportation of natural gas. Sets as the development goals for such formula: (1) allowing natural gas companies to earn a fair rate of return; (2) providing proper price signals to the marketplace; and (3) rewarding pipeline efficiency. Repeals FERC's authority to delay decision-making on ratemaking orders beyond the 30-day rehearing requirement without cause. Requires FERC to take final action on a rehearing application within 60 days after it is filed. Permits natural gas companies to file for FERC approval joint rates negotiated by them for the transportation of natural gas through each of their pipelines in sequence on the way to market. Exempts such rates from coverage under specified antitrust law. Declares that pipeline sales rates shall be presumed just and reasonable if workably competitive alternatives exist for such sales. Sets forth conditions under which new natural gas company services (where competitive, certified services already exist) do not need a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Amends the Natural Gas Act to provide automatic abandonment of the sales obligation upon contract expiration, subject to a pipeline's right to extend. Declares that any fixed charge paid by an interstate pipeline to a first seller for gas supply security shall be recoverable on an "as-billed basis" in the pipeline's demand charges, unless FERC determines, after a hearing, that the pipeline does not offer a reasonably competitive alternative to its sales service. Requires the Secretary to condition the approval of any natural gas import application upon FERC action to redress any anti-competitive impacts on U.S. gas producers, including competitive disparities resulting from different rate designs applied to the transportation of domestic gas and imported supplies. Directs the Secretary to expand and continue, through joint ventures, a program of research, development, and demonstration on techniques to increase: (1) intensive recovery of natural gas in place in discovered reservoirs or formations; and (2) economic recovery from nonconventional sources, including tight formation, Devonian shales, and geopressurized brines. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1968 to exempt from Natural Gas Act coverage and FERC jurisdiction the construction or operation of any facilities if the natural gas company constructing such facilities: (1) holds a certificate pursuant to which it has agreed to provide open access transportation service; and (2) the company agrees that such certificate shall apply to any transportation service through the new facilities. Requires all such facilities to be constructed in accordance with applicable environmental protection and safety laws and regulations, except the National Environmental Policy Act of 1978 (NEPA). Directs FERC to create an environmental review process under NEPA providing that pipeline construction projects which are confined to existing utility or highway corridors, and do not involve construction in high value wetland areas, shall be afforded a rebuttable presumption of no significant impact. Makes FERC the lead agency with primary authority for compliance with NEPA in any case where FERC authorization of the construction or operation of facilities or projects under the Natural Gas Act may be deemed a major Federal action. Amends the Natural Gas Act to grant FERC the power to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity in a two-phase process: (1) the first phase, which shall constitute a final order, involving all matters requiring FERC review and approval except environmental matters; and (2) the second phase, addressing required environmental matters only. Directs FERC to revise its environmental review procedures to allow pipelines to submit Environmental Assessments (EAs) at the time of filing for approval of proposed facilities, using general standards specified by FERC. Requires the revised procedures to presume EAs valid subject to FERC review for compliance with its own standards. Requires FERC to permit a certificate applicant to elect a contractor, consultant or other FERC designee to prepare the environmental impact statement at the applicant's expense. Requires FERC to develop procedures to ensure against conflicts of interest in such contracting. Directs the Office of Technology Assessment to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the global trends of production, usage, and transportation of natural gas and the ways in which these trends can affect domestic energy policy and the U.S. natural gas industry; and (2) State and locally imposed institutional and regulatory barriers to increase national natural gas usage.
Bill· HRH.R. 1543 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
Comprehensive Energy Policy Act of 1991 - Title I: Conservation and Energy Efficiency in the Electricity Sector - Subtitle A: Electricity and Utilities - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to declare that the rates charged by a State-regulated electric utility shall be such that its net income after implementation of cost effective conservation measures is at least as high as it would have been if such measures had not been implemented. Directs the Tennessee Valley Authority to use least-cost planning in its decision-making regarding increased electric power demand. Requires unregulated utilities to initiate or expand efforts to ensure that cost-effective energy efficiency is pursued by customer utilities. Sets forth energy efficiency guidelines for unregulated utilities. Requires unregulated utilities to submit an annual energy efficiency status report to the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary). Authorizes the Secretary to provide energy efficiency and conservation grants to State regulatory authorities upon their submission of an energy efficiency and conservation plan. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Residential, Commercial, and Federal Energy Use - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to direct the Secretary to establish a technical assistance program for States and localities to update the energy efficiency provisions of residential and commercial building codes. Mandates certification by each State that it has updated its residential and commercial building energy codes. Directs the Secretary to establish a task force to advise in the development of the energy efficiency update program. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to promulgate procedures that may be used by governmental entities and the private sector to assign efficiency ratings to residential buildings. Requires the Secretary to implement a technical assistance program utilizing energy efficiency rating systems based on such promulgated procedures. Directs the Secretary to report to the President and the Congress on such procedures and State actions to implement them. Authorizes appropriations. Sets a deadline by which each Federal agency must: (1) install energy conservation measures in Federal buildings with a specified payback period; (2) submit a list of projects to the Secretary which meet such payback criterion; and (3) have substantially completed at least 25 percent of such projects or as many as would account for 25 percent of total energy savings. Directs the Secretary to develop guidelines for the selection of energy service contractors by Federal agencies. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish the Federal Energy Efficiency Fund to provide grants to Federal agencies to enable them to meet energy conservation requirements in Federal buildings; and (2) report annually to the Congress on progress. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes Federal agency participation in energy conservation programs conducted by gas or electric utilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a financial bonus program to reward outstanding facility energy managers in Federal agencies; (2) study the monetary value of the environmental benefits resulting from energy efficiency improvements in Federal buildings; (3) establish a program to install in Federal buildings commercial energy efficiency technologies developed by entities receiving Federal financial research and development assistance; and (4) disseminate an evaluation of each energy efficiency technology included in the program. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator of the General Services Administration to: (1) issue guidelines to Federal Product Schedule users to encourage their purchase of preferred energy efficient models based upon a life-cycle-cost-benefit analysis; (2) provide assistance to manufacturers whose energy efficient products are not listed on the Federal Product Schedule to encourage inclusion of their products on it; and (3) submit a status report to the Congress on manufacturers on the Schedule. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Standards and Information - Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide financial assistance to support a voluntary national window rating program to develop energy ratings and labels for windows and window systems; (2) develop voluntary national standards for industrial insulation; (3) review and report to the Congress on energy audit procedures in commercial, agricultural, and industrial sectors; (4) establish test procedures and develop energy conservation standards for lamps, appliance motors, and small package air conditioners; (5) evaluate for the Congress the feasibility of requiring electric lights and utility distribution transformers to meet minimum energy efficiency levels (and the possible replacement of existing transformers); and (6) submit to the Congress a program plan for promoting the early introduction of high-efficiency appliances by utilities and appliance manufacturers. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exclude from gross income the value of energy and water conservation subsidies provided by a public utility to a customer; and (2) restore the tax credit for energy conservation expenditures on oil-heated homes. Title II: Conservation in the Transportation Sector - Subtitle A: Alternative Fuels - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation when amending fuel economy standards: (1) not to consider the fuel economy of alcohol-powered automobiles or natural gas-powered automobiles; but (2) to consider dual energy automobiles and natural gas dual energy automobiles to be operated exclusively on gasoline or diesel fuel. Sets forth acquisition and credit allocation guidelines for owners, operators and lessees of fleets of alternative fuel vehicles. Prescribes civil and administrative penalties for noncompliance with this Act. Subtitle B: Natural Gas as a Transportation Fuel - Amends the Natural Gas Act to state that its provisions shall not apply to a person solely because such person sells or transports natural gas for subsequent use as a fuel in transportation vehicles. Preempts any State regulation prior to January 1, 1989, with respect to natural gas transportation in closed containers, or the sale of natural gas for use as a fuel in transportation vehicles. Declares that a company shall not be considered a gas utility company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 solely because it distributes or sells natural gas as a fuel for transportation vehicles. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to define a "high-priority user" as any person who uses natural gas as a fuel in transportation vehicles. Subtitle C: Fuel Economy - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation to amend the average fuel economy standard to levels which the Secretary determines are the maximum feasible average fuel economy level for model years beginning after model year 1996. Extends from ten to 30 days the period during which the Secretary of Energy may provide the Secretary of Transportation with written comments on the level of proposed amended fuel economy standards. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to determine by rule an appropriate fuel economy credit to be given to electric vehicle manufacturers. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee the value of any qualified transportation benefit provided by the employer. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue regulations providing for appropriate credits for complying with the Clean Air Act to persons who operate programs for the scrapping of older, less fuel efficient vehicles. Directs the Secretary of Energy to study whether consumers use automotive fuel octane ratings higher than needed to operate their vehicles, and, if so, to take appropriate consumer education steps to reduce the excess use of premium gasoline. Declares certain conservation requirements under the Clean Air Act applicable to all employers of 100 or more persons in standard metropolitan statistical areas of 250,000 or more people. Declares it is U.S. policy that by 2000 at least ten percent of the Nation's vehicle transportation needs shall be served by domestic non-petroleum fuels. Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish an electric vehicle research and development grant program to fund joint venture demonstrations of electric vehicles, and to develop an electric vehicle infrastructure. Authorizes appropriations. Declares that for purposes of the Natural Gas Act, vehicular natural gas, including gas sold wholesale or transported by persons with service area determinations, shall be deemed to be ultimately consumed in the State in which physical delivery of a natural gas sale occurs, whether or not physical combustion occurs in another State. Directs the Administrator of EPA to approve use of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT) in unleaded gasoline in amounts up to .03125 grams per gallon. Title III: Renewable Energy Sources - Subtitle A: PURPA Size Cap and Co-Firing Reform - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prescribe rules requiring electric utilities to offer to purchase electric capacity from alternative power production facilities only through competitive acquisition. Subjects alternative power production facilities to current cogeneration and small power production rules. Subtitle B: Hydroelectric Power Regulatory Reform - Amends the Federal Power Act to direct FERC to require hydroelectric power project license applicants to consult with certain Federal and State agencies and Indian tribes and file a plan and schedule for conducting studies as part of the licensing process. Sets forth guidelines for additional licensing procedures. Directs FERC to coordinate a single, consolidated licensing review (including review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) of a hydropower project license application by all interested Federal and State agencies and Indian tribes. Removes from FERC jurisdiction hydropower projects with installed capacities of five megawatts or less that have not received a license by the date of enactment of this Act. Permits such projects with licenses to petition for their surrender. Subtitle C: Credit for Electricity Generated Using Solar, Wind, or Geothermal Energy - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax credit for electricity generated using solar, wind, or geothermal energy (renewable electricity generating credit). Extends the period allowing existing solar and geothermal energy credits. Subtitle D: Study of Tax and Rate Treatment of Renewable Energy Projects - Directs the Secretary of Energy to study and report to the Congress on the tax and rate treatment of renewable energy projects. Subtitle E: Encouragement of Energy Recovery From Waste - Requires each Federal agency to adopt policies and institute regulatory changes to encourage and remove regulatory obstacles to the burning of high-BTU secondary materials as a fuel substitute. Title IV: Electric Power - Subtitle A: Public Utility Holding Company Act Reform - Sets forth regulatory guidelines for the treatment of public utility holding companies as exempt wholesale generators. Subtitle B: Miscellaneous - Amends the Federal Power Act to mandate that FERC, as a prerequisite to approving a rate or charge filed as the result of an agreement between a public utility and a wholesale seller, require the purchasing utility to certify that the charge conforms to its least-cost planning as approved by a regulatory authority, or, if no such plan exists, that the charge is less than, or equal to, the utility's avoided cost. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Energy for electronic switching research. Requires the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on legislative and regulatory reforms and incentives to provide improved electric transmission transfer capability between the councils comprising the North American Electric Reliability Council. Title V: Natural Gas Regulatory Reform - Directs FERC to: (1) issue regulations to expedite pipeline certifications; and (2) report to certain congressional committees on recommended reforms to facilitate increased deliverability of natural gas to consumers. Amends the Natural Gas Act to provide that, for purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, a FERC certificate of public convenience and necessity for a natural gas facility construction or extension is the only Federal action requiring a detailed environmental impact statement. Directs FERC to permit natural gas facility construction on operation applicants to prepare such statements. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to authorize an interstate pipeline to construct facilities incidental to transportation service upon 30 days notice to the affected State commission. Amends the Natural Gas Act to declare that a natural gas transportation rate mutually agreed-upon by a natural-gas company and the customer is deemed just and reasonable and in compliance with this Act. Sets forth expedited certification procedures for natural gas transportation and related facilities construction. Provides for the construction and operation of natural gas transportation facilities with an option not to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity (thus taking such facility out of the jurisdiction of the Act). Sets forth deadlines for a rehearing under the Natural Gas Act. Declares that facilities repair or replacement does not require a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Sets forth certification procedures for priority natural gas facility. Title VI: Oil and Gas Production - Subtitle A: Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Leasing - Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Leasing Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program for the Coastal Plain Study Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. States that this Act shall be considered the primary land management authorization for all exploration and production activities on the Coastal Plain. Provides that no land management review shall be required except as specifically authorized by this Act. Mandates that all receipts from sales, rentals, bonuses, and royalties on leases under this Act be deposited into the Treasury. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations to ensure that oil and gas exploration and transportation activities are conducted to achieve the reasonable protection of animal and environmental resources (including subsistence uses of the Coastal Plain). States that the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment," prepared by the Secretary, satisfies all legal requirements for such promulgation and that no further studies or assessments shall be required. Directs the Secretary to provide impact aid and other assistance to communities on the North Slope and elsewhere in Alaska in order to ensure the public services needed to accommodate oil and gas production and transportation activities on the Coastal Plain. Subtitle B: Tax Incentives for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to allow as an income tax credit 15 percent of: (1) any qualified investment in crude oil and natural gas exploration activities; and (2) the qualified cost of each barrel of eligible crude oil (marginal production credit). Declares that intangible drilling and development costs with respect to oil and gas wells shall also apply to surface casting costs and geological and geophysical costs for ascertaining the existence, location, extent or quality of domestic oil or gas deposits (thus qualifying them for deduction). Repeals the taxable income limitation on oil and gas well depletion allowances. Defines tar sands for IRC purposes. Removes from the alternative minimum tax purview oil and gas well depletion allowances and intangible drilling costs. Declares that the tax treatment with respect to mineral sharing arrangements shall be determined without regard to Revenue Ruling 77-176. Subtitle C: Oil Pipeline Deregulation - Oil Pipeline Regulatory Reform Act - Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to terminate FERC jurisdiction over oil and other pipelines except the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Authorizes the Attorney General to petition the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) for an adjudication of whether Commission rate regulation of an existing pipeline in any market is in the public interest. Prescribes adjudication guidelines. Provides that pipeline rates for service to markets which are not identified in a mandatory published adjudications list will no longer be subject to FERC regulatory jurisdiction. Prescribes adjudication guidelines under which the Secretary shall find that regulation of a pipeline is in the public interest only if it is demonstrated that such regulation is necessary to constrain the exercise of substantial market power in the supply and demand of products transported by the pipeline in that market. States that new pipelines shall not be subject to existing Commission regulatory jurisdiction or rate regulation, but shall be subject to common carrier regulation under such Act. States that Commission rate regulation shall be prospective only. Prohibits terminated Commission regulatory jurisdiction from reverting to any other Federal agency. Confers exclusive, original jurisdiction over any petition for judicial review upon the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Precludes from such judicial review any action of the Attorney General under this Act, including adjudication petitions. Outlines the parameters within which pipelines are required to operate as common carriers. Requires pipelines to file terms of carriage schedules (except carriage rates) with the Commission. Sets forth guidelines for maximum rates, on a market by market basis, subject to price cap regulation based on base rates and cumulative changes in a Competitive Pipeline Price Index. Precludes a pipeline from conditioning its services upon entering into other transactions or on taking or refraining from any action. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress regarding the results of this Act five years after the conclusion of all adjudications. Retains the applicability of antitrust laws to pipeline transportation of crude oil or refined oil products. Subtitle D: Leasing of Naval Petroleum Reserve - Naval Petroleum Reserve Leasing Act - Authorizes the President to lease Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1 (California) if it is not necessary for national defense purposes. Sets forth leasing and antitrust guidelines. Mandates the use of competitive leasing procedures, minimum royalty payments, and crude oil set asides for sale to small refiners by Reserve lessees. Authorizes the President to take certain steps to arrange and conduct a leasing action. Authorizes the President to acquire privately owned lands or physical improvements within a Naval Petroleum Reserve if a lease of Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1 cannot be arranged. Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to authorize the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to store within the Strategic Petroleum Reserve a Defense Petroleum Inventory of petroleum products (in addition to any other acquisition and storage for such Reserve required by law). Directs the Secretary to obligate the United States share of funds available in the Naval Petroleum Reserve Lease Proceeds Special Account (created by this Act) for the acquisition of 10,000,000 barrels of petroleum products for the Defense Petroleum Inventory. Declares that upon request of the Secretary of Defense: (1) petroleum products acquired for or dedicated to the Defense Petroleum Inventory shall be drawn down and distributed by the Secretary of Energy for the Department of Defense for use, sale, or exchange; and (2) the Secretary of Energy shall replace in the Defense Petroleum Inventory those petroleum products drawn down on behalf of the Department of Defense. Requires the Department of Defense to reimburse the Department of Energy for services rendered under this Act. Establishes the Naval Petroleum Reserve Lease Proceeds Special Account in the Treasury to implement this Act. Funds such Special Account with amounts realized from the lease of any United States interest in Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1. Sets forth a payment scheme under which lease proceeds shall be used to make payments to the State of California. Declares that: (1) the authority to lease under this Act extends to specified sections within Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 1; and (2) this Act does not affect the withdrawal of lands provided for in certain school land grants. Subtitle E: Outer Continental Shelf Local Impact Assistance - Coastal State and Community Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Act - Establishes the Coastal State and Community Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Fund whose revenues shall be paid to and used by coastal States, especially for subdivisions socially or economically impacted by mineral development on the Outer Continental Shelf. Subtitle F: Western Hemisphere Energy Policy - Directs the President to report to the Congress on actions taken to implement U.S. policy to focus attention in trade negotiations and international consultations on investment policies that expand worldwide production capacity and diversity of oil suppliers. Title VII: Coal and Coal Technology - Directs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) conduct (and report annually to the Congress regarding) an advanced coal-based technologies research and development program; and (2) submit to the Congress a domestic coal export expansion plan. Establishes the Clean Coal Technology Export Coordinating Council to: (1) expand the export and use of clean coal technologies with an emphasis on their use in lesser developed countries; and (2) provide certain congressional committees with a plan detailing actions to be taken to address specified recommendations of the Secretary. Requires the Secretary to: (1) submit a status report to the Congress on commercialization of coal fuel mixtures; and (2) conduct a research and demonstration program for utilizing "ultra-clean coal-water slurry" in diesel locomotive engines. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to restore investment credits for pollution devices required by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Title VIII: Nuclear - Nuclear Standardization and Safety Reform Act of 1991 - Subtitle A: Licensing Reform - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to issue a combined construction and operating license to an applicant after holding a public hearing and determining that facility construction and operation will comply with NRC rules and regulations. Directs the NRC to propose implementing regulations regarding combined license applications. Subtitle B: Amendment of PUHCA - Amends the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) to require the Securities and Exchange Commission to exempt a public utility holding company from coverage under such Act if it controls utility assets pursuant to an NRC-approved management agreement and otherwise meets at least one of the other criteria for exemption. Permits the acquisition of securities of a public utility company controlling utility assets by an affiliate or an affiliate of another public utility or holding company if the control is pursuant to such an agreement. Subtitle C: Fast Flux Test Facility - Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a research, development, and production center known as the "Research Reactor User Complex" (RRC) at the Hanford Reservation in Richland, Washington. Mandates that a contractor under contract with the Department of Energy to operate the RRC maintain and operate the Fast Flux Test Facility for the Department's account. Establishes the "RRC Fund" from which the Secretary may make expenditures to offset the cost of operating the RRC. Subtitle D: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this title.
Bill· HRH.R. 1588 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
Economic Development Loan Assistance Demonstration Program Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a demonstration program to encourage economic development in five enterprise zones through grants to community development corporations for reducing interest rates on economic development loans. Authorizes specified appropriations to carry out such program in FY 1991 through 1993.
Bill· HRH.R. 1560 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
Solar Energy and Energy Conservation Bank Reestablishment Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to reestablish the Solar Energy and Energy Conservation Bank. Vests such Bank with powers provided under specified laws. Amends the Solar Energy and Energy Conservation Bank Act to authorize appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1566 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the offset for rental real estate activities under passive activity rules to increase the low-income housing credit and the rehabilitation credit under such rules.
Bill· SS. 713 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991
Financial Institutions Safety and Consumer Choice Act of 1991 - Title I: Federal Deposit Insurance Reform - Subtitle A: Federal Deposit Insurance Reform - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to exclude from the meaning of "insured deposit": (1) any deposits obtained from a deposit broker, with certain exceptions; and (2) any depository institution investment contracts (BICs) with an employee benefit plan. Limits the amount of an insured deposit for any deposit to $100,000 per insured depository institution. Prohibits the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from providing insurance coverage on a pro-rata or pass-through basis to an employee benefit plan participant or beneficiary, with specified exceptions. States that certain retirement accounts under which participants and beneficiaries have the right to direct the investment assets held on their behalf by the plan will be insured in an aggregate amount up to $100,000 per participant per insured depository institution. (Terminates separate insurance for each account.) Limits the insurance coverage of trust funds to $100,000 per trust estate held on deposit by a trustee institution under an irrevocable trust. Requires the FDIC to study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of implementing a deposit insurance system based upon systemwide coverage limitations for each depositor. Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board), as part of such feasibility study, to provide the FDIC with the results of a survey of the ownership of deposits held by individuals, including the dollar amount and type of deposit accounts held, and the type of financial institution in which they are held. Prohibits an insured depository institution which does not meet applicable minimum capital requirements, as well as its employees, from soliciting deposits by offering interest rates significantly higher than the prevailing rates offered by other insured depository institutions in such institution's normal market areas. Directs the FDIC to only provide assistance to any insured depository institution in such amounts as are necessary to satisfy its obligations to the institution's insured depositors at the least cost to the affected deposit insurance fund. Directs the FDIC to provide assistance to satisfy, in whole or in part, the institution's liability to its uninsured depositors if that would constitute the least-cost method of resolving the depository institution. States that upon a joint determination by the Board and the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) that the FDIC cannot resolve an insured depository institution without causing a severe adverse impact upon the financial system, they shall direct the FDIC to provide assistance to satisfy such institution's liability to its depositors (or take whatever action is necessary to lessen the risk posed by such institution). Requires the FDIC Board of Directors to establish a risk-based assessment system for insured depository institutions based upon categories of risk. Prohibits an insured State bank from engaging as principal in any activity not permissible for a national bank unless: (1) the FDIC has determined that the activity poses no significant risk to the affected deposit insurance fund; and (2) the State bank is in compliance with federally prescribed capital standards. Prohibits equity investments by State banks which are impermissible for national banks (except for the equity interests in a subsidiary of which the State bank is a majority owner). Prohibits subsidiaries of insured State banks from engaging as principal in any type of activity that is impermissible for the subsidiary of a national bank unless: (1) the FDIC has determined that such activity poses no significant risk to the affected deposit insurance fund; and (2) the bank is in compliance with the minimum federally prescribed capital standards. Prohibits an insured State bank subsidiary from engaging in securities or insurance underwriting except to the extent such activities are permissible for national banks. Amends the Federal Reserve Act to authorize the Board to conduct annual on-site examinations of depository institutions under its jurisdiction (including their affiliates). Mandates that: (1) the appropriate Federal banking agencies and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly develop a supplemental disclosure method by which banks may include in their mandatory financial reports to such agencies the fair market value of assets and liabilities; (2) each insured bank provide to the appropriate Federal banking agency copies of audit reports; and (3) the appropriate Federal banking agencies develop a system to monitor interest rate risk, and adjust risk-based capital standards to reflect interest rate risk. Amends the Federal Credit Union Act to require as part of a credit union's insurance application that the applicant agree to make initial capitalization payments to the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund according to prescribed guidelines, in addition to an annual insurance premium. Subtitle B: Reinsurance Demonstration Project - Directs the FDIC to establish a reinsurance demonstration project to determine the feasibility of developing a private reinsurance system. Establishes the Reinsurance Demonstration Project Committee to analyze, review, and report to the Congress the results of the reinsurance demonstration project. Title II: Financial Services Modernization - Subtitle A: Financial Services Holding Companies - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act to define financial services holding companies and diversified holding companies. Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to specify additional financial entities prohibited from acquiring control or ownership of certain financial services organizations. Prohibits any insured depository institution (except foreign banks with insured branches in the United States) from becoming a financial services holding company or a diversified holding company. Sets forth expedited procedures for acquisition of additional banks by zone one financial services holding companies. Sets forth guidelines for acquisitions involving diversified holding companies. Provides that financial services holding companies (except certain foreign banks) cannot be banks. Modifies the guidelines for ownership interests in nonbanking organizations. Replaces the current "closely related" standard for permissible activities with a "financial nature" standard. Sets forth the permissible parameters for insurance and securities affiliates. Sets a deadline by which a financial services holding company must notify the appropriate Federal banking agency with respect to its ownership or control of the shares of a company engaged in qualified financial activities. Outlines permissible nonbanking activities and acquisitions for zone one financial services holding companies. Sets forth additional capital requirements for a financial services holding company that intends to engage in, or acquire, or retain the shares of a company engaged in a new financial activity. Sets forth certain restrictions on the activities of financial services holding companies. Prescribes guidelines for acquisition activities by diversified holding companies and their affiliates. Sets forth Federal administrative procedures for financial services holding companies and diversified holding companies (including their subsidiaries and affiliates). Prohibits the States from preventing or impeding certain acquisition or affiliation activities undertaken by: (1) insured depository institutions; (2) diversified holding companies; and (3) financial services holding companies. Amends the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970 to prohibit a financial services holding company or a diversified holding company from: (1) engaging in certain tying arrangements; or (2) transacting insider loans. Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to exempt from its coverage financial services holding companies and diversified holding companies. Subtitle B: Financial Activities of National Banks - Amends the Banking Act of 1933 to provide that its limitations and restrictions with respect to certain securities activities conducted by a national bank for its own account shall not apply to the distribution of securities issued by investment companies. Amends the Banking Act of 1933 to repeal the proscription against: (1) the affiliation of member banks with organizations engaged principally in securities; and (2) member bank personnel serving simultaneously as employees or officers of securities organizations. Authorizes national banking associations located in certain small-sized population areas to sell insurance to residents of the State in which the association is located. Amends the Federal Reserve Act to: (1) set forth conditions under which a loan or extension of credit by a member bank shall not be deemed to be made to an affiliate; (2) require prior notification to the appropriate Federal banking agency before a financial services holding company may permit an insured depository institution under its control to engage in a covered transaction which exceeds five percent of its capital stock and surplus; and (3) revise definitions related to affiliates of member banks. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to require customer disclosure by an insured depository institution with respect to the non-insured status of its non-banking products. Subtitle C: Non-Banking Activities of Foreign Banks in the United States - Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to set forth circumstances under which a foreign bank that maintains a branch or agency in the United States (or owns or controls a commercial lending company organized under State law) shall be subject to the provisions of this Act. Subtitle D: Amendments to the Securities Acts - Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to: (1) subject to its provisions certain bank-issued securities and certain savings association-issued securities; (2) exempt from its provisions certain bank and savings association instruments functioning as securities in a secured transaction; (3) exempt from its provisions equity securities transactions with respect to bank acquisition by a financial services holding company, or acquisition of a financial services holding company by a diversified holding company. Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to: (1) revise definitions relating to bank broker activities and bank dealer activities; (2) prohibit any bank from acting as broker or dealer except in the course of an exclusively intrastate business; and (3) prohibit certain securities transactions, with specified exceptions, taking place on bank premises which are commonly accessible to the general public for deposit-making purposes. Repeals the Federal agency administration provisions with respect to disclosure requirements for securities issued by insured depository institutions. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to mandate that the custody of investment company assets or unit investment trusts by affiliates of either the registered management company or the registered unit investment trust must be in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules prescribed for the protection of investors. Prohibits a registered investment company from having a majority of its board of directors consisting of personnel of any one bank and its subsidiaries, or any one financial services holding company and its affiliates and subsidiaries. Grants the SEC additional rulemaking authority regarding bank-affiliated mutual funds. Prohibits registered investment company securities from being represented as: (1) guaranteed, sponsored, recommended or approved by any Federal agency; (2) insured by the FDIC; or (3) guaranteed or an obligation of any bank or insured institution. Provides that any person issuing or selling securities of an investment company whose name is similar to that of a bank may be required to disclose prominently that the investment company and its securities are neither FDIC-insured, nor guaranteed by an affiliated bank or insured institution, nor otherwise an obligation of such bank or insured institution. Authorizes the SEC to determine by order that use of a name similar to a bank is deceptive and misleading, and to take action accordingly. Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to include within the meaning of "investment adviser" any bank or financial services holding company which acts an investment adviser to a registered investment company (unless it performs such services through a separately identifiable division). Requires the SEC to give notice to the appropriate Federal banking agency prior to initiating any investigative or enforcement proceedings against a financial services holding company bank, or bank division acting as registered investment adviser. Amends the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Investment Company Act of 1940 to exempt certain bank common trust funds from their coverage. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the transfer to a regulated investment company of all or substantially all of the assets of a common trust fund shall not result in a gain or loss to the common trust fund participants if the transfer is the result of a merger, conversion, reorganization, transfer or similar transaction. (Thus, if a bank were to transfer a common trust fund to a mutual fund, such transfer per se would not be considered a taxable event for the fund participants.) Directs the SEC to examine and report to the Congress on the appropriate treatment of: (1) bank collective investment funds and separate accounts under the securities laws and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); and (2) common trust funds under the securities laws. Subtitle E: Prompt Corrective Action - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to set forth: (1) definitional guidelines (including capital zones and critical capital level); and (2) permissible activities for banks within various capital zones (including financial services holding companies). Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the Bank Conservation Act, the Federal Reserve Act, and the Home Owners' Loan Act to set forth additional grounds for appointing conservators and receivers for specified undercapitalized depository institutions (as defined by their capital zones under this Act). Subtitle F: Nationwide Banking and Branching - Amends the Financial Services Holding Company Act to authorize nationwide banking, notwithstanding certain State laws, by: (1) a diversified holding company; (2) a financial services holding company; or (3) a foreign bank. Amends Federal banking law to permit a national banking association to establish and operate new branches at an initial location within any State in which a financial services holding company or State bank having the same home State (or chartered in the same home State as such association) could establish a branch. Provides for the interstate consolidation or merger of national banks, or State banks with national banks, and for the subsequent retention of pre-existing branches subject to regulatory approval. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prohibit State proscription against interstate branching by State banks. Permits a host State to determine compliance by interstate branches with its regulations, and to coordinate regulatory supervision with other State bank authorities regarding branches of State-chartered banks. Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to provide that during the three-year period starting on the date of enactment of this Act the Director may authorize foreign banks to establish and operate federally-chartered branches in the United States if such establishment is not prohibited by the law of the relevant State. Revises the limitations placed upon interstate branching by foreign banks to more closely conform with the limitations placed upon interstate branching by domestic banks. Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to authorize approval by the appropriate Federal banking agency for a savings and loan holding company or a foreign bank to acquire interstate interests in savings associations. Permits the consummation of such approved acquisitions even though State law would otherwise prohibit or limit them. Title III: Regulatory Restructuring - Subtitle A: Office of Depository Institution Supervision - Establishes in the Department of the Treasury the Office of Depository Institutions Supervision (the Office) to be headed by a Director to: (1) grant or deny charters or other applications; (2) conduct examinations of banking entities within its purview; (3) appoint conservators or receivers for depository institutions; and (4) render a final decision in a contested administrative enforcement proceeding. Authorizes the Director to impose and collect from entities for which the Director is the appropriate Federal banking agency assessments, fees, and other user charges to meet the full cost of the Federal services provided. Subtitle B: Interim Provisions; Transfer of Functions, Personnel, and Property - Outlines interim administrative functions of the Office prior to the date that the functions of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision are transferred to it. Abolishes the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Outlines transfer and interim provisions. Subtitle C: Regulatory and Supervisory Responsibility - Transfers to the Office all powers and duties vested in the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Comptroller of the Currency. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to designate the institutions for which the appropriate Federal banking agency is either: (1) the Director of the Office of Depository Institutions Supervision; or (2) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Sets forth guidelines to determine the appropriate Federal banking agency for foreign banks and multiple bank subsidiaries. Requires the Director to conduct an annual on-site examination of each depository institution and branch of a foreign bank under his or her purview, with specified exceptions. Authorizes the Director to examine a depository institution and its affiliate in order to disclose fully their relationship and its effect upon the depository institution. Provides for civil money penalties for affiliates who refuse to cooperate with authorized examinations. Amends Federal law to set forth circumstances under which the Director may appoint a receiver for a national banking association. Subtitle D: Transfer of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Authority - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to subject financial services holding companies and their subsidiaries to certain of its enforcement proceedings. Repeals the proscription against participation by State nonmember insured banks in lotteries and related activities. Makes conforming amendments to the Federal Reserve Act. Directs the Chairman of the Board of the FDIC and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to determine jointly which FDIC employees are necessary to FDIC functions transferred to the Federal Reserve System by this Act, and to transfer such employees accordingly. Outlines the employee transfer program. Subtitle E: Litigation Authority - Authorizes the Director, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the FDIC and the National Credit Union Administration to conduct litigation, subject to the prior consent and general direction and control of the Attorney General. Subtitle F: Reorganization of Boards of Directors - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the Federal Credit Union Act to make conforming amendments to organizational provisions regarding their respective boards of directors. Subtitle G: Savings Provisions for the Transfer of Authority from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to the Director - Sets forth savings provisions for the transfer of authority from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to the Director of the Office of Depository Institutions Supervision. Title IV: Bank Insurance Fund Recapitalization - Subtitle A: - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Borrowing - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to authorize the FDIC to borrow funds from any Federal Reserve bank to: (1) maintain or improve the liquidity of BIF; or (2) provide financial assistance with respect to an insured depository institution or its receivership or conservatorship. Sets a ceiling upon FDIC outstanding corporate debt from all Federal Reserve banks at any one time. Amends the Federal Reserve Act to authorize any Federal Reserve bank to make advances to the FDIC upon its request, subject to limitations set by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Subtitle B: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Assessments - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to specify the maximum aggregate assessment to be charged semiannually to Bank Insurance Fund members. Grants the FDIC authority to make estimates and projections for the purpose of computing assessment rates and aggregate assessment target amounts. Authorizes the FDIC to pay interest and principal on its outstanding debt to a Federal Reserve bank from the semiannual BIF assessments. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Subtitle A: Payment System Risk Reduction - Outlines the netting procedures to be used by financial institutions engaged in transactions with one another directly or through the auspices of financial institutions' clearing organization. Precludes any judicial or administrative proceeding from delaying or limiting the application of such netting procedures. Subtitle B: Right to Financial Privacy Act Amendments - Amends the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 to permit the transfer of financial records of a financial institution by a Federal agency to the Attorney General for civil actions under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, or for forfeiture under Federal criminal law. Provides that the transferring agency shall not be deemed to have waived any privilege applicable to such records. Subtitle C: Reduction in Regulatory Burden - Amends the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to repeal the exemption from certain mortgage loan information disclosure requirements granted to depository institutions with $30,000,000 or less in assets. Raises the general disclosure exemption threshold for depository institutions from $10,000,000 to $50,000,000 or less in assets, adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury and the head of each appropriate Federal banking agency to review and report to the Congress on all laws and regulations under their jurisdiction to determine whether they: (1) adversely affect the capital position and profitability of insured depository institutions; and (2) impose duplicative paperwork and compliance requirements. Prohibits an appropriate Federal banking agency from requiring any institution under its jurisdiction to prepare or maintain data to comply with the Fair Housing Act, other than the data prescribed pursuant to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Subtitles D: Expedited Funds Availability - Amends the Expedited Funds Availability Act with respect to the frequency of notices when funds will be held beyond statutory schedules to provide that no further notice is required after the required notice has been furnished until one year later or such other time as the exception for which the notice was provided ceases to apply, whichever is earlier. Subtitle E: Final Settlement Payment Procedure - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to authorize the FDIC as conservator or receiver of an insured insolvent institution to: (1) settle all uninsured and unsecured claims on the receivership with a final settlement payment which shall constitute full payment and disposition of its obligations to the claimants; and (2) undertake any supervisory actions and promulgate regulations necessary to implement its final settlement payment functions. Title VI: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Subtitle A: Severability; Transition References - Sets forth severability and transition provisions. Subtitle B: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Makes technical and conforming amendments to specified Federal Acts. Subtitle C: Repeal of Obsolete Provisions of Law - Repeals specified provisions of Federal law. Subtitle D: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of amendments made by this title.
Bill· HRH.R. 1502 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991
Violence Against Women Act of 1991 - Title I: Safe Streets for Women - Safe Streets for Women Act of 1991 - Subtitle A: Mandatory Restitution, Treatment, and Rehabilitation for Sex Offenses - Requires that a court order restitution, treatment, and rehabilitation for violations of Federal sexual abuse laws, including participation in a psychotherapeutic treatment program by a licensed therapist for specified persons who committed sexual or sexual-related offenses. Specifies that: (1) the treatment program shall be designed to rehabilitate the affected person and to deter such person from committing a sexual offense after being released from the institution; and (2) treatment for a substance abuse-related condition shall be made available to such person in addition to, but not as a substitute for, counseling under such program. Sets forth provisions with respect to the period of treatment, the requirement of a complete forensic psychological assessment prior to the commencement of the treatment program, termination of treatment, supplemental chemical treatment (but the affected person may refuse to participate, or continue to participate, in supplementary chemical treatment), and the responsibilities of the Attorney General (such as contracting for treatment and documenting subsequent criminal sexual abuse). Directs the Attorney General to establish an advisory committee on therapeutic treatment for sex offenders. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to Reduce Violent Crime Against Women - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance to make grants to areas of high intensity crime against women. Requires that the grants be used for personnel, training, technical assistance, data collection, and other equipment for the more widespread apprehension, prosecution, and adjudication of persons committing violent crimes against women. Authorizes the Director to make grants to States, for use by States and their subdivisions, to be used for the same purposes as the high intensity area grants and to reduce the rate of violent crimes against women. Authorizes the Director to make general grants to: (1) States to reduce violent crimes against women; and (2) Indian tribes to reduce violent crimes against women in Indian country. Authorizes the Director, in addition to the grants under this subtitle, to direct any Federal agency, with or without reimbursement, to use its authorities and resources in support of State and local assistance efforts. Authorizes appropriations. Bars any State or other grantee (recipient) from receiving funds under this title unless such recipient incurs the full cost of forensic medical exams for victims of sexual assault when such exams are required under this title. Specifies that a recipient does not incur the full medical cost of such exams if it chooses to reimburse the victim after the fact unless the reimbursement program waives any minimum loss or deductible requirement, provides victim reimbursement within a reasonable time (90 days), permits applications for reimbursement within one year from the date of the exam, and provides information to all subjects of such exams about how to obtain reimbursement. Subtitle C: Safety for Women in Public Transit and Public Parks - Directs the Secretary of Transportation, from funds authorized under existing provisions, to make capital grants for the prevention of crime and to increase security in existing and future public transportation systems. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and loans to States and local public bodies to increase the safety of public transportation through lighting, camera surveillance, security phones, or other projects. Sets the Federal share of each project at 90 percent of the net cost. Directs the Secretary to provide grants and loans to study ways to reduce violent crimes against women in public transit through better design or operation of public transit systems. Amends the National Park System Improvements in Administration Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to reduce violent crime in the National Park System (NPS). Provides for the compilation of a list of areas within the NPS with the highest rates of violent crime. Allows funds to be used, around public parks and recreation areas, for increasing lighting, providing emergency phone lines, increasing security or law enforcement personnel, and any other project to increase security and safety. Amends the Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of the Interior to provide grants for capital improvements and other measures to increase safety in public parks and recreation areas. Subtitle D: National Commission on Violent Crime Against Women - Establishes the National Commission on Violent Crime Against Women to promote a national policy on violent crime against women and to make recommendations on reducing such crime. Authorizes appropriations. Terminates the Commission after submission of its final report, subject to extension by the President for up to one more year. Subtitle E: New Evidentiary Rules - Amends the Federal Rules of Evidence to exclude, notwithstanding any other provision of law and in criminal cases other than a sex offense case, reputation or opinion evidence of the past sexual behavior of a victim from admission into evidence. Allows other types of evidence of a victim's past sexual behavior in accordance with specified procedures if its probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. Makes reputation or opinion evidence of the plaintiff's past sexual behavior, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, inadmissible in a civil action involving allegations of actionable sexual misconduct. Makes other types of evidence of a plaintiff's past sexual behavior admissible in accordance with specified procedures if its probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. Defines actionable sexual misconduct to include sex harassment or discrimination claims under title VII (Equal Employment Opportunity) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and gender bias claims under title III of this Act. Makes evidentiary rulings made under specified Federal Rules of Evidence relating to sex offense cases and the relevance of a victim's past behavior subject to interlocutory appeal by the Government or by the alleged victim. Allows the alleged victim to waive those rules if the prosecution seeks to offer evidence of prior sexual history. Makes evidence of an alleged victim's clothing, notwithstanding any other provision of law and in a criminal case under Federal laws relating to sexual abuse, inadmissible to show the victim incited or invited the offense. Subtitle F: Assistance to Victims of Sexual Assault - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to allow States to use amounts transferred by the State under block grant provisions for rape prevention and education programs conducted by rape crisis centers or similar nongovernmental nonprofit entities. Authorizes appropriations. Removes a requirement that a minimum amount from the block grants under the PHSA be allotted to States on the basis of population. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to make grants for research and service demonstration projects to develop and evaluate techniques for lowering the overall incidence of rape by 20 percent by the year 2000 and for reducing the trauma and long-term impact of rape. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Safe Homes for Women - Safe Homes for Women Act - Subtitle A: Interstate Enforcement - Provides for a Federal term of imprisonment or fine, in addition to any State penalties, for any person who travels or causes another (including the intended victim) to travel across State lines or in interstate commerce with intent to injure a spouse or intimate partner and who, during the travel or thereafter, injures his or her spouse or intimate partner in violation of a criminal law of the State where the injury occurs, or in violation of a State protection order. Provides for temporary protection orders while a case under these provisions is pending. Mandates that a court order restitution to the victim of an offense under this Act. Requires, provided certain conditions are met, that a protection order issued by the court of one State be accorded full faith and credit by the court of another State. Makes a protection order issued against a person who filed a written pleading for protection not entitled to full faith and credit if no cross or counter petition, complaint, or other written pleading was filed seeking such a protection order or, if a cross or counter petition was filed, the court did not specifically find each party entitled to such an order. Subtitle B: Arrest in Spousal Abuse Cases - Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) to authorize the Secretary to make grants, with regard to spousal abuse, to: (1) implement pro-arrest programs and policies in police departments and improve case tracking; (2) centralize and coordinate police enforcement, prosecution, or judicial responsibility for cases in one group of officers, prosecutors, or judges; and (3) educate judges to improve judicial handling of cases. Directs the Secretary to delegate to the Attorney General responsibility to carry out these provisions. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Funding for Shelters - Amends the FVPSA to authorize appropriations to carry out that Act, earmarking at least 85 percent of funds appropriated for States, and at least ten percent for Indian tribes and tribal organizations, for grants (under current law, demonstration grants) to prevent family violence and provide immediate shelter and related assistance. Limits the percentage which may be used to provide training and technical assistance to State, Indian tribal, and local domestic violence programs and to other professionals who provide services to victims of domestic violence. Subtitle D: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Amendments - Amends the FVPSA to: (1) specify that the purpose of such Act is to increase public awareness of, as well as to prevent, family violence, and to provide for training to the courts, and legal, social service, and health professionals (current law specifies only local public agencies, nonprofit private organizations, and others seeking such assistance); and (2) grant preference in the distribution of funds to States that give special emphasis to projects including counseling and self-help services to victims and their children (current law covers counseling, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, and self-help services to abusers and victims.) Directs the Secretary to provide for the funding of domestic violence coalitions that shall further the purposes of domestic violence intervention and prevention through activities such as: (1) working with judicial and law enforcement agencies to encourage appropriate response to domestic violence cases and specified issues, such as the use of mandatory arrest of accused offenders and the use of interstate extradition in cases of domestic violence crimes; (2) working with family law judges, Child Protective Services agencies, and children's advocates to develop appropriate responses to child custody and visitation issues in domestic violence cases, and where domestic violence and child abuse are both present; and (3) conducting public education campaigns regarding domestic violence through the use of public service announcements and informative materials designed for print and electronic broadcast media, billboards, and public transit advertising. Authorizes appropriations. Sets forth provisions with respect to the allotment of funds. Requires: (1) that any State domestic violence coalition have standing to challenge whether a grantee is in compliance with the eligibility requirements, or to seek enforcement, of provisions of the FVPSA; and (2) that each such coalition submit a report to the Secretary detailing the coordination, training, technical assistance, and public education services performed, and evaluating the effectiveness of such services. Raises the limit on funding of grants in any fiscal year to any single entity (other than to a State) to $75,000 (currently, $50,000, and a $150,000 limit on the total amount of such grants to any such single entity). Modifies provisions with respect to grants to entities other than States to require that the local share as a proportion of the total amount of funds provided under such Act to the project involved be 35 percent for new programs for the first year of the program and 20 percent for each year therafter for existing programs. (Current law specifies 35 percent in the first year such project receives a grant under such Act, 55 percent in the second such year, and 65 percent in the third such year.) Repeals a provision requiring that a specified portion of State demonstration grant funds for preventing, and assisting victims of, family violence be distributed to provide shelter for victims. Includes shelter as "related assistance" that may be funded under grants for such purposes, as well as medical services, legal assistance, technical assistance with respect to obtaining financial assistance under Federal and State programs, employment training, and educational and preventive health services. Increases the minimum allotment to States for grants under the FVPSA. Requires the General Accounting Office, within 120 days, to complete a study of, and submit to the Congress a report and recommendations on, problems of recordkeeping of criminal complaints involving domestic violence. Directs the Secretary to: (1) award to not less than ten States model State leadership grants for domestic violence intervention; and (2) provide grants or contracts with public or private nonprofit organizations for the establishment and maintenance of a national resource center and six specialty resource centers focusing on one or more specified issues of concern to domestic violence victims. Sets forth eligibility requirements, funding provisions, and, with respect to the latter, reporting requirements. Subtitle E: Confidentiality for Abused Persons - Requires the Postmaster General to promulgate regulations to secure the confidentiality of abused persons' addresses. Title III: Civil Rights - Declares that all persons within the United States shall have the same rights, privileges, and immunities in every State as are enjoyed by all other persons to be free from crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender (defined as any crime of violence, including rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact, or any other crime of violence committed because of or on the basis of gender). Makes any person, including a person who acts under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State, who deprives another of the rights, privileges, and immunities secured by the Constitution and laws as enumerated by this Act liable to the injured party in an action for compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, or other relief as the court deems appropriate. Amends the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976 to allow the awarding of attorney's fees in actions to enforce this title. Title IV: Safe Campuses for Women - Safe Campuses for Women Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to make, on a competitive basis, grants to and contracts with institutions of higher education for rape education and prevention programs. Requires that the grants be used to educate and provide support services to student victims of rape or sexual assault, with 25 percent of the funds available for model demonstration programs for rape prevention and education curricula and for local programs to provide services to student rape victims. Authorizes appropriations to carry out title X (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) of the Act. Amends the General Education Provisions Act to add sexual assault to the list of criminal offenses about which statistics must be disclosed by institutions participating in certain programs. Title V: Equal Justice for Women in the Courts - Equal Justice for Women in the Courts Act - Subtitle A: Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel in State Courts - Authorizes the State Justice Institute to make grants for model programs to be used by States in training judges and court personnel in State laws on rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the State Justice Institute to expend at least: (1) 40 percent of appropriated funds on programs regarding domestic violence; and (2) 40 percent on programs regarding rape and assault. Subtitle B: Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel in Federal Courts - Directs the Federal Judicial Center to study and report on the nature and extent of gender bias in the Federal courts. Requires the Center to develop and disseminate model programs to be used in training Federal judges and court personnel in the laws on rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender. Authorizes appropriations. Requires between 25 and 40 percent of such funds to be used for the study required by this subtitle.
Bill· HRH.R. 1505 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991
Financial Institutions Safety and Consumer Choice Act of 1991 - Title I: Federal Deposit Insurance Reform - Subtitle A: Federal Deposit Insurance Reform - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to exclude from the meaning of "insured deposit": (1) any deposits obtained from a deposit broker, with certain exceptions; and (2) any depository institution investment contracts (BICs) with an employee benefit plan. Limits the amount of an insured deposit for any depositor to $100,000 per insured depository institution. Prohibits the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from providing insurance coverage on a pro-rata or pass-through basis to an employee benefit plan participant or beneficiary, with specified exceptions. States that certain retirement accounts under which participants and beneficiaries have the right to direct the investment assets held on their behalf by the plan will be insured in an aggregate amount up to $100,000 per participant per insured depository institution. (Terminates separate insurance for each account.) Limits the insurance coverage of trust funds to $100,000 per trust estate held on deposit by a trustee institution under an irrevocable trust. Requires the FDIC to study and report to the Congress on the feasibility of implementing a deposit insurance system based upon systemwide coverage limitations for each depositor. Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board), as part of such feasibility study, to provide the FDIC with the results of a survey of the ownership of deposits held by individuals, including the dollar amount and type of deposit accounts held, and the type of financial institution in which they are held. Prohibits an insured depository institution which does not meet applicable minimum capital requirements, as well as its employees, from soliciting deposits by offering interest rates significantly higher than the prevailing rates offered by other insured depository institutions in such institution's normal market areas. Directs the FDIC to only provide assistance to any insured depository institution in such amounts as are necessary to satisfy its obligations to the institution's insured depositors at the least cost to the affected deposit insurance fund. Directs the FDIC to provide assistance to satisfy, in whole or in part, the institution's liability to its uninsured depositors if that would constitute the least-cost method of resolving the depository institution. States that upon a joint determination by the Board and the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) that the FDIC cannot resolve an insured depository institution without causing a severe adverse impact upon the financial system, they shall direct the FDIC to provide assistance to satisfy such institution's liability to its depositors (or take whatever action is necessary to lessen the risk posed by such institution). Requires the FDIC Board of Directors to establish a risk-based assessment system for insured depository institutions based upon categories of risk. Prohibits an insured State bank from engaging as principal in any activity not permissible for a national bank unless: (1) the FDIC has determined that the activity poses no significant risk to the affected deposit insurance fund; and (2) the State bank is in compliance with federally prescribed capital standards. Prohibits equity investments by State banks which are impermissible for national banks (except for the equity interests in a subsidiary of which the State bank is a majority owner). Prohibits subsidiaries of insured State banks from engaging as principal in any type of activity that is impermissible for the subsidiary of a national bank unless: (1) the FDIC has determined that such activity poses no significant risk to the affected deposit insurance fund; and (2) the bank is in compliance with the minimum federally prescribed capital standards. Prohibits an insured State bank subsidiary from engaging in securities or insurance underwriting except to the extent such activities are permissible for national banks. Amends the Federal Reserve Act to authorize the Board to conduct annual on-site examinations of depository institutions under its jurisdiction (including their affiliates). Mandates that: (1) the appropriate Federal banking agencies and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly develop a supplemental disclosure method by which banks may include in their mandatory financial reports to such agencies the fair market value of assets and liabilities; (2) each insured bank provide to the appropriate Federal banking agency copies of audit reports; and (3) the appropriate Federal banking agencies develop a system to monitor interest rate risk, and adjust risk-based capital standards to reflect interest rate risk. Amends the Federal Credit Union Act to require as part of a credit union's insurance application that the applicant agree to make initial capitalization payments to the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund according to prescribed guidelines, in addition to an annual insurance premium. Subtitle B: Reinsurance Demonstration Project - Directs the FDIC to establish a reinsurance demonstration project to determine the feasibility of developing a private reinsurance system. Establishes the Reinsurance Demonstration Project Committee to analyze, review, and report to the Congress the results of the reinsurance demonstration project. Title II: Financial Services Modernization - Subtitle A: Financial Services Holding Companies - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act to define financial services holding companies and diversified holding companies. Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to specify additional financial entities prohibited from acquiring control or ownership of certain financial services organizations. Prohibits any insured depository institution (except foreign banks with insured branches in the United States) from becoming a financial services holding company or a diversified holding company. Sets forth expedited procedures for acquisition of additional banks by zone one financial services holding companies. Sets forth guidelines for acquisitions involving diversified holding companies. Provides that financial services holding companies (except certain foreign banks) cannot be banks. Modifies the guidelines for ownership interests in nonbanking organizations. Replaces the current "closely related" standard for permissible activities with a "financial nature" standard. Sets forth the permissible parameters for insurance and securities affiliates. Sets a deadline by which a financial services holding company must notify the appropriate Federal banking agency with respect to its ownership or control of the shares of a company engaged in qualified financial activities. Outlines permissible nonbanking activities and acquisitions for zone one financial services holding companies. Sets forth additional capital requirements for a financial services holding company that intends to engage in, acquire, or retain the shares of a company engaged in a new financial activity. Sets forth certain restrictions on the activities of financial services holding companies. Prescribes guidelines for acquisition activities by diversified holding companies and their affiliates. Sets forth Federal administrative procedures for financial services holding companies and diversified holding companies (including their subsidiaries and affiliates). Prohibits the States from preventing or impeding certain acquisition or affiliation activities undertaken by: (1) insured depository institutions; (2) diversified holding companies; and (3) financial services holding companies. Amends the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970 to prohibit a financial services holding company or a diversified holding company from: (1) engaging in certain tying arrangements; or (2) transacting insider loans. Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to exempt from its coverage financial services holding companies and diversified holding companies. Subtitle B: Financial Activities of National Banks - Amends the Banking Act of 1933 to provide that its limitations and restrictions with respect to certain securities activities conducted by a national bank for its own account shall not apply to the distribution of securities issued by investment companies. Amends the Banking Act of 1933 to repeal the proscription against: (1) the affiliation of member banks with organizations engaged principally in securities; and (2) member bank personnel serving simultaneously as employees or officers of securities organizations. Authorizes national banking associations located in certain small-sized population areas to sell insurance to residents of the State in which the association is located. Amends the Federal Reserve Act to: (1) set forth conditions under which a loan or extension of credit by a member bank shall not be deemed to be made to an affiliate; (2) require prior notification to the appropriate Federal banking agency before a financial services holding company may permit an insured depository institution under its control to engage in a covered transaction which exceeds five percent of its capital stock and surplus; and (3) revise definitions related to affiliates of member banks. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to require customer disclosure by an insured depository institution with respect to the non-insured status of its non-banking products. Subtitle C: Non-Banking Activities of Foreign Banks in the United States - Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to set forth circumstances under which a foreign bank that maintains a branch or agency in the United States (or owns or controls a commercial lending company organized under State law) shall be subject to the provisions of this Act. Subtitle D: Amendments to the Securities Acts - Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to: (1) subject to its provisions certain bank-issued securities and certain savings association-issued securities; (2) exempt from its provisions certain bank and savings association instruments functioning as securities in a secured transaction; (3) exempt from its provisions equity securities transactions with respect to bank acquisition by a financial services holding company, or acquisition of a financial services holding company by a diversified holding company. Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to: (1) revise definitions relating to bank broker activities and bank dealer activities; (2) prohibit any bank from acting as broker or dealer except in the course of an exclusively intrastate business; and (3) prohibit certain securities transactions, with specified exceptions, taking place on bank premises which are commonly accessible to the general public for deposit-making purposes. Repeals the Federal agency administration provisions with respect to disclosure requirements for securities issued by insured depository institutions. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to mandate that the custody of investment company assets or unit investment trusts by affiliates of either the registered management company or the registered unit investment trust must be in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules prescribed for the protection of investors. Prohibits a registered investment company from having a majority of its board of directors consisting of personnel of any one bank and its subsidiaries, or any one financial services holding company and its affiliates and subsidiaries. Grants the SEC additional rulemaking authority regarding bank affiliated mutual funds. Prohibits registered investment company securities from being represented as: (1) guaranteed, sponsored, recommended or approved by any Federal agency; (2) insured by the FDIC; or (3) guaranteed or an obligation of any bank or insured institution. Provides that any person issuing or selling securities of an investment company whose name is similar to that of a bank may be required to disclose prominently that the investment company and its securities are neither FDIC-insured, nor guaranteed by an affiliated bank or insured institution, nor otherwise an obligation of such bank or insured institution. Authorizes the SEC to determine by order that use of a name similar to a bank is deceptive and misleading, and to take action accordingly. Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to include within the meaning of "investment adviser" any bank or financial services holding company which acts as an investment adviser to a registered investment company (unless it performs such services through a separately identifiable division). Requires the SEC to give notice to the appropriate Federal banking agency prior to initiating any investigative or enforcement proceedings against a financial services holding company bank, or bank division acting as registered investment adviser. Amends the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Investment Company Act of 1940 to exempt certain bank common trust funds from their coverage. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that the transfer to a regulated investment company of all or substantially all of the assets of a common trust fund shall not result in a gain or loss to the common trust fund participants if the transfer is the result of a merger, conversion, reorganization, transfer or similar transaction. (Thus, if a bank were to transfer a common trust fund to a mutual fund, such transfer per se would not be considered a taxable event for the fund participants.) Directs the SEC to examine and report to the Congress on the appropriate treatment of: (1) bank collective investment funds and separate accounts under the securities laws and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); and (2) common trust funds under the securities laws. Subtitle E: Prompt Corrective Action - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to set forth: (1) definitional guidelines (including capital zones and critical capital level); and (2) permissible activities for banks within various capital zones (including financial services holding companies). Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the Bank Conservation Act, the Federal Reserve Act, and the Home Owners' Loan Act to set forth additional grounds for appointing conservators and receivers for specified undercapitalized depository institutions (as defined by their capital zones under this Act). Subtitle F: Nationwide Banking and Branching - Amends the Financial Services Holding Company Act to authorize nationwide banking, notwithstanding certain State laws, by: (1) a diversified holding company; (2) a financial services holding company; or (3) a foreign bank. Amends Federal banking law to permit a national banking association to establish and operate new branches at an initial location within any State in which a financial services holding company or State bank having the same home State (or chartered in the same home State as such association) could establish a branch. Provides for the interstate consolidation or merger of national banks, or State banks with national banks, and for the subsequent retention of pre-existing branches subject to regulatory approval. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prohibit State proscription against interstate branching by State banks. Permits a host State to determine compliance by interstate branches with its regulations, and to coordinate regulatory supervision with other State bank authorities regarding branches of State-chartered banks. Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to provide that during the three-year period starting on the date of enactment of this Act the Director may authorize foreign banks to establish and operate federally-chartered branches in the United States if such establishment is not prohibited by the law of the relevant State. Revises the limitations placed upon interstate branching by foreign banks to more closely conform with the limitations placed upon interstate branching by domestic banks. Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to authorize approval by the appropriate Federal banking agency for a savings and loan holding company or a foreign bank to acquire interstate interests in savings associations. Permits the consummation of such approved acquisitions even though State law would otherwise prohibit or limit them. Title III: Regulatory Restructuring - Subtitle A: Office of Depository Institution Supervision - Establishes in the Department of the Treasury the Office of Depository Institutions Supervision (the Office) to be headed by a Director to: (1) grant or deny charters or other applications; (2) conduct examinations of banking entities within its purview; (3) appoint conservators or receivers for depository institutions; and (4) render a final decision in a contested administrative enforcement proceeding. Authorizes the Director to impose and collect from entities for which the Director is the appropriate Federal banking agency assessments, fees, and other user charges to meet the full cost of the Federal services provided. Subtitle B: Interim Provisions; Transfer of Functions, Personnel, and Property - Outlines interim administrative functions of the Office prior to the date that the functions of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision are transferred to it. Abolishes the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Outlines transfer and interim provisions. Subtitle C: Regulatory and Supervisory Responsibility - Transfers to the Office all powers and duties vested in the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Comptroller of the Currency. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to designate the institutions for which the appropriate Federal banking agency is either: (1) the Director of the Office of Depository Institutions Supervision; or (2) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Sets forth guidelines to determine the appropriate Federal banking agency for foreign banks and multiple bank subsidiaries. Requires the Director to conduct an annual on-site examination of each depository institution and branch of a foreign bank under his or her purview, with specified exceptions. Authorizes the Director to examine a depository institution and its affiliate in order to disclose fully their relationship and its effect upon the depository institution. Provides for civil money penalties for affiliates who refuse to cooperate with authorized examinations. Amends Federal law to set forth circumstances under which the Director may appoint a receiver for a national banking association. Subtitle D: Transfer of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Authority - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to subject financial services holding companies and their subsidiaries to certain of its enforcement proceedings. Repeals the proscription against participation by State nonmember insured banks in lotteries and related activities. Makes conforming amendments to the Federal Reserve Act. Directs the Chairman of the Board of the FDIC and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to determine jointly which FDIC employees are necessary to FDIC functions transferred to the Federal Reserve System by this Act, and to transfer such employees accordingly. Outlines the employee transfer program. Subtitle E: Litigation Authority - Authorizes the Director, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the FDIC and the National Credit Union Administration to conduct litigation, subject to the prior consent, and general direction and control of the Attorney General. Subtitle F: Reorganization of Boards of Directors - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the Federal Credit Union Act to make conforming amendments to organizational provisions regarding their respective boards of directors. Subtitle G: Savings Provisions for the Transfer of Authority from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to the Director - Sets forth savings provisions for the transfer of authority from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to the Director of the Office of Depository Institutions Supervision. Title IV: Bank Insurance Fund Recapitalization - Subtitle A: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Borrowing - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to authorize the FDIC to borrow funds from any Federal Reserve bank to: (1) maintain or improve the liquidity of the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF); or (2) provide financial assistance with respect to an insured depository institution or its receivership or conservatorship. Sets a ceiling upon FDIC outstanding corporate debt from all Federal Reserve banks at any one time. Amends the Federal Reserve Act to authorize any Federal Reserve bank to make advances to the FDIC upon its request, subject to limitations set by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Subtitle B: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Assessments - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to specify the maximum aggregate assessment to be charged semiannually to BIF members. Grants the FDIC authority to make estimates and projections for the purpose of computing assessment rates and aggregate assessment target amounts. Authorizes the FDIC to pay interest and principal on its outstanding debt to a Federal Reserve bank from the semiannual BIF assessments. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Subtitle A: Payment System Risk Reduction - Outlines the netting procedures to be used by financial institutions engaged in transactions with one another directly or through the auspices of a financial institutions' clearing organization. Precludes any judicial or administrative proceeding from delaying or limiting the application of such netting procedures. Subtitle B: Right to Financial Privacy Act Amendments - Amends the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 to permit the transfer of financial records of a financial institution by a Federal agency to the Attorney General for civil actions under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, or for forfeiture under Federal criminal law. Provides that the transferring agency shall not be deemed to have waived any privilege applicable to such records. Subtitle C: Reduction in Regulatory Burden - Amends the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to repeal the exemption from certain mortgage loan information disclosure requirements granted to depository institutions with $30,000,000 or less in assets. Raises the general disclosure exemption threshold for depository institutions from $10,000,000 to $50,000,000 or less in assets, adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury and the head of each appropriate Federal banking agency to review and report to the Congress on all laws and regulations under their jurisdiction to determine whether they: (1) adversely affect the capital position and profitability of insured depository institutions; and (2) impose duplicative paperwork and compliance requirements. Prohibits an appropriate Federal banking agency from requiring any institution under its jurisdiction to prepare or maintain data to comply with the Fair Housing Act, other than the data prescribed pursuant to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Subtitles D: Expedited Funds Availability - Amends the Expedited Funds Availability Act with respect to the frequency of notices when funds will be held beyond statutory schedules to provide that no further notice is required after the required notice has been furnished until one year later or such other time as the exception for which the notice was provided ceases to apply, whichever is earlier. Subtitle E: Final Settlement Payment Procedure - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to authorize the FDIC, as conservator or receiver of an insured insolvent institution, to: (1) settle all uninsured and unsecured claims on the receivership with a final settlement payment which shall constitute full payment and disposition of its obligations to the claimants; and (2) undertake any supervisory actions and promulgate regulations necessary to implement its final settlement payment functions. Title VI: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Subtitle A: Severability; Transition References - Sets forth severability and transition provisions. Subtitle B: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Makes technical and conforming amendments to specified Federal Acts. Subtitle C: Repeal of Obsolete Provisions of Law - Repeals specified provisions of Federal law. Subtitle D: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of amendments made by this title.
Bill· HRH.R. 1507 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 20 March 1991
Relief for Elderly Eviction and Foreclosure Act of 1989 - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to require any political entity in which a proceeding has been commenced to compel the sale of a residence occupied by an older individual or to evict such individual by reason of his or her nonpayment of debt to notify the individual and the area agency on aging within seven days after the commencement of such proceeding. Prohibits any action from being taken to compel such sale or evict such individual within 120 days after the commencement of such proceeding if the area agency, within 60 days of receiving notice, determines that more time is needed to prevent, or provide social services to such individual in anticipation of, such sale or eviction. Requires the area agency, within 60 days of receiving notice, to consult with the older individual: (1) explaining to such individual his or her situation; (2) identifying Federal, State, or local assistance that may be available to delay or prevent such sale or eviction; (3) identifying alternative housing that may be available if such sale or eviction occurs; and (4) determining whether such individual is capable of understanding his or her situation and, if not, notifying an appropriate social service agency of such individual's need for assistance.
Bill· HRH.R. 1463 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 March 1991
Emergency Jobs Appropriations Act, 1991 - Title I: Meeting Our Economic Problems Coming from Changing Conditions with Essential Productive Jobs - Directs the appropriate congressional committees to study the current economic crisis, with emphasis on long-term recovery and and a strong private sector based on Government/industry partnership, and present their findings to the Congress by October 1, 1991, for appropriate action. Declares that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Open Market Committee should take necessary actions to achieve and maintain a level of interest rates low enough to achieve significant economic growth and reduce the current level of unemployment. Makes appropriations for FY 1991, in order to create productive jobs and protect public investment, for various activities relating to: (1) Federal buildings; (2) interstate highways; (3) mass transportation; (4) rehabilitation of highway bridges crossing over Northeast corridor rail transportation properties; (5) railroad infrastructure and rights-of-way improvement; (6) veterans' medical facilities and services; (7) public housing modernization; (8) community development; (9) international trade competition; (10) local economic development; (11) small business loans and investments; (12) small business oriented employment or national resources development programs; (13) parks and recreational areas and facilities; (14) the National Forest System; (15) Indian health facilities; (16) Fish and Wildlife Service facilities; (17) rural development and resource conservation, including rural water and waste disposal; (18) soil conservation, including watershed and flood prevention operations; (19) Federal, State, and local prison modernization; (20) water resource and hydroelectric power, flood control, shore protection, harbor channel and navigable waterway maintenance; (21) reclamation and irrigation projects; (22) Federal agricultural research facilities; (23) tree-planting and other natural resources development programs; (24) historic properties restoration; and (25) Bureau of Land Management facilities. Makes appropriations for FY 1991 to the Department of Labor to provide productive jobs for unemployed individuals under specified conditions, in various types of public service employment. Provides for allocation of such funds to eligible local governments, rural area concentrated employment program grantees, or States. Makes appropriations in additional amounts for FY 1991 for: (1) employment and training services; (2) grants to States for unemployment insurance and employment services; (3) higher education academic and research facilities; and (4) the Federal Emergency Management Agency's emergency food and shelter program. Makes appropriations for FY 1991 for: (1) construction and modernization of military family housing; (2) low-income energy conservation weatherization activities (in an additional amount) and (3) Federal motor vehicle procurement. Title II: Technical Provisions - Provides that no part of any appropriation contained in this Act shall remain available for obligation beyond the current fiscal year unless expressly so provided herein.
Bill· SS. 669 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 14 March 1991
Directs the Secretary of the Army to convey to the Missouri Housing Development Commission the United States Army Charles Melvin Price Support Center Wherry Housing Annex in Pine Lawn, Missouri, for low-income and transitional housing for the homeless.
Bill· SS. 651 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991
Federal Deposit Insurance Improvements Act of 1991 - Title I: Amendments to Federal Banking Acts - Subtitle A: Improvements - Federal Banking Agency Improvements Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to specify the length of interim appointments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Board of Directors. Revises conversion authority to authorize the FDIC to approve conversion transactions that affect insubstantial portions of the total deposits of each depository institution acquired as part of the conversion transaction. Repeals the requirement that the FDIC notify other regulators 30 days before suspending deposit insurance in certain emergencies. Grants priority (with certain exceptions) to claims brought by the FDIC against an insured depository institution or its personnel in any proceeding relating to other claims against such an institution or its officers or employees. Repeals the exemption granted to certain State-chartered savings associations with respect to compliance with regulations of the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision relating to subsidiaries. Mandates that any depository institution (currently, any savings association) whose deposits are not FDIC-insured conspicuously state that its deposits are "not federally insured." Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to direct the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) to repeal: (1) the prohibition against selling property in certain distressed areas for less than 95 percent of its market value; (2) the requirement to sell certain residential property to low-income buyers, at below market value prices; and (3) the provision for a "net realizable market value" below market value. Imposes criminal penalties upon certain institution-affiliated parties prohibited from participating in the affairs of depository institutions if such parties knowingly participate in any manner in the affairs of: (1) any appropriate Federal depository institution regulatory agency; or (2) the Federal Housing Finance Board and any Federal Home Loan Bank. Amends Federal banking law to authorize the Comptroller of the Currency, without notice or prior hearing, to appoint a receiver to take possession and control of a national bank if it is in an unsafe or unsound condition, including having substantially insufficient capital. (Currently, the Comptroller may appoint a receiver only if the bank is insolvent or has violated the National Bank Act.) Subtitle B: Asset Conservation and Deposit Insurance Protection - Asset Conservation and Deposit Insurance Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to limit the liability of an insured depository institution or mortgage lender with respect to Federal law imposing strict liability for the release (or threatened release) of a hazardous substance from property: (1) acquired through foreclosure; (2) held in a fiduciary capacity; or (3) held by a lessor or subject to financial control or oversight pursuant to the terms of a credit extension. Denies such limitation on liability to persons that caused or contributed to a release or failed to take reasonable steps to prevent a continued release. Grants immunity from such strict liability to: (1) Federal banking and lending agencies; and (2) the first subsequent purchaser of property from such Federal entities (except in certain circumstances). Exempts Federal banking and lending agencies from any law requiring them to grant convenants warranting remedial action. Mandates that appropriate Federal financial institutions, regulatory agencies and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development issue regulations requiring insured depository institutions and mortgage lenders, respectively, to develop and implement procedures to evaluate actual and potential environmental risks that may arise from property prior to making an extension of credit secured by such property. Subtitle C: Amendments to Public Law 96-510 - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Responses, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 with respect to parity of treatment for: (1) the States and Federal Government with respect to property acquired involuntarily; and (2) emergency response actions of a Federal banking or lending agency. Title II: Clarifying Amendments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act - Prohibits an insured depository institution from indemnifying its personnel (or other institution-related persons) for costs related to actions brought successfully by a Federal banking agency against such institution-related persons. Grants the FDIC the same powers and rights over the assets and liabilities of the FSLIC Resolution Fund as it has over other jurisdictional matters under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. Declares the FDIC to be the successor receiver or conservator to FSLIC wards. States that if a consolidation or acquisition involves a savings association eligible for assistance and a bank (or bank holding company), the resulting entity (currently, the savings association) may retain and operate any existing branch or facilities. Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to provide that upon the filing of a pleading informing the court that the RTC has been appointed conservator or receiver for a party, the RTC shall be deemed substituted in any legal proceeding involving that party. Title III: Technical Amendments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act - Makes clerical amendments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 1420 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 13 March 1991
Excludes from income under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (food stamp assistance) and the United States Housing Act of 1937 (rental assistance) payments received under part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) of title IV of the Social Security Act.
Bill· SS. 619 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1991
Link-up for Learning Demonstration Grant Act - Establishes a program of grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) in partnership with other eligible entities for coordinated educational and other student support services for at-risk youth. Authorizes the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to award such grants to eligible entities to pay the Federal share of costs of specified activities. Sets forth special considerations in awarding grants. Allows such grants to be for up to three years, subject to satisfactory progress. Makes eligible to apply for such a grant (provided that at least one LEA in the partnership is eligible to receive financial assistance for disadvantaged children under chapter 1 title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965): (1) at least one LEA in partnership with at least one public agency; (2) at least one nonprofit organization, institution of higher education, or private enterprise in partnership with at least one LEA; or (3) an LEA that is receiving assistance under the Head Start Transition Project Act in partnership with any designated Head Start agency. Requires eligible entities, in order to receive such grants, to serve: (1) educationally deprived students, students eligible to be counted under chapter 1, or students in chapter 1 schoolwide projects, and their family members; and (2) any school, grade span, or program area if the project design is of adequate size, scope, and quality. Sets forth: (1) authorized uses of grant funds by LEAs; (2) application requirements; (3) application review coordination; and (4) various limitations. Requires each eligible entity desiring such a grant to establish a coordinated services advisory council to develop its application. Establishes a Federal Interagency Task Force consisting of the Secretaries of Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development, and other appropriate Federal agency heads, to identify means to facilitate interagency collaboration at Federal, State, and local levels to improve support services for at-risk students. Requires the Task Force to: (1) identify and eliminate program regulations or practices impeding coordination and collaboration; (2) develop and implement plans for jointly funded programs, unified eligibility and application procedures, and confidentiality regulations that facilitate information sharing; and (3) make recommendations to the Congress on legislative action to facilitate coordination of support services. Directs the Secretary of Education to: (1) conduct a study of grantees under this Act to identify regulatory and legislative obstacles to coordinated support services and innovative procedures and programs; and (2) report study results to the Congress with recommendations for legislative action. Limits the Federal share of project costs to 80 percent. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1994.
Bill· HRH.R. 1384 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1991
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a demonstration project during FY 1992 and 1993, at no fewer than two or more than ten of its regional offices, for guaranteeing loans in a manner similar to the manner in which the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development insures adjustable rate mortgages under the National Housing Act. Requires a report from the Secretary to the Congress on project results, and annual reports thereafter.
Bill· HRH.R. 1394 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1991
Medicaid AIDS and HIV Amendments of 1991 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to allow each State to provide Medicaid coverage of HIV-related services for individuals who have the HIV virus and an abnormally low immune function that places them at risk of contracting opportunistic diseases or life-threatening conditions related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and whose income and resources do not exceed the maximum amounts allowed under the State Medicaid program for disabled individuals. Allows States to provide Medicaid home and community-based services to children who have the HIV virus and an abnormally low immune function for which medical intervention is indicated to prevent hospitalization. Applies the same income and resource eligibility standards as would apply if such children were hospitalized. Includes as federally-qualified health centers an entity receiving a grant under the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act of 1990 for the provision of early intervention services to individuals who have the HIV virus. Authorizes States to provide Medicaid coverage of the early intervention services provided by federally qualified health centers under such grant program to low-income individuals who have the HIV virus. Authorizes a Health and Human Services residential care facility demonstration program for certain Medicaid-eligible individuals who have the HIV virus and need housing or attendant care to allow them to remain at home.
Bill· HRH.R. 1391 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 12 March 1991
Medicaid Infant Mortality Amendments of 1991 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require mandatory State coverage of pregnant women and infants whose family income is below 185 percent of the Federal poverty level. Provides 100 percent Federal financing of the costs of services to pregnant women and infants whose family income is between 133 and 185 percent of the Federal poverty level. Prohibits application of resource testing to pregnant women and infants. Authorizes States to provide Medicaid coverage of home visitation services with respect to high-risk infants. Provides for flexibility in determining the limitation on Federal payments to States for Medicaid services provided to pregnant women and infants. Requires States to include in their Medicaid benefit packages primary health services for residents of public housing provided by an entity which meets the requirements to receive a grant under the Public Health Service Act to fund the provision of such services.
Bill· HRH.R. 1337 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1991
Armed Forces Homeownership Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide mortgage assistance to avoid foreclosure on mortgages of members of the armed forces who are killed or seriously injured while on active duty.
Bill· HRH.R. 1329 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 March 1991
Excludes foreign reparation payments from consideration as income in determining eligibility and benefits under specified housing assistance programs.
Bill· SS. 572 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1991
Savings and Loan Simplification Act of 1991 - Abolishes the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) Oversight Board. Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to declare that the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), plus four independent members appointed by the President, shall be the Board of Directors of the RTC. Requires the RTC to submit periodic financing reports to the Secretary of the Treasury. Abolishes the Federal Housing Finance Board and transfers its responsibilities to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, which shall supervise the Federal Home Loan Banks and ensure that they remain adequately capitalized. Establishes as an independent establishment the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, whose chief officer shall be the Comptroller of the Currency, and which shall be charged with the execution of: (1) all Federal laws relating to national currency secured by U.S. bonds; and (2) all Federal Reserve notes, under the general supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Abolishes the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). Makes the Comptroller of the Currency the supervisor of savings associations with powers previously held by the Director of OTS and not transferred to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to restructure the Board of Directors of the FDIC, replacing the Director of OTS with the Comptroller of the Currency (as a nonvoting member). Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to require the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) review the real property assets of institutions subject to RTC jurisdiction; and (2) identify properties with natural, cultural, recreational, or scientific value of special significance. Directs the RTC to select a clearinghouse for information relating to such properties after soliciting comments on such selection from public agencies and nonprofit organizations. Directs the Secretary to provide the clearinghouse with written notification of real estate available for sale and identified as having such significant characteristics. Authorizes the RTC to transfer property or interests therein to any public agency or nonprofit organization that agrees to maintain such special characteristics. Directs the RTC to transfer such property to any Federal or State agency for conservation purposes at the request of the Secretary. Prohibits the RTC from offering to sell such real estate to any entity other than a public agency or nonprofit organization for the 45-day period beginning on the date that written notification is sent by the Secretary to the clearinghouse. Precludes the RTC from offering to sell any undeveloped land of over five acres except to a public agency or nonprofit organization pending determination by the Secretary as to whether such land has certain significant characteristics. Directs the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to reduce the Federal Home Loan Bank districts to five. Reduces RTC borrowing authority from 85 percent to 75 percent of the value of assets it holds, available cash, and any borrowing authority not yet used by the Resolution Funding Corporation (all constituting "working capital").
Bill· HRH.R. 1309 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1991
Community Stability Act of 1991 - Declares that it is the policy of the Congress with respect to management and use of national forests and public lands of the United States not to: (1) create instability in the resource-dependent communities associated with each particular national forest or unit of public land; (2) create access barriers to any area of the national forests or public lands for persons who are disabled or limited in personal mobility because of age; or (3) create disadvantages to minority groups through reductions of employment, housing, or career opportunities. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to include in their statutory planning for each national forest and unit of public land certain additional requirements implementing the policy of this Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 1303 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1991
Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1991 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to make certain findings with regard to cable television programming, competition, and Government regulation. Prohibits a Federal agency or a State from regulating the rates for the provision of cable service, except as provided under this Act. Authorizes a cable television franchising authority to regulate such rates, but only as provided under this Act. Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish: (1) a formula to establish the maximum price of basic tier service; (2) a formula to establish the price for installation and lease of the minimum equipment necessary for subscribers to receive the basic service tier; (3) standards concerning the lease or purchase price of converter boxes and remote controls; (4) a formula to identify and allocate costs attributable to satisfying franchise requirements to support public, educational, and governmental channels, along with procedures for the cable operator to recover such costs; (5) additional standards and guidelines to implement regulations prescribed by the FCC; and (6) effective dates for compliance with such formulas, standards, and guidelines. Requires each cable operator to offer its subscribers a separately available basic service tier to which the minimum rates shall apply and to which subscription is required for access to all other tiers of service. Requires such basic service tier to include any public, educational, and governmental access programming required by the franchise of the cable system. States that such requirements shall not apply to a cable system with 12 or fewer usable activated channels that has 300 or fewer subscribers so long as such system does not delete carriage of any signal of a broadcast television station. Prohibits a cable operator from adding any video programming to the basic tier that is not a signal or programming required to be included in the basic tier package. Allows certain nonprofit television programming to be carried on such basic tier as long as the organization producing such programming is not required to pay Federal income taxes and does not carry advertising. States that basic tier provisions of this Act shall also not apply to a cable system entering a cable television rate regulation agreement before July 1, 1990, where such system was not subject to effective competition. Allows for the continued carriage of basic tier services in the case of a cable operator that offered subscribers a tier of programming as of January 1, 1990, consisting of signals and programming essentially permitted under this Act. Authorizes a cable operator already providing such programming to provide for a rate formula adjustment or a cable television programming retiering to comply with the requirements of this section. Directs the FCC to establish: (1) criteria for identifying rates for cable programming services that are unreasonable or abusive; (2) fair and expeditious procedures for the receipt, consideration, and resolution of complaints alleging that a rate for cable programming services violates the criteria established; and (3) the procedures to be used to reduce rates determined by the FCC to be unreasonable or abusive. Outlines factors to be considered in determining the reasonableness of such rates and limits complaints permitted concerning rates existing before the effective date of such regulations. Prohibits discrimination among customers of basic cable service. Requires the regulation and installation of equipment necessary for the provision of such services to the hearing-impaired. Directs the FCC to require cable systems to file certain financial information annually with the FCC and requires a report from the FCC to the Congress. Requires the FCC to establish standards, guidelines, and procedures to prevent evasion of rates, services, and other requirements of this section. Requires each cable operator to carry the signals of a specified number of qualified noncommercial television stations (QNTS), such number increasing with the number of usable activated channels offered by the cable system (ranging from one for a system with 12 or fewer activated channels to three for a system with more than 36 usable activated channels). Requires a cable system with 13 to 36 activated channels to carry at least one QNTS. Provides that duplication of affiliates of State public television networks is not required of a cable operator. Requires each cable operator to carry in its entirety the primary video and audio transmission of each QNTS carried on its system, as well as material necessary for the receipt of such programming by handicapped persons or for educational or language purposes. Outlines other signal carriage requirements required of a cable operator with regard to QNTS, including: (1) signal integrity; (2) channel assignments (requiring notice if a QNTS is repositioned by a cable operator); and (3) signal quality responsibilities of the QNTS. Prohibits a cable system from accepting monetary payments or other valuable consideration (except for signal quality costs) in exchange for the carriage of a QNTS. Exempts a cable operator from being required to carry a QNTS where the payment of copyright charges as a distant signal would be required of the cable operator. Requires a cable operator to identify upon request those signals carried in fulfillment of the above requirements. Outlines remedies available to a QLTS when it believes that a cable operator has failed to meet carriage requirements outlined in this Act, requiring the cable operator to be notified of the allegation, a response from the cable operator, and review of such complaint by the FCC. Requires cable operators that provided basic tier service to carry the signals of all qualified local television stations (QLTS) in accordance with the following provisions: (1) cable operators with more than 12 usable activated channels must carry a minimum number of QLTS (ranging from five QLTS for such operators with 13 to 20 usable activated channels to 25 percent of channel capacity for cable operators with more than 125 usable activated channels); (2) the cable operator must have complete discretion in selecting which QLTS signals shall be carried on its system, with specified exceptions, after such operator has met the minimum required number of QLTS for its amount of usable activated channels; (3) cable operators must carry in its entirety the primary video and audio transmission of each QLTS carried; (4) signals of a QLTS must be carried by the cable operator without material degradation; (5) duplicate QLTS need not be carried by a participating cable operator; (6) the channel position of a QLTS must be a current one or one mutually agreed upon by the participating cable operator and the QLTS, with a specified exception; (7) a participating cable operator shall identify upon request those signals carried in fulfillment of its requirements; and (8) a participating cable operator shall provide written notice to a QLTS that such channel is being repositioned or deleted. Prohibits a cable system from accepting or requesting monetary payment or other valuable consideration in exchange for the carriage of a signal of a QLTS under these provisions, except for certain administrative costs. Outlines remedies and procedures available to a QLTS when it believes that a cable system has failed to meet such requirements, requiring the cable operator to be notified of the allegation, to respond to such allegation, review by the FCC of such complaint, and remedial actions to be taken by the cable operator in a finding of noncompliance with such requirements. Defines a minimum viewership standard that must be achieved by a qualified local commercial television station in order to be required to be carried by the cable operator in accordance with this Act. Provides viewership standards requirements for new stations commencing operations and otherwise meeting requirements of a local commercial television station. States that the viewership standards requirements shall not apply with respect to carriage of a minority-owned or minority-oriented station that otherwise meets the requirements of a local television station. States that compliance with viewership standards requirements shall be demonstrated on the basis of an independent survey of non-cable homes. Abolishes rules requiring cable operators to provide, or provide information to subscribers on, input selector switches or comparable devices. Directs the FCC to establish standards by which cable operators may fulfill their customer service requirements. Requires such standards to govern cable system office hours and telephone availability, installations, outages and service calls, and communications (including bills and refunds) between the cable operator and the customer. Requires the FCC to determine: (1) whether equipment standards are necessary to permit the commercial availability of converter boxes and remote controls compatible with cable systems; and (2) the feasibility of including converter and addressability technology for cable systems and other multichannel video systems in television receivers shipped in interstate commerce or imported from any foreign country for sale or resale to the public. Directs the FCC to prescribe regulations which establish minimum technical standards relating to the facilities and equipment of cable systems suitable to ensure adequate technical operation and signal quality. Requires such standards to be periodically updated to reflect improvements in technology. Requires the FCC to prescribe regulations to prohibit any video programming vendor in which a multichannel video system operator has an attributable interest and that licenses video programming for national distribution from unreasonably refusing to deal with any multichannel video system operator with respect to the provision of video programming. Outlines provisions concerning, with respect to such video programming distributors: (1) affirmative defenses; (2) remedies for violations of prescribed regulations; (3) enforcement by the Commission; (4) termination of such regulations either nine years after enactment of this Act or an earlier date as determined by the FCC; (5) required reports; and (6) exemptions from such prescribed regulations. Requires the FCC to establish regulations governing program carriage agreements and related practices between cable operators and video programming vendors. Specifies prohibitions to be included in such regulations relating to discrimination, conflicting financial interests, exclusivity, and appropriate penalties. Provides that any person who encrypts (puts together as a coded commercial package) any satellite-delivered television programming shall: (1) make such programming available for private viewing by home satellite antenna users; (2) when making such program available through any other person for distribution through any medium, establish reasonable and nondiscriminatory criteria and requirements for the distribution of such programming to home satellite antenna users and establish terms and conditions for the wholesale distribution of such programming to distributors for cable television subscribers and distributors to home satellite antenna users (with specified exceptions). Provides remedies for violations of such requirements. Empowers the FCC to make such rules and regulations as necessary to ensure that satellite stations receiving signals in the megahertz band used for private viewing are not unduly restricted from being used for the reception of television programming services. Directs the FCC to initiate an inquiry and rulemaking proceeding to determine: (1) the technical feasibility of using smaller C-band home satellite dish receivers than are used today; (2) the extent to which existing FCC rules and regulations act as a barrier to the use of such smaller dishes; (3) the extent to which local zoning, construction, or other regulations have acted as a ban to the successful development of the C-band satellite television delivery service; and (4) the extent to which smaller dish sizes might overcome such local barriers. Directs the FCC to amend any of its own policies, rules, or regulations found to hinder the development and use of the smaller satellite dishes. Directs the FCC, after notice and opportunity for hearing, to prescribe revisions to standards and rules concerning equal employment opportunity under the Communication Act of 1934 in order to implement the amendments made by this Act. Requires such revisions to be designed to promote equality of employment opportunities for females and minorities within any corporation, partnership, joint-stock company, or trust engaged primarily in the management or operation of any cable system. Lists specified positions to which such equal opportunity requirements shall apply, ranging from corporate officers to unskilled laborers and service workers. Requires work groups within such cable entities with more than five full-time employees to file with the FCC an annual statistical report identifying by race, sex, and job title the number of employees in each category covered under the equal opportunity requirements. Outlines other report requirements and increases the fines for failure to use best efforts in meeting such equal opportunity requirements. Requires the FCC to report to the Congress on the effect and operation of procedures, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines concerning equal employment opportunity in the broadcasting industry. Directs the FCC to prescribe rules and regulations concerning the disposition of cable installed by the cable operator within the premises of a subscriber after the subscriber terminates cable service. Prohibits a cable operator from selling a cable system for three years after its acquisition. Provides for the treatment of multiple transfers of systems. Provides exceptions to such regulation and allows the FCC to waive such requirement in the public interest. Limits to 120 days a franchising authority's power to disapprove the sale of a cable system by an operator who has held such system for three years. Directs the FCC to establish: (1) a formula for determining the maximum rates which a cable operator may establish for commercial use of its cable channels; (2) standards concerning the terms and conditions which may be established; and (3) standards concerning methods for collection and billing for commercial use of channel capacity made available for such purpose. Allows a cable operator required to designate channel capacity for commercial use to use any such channel capacity for the provision of programming from a qualified minority programming source, whether or not such source is affiliated with the cable operator. Limits to 33 percent of overall channel capacity the capacity permitted to be used by such source. Defines a qualified minority programming source as a source that devotes significantly all of its programming to coverage of minority viewpoints or to programming directed at members of minority groups and that is over 50 percent minority-owned. Prohibits any cable system in the United States from being owned or otherwise controlled by any alien, foreign representative, or foreign corporation or interest as defined in the Communications Act of 1934. Makes exceptions for current foreign or alien ownership and in certain cases where such a corporation already owns two or more systems and seeks to add another. Increases the civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reception of cable television service. Directs the FCC to conduct a review of, and make a report on, whether it is necessary or appropriate in the public interest to prohibit or constrain acts and practices that may unreasonably restrict diversity and competition in the market for video programming. Directs the FCC to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to impose public interest or other requirements on direct satellite systems providing video programming that are not regulated as a common carrier under the Communications Act of 1934. Directs the FCC to require, as a condition of initial authorization or renewal for a direct broadcast satellite service providing video programming, that the provider of such service reserve not less than four or more than seven percent of the channel capacity of such service exclusively for noncommercial public service uses. Establishes a study panel to report to the Congress recommendations on: (1) methods and strategies for promoting the development of programming for transmission over the public use channels; (2) methods and criteria for selecting programming for such channels that avoids conflicts of interest and the exercise of editorial control by the direct broadcast satellite service provider; and (3) existing and potential sources of funding for administrative and production costs for such public use programming. Directs the FCC to report to specified congressional committees concerning the effects of exclusive licensing arrangements for video programming on competition between classes of multichannel video system operators. Directs the FCC to study and report to the Congress on the status, direction, and future of the video marketplace in the United States, identifying the principal factors that are and will continue to influence the development of the video marketplace for the remainder of this century. Requires the FCC to initiate an inquiry and rulemaking to examine the feasibility of providing access to network and independent broadcasting station signals to persons who subscribe to direct broadcast satellite service and are unable to receive such signals over the air from a local licensee, or from a cable system. Requires the FCC to report to the Congress on whether, and under what conditions, low power television stations which provide local origination programming should be entitled to carriage on cable systems whose service area encompasses the service area to which a low power television station is licensed. Requires the FCC to provide an opportunity for public comment on such issue and to take into account certain factors for consideration in preparing its report.
Bill· HRH.R. 1300 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 6 March 1991
Universal Health Care Act of 1991 - Amends the Social Security Act to add a new title XXI (National Health Insurance) to establish a national, single-payer health insurance program under which every U.S. citizen would be eligible for enrollment. Allows individuals to choose their own health care providers from among those providers participating in the program. Provides for comprehensive health care under the program with the following benefits provided without any payment of coinsurance or deductibles: (1) inpatient hospital services; (2) nursing facility services; (3) home health services; (4) hospice care; (5) medical care; (6) prescription drugs and biologicals; (7) preventive health services; (8) home and community-based services; (9) mental health care; and (10) such other medical or health care items or services as the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines to be appropriate. Incorporates into the National Health Care program various practice guidelines and trust fund administrative provisions under the Medicare program (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) as well as Medicare-related provisions in titles XI and II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Act, including those provisions relating to outcomes of research and peer review under title XI and administration of OASDI and Medicare trust funds under title II. Outlines provisions regarding payments to providers. Provides monthly payments to hospitals and nursing homes on the basis of prospective global budgets established annually after review by the State advisory board and approval by the designated government agency. Provides payment to physicians and other health care professionals according to fee schedules established by the Secretary and adjusted by geographic region. Provides payment for health care (including hospice care) furnished outside of a hospital or nursing home on the basis of either global budgets or fee schedules, or instead on the basis of another prospective payment method (including capitation) which has been approved and reviewed as appropriate. Restricts payments to Federal health care services providers. Requires health care providers to accept payments under the program for items and services as payment in full. Changes the functions of the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission and the Physician Payment Review Commission (renamed the Professional Payment Review Commission) to require such bodies to instead furnish advice to the Secretary, concerning the global budgets of hospitals and nursing homes and fee schedules of physicians and other health care professionals. Creates the Long-Term Care Payment Review Commission and the General Health Care Payment Review Commission to furnish advice to the Secretary concerning the payment mechanism for health care (including hospice care) furnished outside of hospitals or nursing homes and fee schedules for services which have not been described above. Requires all such bodies to report annually to the Congress and the Secretary on the modification of various payment systems described above to meet its objectives. Sets forth administrative provisions. Requires administration of the program at the national level by the Secretary. Allows States to administer the program at the State level. Requires the Secretary to establish a national health budget and State health budgets specifying the amount to be spent per calendar year for health care and how revenues from the National Health Trust Fund will be used under the program. Indexes the national budget each year according to corresponding increases in the gross national product. Establishes expenditure targets to control the growth of health care costs. Requires the national budget to set aside separate amounts for capital expenses and direct medical education and to specify the manner of division among the States. Creates advisory boards representing both consumers and health care providers to advise on the implementation of the program at the national and State levels. Authorizes the Secretary or State to enter into contracts with qualified entities to process claims. Allows only one contract per State. Requires the Secretary to establish applicable reporting systems for the program. Establishes the National Health Trust Fund to finance this Act's initiatives with revenues from: (1) specified tax increases outlined below; (2) hospital insurance taxes imposed on additional State and local government employees and additional changes made to the Internal Revenue Code over time to fund the program; (3) long-term care/health care premiums imposed on elderly individuals who do not have low incomes; (4) State payments determined according to a specified formula tied to corresponding increases in the gross national product; and (5) amounts remaining in the trust funds supporting the Medicare program after the settlement of claims for payment under Medicare has been completed and amounts applicable to Medicare and OASDI trust fund provisions incorporated into the National Health Care program resulting from gifts and bequests, investments, and overpayments. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase personal and corporate income taxes, employer hospital insurance taxes, and the amount of social security benefits subject to income taxation; (2) repeal the limitation on the amount of wages subject to employee and employer hospital insurance taxes; and (3) expand the category of employees subject to hospital insurance taxes as described above. Terminates the Medicare and Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) programs, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs health benefits and medical care program.
Bill· HRH.R. 1236 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1991
National Flood Insurance, Mitigation, and Erosion Management Act of 1991 - Title I: Definitions - Defines specified terms under the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. Title II: Compliance and Increased Participation - Amends the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to expand flood insurance purchase requirements. Requires residential real estate lenders to establish flood insurance premium escrow accounts. Imposes a fine for lenders failing to require flood insurance. Requires the seller-transferor of a residential-secured loan in a flood hazard area to so notify the purchaser-transferee unless a flood hazard determination has been made within the previous five years. Revises flood insurance notice requirements. Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to require the development of a standard hazard determination form. Amends the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act of 1978 to direct the Financial Institutions Examination Council to coordinate with Federal entities for lending regulation to develop uniform lender standards. Title III: Ratings and Incentives for Community Floodplain Management Programs - Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to provide for a community rating system and incentives for community floodplain management. Provides program funding. Title IV: Mitigation of Flood Risks - Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to establish an Office of Mitigation Assistance in the Federal Insurance Administration to carry out a mitigation assistance grant program. Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to establish in the Treasury the National Flood Mitigation Fund. Provides for an insurance premium mitigation surcharge to be paid into such Fund. Authorizes a mitigation transition pilot program to be carried out through the Office of Mitigation Assistance. Repeals (with a transition period) the current program for the purchase of certain insured properties. Title V: Flood Insurance Task Force - Establishes a two-year interagency Flood Insurance Task Force which shall: (1) develop standardized flood insurance enforcement procedures and guidelines; and (2) conduct a study of the extent to which the secondary mortgage market can assist enforcement. Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to: (1) increase flood insurance coverage amounts for nonresidential, single family, and multifamily structures; (2) permit flood insurance private sector participation; and (3) require at least every five years an assessment (and revision if necessary) of flood insurance maps.
Law· HRH.R. 1281 (102nd)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1991
Dire Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Consequences of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Food Stamps, Unemployment Compensation Administration, Veterans Compensation and Pensions, and Other Urgent Needs Act of 1991 - Title I: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations - Designates all funds provided under this title as emergency requirements for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Makes emergency amounts available for FY 1991 for additional costs resulting from Operation Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm for: (1) the Department of Commerce; (2) the Department of Justice; (3) the Department of State; (4) the United States Information Agency; (5) the Department of Defense-Military; (6) the District of Columbia; (7) the Agency for International Development; (8) the Economic Support Fund; (9) the Capitol Police Board; (10) the Panama Canal Commission; (11) the Department of the Treasury; and (12) the Department of Veterans Affairs. Title II: Supplemental Appropriations - Makes supplemental appropriations for: (1) the Department of Commerce; (2) the Department of Justice; (3) the Department of State; (4) the Judiciary; (5) the Board for International Broadcasting; (6) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; (7) the Federal Communications Commission; (8) the Federal Trade Commission; (9) the Legal Services Corporation; (10) the Securities and Exchange Commission; (11) the Small Business Administration; (12) the Department of Defense-Military; (13) the Federal payment to the District of Columbia; (14) the Civil Corps of Engineers of the Department of Defense; (15) the Department of the Interior; (16) the Department of Energy; (17) the Delaware River Basin Commission; (18) the Susquehanna River Basin Commission; (19) the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor; (20) the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Social Security Administration; (21) the Department of Agriculture, including the Food Stamp Program; (22) the Department of Transportation; (23) the Department of Veterans Affairs; and (24) the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Amends Federal law to allow the Attorney General to use unobligated balances remaining in the Asset Forfeiture Fund to fund: (1) a program for State and local public agencies for correctional options that provide alternatives to traditional modes of incarceration and offender release programs; and (2) enhanced training and the procurement of vehicles and equipment by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Prohibits the use of funds by the Department of Justice to pay fact-witness fees. Allows incentive special pay for certain flag officer medical personnel. Directs the Navy to begin obligating funds for the F-14 remanufactured program not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act. Directs the Department to obligate previously appropriated funds for the V-22 Osprey aircraft. Directs the Secretary of Defense to transfer funds among various prior year AOE combat support ship programs. Advances the availability of funds for grants to tribally controlled postsecondary vocational institutions. Makes a payment to the widow of Silvio O. Conte, late a Representative from Massachusetts. Authorizes the Architect of the Capitol to lease temporary storage and warehouse space for the Library of Congress. Extends the availability of certain unliquidated obligations for the books for the blind and physically handicapped account of the Library of Congress. Declares that the Congress disapproves the deferrals relating to the Department of Defense moratorium/prohibition on contracts for military construction and family housing. Prohibits the General Services Administration from obligating or expending any funds for the award of contracts for the construction of the Northern Virginia Naval Systems Command Headquarters without the advance approval in writing of the House Committee on Appropriations. Rescinds certain funds made available for annual contributions for assisted housing. Amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to increase the number of persons who can reside in a facility developed under the supportive housing for persons with disabilities program. Exempts housing funds for urban development action grants from the requirement to cancel obligated and unobligated balances of appropriations five years after the end of fund availability. Title III: General Provisions - Amends the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1991 to change from mandatory to discretionary the Secretary of Transportation's authority to revise the distribution of certain Federal-aid highway obligational authority. Allows Coast Guard funding to initiate a multiyear contract for the Medium Range Recovery Helicopter (HH-60J) program. Prohibits the Department of Labor from implementing or administering certain regulations concerning: (1) a specified category of workers; and (2) apprenticeship programs in the construction industry.
Bill· HRH.R. 1251 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1991
Domestic Violence Housing Act - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to: (1) increase FY 1991 and 1992 budget authority for section 8 certificate and voucher assistance; (2) require that such increases be used to assist families affected by domestic violence, including specified shared housing arrangements.
Bill· HRH.R. 1235 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1991
Establishes the Modular Construction Commission to: (1) carry out through the National Evaluation Service of the Council of American Building Officials a modular regulatory construction program; (2) review and propose related regulations; (3) review and approve the program budget; and (4) review and resolve administrative complaints. States that the program shall consist of: (1) codes and standards; (2) approval of buildings, components, and systems; (3) monitoring of compliance assurance programs; (4) selection and monitoring of evaluation and inspection agencies; and (5) certification and labeling of modular construction.
Bill· HRH.R. 1262 (102nd)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 March 1991
Makes supplemental appropriations for FY 1991 to provide an additional amount for State unemployment insurance and employment service operations from the Employment Security Administration account in the Unemployment Trust Fund. Makes such amount available only as necessary for increased administrative costs resulting from increases in the number of unemployment insurance claims filed and paid. Rescinds specified amounts of budget authority provided for FY 1991 for: (1) Legislative Branch accounts; (2) special purpose grants for housing projects; (3) the Commission on National and Community Services; (4) Environmental Protection Agency research and development funds earmarked for the National Academy of Sciences study on the feasibility of the National Institutes of Environmental Research; (5) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration space station program; (6) the Cooperative State Research Service Building and Facilities fund earmarked for specified programs; (7) new construction under the Federal buildings fund limitation program; (8) the Energy Supply, Research and Development Activities made available for specified facilities; (9) the Corps of Engineers Investigation Fund earmarked for the Jackson Metro Area, Mississippi, and a West Virginia study of a part of the Ohio River; (10) the Corps of Engineers Operation and Maintenance Fund earmarked for the Manasquan River in New Jersey, and for the Charlestown Riverfront Park in West Virginia; and (11) the Bureau of Reclamation account earmarked for the Nebraska Loup River Basin Water Management Study.
Bill· HRH.R. 1221 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1991
Resolution Trust Corporation Funding Act of 1991 - Title I: RTC Resolution Process and Funding - Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to mandate that requests for additional funding for the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC): (1) be submitted to specified congressional committees; and (2) contain a complete and detailed six-month financial plan for spending such resources. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of the Treasury to provide interim funding for the RTC. Precludes the RTC from exercising its authority with respect to insured depository institutions in conservatorship unless: (1) the RTC Board of Directors determines that the exercise of such authority is necessary for the RTC to provide insurance coverage for the insured deposits; and (2) the total amount of RTC expenditures and obligations is the least costly to the RTC of all possible alternatives. Presents guidelines for determining the least costly approach. Mandates an annual compliance audit by the General Accounting Office. Authorizes the RTC to: (1) disallow claims; and (2) treat certain claims against an insolvent insured depository institution as unsecured claims. Title II: RTC Disposition of Affordable Housing - Excludes from the RTC low-and-moderate-income housing program those residential properties of a closed savings association which the RTC has sold to an insured depository institution. Authorizes the RTC to sell residential property to qualifying persons without regard to any minimum purchase price. Sets forth tenant protection guidelines for eligible single family properties acquired by the RTC. Title III: Issues Relating to RTC Property - Mandates that the RTC maintain and periodically update a separate inventory of its real property with special significance (i.e., natural, cultural, recreational or scientific value). Title IV: Minority Outreach - Requires the RTC to establish policies and procedures according to prescribed guidelines with respect to its contracts with companies owned and controlled by minority individuals or women.
Bill· SS. 529 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1991
Fair Lending Enforcement Act of 1991 - Amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require that, upon the loan applicant's written request, each creditor shall furnish a copy of the appraisal report used in connection with the application for a loan secured by a lien on residential real property. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the Federal Credit Union Act to mandate that each appropriate Federal banking agency: (1) establish a separate consumer compliance program the head of which shall report directly to the head of the agency; and (2) conduct a separate on-site consumer compliance examination of each insured depository. Authorizes such banking agency to consider the size of the depository institution and the complexity of the consumer compliance examination issues presented when it determines whether to assign an examiner who exclusively conducts such examinations or an examiner who has only received specialized training in such examinations. Requires the head of the consumer compliance program to furnish the Congress with an annual status report. Amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require specified regulatory agencies to refer cases to the Attorney General or at least notify the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development concerning violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Amends the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to authorize the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to exempt certain depository institutions from home mortgage disclosure requirements.
Bill· HRH.R. 1202 (102nd)open
United States · United States Congress · 28 February 1991
Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act - Title I: Ensuring Adequate Food Assistance - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to remove the excess shelter deduction cap for purposes of food stamp program (program) eligibility. (Sets forth transitional caps through FY 1995.) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to adjust the basic benefit level upwards by specified increments at the beginning of each fiscal year until it reaches 105 percent of the cost of the thrifty food plan. Eliminates food stamp reductions for households reapplying for program reinstatement within 30 days. Excludes third party payments for transitional housing for the homeless from consideration as program income. Increases funding for the nutrition assistance program in Puerto Rico. Excludes general assistance vendor payments from consideration as program income. Title II: Promoting Self-Sufficiency - Excludes from consideration as program income: (1) the first $50 a month received as child support; and (2) child support payments to non-household members. Increases annually the fair market value limit of vehicles that program recipients may own. Excludes from financial resources the value of a vehicle a household depends upon to carry heating fuel or water for home use where it has no other access to fuel or water. Increases dependent care deductions and participant and State agency reimbursements in connection with employment and training activities. Title III: Simplifying the Provision of Food Assistance - Permits related adults living in the same household to apply for separate program benefits under specified conditions. Permits a participating family made up of, or including, an elderly or disabled member to own $3,000 in allowable financial resources. (Current law refers to a family member 60 years of age or older.) Makes program authorization of appropriations permanent. Title IV: Implementation and Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for provisions of this Act.