Records whose title is actually about this topic. Use a country filter if the list is still too broad.
Records
Bill· HRH.R. 1603 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to except from the excise tax on passenger transportation by water a voyage of less than 12 hours on a ferry between a port in the United States and one outside the United States. Defines "ferry" to mean a vessel on which no more than 50 percent of the passengers on any voyage return to the port where the voyage originated on the vessel's first return to port.
Bill· SS. 770 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Implementation Act of 1995 - Declares it is U.S. policy that: (1) Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel; and (2) construction of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem should begin no later than December 31, 1996, and officially open no later than May 31, 1999. States that not more than 50 percent of the funds appropriated for FY 1997 and 1999 to the Department of State for "Acquisition and Maintenance of Buildings Abroad" may be obligated in the respective fiscal year until the Secretary of State determines, and reports to the Congress, that (for FY 1997) such construction has begun and that (for FY 1999) the Embassy has opened. Limits the availability of specified amounts of such funds in certain fiscal years until they are expended for: (1) costs associated with relocating the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem; and (2) the costs for its construction. Requires the Secretary of State to report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on: (1) the Department of State's plan to implement this Act; and (2) progress made toward opening the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
Bill· SS. 771 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
Revises various specified Federal laws concerning the transfer, disposal, and distribution of certain surplus Federal property by the Department of Defense (DOD) and other specified Federal agencies. Gives State and local governments priority over foreign countries in receiving nonlethal excess DOD supplies before they are made available for humanitarian relief purposes. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 to exclude motor vehicles from the personal property DOD may transfer to Federal and State agencies for counter-drug activities. Repeals the mandate for DOD participation in infrastructure improvement demonstration programs conducted by Regional Equipment Centers in Newport Township and Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, with respect to the transfer of property for environmental protection in foreign countries, to prohibit such transfers unless the Administrator of General Services (GSA Administrator) determines that there is no Federal or State use requirements for the property under any other provision of law. Amends the Small Business Act to subject to the supervision of the GSA Administrator, in consultation with State agencies responsible for surplus property distribution, the transfer of U.S.-owned technology or surplus property to participants in the small business and capital ownership development program. Repeals the authority of the Secretary of Energy to transfer surplus equipment to an educational institution with which it has a partnership agreement. Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to repeal the authority of a Federal agency head or the director of a Federal laboratory to give excess research equipment to an educational institution or nonprofit organization. Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to authorize the Administrator of General Services to delegate such transfer authority to the director of a Federal laboratory. Requires the Administrator of General Services to review all such laws for a report to the Congress on the effectiveness of surplus personal property disposal programs along with recommendations for consolidating them under a single Federal authority.
Bill· SS. 768 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Ensuring the Integrity of the Listing and Critical Habitat Designation Processes Title II: Broadening the Recovery Plan to Constitute a Conservation Plan and Making the Conservation Plan Central to the Implementation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 Title III: Improving the Consultation and Conferencing Processes for Federal Agency Actions Title IV: Ensuring that the Compliance Procedures and Standards for Non-Federal Persons are not More Burdensome than the Procedures and Standards Applicable to Federal Agencies Title V: Providing for Habitat Conservation Incentive Programs Title VI: Other Amendments Making the Endangered Species Act of 1973 More Effective and Less Burdensome Title VII: Authorizing Increased Appropriations Endangered Species Act Reform Act of 1995 - Title I: Ensuring the Integrity of the Listing and Critical Habitat Designation Processes - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (the Act) to direct the Secretary of the Interior, upon publication of notice of a proposed rulemaking for an action for the determination of an endangered or threatened species status, to provide notice of the right of any interested person to seek peer review of such action. Provides for review and publication of results after such request. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary to determine whether a species is endangered or threatened due to the inadequacy of any existing Federal, State, local governmental, and international regulatory mechanisms. (Sec. 103) Requires the Secretary to: (1) make such determinations based on the best reasonably obtainable scientific information; (2) identify and publish in the Federal Register a description of the extent of the use of scientific information in making the appropriate regulation; (3) provide an opportunity for public review and comment on the scientific information used; and (4) require States to adopt the reasonably obtainable scientific information standard when the Secretary enters into cooperative agreements with such States to establish and maintain an adequate and active program for the conservation of endangered and threatened plant species. (Sec. 104) Increases the number of public hearings required with respect to the listing of an endangered or threatened species. Directs the Secretary to consider in such a determination the existence of public or private breeding or hatchery programs for a species. Requires all findings (currently, limited) with respect to a petitioned action to review a determination to be subject to judicial review. (Sec. 107) Changes the standard which allows the Secretary to make an emergency regulation with respect to a species from the presence of conditions imposing a significant risk to the well-being of such species to conditions providing an imminent threat to the existence of such species. Title II: Broadening the Recovery Plan to Constitute a Conservation Plan and Making the Conservation Plan Central to the Implementation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 - Directs the Secretary, upon a determination that a species is endangered or threatened, to: (1) issue appropriate incidental taking permits; (2) enter into appropriate Federal-State cooperative management agreements with respect to such species; or (3) commence the development of a conservation objective as established under this section. Directs the Secretary to publish a conservation objective for an affected species within 30 days after the issuance of an assessment and planning team report concerning biological, economical, and intergovernmental assessments of the consequences of listing a species as endangered or threatened. Directs the Secretary, after considering such report, to publish a conservation objective, a statement as to whether such objective was established, and a determination of whether to prepare a conservation plan for that species. Provides, with respect to any conservation plan determined necessary by the Secretary, for: (1) a time schedule; (2) plan priorities; (3) alternative strategies to achieve the conservation objective; (4) procedures (consultation, publication and public comment, and hearings); (5) publication of a final conservation plan; and (6) participation by appropriate persons in the development, implementation, and revision of conservation plans. Authorizes the Secretary to designate critical habitats, requiring the best reasonably obtainable scientific information to be used in such designation, and requiring any economic impacts to be considered. Provides instances under which the actions of a Federal agency shall be determined to be consistent with a conservation plan or objective established under this Act. Provides transition provisions for the period before which a conservation objective or plan is established or implemented. Authorizes the suspension of a conservation plan or objective in certain circumstances. Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on plan or objective implementation and to review and revise such plans or objectives. (Sec. 202) Provides transitional provisions with respect to: (1) expedited conservation plan issuance; (2) existing species recovery plans; and (3) the review and reissuance of biological opinions in conjunction with the issuance of a conservation objective or plan. (Sec. 203) Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Act in order to include conservation objectives and plans with respect to endangered or threatened species, as well as critical habitat designations, within the central focus of management under the Act. Title III: Improving the Consultation and Conferencing Processes for Federal Agency Actions - Requires consultation and conferencing standards between appropriate Federal agencies and the affected States to include an assurance by the Federal agency that a proposed action will not destroy or adversely modify any habitat designated as critical in a manner that is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the species. Exempts certain actions of the Secretary from the consultation and conferencing requirements. Specifies those agency actions that shall not be considered takings for purposes of a listed species. (Sec. 303) Provides consultation conclusion deadlines. (Currently, such consultation is permitted for 90 days or any period of time mutually agreed upon by the Secretary and the Federal agency.) (Sec. 304) Entitles a permit or license applicant for the taking of a species on an endangered or threatened list to participate fully in any consultation or conferencing required between the Secretary and the Federal agency with respect to such application. (Sec. 305) Provides that if the Secretary determines that a proposed agency action is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the species, the Secretary shall suggest reasonable and prudent alternatives that impose the least social and economic costs. (Sec. 306) Outlines procedural requirements when the listing or determination related to a species requires consultation on a land use plan or land or resource management plan under specified Federal laws. (Sec. 307) Requires use of the best reasonably obtained scientific information when determining reasonable and prudent alternatives to proposed agency action with respect to an endangered or threatened species. Authorizes a Federal agency to request the President to resolve irreconcilable conflicts between agency actions and other duties assigned to such agency. (Sec. 308) Prohibits the Secretary and the head of any Federal agency, in carrying out actions with respect to endangered or threatened species, from requiring, providing for, or recommending the imposition of any restriction or obligation on the activity of a person that is not otherwise subject to regulation by such agency. (Sec. 309) Requires specified endangered species risk assessment and cost-benefit analyses to be included in the consultation process. (Sec. 310) Terminates the Endangered Species Committee. Authorizes the Secretary and the President to grant exemptions from the Act for national security or major disaster reasons. Title IV: Ensuring That the Compliance Procedures and Standards for Non-Federal Persons Are Not More Burdensome Than the Procedures and Standards Applicable to Federal Agencies - Establishes consultation procedures between the Secretary and non-Federal persons with respect to a determination of consistency with an established conservation plan or objective, including the issuance of a permit when the Secretary determines that the person's activity is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the species or when the person has accepted a reasonable and prudent alternative to such activity. Provides for: (1) permit revocation for noncompliance; and (2) permits for incidental takings. (Sec. 402) Defines the "taking" and "harming" of a species for purposes of the Act. (Sec. 403) Excludes specified takings by non-Federal persons from current prohibitions against takings under the Act. (Sec. 404) Authorizes the Secretary, under specified circumstances including notice and opportunity for public hearing, to issue a general permit on a county, parish, State, regional, or nationwide basis for any category of activities that may affect a species that is included on an endangered or threatened list. Limits to five years the duration of such a permit and authorizes the Secretary to revoke or modify the permit upon a determination of greater than minimal impact on the species in question. (Sec. 405) Provides that, with respect to permits issued by the Secretary to non-Federal persons under the Act: (1) the Secretary may not require the applicant to expand the application to include land or water rights not owned by the applicant or to address a species other than the species for which the application is made; (2) no additional measures will be required of a permittee who is already in compliance with the permit, unless extraordinary circumstances are present (with burden of proof upon the Secretary); (3) the Secretary shall pay 50 percent of the costs of implementing the terms and conditions of the permit; (4) the Secretary may issue interim (temporary) permits; and (5) the Secretary may assist such person in the development of a multiple species non-Federal conservation plan for the conservation of more than one endangered or threatened species. (Sec. 406) Authorizes the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture to encourage exchanges of land, waters, or related interests other than national park or wilderness units in order to protect habitat on non-Federal lands. Title V: Providing for Habitat Conservation Incentive Programs - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with a State or group of States, a political subdivision of a State, or a local government for the administration and management of each area identified as a species' habitat. Provides, with respect to such agreements, for: (1) notification to affected parties; (2) species assessment; (3) submission, notification, and approval of, and public comments with respect to, such agreements; (4) critical habitat designation; (5) procedures for agreement violations; and (6) a Federal cost-sharing requirement of 50 percent of the costs of implementation. (Sec. 502) Provides grants to non-Federal persons for the habitat preservation of endangered or threatened species. Title VI: Other Amendments Making the Endangered Species Act of 1973 More Effective and Less Burdensome - Provides additional requirements to be followed during the release of experimental populations (the release of a species outside of its current range), including that such releases take place only in units of the National Park or National Wildlife Refuge System. (Sec. 602) Directs the Secretary to recognize and authorizes the Secretary to utilize captive propagation to protect or conserve an endangered or threatened species. Authorizes the Secretary to provide annual grants to non-Federal persons for such purposes. (Sec. 604) Provides priority in the issuance of permits for those whose purpose is to conduct research on alternative methods and technologies for reducing the incidental taking of an endangered or threatened species. (Sec. 605) Authorizes the Secretary or the Secretary of the Treasury to pay costs incurred by a person in providing temporary care for any endangered or threatened species. (Sec. 606) Directs the Secretary to provide notice through the Federal Register and appropriate local publications of any hearing or other public meeting required under provisions of the Act. (Sec. 607) Directs the Secretary, in carrying out specified provisions of the Act, to ensure the minimization of the Act's impact on the use and value of private property. Protects the right of private property owners to receive compensation from the Government for the lost use or value of property caused by requirements of the Act. States that certain provisions of the Act do not apply to: (1) privately owned property of five contiguous acres or less, unless activity there presents an imminent threat to the existence of an endangered or threatened species; and (2) other property undertaking activities determined by the Secretary to be unlikely to jeopardize the continued existence of a species. Authorizes the institution of private actions to remedy economic injury caused by provisions of the Act. (Sec. 608) Requires any water rights acquired or used by any party under the Act to be exercised in accordance with the law in the State in which the water will be used. (Sec. 609) Directs the Secretary to pay 50 percent of the costs in excess of $10 million incurred by a non-Federal person or Federal power marketing administration resulting from compliance with any provision of a conservation plan under the Act. Authorizes the Secretary to pay a Federal share of costs less than or equal to $10 million. Directs the Secretary to pay 50 percent of the allowed costs incurred by such parties resulting from consultation requirements under the Act. (Sec. 610) Authorizes the public display or exhibition of living wildlife in order to educate the public about the ecological role and conservation needs of the affected species. Authorizes the issuance of educational permits for such persons. Defines captive-bred wildlife for purposes of the Federal captive-bred wildlife registration system. Title VII: Authorizing Increased Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for the Act for FY 1996 through 2001. Authorizes appropriations to the Department of the Interior for such fiscal years for: (1) cooperative management agreements; (2) convention implementation; (3) non-Federal conservation planning; and (4) habitat reserve grants.
Resolution· SRESS.Res. 117 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the current Federal income tax deduction for interest paid on debt secured by a first or second home located in the United States should not be further restricted.
Bill· HRH.R. 1588 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to apply the special treatment of livestock sold or involuntarily converted on account of drought conditions also to livestock sold or converted because of flood or other weather-related conditions.
Bill· HRH.R. 1591 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Department of Commerce Grants Title II: Public Works and Job Restoration Subtitle A: Jobs 2000 Subtitle B: Employment in Support of Community Renewal Subtitle C: Employment Activities; Repair and Renovation of Educational Facilities Title III: General Provisions Job Creation and Infrastructure Restoration Act of 1995 - Title I: Department of Commerce Grants - Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to make grants to any State or local government for construction, renovation, repair, restoration, or other improvement of local public works projects, including those for which Federal financial assistance is authorized under other titles or Acts. Limits the Federal share to not more than 90 percent of project cost. Prohibits any new grants after the expiration of any three-month period during which the national unemployment rate remains below five percent for each such month, or after September 30, 1999, whichever occurs first. (Sec. 103) Provides for allocation of funds and for preferences. Gives priority to State or local governments with unemployment rates higher than the national average. Requires State and local prioritization of applications. Allows localization of unemployment determinations. (Sec. 105) Sets forth general limitations, including Buy American and minority participation requirements and applicability of laws regarding individuals with disabilities. Requires public authorities, as part of the process of competitive bidding for contract awards under this Act, to: (1) seek to obtain Project Agreements with Building Trades Councils, including the establishment of Project Committees; and (2) assign to each project an enforcement official to enforce standards under this Act and Project Committee orders. (Sec. 106) Authorizes appropriations and deems them to be emergency spending. Title II: Public Works and Job Restoration - Subtitle A: Jobs 2000 - Jobs 2000 Act of 1995 - Provides for jobs for the unemployed and underemployed, especially youth, through payments for labor and related costs for: (1) construction, repair, or rehabilitation of community and educational facilities; (2) reclamation and conservation of public lands; and (3) creation, repair, rehabilitation, and restoration of public safety, public transportation, health, social services, and recreation facilities and other activities necessary to the public welfare. (Sec. 203) Sets forth participant eligibility and certification requirements, duration and extent of subsidized employment, participation priorities, special considerations for welfare recipients and veterans, and equal employment opportunities for traditionally underrepresented groups. (Sec. 204) Requires that at least 75 percent of funds made available to any recipient under subtitles B and C be used for wages and related employment benefits for work which the recipient certifies has been performed in authorized activities. Sets forth other limitations on use of funds, except training costs in specified circumstances. Subtitle B: Employment in Support of Community Renewal - Part A: Community Improvement Projects - Requires participants to be employed in community improvement projects in various specified activities under the categories of: (1) repair, rehabilitation, or improvement of public facilities; (2) conservation, restoration, rehabilitation, or improvement of public lands; and (3) public safety, health, social service, and other activities necessary to public welfare. (Sec. 210) Provides for joint programs, public lands projects limitations, eligibility and qualification of administrative entities, allotment of funds, requirements for receipt of funds, reports, and project design priorities and coordination. Requires, in the case of projects or activities that involve construction, reconstruction, repair, or renovation of physical structures, that: (1) each project for which a grant is made under this title be performed by contract on the basis of competitive bidding, unless the Secretary finds that an alternative method is in the public interest under circumstances related to the project; and (2) public authorities awarding such contracts seek Project Agreements with Building Trades Councils, including establishing Project Committees, and assign project enforcement officers. Part B: Community Improvement and Renewal Activities for Youth Trainees - Authorizes use of funds for wages and benefits for eligible youth for part-time employment up to 32 hours per week in authorized youth trainee activities at a work site of a public or private nonprofit or for-profit employer, in a manner which requires and is consistent with enrollment in high school, an equivalency program, or a program of basic skills, skills training, or employability development for at least eight hours per week. (Sec. 221) Provides for joint programs, youth eligibility requirements, exemption from unemployment duration requirements, priority for the economically disadvantaged, and equitable service for school dropouts. Part C: State Job Programs - Reserves five percent of State allotments for: (1) authorized State-administered programs and activities; (2) special assistance for areas with sudden or severe economic dislocations; (3) State-directed emergency aid to cope with natural disasters; and (4) special assistance to seasonal farmworkers and small farmers in areas with severe economic disruption. (Sec. 231) Sets forth requirements for program and activity selection and design. Subtitle C: Employment Activities; Repair and Renovation of Educational Facilities - Part A: Elementary and Secondary School Facility Improvement - Requires making funds under this part available to any eligible local education agency in an eligible jurisdiction to provide employment to eligible participants in repair, renovation, restoration, or rehabilitation of public school facilities. (Sec. 241) Provides for use of quick-start projects, permitted uses of funds, tribal school projects, allotment of funds, and receipt requirements. Part B: Higher Education Facility Improvement Projects - Requires funds under this part to be made available to higher education institutions in eligible jurisdictions to provide employment to eligible participants in work on repair, restoration, renovation, or rehabilitation of academic facilities. (Sec. 251) Provides for use of quick-start projects, permitted uses of funds, selection of projects, allotment of funds, and receipt requirements. Part C: Special Definitions for Subtitle C - Sets forth special definitions for subtitle C. Part D: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations. Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth general requirements, including wage rates, labor standards, fiscal controls and sanctions, and judicial review procedures.
Bill· HRH.R. 1600 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
Relieves two named individuals of liability to the United States for interest accrued on unpaid Federal income taxes.
Bill· HRH.R. 1578 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Amendments of 1995 - Amends the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to revise specified definitions and define "compact" and "management contract." Revises provisions regarding powers of the National Indian Gaming Commission and its Chairman. Repeals the Secretary of the Interior's interim gaming regulatory authority. Authorizes tribes to request a State to enter into class III gaming compact negotiations. Sets forth related provisions, including a State's right not to assume tribal gaming responsibilities. Authorizes the Commission to assess gaming operations for reasonable regulatory costs. Eliminates the requirement of gubernatorial concurrence with regard to gaming on after-acquired lands. Grants Federal tax-exempt status to tribally owned or chartered gaming operations. Provides for the lawfulness of specified class III gaming activities.
Bill· HRH.R. 1595 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 May 1995
Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Implementation Act of 1995 - Declares it is U.S. policy that: (1) Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel; and (2) construction of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem should begin no later than December 31, 1996, and officially open no later than May 31, 1999. States that not more than 50 percent of the funds appropriated for FY 1997 and 1999 to the Department of State for "Acquisition and Maintenance of Buildings Abroad" may be obligated in the respective fiscal year until the Secretary of State determines, and reports to the Congress, that (for FY 1997) such construction has begun and that (for FY 1999) the Embassy has opened. Limits the availability of specified amounts of such funds in certain fiscal years until they are expended for: (1) costs associated with relocating the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem; and (2) the costs for its construction. Requires the Secretary of State to report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on: (1) the Department of State's plan to implement this Act; and (2) progress made toward opening the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
Bill· SS. 758 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Eligible Shareholders of S Corporation Subtitle A: Number of Shareholders Subtitle B: Persons Allowed as Shareholders Subtitle C: Other Provisions Title II: Qualification and Eligibility Requirements for S Corporations Subtitle A: One Class of Stock Subtitle B: Elections and Terminations Subtitle C: Other Provisions Title III: Taxation of S Corporation Shareholders Title IV: Effective Date S Corporation Reform Act of 1995 - Title I: Eligible Shareholders of S Corporation - Subtitle A: Number of Shareholders - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from 35 to 50 the maximum number of shareholders of an S corporation (electing small business corporation). Allows members of a family to be treated as one shareholder. Subtitle B: Persons Allowed as Shareholders - Allows the following entities to be shareholders of S corporations: (1) certain tax-exempt organizations; (2) financial institutions that do not use the reserve method of accounting for bad debts; (3) nonresident aliens; and (4) certain small business trusts. Subtitle C: Other Provisions - Extends the post-death qualification for certain trusts to be permitted as shareholders from 60 days to two years. Title II: Qualification and Eligibility Requirements for S Corporations - Subtitle A: One Class of Stock - Allows an S corporation to issue qualified preferred stock. Permits financial institutions to hold safe harbor debt. Subtitle B: Elections and Terminations - Revises the rules on inadvertent terminations by certain trusts of the election to be an S corporation. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to treat certain late elections as timely and to provide an automatic waiver procedure for certain inadvertent terminations. Expands the post-termination transition period until 120 days after a determination is made that the election had terminated in a prior year. Repeals the characterization of excessive passive investment income as a termination event. Increases the tax imposed on such excessive income. Subtitle C: Other Provisions - Permits an S corporation to wholly own the stock of a subsidiary. Provides for the treatment of distributions during loss years. Provides a consent dividend for S corporation elections to by-pass amounts in the accumulated adjustments account when making distributions. Eliminates the rule treating an S corporation as an individual in its capacity as shareholder of another corporation for purposes of subchapter C. Eliminates the pre-1983 earnings and profits accumulated by a corporation that was an S corporation for any taxable year beginning before January 1, 1983, and is so characterized for its first taxable year after December 31, 1995. Allows S corporations to make charitable contributions of inventory and scientific property. Repeals the requirement that partnership rules apply for fringe benefit purposes (making C corporation rules applicable). Provides for the application to two-percent shareholders of S corporations of the rules regarding deduction of health insurance costs of self-employed individuals. Title III: Taxation of S Corporation Shareholders - Applies the exemption from the excise tax on pension plan prohibited transactions to plans providing benefits for S corporation shareholder-employees (as defined before the effective date of the Subchapter S Revision Act of 1982). Treats losses on liquidations of S corporations as ordinary to the extent the loss created by ordinary income pass-through triggered the liquidation. Title IV: Effective Date - Makes this Act effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1995.
Bill· SS. 753 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Authorizes contributions toward cooperative work in forest investigations or protection, management, and improvement of the National Forest System to be covered into a special Treasury fund and paid for such purposes and for refunds of amounts paid in excess of a contributor's share of the cost. Authorizes payment for such purposes to be made from any Forest Service appropriation that is available for similar work if a written agreement so provides and reimbursement will be provided by a cooperator in the same fiscal year as the expenditure by the Service. Requires a reimbursement received from a cooperator that covers his or her proportionate share of the cost of the work to be deposited to the credit of the Service's appropriation from which the payment was initially made or, if the appropriation is no longer available, to the credit of the Service's appropriation that is available for similar work. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish: (1) criteria to determine whether the acceptance of contributions under this Act would adversely affect the ability of a Department of Agriculture officer or employee to carry out his or her duty or program in a fair and objective manner; and (2) written rules that protect the Service's interests in cooperative work agreements.
Bill· SS. 751 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Repeals certain provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that treat certain games of chance conducted by nonprofit organizations as an unrelated trade or business for purposes of the unrelated business income tax.
Bill· SS. 750 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to characterize as a redemption in part or full payment in exchange for stock a distribution in redemption of corporate-held stock if: (1) the redemption is part of a partial liquidation or not pro rata as to all shareholders; and (2) the corporation holding the stock would otherwise be entitled to a dividends received deduction.
Bill· SS. 746 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Work-Related Reforms Title II: Reforms of AFDC and Treatment of Teenage Parents Subtitle A: AFDC Reforms Subtitle B: Teenage Parents Title III: Strengthening Parental Responsibility and Family Stability Subtitle A: Federal Responsibilities Subtitle B: Paternity Establishment Subtitle C: Enforcement Subtitle D: State Responsibilities Subtitle E: Demonstrations, Grants, and Miscellaneous Subtitle F: Tax Reforms Title IV: Child Care Reforms Title V: Equity Investment Subtitle A: Equity Investment Development Zones Subtitle B: Equity Investment in Qualified Companies Subtitle C: Assistance to Qualified Companies Receiving Equity Investments Title VI: Effective Date Economic Opportunity and Family Responsibility Act of 1995 - Title I: Work-Related Reforms - Amends parts A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) and F (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program) (JOBS) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) increase JOBS funding as well as matching and participation rates; (2) revise JOBS participation requirements, among other changes establishing a minimum period under AFDC for participating in JOBS, and including certain child-related volunteer work and higher education and vocational training costs as JOBS activities; (3) allow State JOBS programs to use limited JOBS funding for conducting training and employment opportunity programs for noncustodial parents; (4) require State AFDC plans to provide for one-stop centers at which low-income individuals can obtain information on and help in applying for various specified types of public assistance, including housing and transportation assistance, unemployment insurance, and health and child care; and (5) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish guidelines for staffing State agencies operating or overseeing such public assistance. (Sec. 107) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an eligible entity to conduct a demonstration project to provide certain AFDC recipients with a private sector job and employment-related support services. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Reforms of AFDC and Treatment of Teenage Parents - Subtitle A: AFDC Reforms - Amends SSA title IV part A to: (1) increase the earned income disregard; (2) give States the option of allowing families on AFDC to disregard as a resource up to $10,000 in a qualified asset account for education, training, employability, home buying, or change of residence purposes; and (3) repeal certain provisions creating a disincentive to marry, such as those requiring the parent who is the principal wage earner to have a recent work history, and those allowing States to limit the participation of families in AFDC to only six months in any 12-month period. Subtitle B: Teenage Parents - Modifies AFDC and JOBS provisions with regard to minor teenage parents, among other changes: (1) requiring them to live with their parents or in an adult-supervised living arrangement in order to receive AFDC, except under circumstances similar to those under current law, including those added by this Act which prohibit application of such requirement when it would prevent the individual's continued participation in an approved substance abuse treatment program; and (2) requiring State JOBS programs to impose certain educational and job-related activity requirements with respect to such parents who have not completed high school. (Sec. 202) Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the use of qualified asset accounts established pursuant to this Act. Title III: Strengthening Parental Responsibility and Family Stability - Subtitle A: Federal Responsibilities - Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to make various specified changes, chief among them changes with respect to: (1) expansion of Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) functions and systems; (2) establishment of a Federal child support order registry composed of all child support orders in State registries established below for comparison with information from W-4 forms provided by employers on the child support obligations of employees for forwarding to the appropriate State under a national system established by the Secretary of Treasury for reporting employees and child support information; and (3) incentive and other payments to the States, including incentive adjustments to the Federal matching rate, an increased base matching rate, and increased Federal financial participation for States with unified child support enforcement programs. (Sec. 308) Requires the Secretary to promulgate new criteria and standards which emphasize program outcomes for: (1) auditing State child support programs; and (2) establishing a system for reporting relevant audit data. (Sec. 309) Establishes the National Child Support Guidelines Commission to develop a national child support guideline to recommend to the President and the Congress for consideration. (Sec. 310) Directs the Secretary to establish the Child Support Audit Advisory Committee to assist the Secretary in developing revised audit criteria and standards for use above. Subtitle B: Paternity Establishment - Provides for the following, among other things, in order to further paternity establishment: (1) State procedures for a simple civil process for voluntary acknowledgement of paternity that include a hospital-based program for making such acknowledgements and require the State agency responsible for birth records to offer voluntary paternity establishment services; (2) outreach programs at hospitals and other facilities to encourage voluntary paternity acknowledgement; (3) expedited State procedures for ordering genetic tests as part of the State's civil procedures for establishment of paternity; and (4) reduced State payments as penalties for failing to establish paternity promptly. Subtitle C: Enforcement - Provides for the following, among other things, in order to further enforcement efforts under child support programs: (1) State procedures for obtaining access to financial records maintained by financial institutions in the State, and for requiring State courts and administrative agencies with final authority over support or parentage orders to require each party subject to such order to file with it certain identifying information on where the party can be reached at home and at work; (2) additional benefits subject to garnishment; (3) State hold on occupational, professional, and business licenses based on a warrant or delinquency related to child support; (4) Federal holds based on support delinquency; (5) State denial of driver's licenses and vehicle registrations to noncustodial parents failing to appear in child support cases; (6) liens by the State on personal property for child support arrearages; (7) reporting of the total amount of monthly support obligations to credit bureaus; (8) denial of passports to noncustodial parents subject to State arrest warrants in cases of nonpayment of child support; (9) extension of the age through which a State could pursue back child support; and (10) expanded use of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect delinquent child support using tax collection authority. (Sec. 323) Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to allow access to credit reports for an appropriate State agency for use in establishing, modifying, or enforcing a child support award. Subtitle D: State Responsibilities - Provides for the following, among other things, in order to facilitate enforcement efforts under child support programs: (1) State procedures for establishment of automated central child support order registries for use in the national system above; (2) State transmission of wage withholding orders for overdue child support to the employer of the individual owing the support in order for the employer to withhold the appropriate amount from the employee's wages for forwarding to the State registry for support and health insurance premium payments due; (3) State child support enforcement agency access to various data bases with information regarding absent parents; (4) uniform terms in support orders; (5) State laws adopting the officially approved version of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act; and (6) outreach to persons eligible for State child support services. (Sec. 347) Provides for cost-of-living adjustment of child support awards as well as for new procedures for adjusting certain child support orders and preventing conflicts of interest. (Sec. 350) Requires the Secretary to conduct staffing studies of each State child support enforcement program for a report to the Congress, reducing payments to a State failing to meet performance standards and recommended staffing levels. (Sec. 351) Provides for State and Federal training for State child and spousal support enforcement personnel. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 352) Revises requirements for the distribution of proceeds. (Sec. 353) Gives States the authority to waive temporarily the right to collect child support obligations of teen noncustodial parents who are participating in a State educational or employment preparation program. Requires State guidelines for child support awards to provide that if the State agency determines that a noncustodial parent who has not attained 20 years of age owes but is unable to pay child support, then the State may, in lieu of enforcing the right to such support for such period as it considers appropriate, allow the parent to choose to comply with an educational or job training program. Subtitle E: Demonstrations, Grants, and Miscellaneous - Directs the Secretary to make grants to a limited number of States to conduct demonstration projects for the purpose of: (1) establishing or improving a system of assured minimum child support payments in order to encourage States to provide a guaranteed minimum level of child support for every eligible child not receiving such support; (2) establishing a simple process for the modification of child support orders based on changed family circumstances; and (3) providing services to noncustodial parents unable to meet child support obligations due to unemployment or underemployment. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 364) Authorizes appropriations for grants to States for programs to support and facilitate absent parents' access to and visitation of their children. (Sec. 365) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to make a technical correction to its definition of medical support order. Subtitle F: Tax Reforms - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for the quarterly lump sum advance payment of the earned income tax credit. Directs the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to expand the Tax Counseling for the Elderly program to include assistance to certain low-income families, with outreach targeted to families on AFDC, food stamps, and child care assistance through SSA title IV part G. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Child Care Reforms - Amends SSA title IV to add a new part G (Child Care for Needy Families Block Grant) for the purpose of encouraging and enabling each State to develop, establish, or expand, and to operate a program to provide child care services. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 403) Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to give States the option of extending Medicaid enrollment for an additional year for former AFDC recipients making the transition from welfare to work. Title V: Equity Investment - Equity Investment Development Act of 1995 - Subtitle A: Equity Investment Development Zones - Requires the appropriate Secretaries (the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the case of any area nominated for designation located in an urban area and the Secretary of Agriculture in the case of any area nominated that is in a rural area) to designate ten areas as equity investment development zones in accordance with the designation process and eligibility criteria outlined in this title. Subtitle B: Equity Investments in Qualified Companies - Requires the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to: (1) establish a single rate of interest applicable to all reserves, making any necessary adjustments on a quarterly basis; and (2) on March 1 of each year, calculate the imputed earnings on all reserves during the preceding calendar year, based on the rate of interest established above, and any adjustments to such rate effected prior to March 1, and then, with certain exceptions, issue a certificate to each insured depository institution to make an equity investment in one or more qualified companies, transfer to the Community Equity Investment Corporation established below, or sell to a third party. Requires the face value of such certificate to equal the imputed earnings on the reserves maintained by that insured depository institution during the applicable calendar year. Establishes procedures for reimbursement relating to direct investment. Provides for the transferability of certificates, with certain exceptions. States that each certificate shall expire two years after the certificate is issued. (Sec. 531) Establishes the Community Equity Investment Corporation as a for-profit corporation incorporated in Delaware. (Sec. 533) Prohibits the common stock of the Corporation from being transferable before expiration of the five-year period beginning with the Corporation's incorporation. Provides that during the five-year period beginning on the expiration of the five year period above, the common stock of the Corporation shall be transferable only among insured depository institutions that own common stock in the Corporation on or before the expiration of such five-year period. (Sec. 534) Establishes procedures for the dissolution of the Corporation. Subtitle C: Assistance to Qualified Companies Receiving Equity Investments - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a wage supplementation program. Describes such program, allowing it to operate at the option of a State which would use the funds available to pay the benefits to families on AFDC or food stamps to instead pay participating employers as an incentive for such families to work in lieu of receiving such benefits. Title VI: Effective Date - Specifies effective dates of this Act and the amendments made by it.
Bill· HRH.R. 1561 (104th)failed
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Division A: Consolidation of Foreign Affairs Agencies Title I: General Provisions Title II: United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Title III: United States Information Agency Title IV: Agency for International Development Title V: Transition Division B: Foreign Relations Authorizations Title XX: General Provisions Title XXI: Authorization of Appropriations for Department of State and Certain International Affairs Functions and Activities Title XXII: Department of State Authorities and Activities Title XXIII: Organization of the Department of State; Department of State Personnel, The Foreign Service Title XXIV: United States Public Diplomacy: Authorities and Activities for United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural Programs Title XXV: International Organizations and Commissions Title XXVI: Foreign Policy Provisions Title XXVII: Congressional Statements Division C: Foreign Assistance Authorizations Title XXXI: Defense and Security Assistance Title XXXII: Economic Assistance Title XXXIII: Regional Provisions Title XXXIV: Special Authorities and Other Provisions Title XXXV: Effective Date American Overseas Interests Act of 1995 - Division A: Consolidation of Foreign Affairs Agencies - Title I: General Provisions - Foreign Affairs Agencies Consolidation Act of 1995 - Sets forth congressional findings and purposes regarding the reorganization of U.S. foreign affairs agencies. Title II: United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency - Abolishes the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Transfers functions of the Director of such Agency to the Secretary of State. Directs the President to submit a reorganization plan with respect to the transfer of such functions to the appropriate congressional committees. (Sec. 222) Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to establish in the Department of State: (1) an Under Secretary for International Security and Arms Control; (2) a Coordinator for Arms Control and Disarmament; and (3) Assistant Secretaries for Arms Control and Disarmament and for Nonproliferation and Export Controls, respectively. (Sec. 242) Repeals sections of the Arms Control and Disarmament Act relating to the establishment of the Agency and appointment of officials. Makes conforming amendments with respect to the transfer of authorities to the Department of State. Title III: United States Information Agency - Abolishes the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) and transfers the functions of the Director of the Agency to the Secretary. Directs the President to submit a reorganization plan with respect to the transfer of such functions to the appropriate congressional committees. (Sec. 322) Establishes in the Department of State: (1) an Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy; and (2) Assistant Secretaries for Academic Programs and Cultural Exchanges and for Information, Policy, and Programs, respectively. (Sec. 341) Makes conforming amendments with respect to the transfer of such functions to the Department of State. Title IV: Agency for International Development - Abolishes the Agency for International Development (AID) and the International Development Cooperation Agency. Transfers such agencies' functions to the Secretary. Directs the President to submit a reorganization plan with respect to the transfer of such functions to the appropriate congressional committees. (Sec. 422) Establishes an Under Secretary for Development, Trade Promotion, and Economic Affairs to head an International Development Foundation. Requires all functions under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to be carried out through the Foundation. (Sec. 442) Makes conforming amendments with respect to the transfer of functions to the Department of State. Title V: Transition - Sets forth transition administrative provisions regarding: (1) the Secretary's reorganization authorities; (2) the transfer and allocation of appropriations and personnel; (3) specified incidental transfers of personnel, liabilities, records, and funds; (4) effects of terminations and transfers of functions on personnel; and (5) voluntary separation incentives. (Sec. 510) Requires the President to submit a final accounting of the finances and operations of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, USIA, and AID to the appropriate congressional committees. Division B: Foreign Relations Authorizations - Title XX: General Provisions - Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1996 and 1997 - Sets forth definitions. Title XXI: Authorization of Appropriations for Department of State and Certain International Affairs Functions and Activities - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of State for FY 1996 and 1997 for: (1) the administration of foreign affairs; (2) contributions to international organizations and international peacekeeping activities; (3) international conferences and contingencies; (4) purposes of offsetting adverse fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; (5) international commissions; (6) migration and refugee assistance; (7) the Asia Foundation; (8) international information activities and educational and cultural exchange programs; and (9) purposes of carrying out the Arms Control and Disarmament Act. Earmarks funds for specified organizations and activities. (Sec. 2102) Makes funds available to the International Atomic Energy Agency only if the Secretary reports to the appropriate congressional committees that Israel is not being denied its right to participate in the Agency. Bars the use of international organization funds for programs for Libya, Iran, or Communist countries listed under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Withholds certain amounts of funds from the United Nations Development Program unless the President certifies that the Program has terminated activities in and for Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar). Prohibits international peacekeeping funds from being made available for contributions to the United Nations Protection Force unless the President reports to the Congress that: (1) the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina supports the continued presence of such Force within its territory; (2) the Force is carrying out its mandate under specified Security Council resolutions; (3) the Force is providing support to the efforts of the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal to investigate and prosecute war crimes and support to diplomatic, military, and relief personnel; and (4) the Force has investigated and taken appropriate action against any personnel suspected of participating in illegal or improper activities. Makes the authorization of appropriations for international conferences and contingencies effective only after the Secretary makes a certification regarding the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and accreditation of certain nongovernmental organizations. (Sec. 2104) Bars the use of migration and refugee assistance funds for salaries and administrative expenses of the Bureau of Migration and Refugee Assistance. Prohibits the use of such assistance for the repatriation of any person to Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia unless the President makes a specified certification regarding the status of such persons as refugees and whether they have been offered resettlement outside their countries of nationality. Title XXII: Department of State Authorities and Activities - Adds to the list of actions for which rewards are available the furnishing of information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual aiding or abetting in acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property or in certain narcotics-related offenses. Authorizes appropriations, with limitations. (Sec. 2205) Directs the Secretary to develop a worldwide plan for the consolidation, on a regional or area wide basis, of U.S. missions and consular posts abroad. (Sec. 2231) Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 to limit the amount of fees collected from processing machine readable visas that may be deposited as an offsetting collection to any Department of State appropriation. Removes provisions which prohibit fees from being charged to citizens of countries that are signatories to the North American Free Trade Agreement. (Sec. 2232) Requires visa applicants who are determined to have a criminal history record, have been present in the United States, and are more than 16 years of age to provide a fingerprint record for submission with the application. Directs the Department of State to submit such record to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for analysis to determine whether the applicant has been convicted of a felony under State or Federal law. (Sec. 2233) Sets aside a percentage of the fees collected in FY 1996 and 1997 for expedited passport processing for enhancing passport services, investigating passport fraud, and deterring entry into the United States by terrorists and other criminals. (Sec. 2252) Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees every six months on the methods employed by the Cuban Government to enforce the United States--Cuba Immigration Agreement of September 1994 to restrict the emigration of Cuban people to the United States. (Sec. 2253) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 to extend through FY 1997 a provision which authorizes admission into the United States of a specified number of refugees from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (independent states), Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania based on religious persecution due to participation in the Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches. Makes FY 1997 the latest allowable entry date for specified aliens from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for purposes of qualifying for adjustment of status. Title XXIII: Organization of the Department of State; Department of State Personnel; The Foreign Service - Establishes a Coordinator for Counterterrorism within the office of the Secretary. (Sec. 2302) Establishes within the Department of State a U.S. Special Envoy for Tibet. (Sec. 2303) Establishes a Coordinator for Human Rights and Refugees within the office of the Secretary. Repeals provisions that provide for an Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Establishes the Bureau of Refugee and Migration Assistance within the Department of State. (Sec. 2304) Repeals provisions of law which provide for: (1) an Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs; (2) a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Burden sharing; and (3) a Bureau and Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. (Sec. 2305) Establishes an Assistant Secretary for Human Resources within the Department of State. (Sec. 2351) Establishes limits on the number of Foreign Service personnel in the Department of State, USIA, and AID during FY 1996 and 1997. Provides for a waiver of such limitations as necessary to carry out foreign affairs functions. (Sec. 2352) Repeals provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 that provide for performance pay for Senior Foreign Service personnel. Title XXIV: United States Public Diplomacy: Authorities and Activities for United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural Programs - Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 to eliminate the permanent authorization for the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between North and South. (Sec. 2403) Requires the USIA Director to establish educational and cultural exchange programs between the United States and Hong Kong and Tibet, respectively. (Sec. 2405) Provides for scholarships to Tibetan and Burmese students and professionals who are outside their countries. (Sec. 2406) Authorizes the USIA Director to make available, upon request, computer readable multilingual text and recorded speech in various languages to the Linguistic Data Consortium of the University of Pennsylvania. (Sec. 2431) Amends the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 to increase the number of members on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. (Sec. 2432) Requires the USIA Director to submit a plan for the establishment and operation of Radio Free Asia to the Congress. (Sec. 2433) Requires the USIA Director to make grants for broadcasting to China, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam for purposes of providing broadcasting on an interim basis before Radio Free Asia becomes fully operational. Title XXV: International Organizations and Commissions - Authorizes the Secretary to make improvements to the Rio Grande Canalization Project. (Sec. 2521) Permits the President to withhold 20 percent of the funds appropriated for the U.S. assessed contribution to the United Nations if the United Nations has failed to implement consensus-based decision making procedures on budgetary matters which assure that sufficient attention is paid to the views of the United States and other member states who are major financial contributors. (Sec. 2523) Prohibits U.S. contributions to any affiliated organization of the United Nations or to the United Nations if they grant full membership as a state to a group that does not have internationally recognized attributes of statehood. (Sec. 2524) Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the management of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Title XXVI: Foreign Policy Provisions - Provides that certain provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act concerning defense articles and services and the determination of Taiwan's defense needs supersede any provision of the Joint Communique of the United States and China of August 17, 1982. (Sec. 2602) Requires the Secretary to report annually to specified congressional officials on conditions in Tibet and on the state of relations between the United States and those recognized by the Congress as the true representatives of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama, his representatives, and the Tibetan government in exile. Expresses the sense of the Congress that whenever an executive branch report is transmitted to the Congress on a country-by-country basis there should be included a separate report on Tibet. (Sec. 2603) Bosnia Genocide Justice Act - Urges the President to take specified steps to assist efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible for war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991. (Sec. 2642) Sets forth minimum conditions relating to nuclear nonproliferation that the President should uphold in negotiations with North Korea. (Sec. 2643) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) South Korea should play the central role in the project to provide light water reactors to North Korea; and (2) the President should not take steps toward upgrading diplomatic relations with North Korea beyond opening liaison offices or relaxing trade and investment barriers without action by North Korea to engage in a dialogue with South Korea, implementation of the North-South Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and progress toward U.S. policy objectives regarding North Korea and the Korean Peninsula. (Sec. 2645) Makes the provision of assistance to North Korea or the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization contingent on the same terms that govern such assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. (Sec. 2651) Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to encouraging the United Nations Security Council to take certain steps against Burma. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should reduce the U.S. diplomatic presence in Burma. Title XXVII: Congressional Statements - Declares that the Secretary, in allocating resources for international organizations, should pay particular attention to funding levels of the Inter- American organizations. (Sec. 2702) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should refuse to recognize the incorporation of any territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina into the territory of a neighboring state or the creation of a new state within Bosnia's borders resulting from the use of force, coercion, or other means inconsistent with international law. (Sec. 2703) Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to calling upon the Chinese Government to dismantle the Laogai (system of forced labor camps). (Sec. 2704) Expresses the sense of the Congress that none of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act may be obligated to normalize diplomatic relations with Vietnam until Vietnam: (1) releases all of its political and religious prisoners; (2) accounts for American prisoners-of-war and missing in action from the Vietnam War; (3) holds democratic elections; and (4) institutes policies which protect human rights. (Sec. 2705) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should take specified actions with respect to: (1) promoting human and worker rights in China; and (2) requesting the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to encourage the development and protection of treatment centers. Division C: Foreign Assistance Authorizations - Foreign Aid Reduction Act of 1995 - Title XXXI: Defense and Security Assistance - Authorizes appropriations for the foreign military financing program under the Arms Export Control Act for FY 1996 and 1997. Earmarks amounts of assistance for Israel, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. (Sec. 3121) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase the aggregate value of defense articles and services that may be drawn down under emergency circumstances. Revises authorities with respect to drawdowns for non-military assistance purposes. (Sec. 3122) Limits the value of additions to stockpiles in foreign countries in FY 1996 and 1997. Makes amounts available for such stockpiles in South Korea and Thailand. (Sec. 3123) Revises conditions on the transfer of excess defense articles and repeals specified provisions of existing law regarding such transfers. (Sec. 3141) Authorizes appropriations for international military education and training for FY 1996 and 1997. Permits such assistance to Indonesia only for specified military education and training for civilian personnel. (Sec. 3143) Authorizes the attendance without charge of foreign military and civilian defense personnel at test flight pilot schools in the United States pursuant to agreements providing for the exchange of students between U.S. and comparable foreign pilot schools. (Sec. 3151) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for antiterrorism assistance. (Sec. 3152) Repeals provisions that require certain congressional notifications and reports regarding antiterrorism assistance. (Sec. 3162) Authorizes the President to accept contributions from foreign governments to carry out international narcotics control activities. Repeals specified reporting and certification requirements with respect to international narcotics control currently applicable to years after FY 1995 and applies FY 1995 reporting and certification requirements to such years. (Sec. 3164) Permits international narcotics-related assistance to be provided notwithstanding any law (with specified exceptions) that restricts assistance to foreign countries if the President notifies the appropriate congressional committees in advance. (Sec. 3171) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for a nonproliferation and disarmament fund established under the Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Support Act of 1992. (Sec. 3181) Amends the Arms Export Control Act to revise congressional review procedures with respect to specified arms transfers. (Sec. 3182) Provides that presidential consent shall not be required for the transfer by a foreign country or international organization of defense articles sold by the United States if specified conditions are met. (Sec. 3184) Repeals specified reporting requirements with respect to price and availability estimates relating to proposed sales, and acquisitions, of defense articles or services. (Sec. 3188) Designates Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand as major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies. (Sec. 3189) Raises the threshold on amounts of defense articles and services that trigger certification requirements prior to transfer. (Sec. 3191) Prohibits funds from being available to facilitate the sale of M-833 antitank shells or shells containing a depleted uranium penetrating component to any country other than a NATO member country, a major non-NATO ally, or Taiwan. Subjects such prohibition to a national security interest waiver. Title XXXII: Economic Assistance - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for economic support fund (ESF) assistance. Earmarks amounts for Israel, Egypt, the International Fund for Ireland, and law enforcement assistance. (Sec. 3211) Authorizes the President to provide funds and support to private sector enterprise funds for countries eligible to receive development assistance on the same basis as such funds and support are provided to Enterprise Funds for Poland and Hungary under the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989. Makes development and ESF assistance available for such funds. (Sec. 3212) Authorizes the President to provide funds and support to Enterprise Funds that are or have been established for purposes of promoting private sector development of countries in the Trans-Caucasus region. (Sec. 3213) Replaces provisions regarding the Private Sector Revolving Fund with provisions authorizing credit and training to micro- and small enterprises. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for such purposes. (Sec. 3214) Authorizes grant assistance to microenterprises in developing countries. (Sec. 3221) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for specified development assistance, including: (1) the Development Fund for Africa; (2) assistance for the independent states; (3) assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic states; (4) the Inter-American Foundation; and (5) the African Development Foundation. (Sec. 3222) Prohibits development assistance for voluntary population planning from being made available for organizations that support or participate in coercive abortions or involuntary sterilizations. (Sec. 3223) Makes ineligible for assistance (except humanitarian assistance or assistance for democratic political reform) any independent state that directs any action in violation of territorial integrity or national sovereignty of any other independent state. Prohibits assistance for purposes of enhancing the military capability of any independent state, with exceptions. Bars assistance to the Government of Russia if such government: (1) is not making progress in implementing comprehensive economic reforms based on market principles; and (2) applies or transfers assistance to any entity for purposes of expropriating or seizing ownership or control of assets, investments, or ventures. Provides for a permanent waiver of certain provisions of law with respect to assistance to the independent states (currently, such waiver is only applicable with respect to FY 1993 assistance). (Sec. 3224) Requires the President to report to the Congress every three years on the impact and effectiveness of development assistance on a country-by-country basis. (Sec. 3231) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for operating expenses of the agency primarily responsible for administering development assistance and for such agency's office of inspector general. (Sec. 3241) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for the provision of agricultural commodities under title II of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. Prohibits funding for providing such commodities under title III of such Act. (Sec. 3251) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for administrative expenses to carry out worldwide shelter guaranteed loan programs. (Sec. 3261) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 to carry out the Peace Corps Act. Earmarks a maximum amount for Peace Corps activities in the independent states. (Sec. 3263) Prohibits the use of Peace Corps funds for abortions. (Sec. 3271) Authorizes the President to provide international reconstruction assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for international disaster assistance. (Sec. 3281) Prohibits funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 from being available to private and voluntary organizations which: (1) fail to provide documents to meet auditing requirements of the agency primarily responsible for administering development assistance; or (2) are not registered with such agency. (Sec. 3284) Withholds from obligation an amount equivalent to 110 percent of the total unpaid fully adjudicated parking fines owed to the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, and New York by the government of a foreign country in a fiscal year until the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that such fines are fully paid. Title XXXIII: Regional Provisions - Prohibits foreign assistance to any foreign government that has provided economic assistance to or engaged in nonmarket-based trade with the Government of Cuba. Waives such prohibition under specified conditions. (Sec. 3302) Permits development or ESF assistance for FY 1996 and 1997 to be made available to Nicaragua only if the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that specified conditions regarding investigations of weapons caches and certain murders, prosecution of those involved in international terrorist or kidnapping rings, expropriation of U.S. property, civilian control over the military and police, and reforms in the judicial system have been met. (Sec. 3303) Makes Panama eligible to purchase defense articles and services under the Arms Export Control Act. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should negotiate a new base rights agreement with the Government of Panama. (Sec. 3305) Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to free passage through, and claims to territory in, the South China Sea. (Sec. 3306) Prohibits ESF, international military education and training, foreign military financing, and development assistance to the Government of Zaire for FY 1996 and 1997. Title XXXIV: Special Authorities and Other Provisions - Increases the amount authorized to be transferred between specified accounts under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act. (Sec. 3402) Authorizes the President, in order to provide for unanticipated contingencies in programs for which funds are provided under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, to use funds made available to carry out any provision of such Act for purposes of providing assistance authorized by other provisions. Repeals current provisions regarding contingencies and raises the ceiling on the amount provided for such authority. (Sec. 3403) Revises special authority provisions to authorize the President to provide assistance and loans under foreign assistance laws and the Arms Export Control Act, notwithstanding laws restricting such assistance, if to do so is vital to national interests. Retains specified annual ceilings with respect to such waivers and raises country limits. (Sec. 3404) Authorizes the President, for purposes of making an equitable settlement of termination claims under extraordinary contractual relief standards, to adopt as a contract or other obligation of the U.S. Government and assume any liabilities under, any contract with a U.S. or third-country contractor to carry out any program of foreign assistance that was subsequently terminated. (Sec. 3412) Prohibits funds made available to carry out the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Arms Export Control Act from being provided to any foreign government engaged in intelligence activities harmful to U.S. national security. (Sec. 3413) Authorizes the President to reduce amounts owed to the U.S. Government as a result of loans or guarantees issued under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or credits or guarantees extended under the Arms Export Control Act. Makes eligible for such debt reduction countries with a heavy debt burden that are eligible to borrow from the International Development Association but not from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and countries that meet other specified conditions concerning military expenditures, terrorism, narcotics control, and human rights. Permits such authority only to implement multilateral debt relief ad referendum agreements (the Paris Club Agreed Minutes) and only to the extent that appropriations for the modifications are made in advance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997. (Sec. 3414) Authorizes the President, subject to certain conditions, to sell to an eligible purchaser concessional loans made before January 1, 1995, to the government of an eligible country or reduce or cancel such loans on receipt of payment from an eligible purchaser for purposes of facilitating debt-for-equity, -development, or -nature swaps or debt buybacks by eligible countries to support specified activities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997. (Sec. 3415) Prohibits the use of funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide: (1) any financial incentive to a business for purposes of inducing it to relocate outside the United States if it will reduce the number of employees in the United States; (2) assistance for developing an export processing zone or designated area in which a country's tax, tariff, labor, environment, and safety laws do not apply to activities in the area, unless the President certifies that such assistance is not likely to cause a loss of jobs within the United States; or (3) assistance for any project that contributes to the violation of workers' rights. Exempts assistance for microenterprises, small-scale enterprises, or small-holder agriculture in the informal sector of the foreign country from such prohibition. (Sec. 3416) Prohibits assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Arms Export Control Act to any foreign government that provides lethal military equipment to a country whose government supports international terrorism. Waives such prohibition if such assistance is important to national security interests. (Sec. 3421) Repeals specified foreign assistance laws. Title XXXV: Effective Date - Makes the effective date of this Act the later of the enactment date or October 1, 1995.
Bill· HRH.R. 1574 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Bank Insurance Fund and Depositor Protection Act of 1995 - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to exclude from its definition of "deposit" any liability of an insured depository institution that arises under an annuity contract, the income on which is tax deferred (thus excluding such liabilities from Federal deposit insurance coverage).
Bill· HRH.R. 1555 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Development of Competitive Telecommunications Markets Title II: Cable Communications Competitiveness Title III: Broadcast Communications Competitiveness Title IV: Effect on Other Laws Title V: Definitions Communications Act of 1995 - Title I: Development of Competitive Telecommunications Markets - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 (the Act) to provide that the duty of a common carrier includes the duty to interconnect with the facilities and equipment of other providers of telecommunications and information services. Includes within the duty of a local exchange carrier specified duties with respect to: (1) interconnection; (2) unbundling of network elements; (3) resale; (4) number portability; (5) dialing parity; (6) access to rights of way; (7) network functionality and accessibility; and (8) good faith negotiation. Requires a local exchange carrier to provide, to any other carrier or person offering (or seeking to offer) a telecommunications or information service: (1) access to and interconnection with the facilities of the carrier's network at any technically feasible and economically reasonable point within the carrier's network on just and reasonable terms and conditions, upon request; and (2) reasonable and nondiscriminatory access on an unbundled basis to databases, signaling systems, poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way owned or controlled by a local carrier that is at least equal to that afforded by the carrier to itself or to any other person and that is sufficient to ensure the full interoperability of the equipment and facilities of the carrier and of the person seeking such access. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) preemption of State and local regulation of interstate or intrastate telecommunications services; (2) statements of terms and conditions for access and interconnection; (3) Bell operating company (BOC) entry into "interlata services" (telecommunications between a point located in a local access and transport area and a point located outside such area); (4) the convening of a Federal State Joint Board to recommend actions for the preservation of universal service; (5) pricing flexibility and abolition of rate-of-return regulation; (6) network functionality and accessibility; (7) illegal changes in subscriber carrier selections; (8) required periodic FCC studies regarding universal service, advanced telecommunications services for elementary and secondary school students, and accessibility by individuals with disabilities; and (9) exemptions for U.S. territories. (Sec. 103) Prohibits a BOC, directly or through an affiliate, from manufacturing or providing telecommunications equipment or manufacturing customer premises equipment until the FCC has approved verifications that such BOC and each BOC with which it is affiliated are in compliance with access and interconnection requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) information requirements; and (2) FCC administration and enforcement authority. Prohibits a BOC or any affiliate from engaging in the provision of electronic publishing that is disseminated by means of such BOC's or any of its affiliates' basic telephone service, but allows a separated affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture to engage in such activity if it is operated independently from the BOC and it meets specified requirements (e.g., maintains separate books, has no officers, director, or employees in common, does not permit the BOC to perform specified functions on behalf of a separated affiliate, and has performed annually a compliance review). Authorizes a person claiming that any act or practice of a BOC, affiliate, or separated affiliate violates this section to file a complaint with the FCC or bring suit for damages, or to apply to the FCC for a cease and desist order. Requires any separated affiliate to file with the FCC annual reports in a form substantially equivalent to the Form 10-K required by Securities Exchange Commission regulations. Prohibits any BOC or affiliate from engaging in the provision of alarm monitoring services before July 1, 2000, except for existing legal activities. Requires a common carrier engaged in the provision of alarm monitoring or telemessaging services to provide nonaffiliated entities, upon reasonable request, with the network services it provides to its own alarm monitoring or telemessaging operations, on nondiscriminatory terms and conditions. Prohibits such a carrier from subsidizing such services with revenues from telephone exchange service. Directs the FCC to establish procedures for the expedited receipt and review of complaints concerning violations that result in material financial harm to a provider of such services. (Sec. 103(sic)) Directs the FCC to forbear from applying certain provisions or regulations to a common carrier or service, or class of carriers or services, in any or some geographic markets if the FCC determines that: (1) enforcement of such provision or regulation is not necessary to ensure that the charges, practices, classifications, or regulations by, for, or in connection with that carrier or service are just and reasonable and not discriminatory; (2) such enforcement is not necessary for the protection of consumers; and (3) forbearance from applying such provision or regulation is consistent with the public interest. (Sec. 104) Sets forth provisions regarding the privacy of customer proprietary network information. (Sec. 105) Requires a utility to provide a cable television (TV) system or other provider of telecommunications services with nondiscriminatory access to any pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way owned or controlled by the utility. Directs the FCC to prescribe regulations for ensuring that utilities charge just and reasonable and nondiscriminatory rates for pole attachments provided to all providers of telecommunications services, which shall: (1) apportion the cost of the entire pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way according to the percentage of usable space required for each entity; and (2) allow for reasonable terms and conditions relating to health, safety, and the provision of reliable utility service. (Sec. 106) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) preemption of franchising authority regulation of telecommunications services; and (2) mobile service access to long distance carriers. Title II: Cable Communications Competitiveness - Authorizes a common carrier subject to the Act: (1) either through its own facilities or through an affiliate, to provide video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone service area; and (2) to provide channels of communications or pole, line, or conduit space, or other rental arrangements, to any entity which is directly or indirectly owned, operated, or controlled by, or under common control with, such carrier, if such facilities or arrangements are to be used for or in connection with the provision of video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone service area. Exempts from specified requirements under the Act an affiliate that: (1) is owned, operated, or controlled by, or under common control with, a carrier; and (2) provides video programming to subscribers in the telephone service area of such carrier, but does not utilize the local exchange facilities or services of any affiliated carrier in distributing such programming. Prohibits a carrier from providing video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone service area unless such programming is provided through a video programming affiliate that is separate from such carrier. Requires a carrier that provides video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone service area to establish a video platform, with exceptions. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) authority of a State commission to prohibit cross-subsidization; (2) prohibition against buyouts, with exceptions; (3) rural area exemptions; (4) competition from cable systems, including the development of a National Information Infrastructure; and (5) competitive availability of navigation devices. Directs the FCC to complete an inquiry to ascertain the level at which video programming is closed captioned and to report to the Congress. Title III: Broadcast Communications Competitiveness - Requires the FCC, if it determines that it will issue additional licenses for advanced TV services, to: (1) limit the initial eligibility for such licenses to persons that, as of the date of such issuance, are licensed to operate a TV broadcast station, hold a permit to construct such a station, or both; and (2) adopt regulations that allow such licensees or permittees to offer such ancillary or supplementary services on designated frequencies as may be consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity. (Sec. 302) Revises provisions regarding license terms and renewal for the operation of a TV broadcast station. Increases to seven years (currently, five) the period for each license granted. Directs the FCC to continue a license in effect pending any hearing and final decision on an application and the disposition of a petition for rehearing. (Sec. 303) Requires the FCC to grant an application for a broadcast station license renewal if it finds that, during the preceding term of the station's license: (1) the station has served the public interest, convenience, and necessity; (2) there have been no serious violations by the licensee of this Act or FCC rules and regulations; and (3) there have been no other violations by the licensee of this Act or FCC rules and regulations which, taken together, would constitute a pattern of abuse. (Sec. 304) Grants the FCC exclusive jurisdiction over the regulation of the direct broadcast satellite service. (Sec. 305) Specifies that a ship documented under U.S. law operating in accordance with the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System provisions of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention shall not be required to be equipped with a radio station operated by one or more radio officers or operators. (Sec. 306) Directs the FCC to promulgate regulations to prohibit restrictions that inhibit a viewer's ability to receive video programming services through signal receiving devices designed for off-the-air reception of TV broadcast signals. (Sec. 307) Includes programming of a licensee in the direct broadcast satellite service within the scope of provisions penalizing the manufacture, import, sale, or distribution of equipment that is primarily of assistance in the unauthorized decryption of satellite cable programming. Title IV: Effect on other Laws - States that this Act shall supersede the Modification of Final Judgment (i.e., the order entered August 24, 1982, in the antitrust action styled United States v. Western Electric, including any judgment or order with respect to such action entered on or after that date), with exceptions. (Sec. 402) Preempts local taxation with respect to direct broadcast satellite service. Title V: Definitions - Defines various terms used in this Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 1564 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Division B: Foreign Relations Authorizations Title XX: General Provisions Title XXI: Authorization of Appropriations for Department of State and Certain International Affairs Functions and Activities Title XXII: Department of State Authorities and Activities Title XXIII: Organization of the Department of State; Department of State Personnel; The Foreign Service Title XXIV: United States Public Diplomacy; Authorities and Activities for United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural Programs Title XXV: International Organizations and Commissions Title XXVI: Foreign Policy Provisions Title XXVII: Congressional Statements Division B: Foreign Relations Authorizations - Title XX: General Provisions - Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1996 and 1997 - Sets forth definitions. Title XXI: Authorization of Appropriations for Department of State and Certain International Affairs Functions and Activities - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of State for FY 1996 and 1997 for: (1) the administration of foreign affairs; (2) contributions to international organizations and international peacekeeping activities; (3) international conferences and contingencies; (4) purposes of offsetting adverse fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; (5) international commissions; (6) migration and refugee assistance; (7) the Asia Foundation; (8) international information activities and educational and cultural exchange programs; and (9) purposes of carrying out the Arms Control and Disarmament Act. Earmarks funds for specified organizations and activities. (Sec. 2102) Makes funds available to the International Atomic Energy Agency only if the Secretary reports to the appropriate congressional committees that Israel is not being denied its right to participate in the Agency. Bars the use of international organization funds for programs for Libya, Iran, or Communist countries listed under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Withholds certain amounts of funds from the United Nations Development Program unless the President certifies that the Program has terminated activities in and for Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar). Prohibits international peacekeeping funds from being made available for contributions to the United Nations Protection Force unless the President reports to the Congress that: (1) the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina supports the continued presence of such Force within its territory; (2) the Force is carrying out its mandate under specified Security Council resolutions; (3) the Force is providing support to the efforts of the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal to investigate and prosecute war crimes and support to diplomatic, military, and relief personnel; and (4) the Force has investigated and taken appropriate action against any personnel suspected of participating in illegal or improper activities. Makes the authorization of appropriations for international conferences and contingencies effective only after the Secretary makes a certification regarding the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and accreditation of certain nongovernmental organizations. (Sec. 2104) Bars the use of migration and refugee assistance funds for salaries and administrative expenses of the Bureau of Migration and Refugee Assistance. Prohibits the use of such assistance for the repatriation of any person to Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia unless the President makes a specified certification regarding the status of such persons as refugees and whether they have been offered resettlement outside their countries of nationality. (Sec. 2121) Prohibits the authorization of appropriations under this Act for any entity which: (1) provides, supports, assists, or promotes abortion, except where necessary to save the life of the mother or following rape or incest; or (2) conducts, assists, or promotes any activity related to population control or family planning and assistance in the People's Republic of China, until the President certifies that there have been no abortions performed as a result of coercion, duress, or severe psychological pressure within the preceding 12 months. Title XXII: Department of State Authorities and Activities - Adds to the list of actions for which rewards are available the furnishing of information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual aiding or abetting in acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property or in certain narcotics-related offenses. Authorizes appropriations, with limitations. (Sec. 2205) Directs the Secretary to develop a worldwide plan for the consolidation, on a regional or areawide basis, of U.S. missions and consular posts abroad. (Sec. 2231) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) include membership in a terrorist organization as a basis for exclusion from the United States; and (2) authorize the Secretary of State to waive the requirement that a person receive written notice of the provisions under which his or her visa application was denied in the case of any alien deemed excludable on criminal or security grounds. (Sec. 2233) Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 to limit the amount of fees collected from processing machine readable visas that may be deposited as an offsetting collection to any Department of State appropriation. Removes provisions which prohibit fees from being charged to citizens of countries that are signatories to the North American Free Trade Agreement. (Sec. 2234) Requires visa applicants who are determined to have a criminal history record, have been present in the United States, and are more than 16 years of age to provide a fingerprint record for submission with the application. Directs the Department of State to submit such record to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for analysis to determine whether the applicant has been convicted of a felony under State or Federal law. (Sec. 2235) Sets aside a percentage of the fees collected in FY 1996 and 1997 for expedited passport processing for enhancing passport services, investigating passport fraud, and deterring entry into the United States by terrorists and other criminals. (Sec. 2237) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) include as a basis for exclusion from the United States the confiscation of American property abroad or trafficking in such confiscated property; and (2) revise the definition of "refugee" to provide that a person who has been forced to have an abortion or undergo involuntary sterilization or who has been persecuted for refusing to do so or for other resistance to a coercive population control program shall be deemed to have been persecuted on account of political opinion. (Sec. 2253) Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees every six months on the methods employed by the Cuban Government to enforce the United States-Cuba Immigration Agreement of September 1994 to restrict the emigration of Cuban people to the United States. (Sec. 2254) Prohibits the United States from involuntarily returning, or promoting or assisting the return of, any person to a country in which the person has a well founded fear of persecution. (Sec. 2255) Directs the President to report to specified congressional committees preceding each fiscal year on the foreseeable number of refugees who will be in need of resettlement and the anticipated allocation of refugee admissions during the fiscal year. (Sec. 2256) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 to extend through FY 1997 a provision which authorizes admission into the United States of a specified number of refugees from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (independent states), Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania based on religious persecution due to participation in the Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches. Makes FY 1997 the latest allowable entry date for specified aliens from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for purposes of qualifying for adjustment of status. Title XXIII: Organization of the Department of State; Department of State Personnel; The Foreign Service - Establishes a Coordinator for Counterterrorism within the office of the Secretary. (Sec. 2302) Establishes within the Department of State a U.S. Special Envoy for Tibet. (Sec. 2303) Establishes a Coordinator for Human Rights and Refugees within the office of the Secretary. Repeals provisions that provide for an Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Establishes the Bureau of Refugee and Migration Assistance within the Department of State. (Sec. 2304) Repeals provisions of law which provide for: (1) an Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs; (2) a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Burdensharing; and (3) a Bureau and Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. (Sec. 2305) Establishes an Assistant Secretary for Human Resources within the Department of State. (Sec. 2351) Establishes limits on the number of Foreign Service personnel in the Department of State, USIA, and AID during FY 1996 and 1997. Provides for a waiver of such limitations as necessary to carry out foreign affairs functions. (Sec. 2352) Repeals provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 that provide for performance pay for Senior Foreign Service personnel. Title XXIV: United States Public Diplomacy: Authorities and Activities for United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural Programs - Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 to eliminate the permanent authorization for the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between North and South. (Sec. 2403) Requires the USIA Director to establish educational and cultural exchange programs between the United States and Hong Kong and Tibet, respectively. (Sec. 2405) Provides for scholarships to Tibetan and Burmese students and professionals who are outside their countries. (Sec. 2406) Authorizes the USIA Director to make available, upon request, computer readable multilingual text and recorded speech in various languages to the Linguistic Data Consortium of the University of Pennsylvania. (Sec. 2431) Amends the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 to increase the number of members on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. (Sec. 2432) Requires the USIA Director to submit a plan for the establishment and operation of Radio Free Asia to the Congress. (Sec. 2433) Requires the USIA Director to make grants for broadcasting to China, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam for purposes of providing broadcasting on an interim basis before Radio Free Asia becomes fully operational. Title XXV: International Organizations and Commissions - Authorizes the Secretary to make improvements to the Rio Grande Canalization Project. (Sec. 2521) Permits the President to withhold 20 percent of the funds appropriated for the U.S. assessed contribution to the United Nations if the United Nations has failed to implement consensus-based decisionmaking procedures on budgetary matters which assure that sufficient attention is paid to the views of the United States and other member states who are major financial contributors. (Sec. 2523) Prohibits U.S. contributions to any affiliated organization of the United Nations or to the United Nations if they grant full membership as a state to a group that does not have internationally recognized attributes of statehood. (Sec. 2524) Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the management of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Title XXVI: Foreign Policy Provisions - Provides that certain provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act concerning defense articles and services and the determination of Taiwan's defense needs supersede any provision of the Joint Communique of the United States and China of August 17, 1982. (Sec. 2602) Requires the Secretary to report annually to specified congressional officials on conditions in Tibet and on the state of relations between the United States and those recognized by the Congress as the true representatives of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama, his representatives, and the Tibetan government in exile. Expresses the sense of the Congress that whenever an executive branch report is transmitted to the Congress on a country-by-country basis there should be included a separate report on Tibet. (Sec. 2603) Bosnia Genocide Justice Act - Urges the President to take specified steps to assist efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible for war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991. (Sec. 2642) Sets forth minimum conditions relating to nuclear nonproliferation that the President should uphold in negotiations with North Korea. (Sec. 2643) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) South Korea should play the central role in the project to provide light water reactors to North Korea; and (2) the President should not take steps toward upgrading diplomatic relations with North Korea beyond opening liaison offices or relaxing trade and investment barriers without action by North Korea to engage in a dialogue with South Korea, implementation of the North-South Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and progress toward U.S. policy objectives regarding North Korea and the Korean Peninsula. (Sec. 2645) Makes the provision of assistance to North Korea or the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization contingent on the same terms that govern such assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. (Sec. 2651) Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to encouraging the United Nations Security Council to take certain steps against Burma. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should reduce the U.S. diplomatic presence in Burma. (Sec. 2661) Torture Victims Relief Act of 1995 - States that the United States shall not involuntarily return a person to a country where such person would be subject to torture. Establishes an expedited procedure for processing refugee, asylum, withholding of deportation, and parole entry claims of torture victims. Expresses the sense of the Congress that sufficient funds should be allocated to the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Resource Information Center to maintain information on foreign torture. Provides for specialized training in torture identification and handling of torture victims for consular, immigration, and asylum personnel. Directs the Center for Disease Control to study and report on torture victims residing in the United States. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide for respective domestic and foreign treatment centers for torture victims. Authorizes appropriations. Title XXVII: Congressional Statements - Declares that the Secretary, in allocating resources for international organizations, should pay particular attention to funding levels of the Inter-American organizations. (Sec. 2702) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should refuse to recognize the incorporation of any territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina into the territory of a neighboring state or the creation of a new state within Bosnia's borders resulting from the use of force, coercion, or other means inconsistent with international law. (Sec. 2703) Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to calling upon the Chinese Government to dismantle the Laogai (system of forced labor camps). (Sec. 2704) Expresses the sense of the Congress that none of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act may be obligated to normalize diplomatic relations with Vietnam until Vietnam: (1) releases all of its political and religious prisoners; (2) accounts for American prisoners-of-war and missing in action from the Vietnam War; (3) holds democratic elections; and (4) institutes policies which protect human rights. (Sec. 2705) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should take specified actions with respect to: (1) promoting human and worker rights in China; and (2) requesting the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to encourage the development and protection of treatment centers.
Bill· HRH.R. 1563 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Division C: Foreign Assistance Authorizations Title XXXI (sic): Defense and Security Assistance Chapter 1: Military and Related Assistance Chapter 2: International Military Education and Training Chapter 3: Antiterrorism Assistance Chapter 4: Narcotics Control Assistance Chapter 5: Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund Chapter 6: Other Provisions Title XXXII: Economic Assistance Chapter 1: Economic Support Assistance Chapter 2: Assistance for Private Sector Programs and Activities Chapter 3: Development Assistance Chapter 4: Public Law 480 Chapter 5: Housing Guarantee Program Chapter 6: Peace Corps Chapter 7: International Disaster Assistance Chapter 8: Other Provisions Title XXXIII: Regional Provisions Title XXXIV: Special Authorities and Other Provisions Chapter 1: Special Authorities Chapter 2: Other Provisions Chapter 3: Repeals Title XXXV: Effective Date Division C: Foreign Assistance Authorizations - Foreign Aid Reduction Act of 1995 - Title XXXI (sic): Defense and Security Assistance - Chapter 1: Military and Related Assistance - Authorizes appropriations for the foreign military financing program under the Arms Export Control Act for FY 1996 and 1997. Earmarks amounts of assistance for Israel, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. (Sec. 3121) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase the aggregate value of defense articles and services that may be drawn down under emergency circumstances. Revises authorities with respect to drawdowns for non-military assistance purposes. (Sec. 3122) Limits the value of additions to stockpiles in foreign countries in FY 1996 and 1997. Makes amounts available for such stockpiles in South Korea and Thailand. (Sec. 3123) Revises conditions on the transfer of excess defense articles and repeals specified provisions of existing law regarding such transfers. Chapter 2: International Military Education and Training - Authorizes appropriations for international military education and training for FY 1996 and 1997. Permits such assistance to Indonesia only for specified military education and training for civilian personnel. (Sec. 3143) Authorizes the attendance without charge of foreign military and civilian defense personnel at test flight pilot schools in the United States pursuant to agreements providing for the exchange of students between U.S. and comparable foreign pilot schools. Chapter 3: Antiterrorism Assistance - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for antiterrorism assistance. (Sec. 3152) Repeals provisions that require certain congressional notifications and reports regarding antiterrorism assistance. Chapter 4: Narcotics Control Assistance - Authorizes the President to accept contributions from foreign governments to carry out international narcotics control activities. Repeals specified reporting and certification requirements with respect to international narcotics control currently applicable to years after FY 1995 and applies FY 1995 reporting and certification requirements to such years. (Sec. 3164) Permits international narcotics-related assistance to be provided notwithstanding any law (with specified exceptions) that restricts assistance to foreign countries if the President notifies the appropriate congressional committees in advance. Chapter 5: Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for a nonproliferation and disarmament fund established under the Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Support Act of 1992. Chapter 6: Other Provisions - Amends the Arms Export Control Act to revise congressional review procedures with respect to specified arms transfers. (Sec. 3182) Provides that presidential consent shall not be required for the transfer by a foreign country or international organization of defense articles sold by the United States if specified conditions are met. (Sec. 3184) Repeals specified reporting requirements with respect to price and availability estimates relating to proposed sales, and acquisitions, of defense articles or services. (Sec. 3188) Designates Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand as major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies. (Sec. 3189) Raises the threshold on amounts of defense articles and services that trigger certification requirements prior to transfer. (Sec. 3191) Prohibits funds from being available to facilitate the sale of M-833 antitank shells or shells containing a depleted uranium penetrating component to any country other than a NATO member country, a major non-NATO ally, or Taiwan. Subjects such prohibition to a national security interest waiver. Title XXXII: Economic Assistance - Chapter 1: Economic Support Assistance - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for economic support fund (ESF) assistance. Earmarks amounts for Israel, Egypt, the International Fund for Ireland, and law enforcement assistance. Chapter 2: Assistance for Private Sector Programs and Activities - Authorizes the President to provide funds and support to private sector enterprise funds for countries eligible to receive development assistance on the same basis as such funds and support are provided to Enterprise Funds for Poland and Hungary under the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989. Makes development and ESF assistance available for such funds. (Sec. 3212) Authorizes the President to provide funds and support to Enterprise Funds that are or have been established for purposes of promoting private sector development of countries in the Trans- Caucasus region. (Sec. 3213) Replaces provisions regarding the Private Sector Revolving Fund with provisions authorizing credit and training to micro- and small enterprises. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for such purposes. (Sec. 3214) Authorizes grant assistance to microenterprises in developing countries. Chapter 3: Development Assistance - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for specified development assistance, including: (1) the Development Fund for Africa; (2) assistance for the independent states of the former Soviet Union (independent states); (3) assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic states; (4) the Inter-American Foundation; and (5) the African Development Foundation. (Sec. 3222) Prohibits development assistance for voluntary population planning from being made available for organizations that support or participate in coercive abortions or involuntary sterilizations. (Sec. 3223) Makes ineligible for assistance (except humanitarian assistance or assistance for democratic political reform) any independent state that directs any action in violation of territorial integrity or national sovereignty of any other independent state. Prohibits assistance for purposes of enhancing the military capability of any independent state, with exceptions. Bars assistance to the Government of Russia if such government: (1) is not making progress in implementing comprehensive economic reforms based on market principles; and (2) applies or transfers assistance to any entity for purposes of expropriating or seizing ownership or control of assets, investments, or ventures. Provides for a permanent waiver of certain provisions of law with respect to assistance to the independent states. (Currently, such waiver is only applicable with respect to FY 1993 assistance.) (Sec. 3224) Requires the President to report to the Congress every three years on the impact and effectiveness of development assistance on a country-by-country basis. (Sec. 3231) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for operating expenses of the agency primarily responsible for administering development assistance and for such agency's office of inspector general. Chapter 4: Public Law 480 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for the provision of agricultural commodities under title II of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. Prohibits funding for providing such commodities under title III of such Act. Chapter 5: Housing Guarantee Program - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for administrative expenses to carry out worldwide shelter guaranteed loan programs. Chapter 6: Peace Corps - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 to carry out the Peace Corps Act. Earmarks a maximum amount for Peace Corps activities in the independent states. (Sec. 3263) Prohibits the use of Peace Corps funds for abortions. Chapter 7: International Disaster Assistance - Authorizes the President to provide international reconstruction assistance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for international disaster assistance. Chapter 8: Other Provisions - Prohibits funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 from being available to private and voluntary organizations which: (1) fail to provide documents to meet auditing requirements of the agency primarily responsible for administering development assistance; or (2) are not registered with such agency. (Sec. 3284) Withholds from obligation an amount equivalent to 110 percent of the total unpaid fully adjudicated parking fines owed to the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, and New York by the government of a foreign country in a fiscal year until the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that such fines are fully paid. Title XXXIII: Regional Provisions - Prohibits foreign assistance to any foreign government that has provided economic assistance to or engaged in nonmarket-based trade with the Government of Cuba. Waives such prohibition under specified conditions. (Sec. 3302) Permits development or ESF assistance for FY 1996 and 1997 to be made available to Nicaragua only if the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that specified conditions regarding investigations of weapons caches and certain murders, prosecution of those involved in international terrorist or kidnapping rings, expropriation of U.S. property, civilian control over the military and police, and reforms in the judicial system have been met. (Sec. 3303) Makes Panama eligible to purchase defense articles and services under the Arms Export Control Act. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should negotiate a new base rights agreement with the Government of Panama. (Sec. 3305) Sets forth U.S. policy with respect to free passage through, and claims to territory in, the South China Sea. (Sec. 3306) Prohibits ESF, international military education and training, foreign military financing, and development assistance to the Government of Zaire for FY 1996 and 1997. Title XXXIV: Special Authorities and Other Provisions - Chapter 1: Special Authorities - Increases the amount authorized to be transferred between specified accounts under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act. (Sec. 3402) Authorizes the President, in order to provide for unanticipated contingencies in programs for which funds are provided under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, to use funds made available to carry out any provision of such Act for purposes of providing assistance authorized by other provisions. Repeals current provisions regarding contingencies and raises the ceiling on the amount provided for such authority. (Sec. 3403) Revises special authority provisions to authorize the President to provide assistance and loans under foreign assistance laws and the Arms Export Control Act, notwithstanding laws restricting such assistance, if to do so is vital to national interests. Retains specified annual ceilings with respect to such waivers and raises country limits. (Sec. 3404) Authorizes the President, for purposes of making an equitable settlement of termination claims under extraordinary contractual relief standards, to adopt as a contract or other obligation of the U.S. Government and assume any liabilities arising thereunder, any contract with a U.S. or third-country contractor to carry out any program of foreign assistance that was subsequently terminated. Chapter 2: Other Provisions - Prohibits funds made available to carry out the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Arms Export Control Act from being provided to any foreign government engaged in intelligence activities harmful to U.S. national security. (Sec. 3413) Authorizes the President to reduce amounts owed to the U.S. Government as a result of loans or guarantees issued under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or credits or guarantees extended under the Arms Export Control Act. Makes eligible for such debt reduction countries with a heavy debt burden that are eligible to borrow from the International Development Association but not from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and countries that meet other specified conditions concerning military expenditures, terrorism, narcotics control, and human rights. Permits such authority only to implement multilateral debt relief ad referendum agreements (the Paris Club Agreed Minutes) and only to the extent that appropriations for the modifications are made in advance. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997. (Sec. 3414) Authorizes the President, subject to certain conditions, to sell to an eligible purchaser concessional loans made before January 1, 1995, to the government of an eligible country or reduce or cancel such loans on receipt of payment from an eligible purchaser for purposes of facilitating debt-for-equity, -development, or -nature swaps or debt buybacks by eligible countries to support specified activities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997. (Sec. 3415) Prohibits the use of funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide: (1) any financial incentive to a business for purposes of inducing it to relocate outside the United States if it will reduce the number of employees in the United States; (2) assistance for developing an export processing zone or designated area in which a country's tax, tariff, labor, environment, and safety laws do not apply to activities in the area, unless the President certifies that such assistance is not likely to cause a loss of jobs within the United States; or (3) assistance for any project that contributes to the violation of workers' rights. Exempts assistance for microenterprises, small-scale enterprises, or small-holder agriculture in the informal sector of the foreign country from such prohibition. (Sec. 3416) Prohibits assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Arms Export Control Act to any foreign government that provides lethal military equipment to a country whose government supports international terrorism. Waives such prohibition if such assistance is important to national security interests. Chapter 3: Repeals - Repeals specified foreign assistance laws. Title XXXV: Effective Date - Makes the effective date of this Act the later of the enactment date or October 1, 1995.
Bill· HRH.R. 1575 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Giving Incentive and Volunteer Empowerment (GIVE) Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase (to a specified percentage above the regularly allowed amount) the tax deduction for charitable contributions by allowing a taxpayer to elect to treat a contribution made not later than the tax return filing date for the taxable year as made on the last day of such taxable year. Allows individuals who do not itemize deductions a charitable contribution deduction to the extent the amount claimed exceeds $1,000 ($2,000 in the case of a joint return). Excepts charitable contribution deductions from the overall limitation on itemized deductions.
Bill· HRH.R. 1569 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow the deduction as capital expenditures of preproductive or removal costs and 80 percent of special replanting costs for replanting plants destroyed by freezing temperatures, disease, drought, pests, or casualty.
Bill· HRH.R. 1566 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend permanently the tax credit for expenses of clinical testing of certain drugs for rare diseases or conditions. Allows a three-year carryback and 15-year carryforward of unused credit amounts, except that no credit may be carried to a taxable year beginning before January 1, 1995.
Bill· HRH.R. 1551 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to characterize as a redemption in part or full payment in exchange for stock a distribution in redemption of corporate-held stock if: (1) the redemption is part of a partial liquidation or not pro rata as to all shareholders; and (2) the corporation holding the stock would otherwise be entitled to a dividends received deduction.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 139 (104th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 3 May 1995
Sets forth the open rule for the consideration of H.R. 1361 (authorizing appropriations for the Coast Guard for FY 1996).
Bill· SS. 743 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
Commercial Revitalization Tax Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an investment tax credit equal to a percentage of expenditures for depreciable property in connection with the rehabilitation or reconstruction of a nonresidential building located in: (1) an empowerment zone or enterprise community; (2) an area established pursuant to a consolidated planning process for the use of Federal housing and community development funds; or (3) a low-income commercial revitalization district specially designated by a State or local government which is not primarily a nonresidential central business district. Requires, for qualification of such expenditures, that they exceed 25 percent of the fair market value of the building before rehabilitation. Imposes a State ceiling on the availability of the credit.
Bill· HRH.R. 1530 (104th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Procurement Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Title III: Operation and Maintenance Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Other Matters Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations Subtitle A: Active Forces Subtitle B: Reserve Forces Subtitle C: Military Training Student Loads Title V: Military Personnel Policy Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters Subtitle C: Amendments to the Uniform Code of Military Justice Subtitle D: Other Matters Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Insurance, and Survivor Benefits Subtitle E: Separation Pay Subtitle F: Other Matters Title VII: Health Care Provisions Subtitle A: Health Care Management Subtitle B: Other Matters Title VIII: Department of Defense Organization and Management Subtitle A: Secretarial Matters Subtitle B: Other Matters Title IX: General Provisions Subtitle A: Other Matters National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 - Title I: Procurement - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 to the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and Air Force for aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, shipbuilding and conversion, and for other procurement. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for: (1) defense- wide procurement; (2) the Defense Inspector General; (3) the chemical demilitarization program; and (4) the Defense Health Program. (Sec. 108) Repeals the current requirement for a separate budget request for the procurement of reserve equipment. Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for the armed forces for research, development, test, and evaluation. Title III: Operation and Maintenance - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for the armed forces and specified activities and agencies of the Department of Defense (DOD) for operation and maintenance. Authorizes appropriations to DOD for FY 1996 and 1997 for working capital and revolving funds. (Sec. 303) Repeals a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 which provides certain limitations on the use of funds in the Defense Business Operations Fund. (Sec. 304) Authorizes the use of the National Defense Sealift Fund for expenses of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Subtitle B: Other Matters - Amends a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 to require additional certifications from the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to specified congressional committees before proceeding beyond the low-rate initial production stage of a theater missile defense interceptor program. (Sec. 322) Directs the Secretary to carry out a Department of Defense Laboratory Revitalization Program under which the Secretary may carry out minor military construction projects in order to improve DOD laboratories. Increases the maximum costs of minor construction projects for purposes of the Program. Directs the Secretary to designate the DOD laboratories to be covered by the Program. Requires a report. Prohibits the Secretary from carrying out any program after September 30, 2000. Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations - Subtitle A: Active Forces - Provides for the authorized end strengths for active-duty forces as of the end of FY 1996 and 1997. Subtitle B: Reserve Forces - Sets forth the authorized end strengths as of the end of FY 1996 and 1997 for members of the Selected Reserve and reserve personnel on active duty in support of the reserves. Subtitle C: Military Training Student Loads - Sets forth the authorized FY 1996 and 1997 military training student loads, allowing for certain adjustments consistent with authorized end strengths. Title V: Military Personnel Policy - Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy - Provides, with respect to members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, that an individual's period of desertion, unexcused absence, confinement, or inability to perform duties, as well as the time required to make up any such absence, may not be counted for purposes of the individual's length of service. (Sec. 502) Changes certain general officer billet titles within the Marine Corps resulting from a headquarters reorganization. (Sec. 503) Revises the retirement date for warrant officers and certain active-duty officers chosen for selective early retirement. Requires an annual authorization of personnel strength levels for such members whose retirement has been deferred. (Sec. 504) Increases the authorized end strengths for active-duty commissioned Air Force majors, lieutenant colonels, and colonels. Terminates such increase at the end of FY 1997. Provides similar increases, with the same termination date, for commissioned Navy lieutenant commanders, commanders, and captains. (Sec. 506) Revises the definitions of "promotion zone" and "officers below the promotion zone." Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters - Repeals a Federal provision requiring each member of the National Guard called into or leaving Federal service to be examined for physical fitness. (Sec. 512) Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to prescribe the duration of field training or a practice cruise (currently, either must be no less than six weeks) required for admission to the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) advanced course. (Sec. 514) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 to require the Secretary of the Army to have an objective of increasing the percentage of qualified prior active-duty personnel in the Selected Reserve (currently, the Army National Guard). (Sec. 515) Requires technicians employed by the Army or Air National Guard to wear the military uniform appropriate for the member's grade and component while performing technician functions. Considers such duty as active duty, thereby permitting a clothing allowance. (Sec. 516) Provides an exception to the prohibition against the involuntary separation from service of military personnel within two years from retirement in the case of reserve personnel performing active duty service for less than 180 days. Subtitle C: Amendments to the Uniform Code of Military Justice - Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to make subject to its provisions persons serving with or accompanying an armed force in the field in a time of armed conflict. (Sec. 553) Allows an investigative officer to investigate the subject matter of any uncharged offense against an accused during an investigation, as long as the accused is present, is informed of the nature of such investigation, and is permitted representation, presentation of evidence, and cross-examination. (Sec. 554) Eliminates the $500, six-month fine and imprisonment limits for persons convicted of refusing to testify before a court-martial. Revises provisions concerning the effective date of sentencings as they relate to the forfeiture of military pay and allowances. (Sec. 557) Allows deferment of a sentence of confinement upon application by the accused if the sentence has not been ordered to be carried out. Terminates the deferment at such time as the sentence is ordered to be executed. Provides for deferment of sentence in other circumstances. (Sec. 559) Allows a proceeding in revision (a proceeding revising a trial record) to be ordered to correct an erroneously announced sentence. (Sec. 560) Allows the post-trial review of courts-martial in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, unless the accused has waived or withdrawn the right to appeal under the UCMJ. (Sec. 561) Authorizes the United States to appeal an order or ruling which directs the disclosure of classified information, imposes sanctions for nondisclosure of such information, or refuses to issue a protective order seeking to prevent the disclosure of such information. (Sec. 562) Includes flight from arrest as a punishable action under the UCMJ. (Sec. 563) Removes a gender reference with respect to the UCMJ offense of carnal knowledge with a person under 16 years of age. Requires the accused, in such a prosecution, to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the other person was at least 12 years of age and the accused reasonably believed such person to be at least 16. (Sec. 564) Requires newly enlisted personnel to be instructed in the UCMJ upon entrance into active or reserve duty. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Reduces from three to two years the minimum time in grade required for a chief warrant officer to be considered for promotion. Allows warrant officers below the promotion zone for the grade of chief warrant officer, W-3, to be considered for such a promotion. (Sec. 572) Allows the Secretary of the Army to retire a Director of Admissions of the U.S. Military Academy after 30 years of commissioned officer service. Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits - Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances - Waives any FY 1996 military pay increases tied to increases in the General Schedule of Compensation for Government employees. Increases by 2.4 percent, effective on January 1, 1996, the rates of basic pay and the basic allowance for subsistence. Increases by 3.4 percent the basic allowance for quarters, effective on the same date. (Sec. 602) Provides an evacuation allowance to civilian personnel and their dependents officially authorized to evacuate their duty stations. (Currently, such allowance is only paid to military personnel and their dependents who are ordered to evacuate.) (Sec. 603) Provides continuous entitlement to career sea pay for crewmembers of ships designated as a tender-class ship. (Sec. 604) Increases to $200 the monthly subsistence allowance payable to members of the Senior ROTC. (Sec. 605) Provides a dislocation allowance for those directed to move as a result of a base realignment or closure. (Sec. 606) Authorizes, as of July 1, 1996, the payment of a basic allowance for quarters for enlisted personnel in the pay grade of E-6. Subtitle B: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays - Reduces from nine to eight of the first 12 years of aviation service the period during which an officer must perform operational flying duties in order to receive aviation career incentive pay. (Sec. 612) Extends specified expiring authorities for certain special pay and bonus programs within the regular and reserve armed forces. Makes permanent: (1) the aviation officer retention bonus; (2) the authority for the temporary promotion of certain Navy lieutenants; and (3) the authority for the DOD specialized treatment facility program. Subtitle C: Travel and Transportation Allowances - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to provide contract quarters as lodging in kind when transient government quarters are unavailable for reserve personnel performing annual training duty or inactive-duty training. (Sec. 622) Deletes a provision limiting to surface transportation the means of shipping a motor vehicle for a member assigned to a permanent change of duty station. (Sec. 623) Includes students who graduate from or cease to be enrolled in a foreign institution of higher education within a provision authorizing the Secretary concerned to return to the United States formerly dependent children of military personnel who attain a nondependent age while overseas. Subtitle D: Retired Pay, Insurance, and Survivor Benefits - Makes ineligible for retired pay those persons convicted under the UCMJ whose sentences include death, dishonorable or bad conduct discharge, or dismissal from service. (Sec. 632) Makes first payable for March 1996 the FY 1996 cost-of- living adjustment for military retirees. (Sec. 633) Authorizes the provision of medical and dental care and the recovery, care, and disposition of remains in the case of reserve members on duty other than active duty for more than 30 days for members requiring such care while remaining overnight at or in the vicinity of a site outside reasonable commuting distance from the member's residence and at which the member has performed inactive duty training between successive periods of such training. Entitles such individuals to basic pay while performing such service, or, if not entitled to such pay due to other eligibility requirements, to compensation as a member of the National Guard performing inactive-duty training. Subtitle E: Separation Pay - Provides certain transitional compensation for the dependents of any military member separated from the armed forces due to dependent abuse. (Currently, such compensation is only provided to the dependents of members separated from active duty.) Subtitle F: Other Matters - Authorizes a person designated by the Secretary of the Navy to procure or sell articles and items of clothing and serviceable supplies to members of the Navy and Marine Corps, with specified conditions. Authorizes such Secretary to sell ships' stores supplies to such civilian officers and Federal employees as considered appropriate at military installations: (1) outside the United States; or (2) inside the United States when the Secretary determines that it is impracticable for such officers and employees to obtain such items from commercial enterprises without impairing the efficient operation of military activities. Title VII: Health Care Provisions - Subtitle A: Health Care Management - Amends the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) to increase the health care professional payment limitation requirements under the CHAMPUS physician payment reform program, tying such limits to similar limits under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act. Requires the Secretary to prescribe regulations covering such payment amounts, providing for exceptions for adequate health care access and adding transitional requirements. (Sec. 702) Amends specified prior national defense authorization Acts to repeal certain limitations on reductions in military medical personnel. Subtitle B: Other Matters - Terminates the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, directing the Secretary to phase out such University beginning in FY 1996 and ending at the close of FY 1999. Prohibits any new class of University students after FY 1995, and prohibits awarding degrees after FY 1999. (Sec. 712) Repeals a Federal provision prohibiting DOD funds from being used to perform abortions unless the life of the mother is in danger. Title VIII: Department of Defense Organization and Management - Subtitle A: Secretarial Matters - Authorizes a 12th Assistant Secretary of Defense. (Sec. 802) Redesignates the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Chemical Programs. Subtitle B: Other Matters - Repeals the Federal prohibition against contracting out for the firefighting and security guard functions at military facilities. (Sec. 812) Increases to: (1) $1.7 million the unspecified minor construction threshold; and (2) $350,000 the operation and maintenance threshold. (Sec. 813) Changes from February 15 to March 1 annually a required report from the Secretary concerning National Guard and reserve component equipment. Title IX: General Provisions - Subtitle A: Other Matters - Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 to make permanent the National Guard Civilian Youth Opportunities Program (currently expires at the end of FY 1995). Revises the Program purpose. (Sec. 902) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to trade certain military historical items for conservation and preservation services and for educational programs, supplies and newly upgraded or renovated conservation equipment, facilities, and systems within existing structures. (Sec. 903) Amends the DOD Education Loan Repayment Program to authorize the Secretary to repay any loan made under part D of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program) on behalf of the following: (1) enlisted members serving on active duty in certain military specialties; (2) enlisted members of the Selected Reserve with certain critical specialties; and (3) Selected Reserve health professions officers serving under wartime critical medical skill shortages.
Bill· HRH.R. 1534 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
Extends through December 31, 1997, the following authorities of the Department of Veterans Affairs: (1) the authority to provide outpatient services to Persian Gulf veterans exposed to toxic substances or environmental hazards during such service; (2) the authority to contract with community-based treatment facilities for the care of eligible veterans suffering from alcohol or drug dependence or abuse disabilities (also extends a certain evaluation in connection with such treatment); (3) the authority to enter into agreements with States and nonprofit organizations for the provision of housing assistance for homeless veterans ( requires a report); (5) the Department's health professionals scholarship program (requires a report); (6) the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into enhanced-use leases of Department real property; (7) the authority under the Veterans' Benefits and Services Act of 1988 for a pilot program providing community-based residential care for homeless chronically mentally ill veterans; and (8) the Department's compensated work therapy and therapeutic transitional housing program. Extends through December 31, 1996, a pilot program for determining noninstitutional alternatives to veterans' nursing home care (requires a report). Repeals the authority of the Secretary to make contracts and grants for providing care and treatment for veterans at the Department's Veterans Memorial Medical Center in the Philippines. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out the Department's major medical facility projects and leases for which funds are requested in the President's FY 1996 budget and for which authorization is required. Authorizes FY 1996 appropriations to the Secretary for such projects and leases, with limitations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1546 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
Housing Co-op Tax Correction Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude cooperative housing corporations from the limitations on deductions incurred by certain membership organizations in transactions with their members. Prohibits patronage losses of an organization from being used to offset earnings which are not patronage earnings. Specifies earnings to be treated as patronage earnings in the case of cooperative housing corporations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1529 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title XXI: Army Title XXII: Navy Title XXIII: Air Force Title XXIV: Defense Agencies Title XXV: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Infrastructure Title XXVI: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities Title XXVII: Expiration and Extension of Authorizations Title XXVIII: General Provisions Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes Subtitle B: Base Closure and Realignment and Environment Subtitle C: Land Conveyances Subtitle D: Other Matters Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 - Title XXI: Army - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire family housing units, to carry out architectural planning and design activities, and to improve existing military family housing in specified amounts. Authorizes appropriations to the Army for fiscal years after 1995 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Army. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title XXII: Navy - Provides, with respect to the Navy, authorizations paralleling those provided for the Army under the previous title. Title XXIII: Air Force - Provides, with respect to the Air Force, authorizations paralleling those provided for the Army. Title XXIV: Defense Agencies - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements to construct, acquire, and improve family housing units at or near military installations for the purpose of encouraging private investments, in a specified amount. Authorizes the Secretary to improve existing military family housing units and to carry out certain energy conservation projects. Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal years after 1995 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of DOD. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title XXV: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Infrastructure - Authorizes the Secretary to make contributions for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Infrastructure Program and authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1995 for such contributions. Title XXVI: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1995 for the Guard and Reserve forces for acquisition, architectural and engineering services, and construction of facilities. Title XXVII: Expiration and Extension of Authorizations - Terminates all authorizations contained in the preceding titles of this Act on October 1, 1998, or the date of enactment of an Act authorizing funds for military construction for FY 1999, whichever is later, with exceptions. Extends certain FY 1992 and 1993 military construction projects. Title XXVIII: General Provisions - Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes - Increases from 300 to 450 the number of units of family housing authorized to be leased in foreign countries for U.S. military family housing purposes. (Sec. 2803) Extends permanently the authority of the Secretary to increase the maximum square footage of military family housing units acquired for military personnel of certain pay grades when determined to be cost effective. (Sec. 2804) Authorizes the Secretary of any military department (currently, only the Navy) to enter into limited partnerships with private developers for the construction of military family housing at or near a military installation. Renames the Navy Housing Investment Account (used for partnership purposes) as the Defense Housing Investment Account. Terminates the Navy Housing Investment Board created to oversee such partnerships. Directs each Secretary of a military department to establish a Housing Investment Board to: (1) advise such Secretary as to financially sound limited partnerships; and (2) administer allocations from the Account. Extends through FY 2000 the authority to enter into such partnerships. (Sec. 2805) Provides that certain cost increase limits with respect to military family housing construction projects do not apply to the settlement of a contractor claim. Subtitle B: Base Closure and Realignment and Environment - Amends the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 to allow funds in the Defense Environmental Restoration Account to be used in FY 1996 for environmental restoration activities for military installations approved for closure or realignment in 1995 under such Act. (Sec. 2808) Amends the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and Realignment Act as well as the above Act to authorize the Secretary to enter into agreements (currently, only contracts) with local governments for the provision of certain services (police, fire, airfield operations) at military installations to be closed under such Acts when determined to be in the best interests of DOD. Subtitle C: Land Conveyances - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to convey to: (1) Burlington County, New Jersey, all rights and interest to the Fort Dix Resource Recovery Facility; (2) Augusta, Georgia, all rights and interest to several parcels of land containing water and wastewater treatment plants at Fort Gordon, Georgia; and (3) the Southern California Edison Company all rights and interest to the electrical distribution system at Fort Irwin, California. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to sell to a public or private utility company electricity generated from energy production facilities (currently, only from alternate energy or cogeneration production facilities) that are under the jurisdiction of such Secretary. (Sec. 2815) Requires water conservation savings and water costs of DOD to be included within a required DOD energy performance goal for FY 1991 through 2000. (Sec. 2816) Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to convey all rights and interest to the primate research laboratory at Holloman Air Force Base, as well as ownership of certain chimpanzees used in connection with such research, to the Coulston Foundation or another nonprofit entity determined appropriate by the Secretary. Requires the grantee to utilize the laboratory for scientific or medical research and provide adequate care for the chimpanzees. (Sec. 2817) Requires the Secretary to submit annual reports to specified congressional committees with respect to the acquisition of leasehold interests in land for use in special operations activities. (Sec. 2818) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out school facilities activities, including the construction of elementary and secondary schools on military installations, under provisions of Federal law allowing the provision of education by the Federal Government when local educational agencies are unable to provide adequate educational facilities.
Bill· HRH.R. 1535 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that if a U.S. citizen relinquishes citizenship, all property held by such citizen at the time immediately before relinquishment shall be treated as sold at such time for its fair market value and any gain or loss shall be subject to U.S. income tax. Allows an expatriate to elect to have property made subject to tax in the same manner as if the individual were a U.S. citizen if the individual: (1) provides security for payment of tax; (2) consents to waiver of treaty rights that would preclude tax assessment or collection; and (3) complies with other requirements prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Excludes $600,000 in gain from taxation. Limits the amount of estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes in the event of such an election. Excepts U.S. real property interests and interest in certain retirement plans. Prescribes rules for the treatment of an expatriate's interests in a trust. Terminates, on the date on which property held by an individual is treated as sold under this Act, any deferral of recognition of income or gain and any extension of time for payment of tax. Imposes a tentative tax, immediately before the expatriation date, on income required to be included equal to the amount that would be imposed if the taxable year were a short taxable year ending on the expatriation date. Treats as the basis of property of a nonresident alien individual who becomes a U.S. citizen or resident, for purposes of determining gain or loss, the property's fair market value on the date on which: (1) the individual becomes a citizen or resident; or (2) the property first becomes subject to tax by reason of being used in a trade or business or by reason of becoming a U.S. real property interest.
Bill· HRH.R. 1531 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide employers a business tax credit for a portion of compensation that was not paid with respect to members of the Ready Reserve or National Guard who were absent from work on active duty. Limits such credit to $2,000 with respect to any one Ready Reserve-National Guard employee.
Bill· HRH.R. 1532 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 2 May 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide employers a business tax credit for a portion of compensation paid with respect to members of the Ready Reserve or National Guard who were absent from work on active duty. Limits such credit to $2,000 with respect to any one Ready Reserve-National Guard employee.
Law· SS. 735 (104th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Substantive Criminal Law Enhancements Title II: Combating International Terrorism Title III: Alien Removal Title IV: Control of Fundraising for Terrorism Activities Title V: Assistance to Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Subtitle A: Antiterrorism Assistance Subtitle B: Intelligence Subtitle C: Additional Funding for Law Enforcement Title VI: Terrorist Interdiction Title VII: Criminal Procedural Improvements Subtitle A: Habeas Corpus Reform Subtitle B: Criminal Procedural Improvements Title VIII: Marking of Plastic Explosives Title IX: Miscellaneous Provisions Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention Act of 1995 - Title I: Substantive Criminal Law Enhancements - Amends the Federal criminal code to increase penalties for: (1) conspiracies involving explosives; (2) specified offenses, including the murder of foreign officials, official guests, or internationally protected persons; and (3) the use of explosives or arson. (Sec. 102) Establishes penalties for acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Sets forth provisions regarding limits on prosecution, investigative responsibility, evidence, extraterritorial jurisdiction, the statute of limitations, detention, and wiretap authority. (Sec. 103) Sets penalties for: (1) conspiring to kill, kidnap, or maim people in (currently limited to injuring property of) a foreign government; and (2) possessing stolen explosives. Title II: Combating International Terrorism - Amends: (1) the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to prohibit assistance to countries that aid, including providing military equipment to, terrorist states; and (2) the International Financial Institutions Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive director of each international financial institution to oppose assistance by such institutions to terrorist states. (Sec. 205) Revises provisions regarding antiterrorism assistance to permit arms and ammunition to be provided under such provisions only if they are directly related to antiterrorism assistance. Limits the value of equipment and commodities provided. Repeals a prohibition on using such funds for personnel compensation or benefits. Sets a $1 million limit on assistance provided to a foreign country for counterterrorism efforts in any fiscal year, subject to specified conditions. (Sec. 206) Amends the Federal judicial code to provide that a foreign country designated as a state sponsor of terrorism (state sponsor) shall not be immune from the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts. (Sec. 207) Directs the Secretary of State to provide annual reports to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that include: (1) a list of all products and technologies that could be used to promote or engage in terrorist acts (critical technology) (and prohibits any product or technology manufactured or developed in the United States or by a subsidiary of a U.S. body that is determined to be critical technology from being sold by the U.S. Government or private U.S. commercial interests to a state sponsor to any entity or organization operating within such state); and (2) detailed assessments of any country that provided support for international terrorism, individual country efforts to take effective action against state sponsors, and U.S. Government efforts to implement provisions of the Export Administration Act of 1979 regarding terrorism. Title III: Alien Removal - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to establish procedures for the removal of alien terrorists. Authorizes the Attorney General to take into custody and retain in custody any alien with respect to whom the Attorney General certifies, under seal to a special court (created by this title), that: (1) the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General has approved of the proceeding under this title; (2) an alien terrorist is physically present in the United States; and (3) removal of such alien terrorist by normal deportation proceedings would pose a risk to U.S. national security by disclosing classified information. Requires the Chief Justice of the United States to publicly designate not more than five judges from up to five U.S. judicial districts to hear and decide cases arising under this title. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) custody and release pending a hearing; (2) special court procedures; (3) the special removal hearing, including the introduction in camera and ex parte of evidence; (4) deportation determinations; (5) appeals; and (6) extradition of aliens who have committed crimes of violence abroad. (Sec. 303) Revises INA provisions regarding terrorist activities, including the definitions of "terrorism activity," "terrorist organization," and "terrorism." Limits alien access to Government information. (Sec. 304) Authorizes Attorney General access to certain confidential immigration and naturalization files through court order for specified identification and criminal law enforcement purposes. Title IV: Control of Fundraising for Terrorism Activities - Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize the President to regulate or prohibit, within the United States or by any person subject to the jurisdiction of the States anywhere: (1) fundraising or the provision of funds for use by or for the benefit of any foreign organization, including persons assisting such organization in fundraising, that the President has designated as being engaged in terrorism activities; or (2) financial transactions with any such foreign organization. Authorizes the President to designate any foreign organization based on a finding that: (1) the organization engages in terrorism activity; and (2) the organization's terrorism activities threaten the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States. Directs the President to prepare and transmit to the Congress a report containing a list of the organizations that the President has determined engage in, or provide support for, terrorism activity. Sets forth provisions regarding revocation of such designation, supplemental reports, and judicial review. Prohibits any person within, or subject to the jurisdiction of, the United States from: (1) raising, receiving, or collecting on behalf of, or providing funds to or for, an organization or person so designated by the President, or attempting to do so; and (2) acting for or on behalf of any such organization or person to transmit, transfer, or receive any funds raised in violation of such provision or to transmit, transfer, or dispose of any funds in which such an organization or person has an interest. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) authorized transactions (including regulations setting forth procedures to be followed by persons seeking to raise or provide funds for designated organizations and licensing requirements); (2) special requirements for financial institutions; (3) investigations; (4) recordkeeping and reporting and civil actions by the Attorney General; (5) penalties and injunctions; (6) extraterritorial jurisdiction; (7) discovery and introduction of classified information; and (8) penalties for providing material support to terrorists. Title V: Assistance to Federal Law Enforcement Agencies - Subtitle A: Antiterrorism Assistance - Requires the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to study all applicable guidelines and laws regulating domestic surveillance and report to the Congress its findings and suggestions for enhancing domestic surveillance in support of investigations. (Sec. 502) Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require a consumer reporting agency (CRA) to furnish to the FBI the names and addresses of all financial institutions at which a consumer maintains or has maintained an account when presented with a written request for that information signed by the Director which certifies compliance with this section. Authorizes such certification only if the Director has determined in writing that such information is necessary for the conduct of an authorized foreign counterintelligence investigation and specified other conditions are met. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the furnishing of identifying information by a CRA; (2) court orders for disclosure of consumer reports; (3) confidentiality; (4) payment of fees; (5) limits on dissemination; (6) damages and disciplinary actions for violations, with a good-faith exception; and (7) limitation of remedies and injunctive relief. (Sec. 503) Authorizes administrative subpoenas to be served upon a common carrier or innkeeper determined to have records or other tangible objects that may be relevant to a foreign counterintelligence activity. (Sec. 504) Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 and the Federal criminal code to increase the maximum rewards for information concerning international terrorism. (Sec. 505) Requires the Director to report to the Congress on the effectiveness of Federal provisions regarding providing material support to terrorists. Subtitle B: Intelligence - Directs the Attorney General and the Director to: (1) study all applicable laws and guidelines relating to electronic surveillance and the use of pen registers and other trap and trace devices; and (2) report to the Congress its findings and recommendations for the use of electronic surveillance of terrorist or other criminal organizations and for any legal modifications. (Sec. 512) Amends the Federal criminal code to authorize: (1) wiretapping for terrorism and related offenses; (2) the participation of foreign and State government personnel in interceptions of communications; (3) the disclosure of intercepted communications to foreign law enforcement agencies; and (4) interceptions of communications for specified terrorism-related offenses. Subtitle C: Additional Funding for Law Enforcement - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 through 2000 for FBI activities to combat terrorism. Directs the Attorney General, with such funds, to: (1) develop digital telephony technology; (2) support and enhance the technical support center and tactical operations; (3) expand legal attaches; (4) enhance Federal wireless communications and antenna site lease shortfall; (5) expand and improve the instructional, operational support, and construction of the FBI academy; (6) expand and improve investigative and managerial training courses for State, Indian tribal, and local law enforcement agencies; (7) construct an FBI laboratory and provide laboratory examination support; and (8) create a special FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence fund for costs associated with terrorism cases. (Sec. 522) Authorizes additional appropriations for the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. (Sec. 524) Authorizes appropriations to the Drug Enforcement Administration for FY 1996 through 2000. Directs the Attorney General, with such funds, to: (1) fund permanent change of station transfers for special agent personnel; (2) establish and maintain an adequate motor vehicle base; and (3) purchase aircraft and replacement parts. (Sec. 525) Directs the Attorney General to hire additional Assistant U.S. Attorneys. Authorizes additional appropriations for the Department of Justice. (Sec. 526) Permits funding for authorizations provided in this subtitle to be paid for out of the Crime Control Trust Fund. Title VI: Terrorist Interdiction - Directs the Secretary of State to implement an upgrade of all overseas visa lookout operations to computerized systems with automated multiple-name search capabilities. Declares that the Department of State shall be considered a law enforcement agency for purposes of access to the National Crime Information Center and other FBI criminal records with respect to functions involving the processing of visas and passports and for other immigration-related purposes. Amends the INA to make membership in a terrorist organization a basis for exclusion from the United States. Sets forth provisions regarding the use of the Automated Visa Lookout System and the convening of an Accountability Review Board with respect to the processing of visas for admission into the United States. Title VII: Criminal Procedural Improvements - Subtitle A: Habeas Corpus Reform - Amends the Federal judicial code to establish a one-year statute of limitations for habeas corpus actions brought by State prisoners. (Sec. 702) Specifies that: (1) there shall be no right of appeal from a final order in a habeas corpus proceeding; and (2) unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability, an appeal may not be taken to the court of appeals from the final order in a habeas corpus proceeding in which the detention complained of arises out of process issued by a State or Federal court. Permits such certificate to issue only if the applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a Federal constitutional right. Requires the certificate to indicate which specific issue or issues satisfy the showing. Provides that if the applicant has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings, the Federal court shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim unless: (1) the claim relies on a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable or on a factual predicate that could not have been previously discovered through the exercise of due diligence; and (2) the facts underlying the claim would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable factfinder would have found the applicant guilty of the underlying offense. Requires that a second or successive motion be certified by a panel of the appropriate Federal Court of Appeals to contain: (1) newly discovered evidence sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable factfinder would have found the movant guilty of the offense; or (2) a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable. (Sec. 706) Sets further limitations on second or successive petitions. (Sec. 707) Sets forth special habeas corpus procedures in capital cases. Requires (with exceptions): (1) a district court to render a final determination of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought in a capital case within 180 days after the date on which the application is filed; and (2) a court of appeals to hear and render a final determination of any appeal of an order granting or denying such application within 120 days after the date on which the reply brief is filed and to decide whether to grant a petition for rehearing en banc within 30 days after the date on which the petition for rehearing is filed. Sets forth provisions regarding failure to render a timely determination. Requires the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts to submit to the Congress an annual report on the compliance by the courts of appeals with the time limitations under this section. Subtitle B: Criminal Procedural Improvements - Grants U.S. courts jurisdiction over an offense of: (1) aircraft piracy if a U.S. national was aboard the aircraft, an offender is a U.S. national, or an offender is afterwards found in the United States; and (2) destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities if a U.S. national was or would have been on board the aircraft, an offender is a U.S. national, or an offender is afterwards found in the United States. (Sec. 722) Declares that all the territorial sea of the United States is part of the United States, is subject to its sovereignty, and for purposes of Federal criminal jurisdiction, is within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Provides that whoever commits on, above, or below any portion of the U.S. territorial sea specified crimes which would be punishable if committed within the jurisdiction of the State, territory, possession or district in which it is situated, shall be guilty of a like offense and subject to a like punishment. (Sec. 723) Makes exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity in certain cases involving acts of international terrorism, torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking, and genocide in a foreign state. (Sec. 724) Adds: (1) foreign murder as a money laundering predicate offense; (2) terrorist offenses to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute; (3) terrorism offenses to the money laundering statute; and (4) conspiracy to terrorism offenses. (Sec. 725) Expands the weapons of mass destruction statute to set penalties with respect to any U.S. national who, outside of the United States, uses, threatens, attempts, or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction. Includes within the definition of "weapon of mass destruction" any poisonous chemical agent or substance, regardless of form or delivery system, designed for or capable of causing widespread death or injury. (Sec. 731) Provides for pretrial detention for possession of firearms or explosives by convicted felons. Title VIII: Marking of Plastic Explosives - Prohibits: (1) the manufacture, importation, exportation, shipment, transport, transfer, receipt, or possession of any plastic explosive which does not contain a detection agent, with exceptions; and (2) any person (other than a U.S. agency or the National Guard of any State) possessing any plastic explosive on the effective date of this Act from failing to report to the Secretary of the Treasury the quantity of such explosives possessed, the manufacturer or importer, any identification marks, and such other information as the Secretary may prescribe. Sets forth: (1) penalties for violation of this title; and (2) affirmative defenses. Directs the Attorney General to exercise authority over violations of this title only when committed by a member of a terrorist or revolutionary group (and, in such case, the Attorney General shall have primary investigative responsibility). (Sec. 802) Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to direct the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to study and report to the Congress on the tagging of explosive materials for purposes of identification and detection, the possibility and practicality of rendering inert common chemicals used in manufacturing explosives, and the feasibility of imposing controls on certain precursor chemicals used to manufacture explosives. Title IX: Miscellaneous Provisions - Provides for severability of provisions of this Act.
Bill· SS. 727 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Procurement Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Title III: Operation and Maintenance Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations Subtitle B: Reserve Component Subtitle C: Other Matters Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations Subtitle A: Active Forces Subtitle B: Reserve Forces Subtitle C: Military Training Student Loads Title V: Military Personnel Policy Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters Subtitle C: Amendments to the Uniform Code of Military Justice Subtitle D: Other Matters Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances Subtitle B: Income Tax Matters Subtitle C: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays Subtitle D: Travel and Transportation Allowances Subtitle E: Retired Pay, Insurance, and Survivor Benefits Subtitle F: Separation Pay Title VII: Civilian Employees Subtitle A: Civilian Personnel Policy Subtitle B: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits Subtitle C: Separation Provisions Title VIII: Health Care Provisions Subtitle A: Health Care Management Subtitle B: Other Matters Title IX: Department of Defense Organization and Management Subtitle A: Secretarial Matters Subtitle B: Professional Military Education Subtitle C: Other Matters Title X: General Provisions Subtitle A: Financial Matters Subtitle B: Counter-Drug Activities Subtitle C: Other Matters Title XI: Matters Relating to Allies, Other Nations, and International Organizations Title XII: Acquisition Reform National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 - Title I: Procurement - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 to the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and Air Force for aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, shipbuilding and conversion, and for other procurement. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for: (1) defense- wide procurement; (2) the Defense Inspector General; (3) the chemical demilitarization program; and (4) the Defense Health Program. (Sec. 108) Repeals the current requirement for a separate budget request for the procurement of reserve equipment. Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for the armed forces for research, development, test, and evaluation. Title III: Operation and Maintenance - Subtitle A: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1996 and 1997 for the armed forces and specified activities and agencies of the Department of Defense (DOD) for operation and maintenance. Authorizes appropriations to DOD for FY 1996 and 1997 for working capital and revolving funds. (Sec. 303) Establishes in the Treasury the Civilian Marksmanship Program Fund, to be available for all expenses of the Civilian Marksmanship Program. (Sec. 304) Repeals a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 which provides certain limitations on the use of funds in the Defense Business Operations Fund. (Sec. 305) Authorizes the use of the National Defense Sealift Fund for expenses of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Subtitle B: Reserve Component - Amends the National Defense Authorization Act of 1995 to allow a DOD reimbursement official to use funds to provide pay and allowances to reserves engaged in activities in support of cooperative threat reduction with states of the former Soviet Union. Excludes such reserves from inclusion in any active duty end strength limitations for members on active duty. (Sec. 322) Authorizes the use of DOD funds for National Guard participation in joint Army and Air Force exercises concerning civil emergency and disaster response preparedness. Subtitle C: Other Matters - Amends Federal transportation provisions to authorize the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to transfer from any DOD funds necessary sums to reimburse the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for loss or damage to civil aircraft, death or injury to personnel, and related losses or damages which have been insured at the Secretary's request due to civilian participation in DOD emergency contingency operations. Requires the Secretary to use such funds to promptly reimburse the Aviation Insurance Fund of the FAA within 30 days (for hull damage) or 180 days (for all other valid claims) after presentment of claim by a civilian carrier. Requires the Secretary and the FAA Administrator to notify the Congress within 30 days of any losses, death, injuries, or damages at a cost in excess of $1 million. Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, to empower the Secretary with identical authority to reimburse the Secretary of Transportation for such losses insured by the Marine Insurance Fund. Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Transportation to report periodically to the Congress on claims paid in excess of $1 million. (Sec. 332) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 to require additional certifications from the Secretary to the congressional defense committees before proceeding beyond the low-rate initial production stage of a theater missile defense interceptor program. (Sec. 333) Authorizes the Secretary to assign overseas personnel under the defense dependents' education program to schools established under such program in the United States, and vice versa. (Sec. 334) Authorizes the use of funds appropriated to the Central Imagery Office for the design, development, and deployment of the Accelerated Architecture Acquisition Initiative program imagery systems of the military departments and related activities. (Sec. 335) Directs the Secretary to carry out a Department of Defense Laboratory Revitalization Program under which the Secretary may carry out minor military construction projects in order to improve DOD laboratories. Increases the maximum costs of minor construction projects for purposes of the Program. Directs the Secretary to designate the DOD laboratories to be covered by the Program. Requires a report. Prohibits the Secretary from carrying out any program after September 30, 2000. Title IV: Military Personnel Authorizations - Subtitle A: Active Forces - Provides for the authorized end strengths for active- duty forces as of the end of FY 1996 and 1997. Subtitle B: Reserve Forces - Sets forth the authorized end strengths as of the end of FY 1996 and 1997 for members of the Selected Reserve and reserve personnel on active duty in support of the reserves. Subtitle C: Military Training Student Loads - Sets forth the authorized FY 1996 and 1997 military training student loads, allowing for certain adjustments consistent with authorized end strengths. Title V: Military Personnel Policy - Subtitle A: Officer Personnel Policy - Provides, with respect to members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, that an individual's period of desertion, unexcused absence, confinement, or inability to perform duties, as well as the time required to make up any such absence, may not be counted for purposes of determining the individual's length of service. (Sec. 502) Redesignates certain general officer billet titles within the Marine Corps resulting from a headquarters reorganization. (Sec. 503) Revises the retirement date for warrant officers and certain active-duty officers chosen for selective early retirement. Requires an annual authorization of personnel strength levels for such members whose retirement has been deferred. (Sec. 504) Increases the authorized end strengths for active-duty commissioned Air Force majors, lieutenant colonels, and colonels. Terminates such increase at the end of FY 1997. Provides similar increases, with the same termination date, for commissioned Navy lieutenant commanders, commanders, and captains. (Sec. 506) Revises certain definitions under Federal provisions relating to the promotion of general or flag officers. Subtitle B: Reserve Component Matters - Repeals a Federal provision requiring each member of the National Guard called into or leaving Federal service to be examined for physical fitness. (Sec. 512) Authorizes a Federal employee military leave as a member of the reserve to perform public safety duty. (Sec. 513) Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to prescribe the duration of field training or a practice cruise (currently, either must be no less than six weeks) required for admission to the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) advanced course. (Sec. 515) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 to require the Secretary of the Army to have an objective of increasing the percentage of qualified prior active-duty personnel in the Selected Reserve (currently, in the Army National Guard). (Sec. 516) Requires technicians employed by the Army or Air National Guard to wear the military uniform appropriate for the member's grade and component while performing technician functions. Considers such duty as active duty, thereby permitting a clothing allowance. (Sec. 517) Provides an exception to the prohibition against the involuntary separation from service of military personnel within two years from retirement in the case of reserve personnel performing active duty service for less than 180 days. (Sec. 518) Authorizes the Secretary to provide certain involuntarily separated military reserve technicians with placement consideration through the DOD Priority Placement Program. Subtitle C: Amendments to the Uniform Code of Military Justice - Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to make subject to its provisions those persons serving with or accompanying an armed force in the field in a time of armed conflict. (Sec. 553) Allows an investigative officer to investigate the subject matter of any uncharged offense against an accused during an investigation, as long as the accused is present, is informed of the nature of the investigation, and is permitted representation, presentation of evidence, and cross-examination. (Sec. 554) Eliminates the $500, six-month fine and imprisonment limits for persons convicted of refusing to testify before a court- martial. Revises provisions concerning the effective date of sentencings as they relate to the forfeiture of military pay and allowances. (Sec. 557) Allows deferment of a sentence of confinement upon application by the accused if the sentence has not been ordered to be carried out. Terminates the deferment at such time as the sentence is ordered to be executed. Allows the accused to submit to the convening authority written matters for consideration with respect to the findings and sentence. (Sec. 559) Allows a proceeding in revision (a proceeding to revise a trial record) to be ordered to correct an erroneously announced sentence. (Sec. 560) Allows the post-trial review of courts-martial in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, unless the accused has waived or withdrawn the right to appeal under the UCMJ. (Sec. 561) Authorizes the United States to appeal an order or ruling which directs the disclosure of classified information, imposes sanctions for nondisclosure of such information, or refuses to issue a protective order seeking to prevent such disclosure. (Sec. 562) Includes flight from arrest as a punishable action under the UCMJ. (Sec. 563) Removes a gender reference with respect to the UCMJ offense of carnal knowledge with a person under 16 years of age. Requires the accused in such a prosecution to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the other person was at least 12 years of age and that the accused reasonably believed the person to be at least 16. (Sec. 564) Requires newly enlisted personnel to be instructed in the UCMJ upon entrance into active or reserve duty. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to accept at his discretion the reenlistment of members of the armed forces with ten or more years of service. Requires such reenlistment period to be unspecified on a career basis. (Sec. 572) Reduces from three to two years the minimum time in grade required for a chief warrant officer to be considered for promotion. Allows warrant officers below the promotion zone for the grade of chief warrant officer, W-3, to be considered for such a promotion. (Sec. 573) Allows the Secretary of the Army to retire a Director of Admissions of the U.S. Military Academy after 30 years of commissioned officer service. Title VI: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits - Subtitle A: Pay and Allowances - Waives any FY 1996 military pay increases tied to increases in the General Schedule of Compensation for Government employees. Increases by 2.4 percent, effective on January 1, 1996, the rates of basic pay and the basic allowance for subsistence. Increases by 3.4 percent the basic allowance for quarters, effective on the same date. (Sec. 602) Provides an evacuation allowance to civilian personnel and their dependents officially authorized to evacuate their duty stations. (Currently, such allowance is only paid to military personnel and their dependents who are ordered to evacuate.) (Sec. 603) Provides continuous entitlement to career sea pay for crew members on ships designated as a tender-class ship. (Sec. 604) Increases to $200 monthly the subsistence allowance payable to members of the Senior ROTC. (Sec. 605) Provides a dislocation allowance for those directed to move as a result of a base realignment or closure. (Sec. 607) Authorizes, as of July 1, 1996, the payment of a basic allowance for quarters for enlisted personnel in the pay grade of E-6. Subtitle B: Income Tax Matters - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to limit, after December 31, 1994, the exclusion of combat pay from withholding taxes only to the extent that such pay is excluded from gross income. Subtitle C: Bonuses and Special and Incentive Pays - Reduces from nine to eight of the first 12 years of aviation service the period during which an officer must perform operational flying duties in order to receive aviation career incentive pay. (Sec. 622) Extends specified expiring authorities for certain special pay and bonus programs within the regular and reserve armed forces. Makes permanent: (1) the aviation officer retention bonus; (2) the authority for the temporary promotion of certain Navy lieutenants; and (3) the authority for the DOD specialized treatment facility program. Subtitle D: Travel and Transportation Allowances - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to provide contract quarters as lodging in kind when transient government quarters are unavailable for reserve personnel performing annual training duty or inactive-duty training. (Sec. 632) Deletes a provision limiting to surface transportation the means of shipping a motor vehicle for a member assigned to a permanent change of duty station. (Sec. 633) Includes students who graduate from or cease to be enrolled in a foreign institution of higher education within a provision authorizing the Secretary concerned to return to the United States formerly dependent children of military personnel who attain a nondependent age while overseas. Subtitle E: Retired Pay, Insurance, and Survivor Benefits - Makes ineligible for retired pay those persons convicted under the UCMJ whose sentences include death, dishonorable or bad conduct discharge, or dismissal from service. (Sec. 642) Makes first payable for March 1996 the FY 1996 cost-of- living adjustment for military retirees. (Sec. 643) Increases from $100,000 to $200,000 the amount of Servicemen's Group Life Insurance provided automatically to members assigned to active duty or the Ready or Retired Reserve. (Sec. 644) Authorizes the provision of medical and dental care, and the recovery, care, and disposition of remains, in the case of reserve members on duty other than active duty for more than 30 days, for members requiring such care while remaining overnight at or in the vicinity of a site outside reasonable commuting distance from the member's residence and at which site the member has performed inactive duty training between successive periods of such training. Entitles such individuals to basic pay while performing such service, or, if not entitled to such pay due to other eligibility requirements, to compensation as a member of the National Guard performing inactive- duty training. Subtitle F: Separation Pay - Provides certain transitional compensation for the dependents of any military member separated from the armed forces due to dependent abuse. (Currently, such compensation is only provided to dependents of members separated from active duty.) (Sec. 661) Authorizes the branch, office, or officer designated by the Secretary of the Navy to procure or sell to members of the Navy and Marine Corps specified articles and items of clothing and equipment, under such restrictions as such Secretary may prescribe. Directs such designate to sell to members of other military departments subsistence supplies and serviceable supplies at prices charged to members of the Navy and Marine Corps. Allows an honorably discharged member from any service branch who is receiving care and medical treatment from the Public Health Service or the Department of Veterans Affairs to buy subsistence supplies at prices charged to Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Allows honorably discharged individuals to buy exterior articles of uniform at such prices. Authorizes such Secretary to provide for the procurement and sale of items and articles designated by him to such U.S. civilian officers and employees as he considers proper at military installations: (1) outside the United States; and (2) inside the United States when it is impracticable for such officers and employees to obtain such articles and items from commercial enterprises without impairing the efficient operation of military activities. Requires such sales to be made only to those residing within the installation. Title VII: Civilian Employees - Subtitle A: Civilian Personnel Policy - Provides the legal public holiday days for those Federal employees whose basic workweek is other than Monday through Friday. (Sec. 702) Terminates the 120-day limit on administrative details within executive or military departments. (Sec. 703) Repeals a Federal provision requiring each Federal agency to submit to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) a report concerning part-time career employment activities undertaken by such agency. Subtitle B: Compensation and Other Personnel Benefits - Repeals a Federal provision prohibiting DOD funds from being used to pay lodging expenses of a civilian DOD employee on official business when adequate government quarters are available. (Sec. 712) Includes within the definition of Federal employees the employees of various nonappropriated fund instrumentalities of the service branches. Subtitle C: Separation Provisions - Includes under Federal provisions authorizing continued health insurance coverage for a specified period after military discharge or separation those individuals: (1) voluntarily separating from the armed forces due to a reduction in force; and (2) whose positions are considered surplus due to the closure or realignment of a military installation. (Sec. 722) Entitles any eligible Federal employee to receive severance pay in a lump-sum amount. Requires refunding the pro rata share of a lump-sum payment if an individual is reemployed by the Government or the District of Columbia. Terminates such entitlement at the end of FY 1999. (Sec. 723) Directs OPM to prescribe regulations which permit, until September 30, 1996, DOD employees who are not scheduled for separation due to a reduction-in-force (RIF) to volunteer for RIF separation in place of employees who are so scheduled. Title VIII: Health Care Provisions - Subtitle A: Health Care Management - Amends the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) to increase the health care professional payment limitation requirements under the CHAMPUS physician payment reform program, tying such limits to similar limits under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act. Requires the Secretary to prescribe regulations covering such payment amounts, providing for exceptions in the case of adequate health care access. Provides transitional requirements. (Sec. 802) Amends specified prior national defense authorization Acts to repeal certain limitations on reductions in military medical personnel. Subtitle B: Other Matters - Requires a military medical advance directive (a directive to require or refuse life-support systems or to appoint a person to make such decisions) to be: (1) exempt from any State requirements of form, substance, formality, or recording; and (2) given the same legal effect as a State advanced medical directive. (Sec. 812) Terminates the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, directing the Secretary to phase out such University beginning in FY 1996 and ending at the close of FY 1999. Prohibits any new class of University students after FY 1995, and prohibits awarding degrees after FY 1999. (Sec. 813) Repeals a Federal provision prohibiting DOD funds from being used to perform abortions unless the life of the mother is in danger. Title IX: Department of Defense Organization and Management - Subtitle A: Secretarial Matters - Authorizes a 12th Assistant Secretary of Defense. (Sec. 902) Redesignates the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Chemical Programs. Subtitle B: Professional Military Education - Includes within the National Defense University the Institute for National Strategic Studies (which replaces the Institute for National Strategic Study) and the Information Resources Management College. (Sec. 912) Includes the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies within a Federal provision authorizing the Secretary to employ as many civilian professors, instructors, and lecturers at specified institutions as considered necessary. Subtitle C: Other Matters - Amends various prior national defense authorization Acts and Federal armed forces provisions to reduce or eliminate specified congressional reporting, notification, or certification requirements. (Sec. 922) Repeals the Federal prohibition against contracting out for the fire fighting and security guard functions at military installations. (Sec. 923) Increases to: (1) $1.7 million the unspecified minor construction threshold; and (2) $350,000 the operation and maintenance threshold. (Sec. 924) Changes from February 15 to March 1 annually a required report from the Secretary concerning National Guard and reserve component equipment. (Sec. 925) Revises the annual date for the joint OMB-CBO report on the scoring of national defense budget outlays. (Sec. 926) Repeals a required annual report from the Secretary on payments made to defense contractors for the costs of environmental response actions. Title X: General Provisions - Subtitle A: Financial Matters - Requires the head of the Coast Guard, when such service is not operating as a service within the Navy, to designate disbursing officials within the Coast Guard for the disbursing of public funds. Allows the Secretary to designate deputy disbursing officials within DOD. (Currently, the Secretary of each military department may designate such an official within that department.) Authorizes the Secretary and the Secretary of Transportation, when operating the Coast Guard, to: (1) designate military personnel under their jurisdiction to certify vouchers; and (2) relieve certifying officials from certain liability concerning the certification of the use of public funds under their jurisdiction. Allows for the crediting of a deficiency in an account under the jurisdiction of such officials, in appropriate circumstances. (Sec. 1002) Provides an exception to certain military personnel due process requirements in the case of routine adjustments of military pay attributable to clerical or administrative error or processing delays. (Sec. 1003) Authorizes the Secretary, under specified limitations, to incur necessary obligations to preserve the military readiness in excess of contract authority and amounts available in DOD appropriations. Requires proposals to incur such additional obligations to be accompanied by offsetting rescission proposals, unless emergency conditions exist. Outlines procedures for charging such excess costs to certain DOD accounts which have been funded as subdivisions within an appropriation. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to allow, under certain limitations, an obligation and an adjustment to an obligation to be charged to any current DOD appropriation account that is available for the same purpose as a closed or expired DOD account when the expired or closed account was or may have been in violation of the Anti Deficiency Act (an Act which provides express time limitations on the expenditure and obligation of Federal appropriations or funds). (Sec. 1004) Authorizes the Secretary or the Secretary of a military department to waive certain settlement and payment limitations for claims by military personnel under that Secretary's jurisdiction when such claims arose from an emergency evacuation or from extraordinary circumstances warranting such waiver. Applies such waiver to claims arising on or after June 1, 1991. Subtitle B: Counter-Drug Activities - Authorizes the Secretary, in lieu of providing drug interdiction and counter-drug activities funds to a State, to allocate funds for the pay and related expenses of personnel of the National Guard of such State who perform counter- drug duty pursuant to a plan submitted to the Secretary by the governor of such State. Limits to 4,000 the total number of National Guard personnel who may perform such duty for more than 180 days, with an authorized 20 percent increase when necessary in the national interest. Outlines plan requirements. Requires the Secretary to examine the plan's adequacy in consultation with the Director of National Drug Policy. (Sec. 1012) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct outreach programs to reduce the demand for illegal drugs among youths. Provides funding from drug interdiction and counter-drug funding. Subtitle C: Other Matters - Increases from 90 days to one year the authorized period for the transportation of a Federal employee or official between his or her residence and place of employment in situations presenting a clear and present danger to such individual. Authorizes the Secretary and the Secretaries of the military departments to delegate their authority to choose those positions under their jurisdiction for which such transportation will be permitted. (Sec. 1022) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 to: (1) remove the FY 1993-1995 limit for the National Guard Civilian Youth Opportunities Program; (2) state that the Program shall no longer be considered a pilot program; and (3) authorize the use of government vehicles pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 in conducting the Program. Authorizes the use of such government vehicles under such Act for the training and administration of the National Guard. (Sec. 1024) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to trade certain military historical items in exchange for conservation and preservation services and for educational programs, supplies and newly upgraded or renovated conservation equipment, facilities, and systems within existing structures. (Sec. 1025) Amends the DOD Education Loan Repayment Program to authorize the Secretary to repay any loan made under part D of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program) on behalf of the following: (1) enlisted members serving on active duty in certain military specialties; (2) enlisted members of the Selected Reserve with certain critical specialties; and (3) Selected Reserve health professions officers serving under wartime critical medical skill shortages. Title XI: Matters Relating to Allies, Other Nations, and International Organizations - Revises certain accounting procedures with respect to defense burden sharing contributions accepted from the Republic of Korea. (Sec. 1102) Authorizes the Secretary to accept such contributions from Japan and the Republic of Korea in dollars or in the currency of the host nation. Allows such contributions to be used for the relocation of U.S. military personnel in or to such countries. Requires annual reports from the Secretary specifying the amount of contributions accepted and expended. (Sec. 1103) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the President to assign members of the armed forces to any foreign country to promote rationalization, standardization, interoperability, and other defense cooperation measures. (Currently, such promotion is permitted only among members of NATO and with the armed forces of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.) (Sec. 1104) Amends the Arms Export Control Act to authorize the Secretaries concerned to use amounts reimbursed to the United States by foreign countries for leased items which have been lost or destroyed to either replace such items or to fund upgrades or modifications of similar systems of the military departments. (Sec. 1105) Amends the Arms Export Control Act to authorize the President, under specified conditions, to acquire from an eligible foreign country or international organization a defense article previously transferred to such country under provisions of such Act, or to undertake an exchange of a defense article in return for a repaired or new article. (Sec. 1106) Limits to any operation which is expected to exceed $10 million in cost or last longer than three months the applicability of a requirement for notification from the President to the Congress when providing disaster assistance outside the United States. (Sec. 1107) Requires an annual report from the Secretary to specified congressional committees concerning the provision of worldwide humanitarian assistance by the United States to be submitted at the same time as the President's annual budget submission. Specifies additional information required to be included in such reports. (Sec. 1108) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 to authorize during FY 1996 the use of DOD humanitarian assistance funds for activities supporting the clearing of landmines for humanitarian purposes. (Sec. 1109) Authorizes the President to provide personnel, supplies, services, and equipment in support of international peacekeeping and peace enforcement activities and to make contributions to pay the U.S. assessed share for such operations conducted by the United Nations when U.S. combat forces participate. Outlines provisions concerning: (1) appropriate reimbursement to the United States for the costs of such support, subject to specified conditions; (2) the appropriate crediting of reimbursements received; (3) the establishment of the International Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement Activities Account for appropriate purposes; (4) an annual reporting requirement from the President to the Congress concerning such activities and expenditures; (5) an authorization of appropriations for the payment of assessments for UN operations; and (6) a prohibition on the payment of such UN assessed amounts for such activities when U.S. combat forces do not participate. (Sec. 1110) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 to: (1) continue through FY 1996 the authority of the Secretary to provide assistance to support international nonproliferation activities; (2) change from the On-Site Inspection Agency to DOD the responsibility for certain on-site inspections in support of such activities; (3) add to authorized nonproliferation activities; and (4) continue through FY 1996 certain quarterly reporting requirements with respect to such activities. Title XII: Acquisition Reform - Exempts from Federal provisions requiring the cancellation of appropriated funds if not used by the end of the fifth fiscal year following their appropriation any funding appropriated for: (1) satellite on-orbit incentive fees, to remain until the fee is earned; and (2) government shipbuilding appropriations available for budgeted work that must be performed in the final stage of ship construction, to remain until its purpose is satisfied. (Sec. 1202) Amends the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act to require certain public notice of a proposed Federal contract expected to exceed $10,000 but not to exceed $25,000. (Sec. 1203) Repeals a Federal provision: (1) requiring letters of offer for the sale of defense articles and services from DOD stocks to include appropriate charges for a proportionate amount of any nonrecurring costs of research, development, and production of major defense equipment; and (2) authorizing the waiver of such charges by the President in certain circumstances. (Sec. 1204) Makes Federal provisions disallowing the receipt by a contracting official of any gratuities from the contractor inapplicable to contracts falling within the simplified acquisition threshold. (Sec. 1205) Amends the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 to require the heads of Federal agencies to make management decisions on all Office of Inspector General audits within six months (currently, no time limit) after their issuance. (Sec. 1206) Repeals a Federal provision prohibiting funds appropriated to DOD from being used to transfer to a foreign country a technical data package for a defense item being manufactured or developed in an arsenal, or to assist a country in producing such an item. (Sec. 1207) Makes permanent (currently only permitted during a national emergency) the power of the President to make, amend, or modify contracts to facilitate the national defense. (Sec. 1208) Includes a U.S. territory as a permissible entity to which the Secretary of the Navy may transfer a captured vessel or a vessel stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. (Sec. 1209) Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1990 and 1991 to: (1) require a broad range of the services and supplies acquired by DOD to be included in a test program for negotiating comprehensive subcontracting plans; (2) revise provisions concerning DOD contractors eligible under the test program; and (3) repeal a provision limiting the FY 1994 participants in the program. (Sec. 1210) Removes the requirement of activation of the full Civil Reserve Air Fleet before the Secretary may contract with private aircraft owners for the incorporation of defense features on such aircraft. (Sec. 1211) Prohibits any court or board from exercising jurisdiction over any claim for the adjustment of a shipbuilding contract that was not submitted to the contracting officer within 18 months after the occurrence of the event giving rise to the claim. (Sec. 1212) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to acquire or transfer such vessels and equipment for operation by private salvage companies as the Secretary considers necessary. Authorizes such Secretary to settle and receive payment for any U.S. claim for salvage services rendered by the Navy. (Sec. 1213) Authorizes the Secretary or the secretaries of the military departments to have supplies needed for DOD or a military department made in factories, depots, or arsenals owned by the United States. Authorizes any such Secretary to disestablish any U.S. arsenal considered unnecessary. (Sec. 1214) Repeals a Federal provision prohibiting the use of any appropriated funds for documenting the economic or employment impact of DOD acquisition programs for which research, development, testing, and evaluation have not been completed. (Sec. 1216) Repeals a Federal provision authorizing the Secretary of a military department to delegate certain contract authority. (Sec. 1217) Exempts from certain monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and oversight requirements the defense acquisition pilot programs specified under the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 and such future programs as may be authorized by the Congress pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991. (Sec. 1218) Requires major defense system and munitions programs testing to begin at the component, subsystem, and subassembly level and to culminate with tests of the complete system configured for combat. Revises, generally, language and terms for such programs. (Sec. 1219) Requires any position papers or assessments made with respect to technological issues in defense research to be made part of the record when making acquisition program (currently, milestone O, I, and II) decisions. (Sec. 1220) Repeals a Federal provision which authorizes the head of an agency to waive certain restrictions on undefinitized contractual actions when necessary to support a contingency operation. Excludes from such restrictions contingency operations, peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations, disaster relief operations, and humanitarian assistance. (Sec. 1221) Provides an exception with respect to the requirement of independent cost estimates for major defense acquisition programs when the decision authority for that program has been delegated to an official of a military department, defense agency, or other DOD component. (Sec. 1222) Revises Federal provisions requiring unit cost reports for defense acquisition programs to: (1) remove the definition of "procurement program" for purposes of such reports; and (2) require such a report in certain cases where the current program acquisition unit cost has increased by at least five percent over the 15 percent increase in such cost for the program as shown in its baseline estimate. (Sec. 1223) Repeals Federal provisions requiring certain quality control in the procurement of critical aircraft and ship spare parts. (Sec. 1224) Authorizes funds appropriated to a military department to be used to procure rights to use designs and processes. (Currently, funds are authorized only for technical data and computer software.) (Sec. 1225) Authorizes the Secretary to exclude from certain required post-education duty assignments graduates of the Senior Acquisition Course at the Armed Forces Industrial College if they are assigned upon such graduation to critical acquisition positions. Repeals a Federal provision requiring individuals assigned to critical acquisition positions to so serve for a minimum of three years. (Sec. 1227) Repeals Federal provisions: (1) requiring certain limitations on the performance of depot-level maintenance of material; and (2) prohibiting the contracting-out of DOD depot-level maintenance or repair workload activities previously performed by DOD depot-level activities.
Bill· SS. 736 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Family Investment Program and Other Welfare Reform Title II: Increasing Work and Self-Sufficiency Subtitle A: Work Incentives Subtitle B: Incentives to Save Subtitle C: Microenterprise Development and Other Projects to Create Jobs Title III: Improving State Flexibility Title IV: Combating Teenage Pregnancy Title V: Improving Child Support Collection Subtitle A: Improvements in the Collection of Child Support Subtitle B: Improvements in Paternity Establishment Title VI: Savings Provisions Title VII: Effective Date Welfare to Self-Sufficiency Act of 1995 - States that it is U.S. policy that all programs, projects, and activities assisted below be carried out so that: (1) welfare recipients accept responsibility for their families from their first welfare office visit by signing an agreement to achieve self-sufficiency; (2) failure to sign such agreement will reduce and eventually eliminate cash benefits; (3) welfare programs are for temporary assistance to needy families with children and must provide the support and skills needed for full-time private sector employment; (4) States must have more flexibility to design programs for responding effectively to recipient needs; (5) actions must be taken to combat illegitimate teen births; and (6) children have a right to receive parental financial support from which parents shall not escape. Title I: Family Investment Program And Other Welfare Reform - Amends part A (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) (AFDC) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require State AFDC plans in States without a waiver from the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide for a program in which the State agency negotiates an agreement with AFDC recipients outlining the steps non-exempt individuals must take. Includes among such steps participation in education or job training programs, or in substance abuse treatment or parenting programs, in order to obtain self-sufficiency within a certain period of time. Requires supplemental services, such as transportation and child care, when necessary for achieving such goal, as well as support and case management when adapting such agreement for changing family circumstances. Requires the State agency to offer such recipients enrollment in a limited benefit plan under which benefits are suspended after six months, and in which families failing to comply with the agreement are automatically enrolled. (Sec. 104) Requires the Secretaries of HHS, of Labor, and of Education to ensure appropriate coordination in planning, developing, and operating family investment programs above and other specified programs, including the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS) under SSA title IV part F in order to improve departmental services and reduce program overlap and administrative costs. (Sec. 105) Revises JOBS and JOBS-related provisions, among other changes removing restrictions on JOBS participation of pregnant AFDC recipients, in addition to changes involving job searches, work assignments, and grievance procedures. Title II: Increasing Work and Self-Sufficiency - Subtitle A: Work Incentives - Makes numerous miscellaneous amendments to SSA title IV part A, providing States with various specified options for moving AFDC recipients towards self-sufficiency, including options for: (1) increasing income disregards for work expenses, earned income, and automobiles; (2) disregarding certain earned income of new employees and dependent children; and (3) further extending transitional child care benefits. (Sec. 205) Amends the Family Support Act of 1988 (FSA) to permanently extend its transitional child care program. Subtitle B: Incentives to Save - Creates State incentive-to-save options, including options for increasing asset limits and disregarding certain income and resources designated for education, training, and employability, as well as interest income. Subtitle C: Microenterprise Development and Other Projects to Create Jobs - Creates further State options, including options for disregarding income and resources related to microenterprise initiatives. (Sec. 222) Provides for inclusion of microenterprise training and activities in JOBS. (Sec. 223) Directs the Secretary to establish demonstration projects for developing a wage supplementation program under which certain AFDC-eligible individuals would receive monthly incentive payments from the State out of funds available for AFDC and food stamp benefits in lieu of receiving such benefits directly. (Sec. 224) Amends FSA with respect to its demonstration projects for expanding job opportunities for low-income individuals, making such projects permanent at increased funding. Title III: Improving State Flexibility - Amends SSA title IV part A to make various specified changes, among other things, in provisions containing certain requirements for unemployed parents, including elimination of the principal earner requirement, as well as modification of other specified requirements, and in other provisions providing for the equivalent treatment of stepparent and parent income and permanent extension of the AFDC-UP program. (Sec. 303) Modifies payment formulae for the JOBS program and child care, increasing the JOBS program's authorization, among other changes. (Sec. 304) Provides for optional State: (1) assessment, monitoring, and evaluation under the AFDC program in order to increase the percentage of families moving from welfare to self-sufficiency; and (2) modification of individual family AFDC payment amounts in order to ensure that the children of families on AFDC receive proper immunizations and well-child care. Title IV: Combating Teenage Pregnancy - Amends SSA title IV part A to: (1) provide for additional adult-supervised living arrangements for unmarried minor parents with dependent children in order for them to receive AFDC; and (2) give States the option, in cases involving custodial parents below age 20 who have not completed high school and are required to participate in JOBS, to require them to participate in an educational activity. (Sec. 403) Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize additional funding for family planning grants for combating teenage pregnancy. Title V: Improving Child Support Collection - Subtitle A: Improvements in the Collection of Child Support - Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) and the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the establishment of a system under which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would collect child support via wage withholding and estimated tax payments and disperse it as appropriate. Requires the entire amount of child support owed to be paid to the IRS by the end of the applicable tax year along with the individual's tax return. Subjects delinquent individuals to generally the same penalties applicable to back taxes. (Sec. 503) Gives States the following options in order to discourage overdue child support: (1) periodically making available for publication the identity of certain individuals owing overdue child support; (2) enacting laws authorizing suspension of driver's, professional, and other specified licenses of such individuals; and (3) requiring community service participation by such individuals. (Sec. 506) Provides for optional State laws concerning modification of child support orders. Subtitle B: Improvements in Paternity Establishment - Creates various specified State options regarding paternity establishment, including options for a simple civil process for voluntarily acknowledging paternity, as well as optional State plan requirements for voluntary paternity establishment outreach. (Sec. 513) Establishes: (1) penalty reductions in Federal matching payments to States under AFDC for certain children for whom paternity has not been established; and (2) incentive payments to families to encourage paternity establishment, including requirements for related demonstrations. Title VI: Savings Provisions - Authorizes appropriations for consolidating Federal assistance in the form of a single Federal administrative payment to each State for administrating its Medicaid, AFDC, and food stamp programs, with discretion to allocate such amount in any manner between such programs. (Sec. 602) Extends, with certain exceptions, the deeming of income and resources under AFDC, SSI, Medicaid (SSA titles XVI and XIX, respectively), and food stamp programs with respect to aliens through the respective dates they become citizens. (Sec. 603) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) provide requirements for a sponsor's affidavit of support; and (2) extend requirements for affidavits of support to family-related and diversity immigrants. (Sec. 604) Sets limitations on expenditures for emergency assistance under AFDC and makes other specified changes with regard to such assistance. Title VII: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
Bill· SS. 728 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Division B (sic): Military Construction Authorizations Title XXI: Army Title XXII: Navy Title XXIII: Air Force Title XXIV: Defense Agencies Title XXV: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Infrastructure Title XXVI: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities Title XXVII: Expiration and Extension of Authorizations Title XXVIII: General Provisions Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes Subtitle B: Base Closure and Realignment and Environment Subtitle C: Land Conveyance Subtitle D: Other Matters Division B (sic): Military Construction Authorizations - Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 - Title XXI: Army - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to construct or acquire family housing units, to carry out architectural planning and design activities, and to improve existing military family housing in specified amounts. Authorizes appropriations to the Army for fiscal years after 1995 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of the Army. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title XXII: Navy - Provides, with respect to the Navy, authorizations paralleling those provided for the Army under the previous title. Title XXIII: Air Force - Provides, with respect to the Air Force, authorizations paralleling those provided for the Army. Title XXIV: Defense Agencies - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to acquire real property and carry out military construction projects in specified amounts at specified installations and locations. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements to construct, acquire, and improve family housing units at or near military installations for the purpose of encouraging private investments, in a specified amount. Authorizes the Secretary to improve existing military family housing units and to carry out certain energy conservation projects. Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal years after 1995 for military construction, land acquisition, and military family housing functions of DOD. Limits the total cost of construction projects authorized by this title. Title XXV: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Infrastructure - Authorizes the Secretary to make contributions for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Infrastructure Program and authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1995 for such contributions. Title XXVI: Guard and Reserve Forces Facilities - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years after 1995 for the Guard and Reserve forces for acquisition, architectural and engineering services, and construction of facilities. Title XXVII: Expiration and Extension of Authorizations - Terminates all authorizations contained in the preceding titles of this Act on October 1, 1998, or the date of enactment of an Act authorizing funds for military construction for FY 1999, whichever is later, with exceptions. Extends certain FY 1992 and 1993 military construction projects. Title XXVIII: General Provisions - Subtitle A: Military Construction Program and Military Family Housing Changes - Authorizes the Secretary of the military department concerned to sell military family housing which has deteriorated beyond economical repair, along with the land on which such housing is located. Requires notification to the appropriate congressional committees and a waiting period of 21 days after such notice. Requires sale proceeds to be deposited into military family housing accounts and used for their purposes. (Sec. 2802) Increases from 300 to 450 the number of units of family housing authorized to be leased in foreign countries for U.S. military family housing purposes. (Sec. 2803) Extends permanently the authority of the Secretary to increase the maximum square footage of military family housing units acquired for military personnel of certain pay grades when determined to be cost effective. (Sec. 2804) Authorizes the Secretary of any military department (currently, only the Navy) to enter into limited partnerships with private developers for the construction of military family housing at or near a military installation. Renames the Navy Housing Investment Account (used for partnership purposes) as the Defense Housing Investment Account. Terminates the Navy Housing Investment Board created to oversee such partnerships. Extends through FY 2000 the authority to enter into such partnerships. (Sec. 2805) Provides that certain cost increase limits with respect to military family housing construction projects do not apply to the settlement of a contractor claim. Subtitle B: Base Closure and Realignment and Environment - Amends the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 to allow funds in the Defense Environmental Restoration Account to be used in FY 1996 for environmental restoration activities for military installations approved for closure or realignment in 1995 under such Act. (Sec. 2808) Amends the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and Realignment Act as well as the above Act to authorize the Secretary to enter into agreements (currently, only contracts) with local governments for the provision of certain services (police, fire, airfield operations) at military installations to be closed under such Acts when determined to be in the best interests of DOD. (Sec. 2809) Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1990 (CERCLA) to: (1) provide that certain environmental cleanup responsibilities of the United States with respect to Federal facilities transferred under such Act shall not apply to leases; and (2) authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or the governor of the affected State to defer such responsibilities upon determination that the property is suitable for transfer or upon assurance that releases caused by the United States will be otherwise addressed. Subtitle C: Land Conveyance - Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to convey to: (1) Burlington County, New Jersey, all rights and interest to the Fort Dix Resource Recovery Facility; (2) Augusta, Georgia, all rights and interest to several parcels of land containing water and wastewater treatment plants at Fort Gordon, Georgia; and (3) the Southern California Edison Company all rights and interest to the electrical distribution system at Fort Irwin, California. Subtitle D: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary concerned to sell to a public or private utility company electricity generated from energy production facilities (currently, only from alternate energy or cogeneration production facilities) that are under the jurisdiction of such Secretary. (Sec. 2815) Requires water conservation savings and water costs of DOD to be included within a required DOD energy performance goal for FY 1991 through 2000. (Sec. 2816) Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to convey all rights and interest to the primate research laboratory at Holloman Air Force Base, as well as ownership of certain chimpanzees used in connection with such research, to the Coulston Foundation or another nonprofit entity determined appropriate by the Secretary. Requires the grantee to utilize the laboratory for scientific or medical research and provide adequate care for the chimpanzees. (Sec. 2817) Requires the Secretary to submit annual reports to specified congressional committees with respect to the acquisition of leasehold interests in land for use in special operations activities. (Sec. 2818) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out school facilities activities, including the construction of elementary and secondary schools on military installations, under provisions of Federal law allowing the provision of education by the Federal Government when local educational agencies are unable to provide adequate educational facilities.
Bill· SS. 722 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Findings; Need to Replace the Income Tax Title II: USA Tax for Individuals Title III: New Business Tax Title IV: Deferred Compensation Plans Title V: Technical and Administrative Changes USA Tax Act of 1995 - Title I: Findings; Need to Replace the Income Tax - States the findings of the Congress regarding the replacement of the current income tax with a new USA Tax and outlines features of the new system. Title II: USA Tax for Individuals - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to replace the current individual income tax with a new USA Income Tax. Imposes the tax only upon individuals who are U.S. citizens or resident aliens. Excludes from gross income the following: (1) returns or benefits from certain previously taxed income, including social security benefits and insurance (including health plan) amounts; (2) compensation for certain kinds of service, including as a minister, a member of the military, or a foster care provider; (3) certain gratuitous, charitable, and governmental transfers, including public assistance program benefits; (4) state and local bond interest; (5) injury and sickness compensation; (6) certain fringe benefits and other benefits furnished primarily for the convenience of an employer; (7) borrowing proceeds and other receipts the taxpayer is legally obligated to return; (8) certain income and housing costs of citizens and residents abroad; (9) discharges of indebtedness; (10) rollovers of savings on which tax is deferred under this Act and of gain from principal residence sales; (11) certain amounts paid by an employer as savings on behalf of an employee; (12) a business entity's receipts that are taxable under the business tax provisions; and (13) casualty and property insurance proceeds. Reduces gross income by the amount deducted for alimony, child support, and separate maintenance payments and by the Unlimited Savings Allowance established by this Act (Allowance). Allows deductions of the following in computing taxable income: (1) personal and dependency exemptions; (2) a sum known as the Family Living Allowance, to be adjusted for inflation beginning in 1997; (3) interest paid on indebtedness to acquire a principal residence; (4) qualified educational expenses; (5) philanthropic transfers (charitable contributions); and (6) a transition basis amount, calculated using the savings assets that determine the Unlimited Savings Allowance. Sets forth tax rate schedules for married individuals filing joint returns and surviving spouses, heads of households, unmarried individuals, and married individuals filing separate returns. Prescribes rules for the tax treatment of unearned income of a child under the age of 14. Allows the following credits against income tax: (1) the foreign tax credit, with respect only to foreign taxes on amounts included in gross income; (2) a payroll tax credit equal to the sum of the employee's share of basic social security taxes, the Tier 1 railroad retirement tax, and one-half of the social security taxes imposed on self-employment income; (3) an earned income tax credit; and (4) a taxes-paid credit equal to the sum of withholding tax amounts, special refunds of social security taxes, overpayments of prior-year tax obligations applied to the current tax year, and estimated tax payments. Establishes a tax-deferred Unlimited Savings Allowance, comprised of deductible additions to savings (including payments of life insurance premiums and retirement account contributions). Prescribes rules for the treatment of deferred income withdrawn from savings, borrowing, and qualification of additions to the Allowance. Grants each taxpayer a general basis account into which may be withdrawn amounts saved that had been includible in income before the Allowance was made applicable or because the savings were considered nondeductible for certain reasons. Defines the basis of property sold or exchanged and nonrecognition transactions, including sale of a principal residence and involuntary conversions. Excludes from the Allowance contributions to a business entity (business) of personal-use property. Taxes a withdrawal of such property from business use only to the extent of the value of changes or repairs made by the business entity. Treats the rental of real estate (except for property rented not more than 14 days during the taxable year) as a business activity to which the business tax applies and ineligible for deductions other than those owing to savings additions. Excludes from the Allowance contributions to a hobby activity. Provides a rule for the tax treatment of ownership interests in land companies. Makes the taxable year for all individuals, except in cases of birth or death during the year, the calendar year. Requires use of the cash receipts and disbursements method of accounting by all individual taxpayers. Imposes the greater of the following on nonresident aliens: (1) a tax on the nonbusiness income (with exceptions) and capital gains of such aliens; or (2) an alternate tax without exceptions (based on the rate of tax on unmarried individuals) if the alien lost U.S. citizenship within the ten previous years, unless the loss of citizenship was not principally to avoid the income or estate and gift taxes. Provides rules for treatment of community income. States the intention of the Internal Revenue Code (renamed the USA Tax Code by this Act) to promote a worldwide system in which each nation taxes under an individual tax and a business tax, respectively, only the income of individuals who are residents or citizens and only the business activity in such nation. Gives effect to exemptions of nonresident aliens from tax under treaty with the United States and provides reciprocity when a nation with a tax information sharing agreement with the United States exempts a U.S. resident or citizen from its income and withholding taxes. Provides rules for the tax treatment of contributions to and distributions from trusts and estates. Title III: New Business Tax - Replaces the current corporate income tax with a new tax on corporations and businesses. Imposes a business tax on the sale of goods and services in the United States equal to 11 percent of the gross profits of the business entity less a payroll tax credit (a credit for the social security, railroad retirement, and hospital insurance taxes paid by an employer. Defines gross profits as the excess of the business entity's taxable receipts over its deductible amounts. Excludes from taxable receipts, for purposes of calculating gross profits, certain receipts resulting from investments and financial transactions. Makes the following amounts deductible: (1) the cost of business purchases, consisting of amounts expended, including specified production and consumption taxes, for acquisition of property (or its use) and services; (2) a loss carryover for the taxable year; and (3) the sum of allowances for amortization of bases of depreciable property determined ratably beginning January 1, 1996 (the "transition basis deduction"). Provides rules for the treatment of: (1) capital contributions to a business entity by an individual or another business which becomes a partial or full owner; (2) distributions of property by a business to its owners, to a controlling business, or to an individual who contributed personal use property; and (3) consideration received for asset transfers by a business. Treats consideration allocable to savings assets as generally not included in the transferor's taxable receipts and not a business purchase of the purchaser. Allows an election to treat a substantial sale of a business's assets as if it were a stock acquisition having no direct consequences under the business tax. Treats mergers of one business into another or two into a third business or spinoffs, splitoffs, or split-ups or similar transactions as also having no direct business tax consequences. Requires all businesses to use an accrual method of accounting, except that a business that was permitted to use the cash receipts and disbursements method under the Internal Revenue Code and one which has the permission of the Secretary of the Treasury to use such method shall be permitted to do so. Sets forth accounting rules for: (1) determination of taxable year; (2) long-term contract expenses and receipts; and (3) treatment of post-sale price adjustments and refunds and bad debts. Disallows as a business purchase (and thus makes nondeductible) acquisition of unimproved land if the land is not acquired for use in a business activity or is acquired for speculation, development, temporary leasing or other use not commensurate with the land's value, indefinite future business use, or use in compensating employees. Makes the cost of land not used in business its tax basis. Includes as business purchases (thereby making deductible) fees paid for financial intermediation services (including lending, insurance, market making, and other services in which a person acts as an intermediary in property or financial transfers or risk pooling and derives gross receipts from financial flows associated with such transfers) but not costs of financial instruments. Prescribes rules for the treatment and allocation of "implicit" fees for such services. Makes deductible the cost of insurance premiums on business loss policies and includes proceeds from such insurance as taxable receipts. Provides for the taxation of a financial intermediation business by substituting financial receipts (all receipts other than amounts received as contributions to capital) for taxable receipts and including financial expenses as business purchases in the calculation of gross profits. Defines receipts and expenses for such purpose differently in the case of banks, insurance companies, and financial pass-thru entities. Provides rules for the treatment of tax-exempt organizations, including governmental entities, and imposition of the tax on unrelated business activity. Provides rules for the treatment of patronage dividends of supply and marketing cooperatives. Provides rules for determining the source of business income, including that: (1) amounts received for exports of property or services for use or consumption outside the United States shall be excluded from a business's taxable receipts; (2) imports of property or services for use in the United States in a business activity (including sale or retail) shall be treated as a business purchase; (3) communications services shall be treated as provided at the point of origin and not as imported or exported; and (4) insurance services shall be treated as provided at the location of the insurance company when both the services are provided and the risk is located in the United States. Makes payment of any import tax nondeductible. Provides rules for the treatment of receipts from the international transportation of property and passengers. Requires the Secretary to prescribe regulations regarding the location and source of banking services. Treats U.S. possessions as not part of the United States for purposes of the business tax. Prohibits the claiming of a payroll tax credit for payroll taxes paid with respect to income of residents of U.S. possessions. Allows business entities a payroll tax credit equal to the sum of the employer's share of old-age, survivors and disability insurance and hospital insurance and railroad retirement taxes and one-half of the allocable portion of the self-employment tax. Provides rules for the crediting of tax on the income of partnerships and proprietorships and a 15-year carryover of the payroll credit. Imposes a tax on all property entered into the United States for consumption (except property granted a personal exemption under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States) and all services treated as imported. Applies C corporation rules on tax administration to business entities until the Internal Revenue Code procedural and administrative provisions are amended to reflect this Act. Permits individuals engaged in business activities on their own or with their spouses, under rules prescribed by the Secretary, to file business tax returns with their individual returns and subjects such taxpayers to the estimated tax rules for individual returns. Provides rules for the filing of consolidated returns by business entities and financial intermediation businesses. Repeals Internal Revenue Code consolidated return provisions. Title IV: Deferred Compensation Plans - Redesignates Code provisions regarding deferred compensation plans, stating that: (1) they are included in the income tax provisions primarily for purposes of cross reference and determining the exemption of plans from the business tax; and (2) none of the deferred compensation provisions operates to create an individual or business income tax deduction or credit or disqualify an addition to savings under this Act. Title V: Technical and Administrative Changes - Redesignates the Internal Revenue Code as the USA Tax Code. States a rule for the general application of the procedural and administrative provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to the USA Income Tax and the business tax until such provisions are amended to reflect this Act.
Bill· SS. 715 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Amendments of Internal Revenue Code of 1986 Subtitle A: Medical Care Savings Accounts Subtitle B: Expansion of COBRA Continuation Coverage Title II: Insurance Reform Subtitle A: Employer Insurance Protections Subtitle B: Guaranteeing Portability of Health Insurance for Individuals Subtitle C: Assuring Health Insurance Coverage for Uninsurable Individuals Health Insurance Portability and Guaranteed Renewability Act of 1995 - Title I: Amendments of Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Subtitle A: Medical Care Savings Accounts - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to provide for medical care savings benefits, under which a portion of a premium would be credited to a participating employee to pay for medical care and amounts remaining (if any) at the end of the year would be deposited to a medical care savings account (medical IRA). (Sec. 102) Defines a "medical care savings account" (MCSA) as a trust for the exclusive benefit of an individual and the individual's spouse and dependents and meeting certain requirements. Provides for the tax treatment of such accounts and their distributions. Treats custodial accounts as a trust if specified criteria are met. Amends various provisions of the IRC (relating to old-age, survivors, and disability insurance, hospital insurance, railroad retirement, unemployment taxes, and withholding) and the Social Security Act (relating to old-age, survivors, and disability insurance) to exclude from the definition of "wages" (or, in the case of provisions relating to railroad retirement, the definition of "compensation") any payment to or for the benefit of an employee if the payment is excludable from gross income. Amends the IRC to exempt MCSAs from provisions imposing a tax on certain prohibited transactions. Imposes a penalty for failure to file required report on a MCSA. (Sec. 103) Allows cafeteria plan flexible spending arrangements to be contributed to a MCSA. Subtitle B: Expansion of COBRA Continuation Coverage - Amends the IRC and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to exempt group health plans maintained by employers who all employ fewer than two (currently, 20) employees from continuation coverage requirements. Modifies requirements regarding the maximum required coverage period. Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to exempt group health plans maintained by employers who all employ fewer than four (currently, 20) employees from continuation coverage requirements. Modifies requirements regarding the maximum required coverage period. (Sec. 112) Amends the IRC, ERISA, and the PHSA to revise the type of continuation coverage required and general requirements for group health plan continuation coverage. Title II: Insurance Reform - Subtitle A: Employer Insurance Protections - Prohibits any health benefit insurer providing or offering a small group health plan from cancelling or not renewing except for specified reasons or refusing to provide coverage based solely on the nature of the employer's business or industry. Limits premium rate increases and variation (across and within business classes) in index rates. Allows an insurer to use industry as a case characteristic in establishing rates. (Sec. 202) Restricts preexisting condition limitations or exclusions. Requires insurers offering coverage to a small employer to offer coverage to all eligible employees of the small employer and their dependents. (Sec. 203) Amends the IRC to impose a penalty on the failure of an insurer or group health plan to meet the requirements of this subtitle. Subtitle B: Guaranteeing Portability of Health Insurance for Individuals - Declares that this subtitle applies only to health benefit plans delivered or issued to individuals in a State and does not apply to: (1) any employer-based plan; or (2) any eligible individual whose prior similar plan was provided by a State high risk pool, under titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act, or under another State or Federal program (unless the individual was previously covered as a State or Federal employee). (Sec. 212) Requires an insurer, if an eligible individual or family applies for an individual plan, to either offer or deny coverage to all eligible individuals applying on the application. Regulates preexisting condition exclusions or limitations. Requires an insurer to offer, to a dependent who would otherwise lose eligibility because of certain events, continuation coverage identical to that previously issued. (Sec. 213) Prohibits cancelling or not renewing plans except for specified reasons. Subtitle C: Assuring Health Insurance Coverage for Uninsurable Individuals - Requires each health insurer, health service organization, and health maintenance organization to participate in a high risk health insurance pool in the State in which it operates. Requires that the pool assure the availability of qualified health insurance to uninsurable individuals. Funds the pool by an assessment against such entities on a pro rata basis of lives covered in the State. Allows the assessment to be added by those entities to the costs of their health insurance or coverage. (Sec. 222) Outlines criteria for being considered: (1) uninsurable; and (2) eligible. (Sec. 224) Limits premiums established under the pool.
Bill· HRH.R. 1516 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Balancing the Budget Title II: Technical and Conforming Amendments Balanced Budget Enforcement Act of 1995 - Title I: Balancing the Budget - Part A: Purpose - Repeals parts C (Emergency Powers to Eliminate Deficits in Excess of Maximum Deficit Amount), D (Budgetary Treatment of Social Security Trust Funds), and E (Miscellaneous and Related Provisions) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Part B: The Deficit Elimination Act of 1995 - Sets, for FY 1996 through 2002: (1) deficit reduction targets for direct spending and receipts legislation; and (2) discretionary funding limits, measured in terms of new budget authority. Permits adjustments, whenever appropriate, to discretionary funding limits to reflect the following: (1) changes in concepts; (2) changes in inflation; (3) expiring housing contracts; (4) emergencies; (5) new limits for 2002 and thereafter; and (6) transportation trust funds. Makes provisions: (1) for balancing the budget in 2002; and (2) preventing deficits after 2002. Provides for: (1) a spin-off law, if required, to balance the budget in 2002 and to prevent deficits after 2002; and (2) targeted sequestration if a spin-off law is in effect for a year on the date of the final sequestration report for that year. (Sec. 106) Establishes a scorecard for: (1) FY 1996 through 2002 upon which shall be entered the estimated increase or decrease in the deficit; (2) FY 2003 and thereafter upon which shall be entered the estimated increase or decrease in the deficit or surplus; and (3) years after 1996 upon which shall be entered the amount of discretionary appropriations. (Sec. 109) Provides that the amount to be sequestered: (1) for a budget year in which a spin-off law is not in effect shall be the amount (if any) by which the sum of all budget-year entries on the direct spending and receipts scorecard is greater than zero; and (2) if any, shall be increased whenever the average out-year change in direct spending and receipts, combined, achieved during that budget- year session would result in higher deficits than if that average change had equaled the amount targeted for the budget year, with that budget-year target being the amount that the sequestration preview report for the budget year shows was needed to bring the budget-year entries on the direct spending and receipts scorecard to zero. Provides that: (1) within 15 days after the Congress adjourns to end a session and on the same day as a sequestration, if any, under sec. 110 there shall be a sequestration to reduce the amount of receipts in the current policy baseline sum by the sum of the amounts specified in subsection (1) and (2), unless that sum is less than $500 million; and (2) the amount to be sequestered shall be achieved by reducing each non-exempt direct spending account by the uniform percentage necessary to achieve 80 percent of that sum and increasing receipts to achieve the other 20 percent of that sum through tax sequestration surtaxes as enacted under sec. 113 of this Act. (Sec. 110) Provides for an across-the-board reduction of discretionary programs , if there is a sequestration. (Sec. 111) Describes and lists programs and activities which shall be exempt from sequestration. (Sec. 112) Sets forth general and special sequestration rules, including provisions concerning sequestration and: (1) the non-jobs portion of AFDC; (2) the jobs portion of AFDC; (3) the Child Support Enforcement Program; (4) the Commodity Credit Corporation; (5) the Conservation Reserve Program; (6) extended unemployment compensation; (7) the Federal Employees Health Benefits Fund; (8) the Federal Housing Finance Board; (9) Federal pay; (10) Federal insurance programs; (11) Medicaid; (12) Medicare; (13) the Postal Service Fund; (14) power marketing administration funds and the TVA; and (15) veterans' housing loans. (Sec. 113) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the imposition of tax sequestration surtaxes on individuals and corporations. (Sec. 114) Requires both OMB and CBO to prepare both sequestration preview and final reports. Directs the Board of Estimates (established by sec. 119) to choose one of each of the reports as the official report. Directs the President, on the day that the Board chooses the final sequestration report, to issue an order fully implementing without change all required sequestrations and tax actions. (Sec. 115) Provides for the determination of the current policy baseline and the baseline assuming deficit reduction. (Sec. 117) Establishes in the Treasury a Stabilization Reserve Fund in order to accumulate balances during years of comparative prosperity, which balances may later be used to cover the loss of receipts and the increase in outlays that occur during times of comparative economic distress. (Sec. 118) Provides for the suspension of sequestration procedures: (1) upon the declaration of war; and (2) during periods of low economic growth. Sets forth procedures for the consideration of a low growth joint resolution by the Congress. (Sec. 119) Establishes a Board of Review to report to the President and the Congress concerning the selection of the OMB and CBO sequestration preview and final reports. (Sec. 120) Provides for expedited judicial review in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for any Member of Congress or other individual seeking declaratory judgment and injunctive relief with respect to provisions of this Act. Permits review, by the Supreme Court, of any order of such court issued pursuant to provisions of the previous sentence. Title II: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Sets forth technical and conforming amendments to; (1) the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974; (2) the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990; (3) the Rules of the House of Representatives and the Standing Rules of the Senate; and (4) other Federal law provisions concerning, among other things, the President's budget and the public debt limit.
Bill· HRH.R. 1515 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
Small Property and Casualty Insurance Company Equity Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a small insurance company deduction of a percentage of the tentative taxable income of certain companies involved with property or casualty insurance.
Bill· HRH.R. 1520 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
1% For Culture Act of 1995 - Amends the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965. Renames such Act as the Arts, Humanities, and Museums Act of 1995. (Sec. 2) Provides for disposition to its Endowments of certain gifts to the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, under title I of such Act. Considers gifts to the Foundation or one of its Endowments as gifts to the United States, for certain Federal tax purposes. Revises provisions for the Foundation's Endowments, separating them into a title II for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and a title III for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Authorizes the NEA chairperson to establish and carry out a Challenge Program of grants to cultural organizations and institutions. Requires such Challenge funds to be matched in a ratio of at least three non-Federal dollars for every one Federal dollar. Extends the authorization of appropriations for the NEA, including the National Council on the Arts and the National Medal of Arts. Authorizes appropriations of additional amounts for Challenge Funds for the Challenge Program grants. Extends the authorization of appropriations for the NEH, including the National Council on the Humanities. Transfers from title IV of such Act provisions for Museum Services (these provisions are currently known as the Museum Services Act, which is repealed under this Act). Increases, from five to 15 percent of appropriations for such title, the maximum amount which the Director of the Institute of Museum Services (IMS) may use to enter into contracts and cooperative agreements to provide financial assistance to undertake projects designed to strengthen museum services. Revises provisions and extends the authorization of appropriations for such Museum Services, including the IMS and its Director and Museum Services Board. Establishes the American Cultural Trust Fund as a revolving fund in the Treasury, under title V of such Act. Provides for investments of monies appropriated to the Fund. Sets a trigger amount of aggregate proceeds deposited, with all subsequent accumulated proceeds to be distributed annually as follows: (1) 25 percent to the NEA; (2) 26 percent to the NEH; (3) four percent to the IMS; and (4) 45 percent to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Authorizes appropriations to the Fund, in amounts based on one percent of the difference between total budget outlays and budget outlays for gross interest on the public debt. Terminates such authorization of appropriations for the Fund for any fiscal year beginning on or after the date on which the Secretary of the Treasury first distributes the Fund's investment proceeds. Terminates for any fiscal year, as of the same date, any authorization of appropriations to the NEA, NEH, IMS, or Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Repeals the Museum Services Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 1519 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
Low Income Community Development Tax Credit Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow, as part of the general business credit, a tax credit (equal to a percentage of its basis) for placing a nonresidential building in service in a distressed area, with a greater credit allowed for a new building than an existing building. Provides for calculation of the basis of such buildings according to the rules governing the low-income housing credit. Defines a distressed area as one in which at least 70 percent of the households have an income that is no more than 80 percent of the area median gross income. Increases the credit with respect to buildings in areas in which income is lower. Treats rehabilitation expenditures, provided they are above a certain threshold, as a separate new building. Imposes an annual State distressed area building credit ceiling.
Bill· HRH.R. 1468 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Women Veterans Health Improvements Title II: Care for Veterans Exposed to Toxic Substances Title III: Readjustment Services Title IV: Services for Mentally Ill Veterans Title V: Construction Planning Title VI: General Health Administration Subtitle A: Health Care Administration Subtitle B: Personnel Administration Subtitle C: Health Care Resource Agreements Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Veterans Health Improvements Act of 1995 - Title I: Women Veterans Health Improvements - Women Veterans Health Improvements Act of 1995 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that each health care facility under the direct jurisdiction of the Department of Veterans Affairs is able to provide in a timely and appropriate manner all authorized health care services to women veterans. Requires the provision of women's health services by direct Department care (rather than by contract or other agreement) when cost effective. Includes women's health services within the medical services authorized to be provided through the Department. Extends through 1998 a reporting requirement under the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 concerning the Department's provision of women's health care services and research and adds to the information required in such report. (Sec. 104) Prohibits mammograms from being performed at a Department facility unless such facility is accredited for such purpose by a private nonprofit organization designated by the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to prescribe mammogram quality assurance and control standards and to perform periodic inspection of Department mammogram equipment and facilities. Requires the Secretary to ensure that mammograms performed for the Department on a contractual basis with a non-Department facility or provider conform to the quality standards for such procedures as prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Public Health Service Act. Provides for: (1) a deadline for prescribing the standards; (2) transition provisions; and (3) a standards implementation report from the Secretary to specified congressional committees. (Sec. 105) Amends the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 to require each coordinator of women's services to serve in such position on a full-time basis. Requires the Secretary to ensure that: (1) sufficient Department funding is provided to allow such coordinators to fully carry out their responsibilities at such facilities; and (2) each coordinator has direct access to the Chief of Staff at their respective facility. (Sec. 106) Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a survey to identify deficiencies relating to women patient privacy in Department medical centers; (2) correct any such deficiencies; and (3) report to the Congress annually through 1997. Title II: Care for Veterans Exposed to Toxic Substances - Extends eligibility for hospital, nursing home, or outpatient medical care through the Department to: (1) a herbicide-exposed veteran if the National Academy of Sciences has, in a report issued under the Agent Orange Act of 1991, made specified determinations regarding an association between exposure to a herbicide agent and the occurrence of the veteran's disease; (2) a radiation-exposed veteran if the Secretary, based on the advice of the Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards, determines that there is credible evidence of a positive association between exposure to ionizing radiation and the veteran's disease; and (3) a veteran who the Secretary finds may have been exposed to a toxic substance or environmental hazard during service in the Persian Gulf War, for any disability that becomes manifest before October 1, 1996. Provides time limits to the provision of such services. Title III: Readjustment Services - Authorizes the Secretary to furnish counseling in a vet center to assist any veteran who served in combat during World War II or the Korean conflict in overcoming the effects of such combat experience. Requires a report. (Sec. 302) Establishes in the Department the Advisory Committee on Veterans Readjustment Counseling to perform advisory services with respect to veterans' readjustment, taking into special account Vietnam era veterans. Requires reports. Title IV: Services for Mentally Ill Veterans - Authorizes the Secretary to establish at any Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facility a nonprofit corporation to: (1) arrange for therapeutic work for patients of such facility or other Department facilities; and (2) provide a funding mechanism to achieve such purposes. Outlines provisions concerning: (1) the establishment of a board of directors for each corporation; (2) the deposit of excess corporation funds; (3) annual reports by the corporation and the Secretary; (4) a prohibition against the establishment of such corporations after FY 1999; and (5) required recognition of such corporation within four years as a tax-exempt organization under Internal Revenue Service rules. (Sec. 402) Extends through FY 1998 (currently 1995) the Department compensated work therapy and therapeutic transitional housing demonstration program. (Sec. 403) Directs the Secretary to establish in the VHA a Committee on Care of Severely Chronically Mentally Ill Veterans to carry out a continual assessment of the Department's ability to meet the treatment and rehabilitation needs of severely, chronically mentally ill veterans and to provide appropriate advice and recommendations after such assessment. Requires annual reports. (Sec. 404) Directs the Secretary to establish and operate centers for mental illness research, education, and clinical activities (centers). Directs the Secretary to ensure that designated centers are located in diverse geographic areas. Limits to five the total number of centers authorized for designation. Requires the prior appropriation of funds for such purpose. Requires interested facilities to submit written proposals containing specified requirements, including an arrangement by the facility with an accredited medical school, school of psychology, or medical training facility for appropriate research, education, and clinical activities. Requires the official within the VHA responsible for mental health and behavioral sciences matters (official) to establish a peer review panel to assess the scientific and clinical merit of proposals submitted to the Secretary. Requires the Under Secretary for Health to ensure that: (1) at least three centers designated under this section emphasize research into means of improving the quality of care for veterans suffering from mental illness through the development of community-based alternatives to institutional treatment; and (2) information produced through such centers that may be useful for other VHA activities is appropriately disseminated. Requires the official to supervise the operation of the centers and provide for ongoing center evaluations. Authorizes appropriations to the Department for the centers for FY 1997 through 2000. Authorizes the Under Secretary to allocate other Department funds for such purpose. Requires annual reports. Requires at least one center to be so designated by January 1, 1997. (Sec. 405) Authorizes the Secretary to provide to homeless, chronically mentally ill veterans currently eligible for hospital and nursing home care additional care and treatment and rehabilitative services in halfway houses, therapeutic communities, psychiatric residential treatment centers, and other community-based treatment facilities. Authorizes the Secretary to also provide such care and services to: (1) veterans being furnished hospital or nursing home care by the Secretary for a chronic mental illness disability; and (2) veterans with service-connected chronic mental illness disabilities. Requires approval by the Secretary of the quality and effectiveness of a program providing such services through non-Department facilities. Authorizes the Secretary to provide in-kind and other forms of assistance to non-Department facilities providing such care, treatment, and services. Title V: Construction Planning - Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a plan to promote the efficient delivery of health care services and to reduce unnecessary duplication of health care resources. Requires an implementation report. (Sec. 502) Adds additional information to be required in a prospectus sent from the Secretary to specified congressional committees concerning proposed medical facilities to be constructed, leased, or acquired by the Department for the provision of Department medical care and services. (Sec. 503) Requires the Secretary to submit to specified congressional committees a report showing the current Department priorities for proposed major medical construction projects. (Sec. 504) Prohibits the appropriation or obligation of funds for the design of major medical facility projects (projects in excess of $5 million) unless such funds have been specifically authorized by law. Title VI: General Health Administration - Subtitle A: Health Care Administration - Includes within authorized Department medical services overnight lodging in Department facilities when necessary for the provision of services on an outpatient basis. (Sec. 602) Extends through FY 1997 the pilot program for noninstitutional alternatives to nursing home care. Extends similarly certain reporting dates with respect to such program. (Sec. 603) Extends through December 31, 1997, the authority of the Secretary to provide treatment and rehabilitation to veterans for alcohol or drug dependence or abuse disabilities. (Sec. 604) Increases the amounts required to be paid by the Secretary to a State per diem for each veteran receiving domiciliary, nursing home, hospital, or adult day health care. (Sec. 605) Includes the provision of adult day health care within authorized purposes for Department assistance to States for the construction of medical facilities for the care of veterans. Subtitle B: Personnel Administration - Places an additional limitation on authorized Department reductions in the number of full-time equivalent positions in the Department before the end of FY 1999. (Sec. 612) Extends permanently (currently expired as of December 31, 1994) the authority of the Secretary to waive certain reductions in retirement pay for Department registered nurses. (Sec. 613) Authorizes the Secretary to employ in the VHA certain persons in health care positions as the Secretary considers necessary. (Sec. 614) Extends to individuals appointed as employees in the VHA certain Federal provisions (whistleblower laws) providing protection against certain prohibited personnel practices. (Sec. 615) Extends through December 31, 1998, the Department's health professional scholarship program (offering educational scholarships to certain health care students in return for post-graduate service in the VHA). Subtitle C: Health Care Resource Agreements - Repeals a provision of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 which terminates at the end of FY 1995 the authority of the Department to expand the availability of health-sharing arrangements between the Department and the Department of Defense. (Sec. 622) Authorizes the director of a Department health care facility located in a State that has established a State health care reform plan to contract with any entity or individual to procure or furnish any health care resource for veterans. Authorizes such director to contract for the procurement of such resources for non-veterans only under specified conditions. Terminates the authority to enter into such contracts at the end of FY 2000. (Sec. 623) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements with medical schools, health-care facilities, and research centers for the shared use of health care resources for the treatment of veterans. (Currently, the Secretary is authorized to enter into such agreements with such entities for the shared use of specialized medical resources.) Changes the payment method under such agreements from reciprocal reimbursement to one which provides appropriate flexibility to negotiate payment which is in the best interest of the Government. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into such agreements for the furnishing of health care services to non-veterans only in certain limited circumstances. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous - Designates various current veterans' committees and boards as veterans' research advisory committees. Prohibits the Secretary from terminating any such committee unless the Secretary: (1) finds that such committee is no longer needed; and (2) notifies specified congressional committees of such intention at least 120 days prior to such termination. (Sec. 633) Changes from December 1 to April 1 of each fiscal year a reporting date concerning Department admission policies with respect to veterans' hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care. (Sec. 634) Authorizes the Secretary to provide for the operation of child care centers at Department facilities when practicable and in the best interests of the Department. Requires priority to be given, in the provision of such services, to employees of: (1) the Department; (2) other Federal departments and agencies; and (3) schools affiliated with the Department and Department research corporations. Allows the Secretary, after such priorities, to provide such services to members of the public when necessary to assure the financial success of the center. Requires the Secretary to establish reasonable charges for all child care services provided, with conditions. (Sec. 635) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts for the provision of utilities (including steam and chilled water) to the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Requires available appropriations. (Sec. 636) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a long-term lease or similar agreement with The Caring Place at Loyola, Inc., a nonprofit organization, to allow such organization to establish on the grounds of the Edward Hines, Jr., Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital, Hines, Illinois, a facility to provide temporary accommodations for family members of severely ill children who are being treated at the Loyola University of Chicago Medical Center and other hospitals.
Bill· HRH.R. 1493 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individuals who do not itemize deductions a charitable contribution deduction to the extent the amount claimed exceeds $1,000 ($2,000 in the case of a joint return). Excepts charitable contribution deductions from the overall limitation on itemized deductions.
Bill· HRH.R. 1492 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from State unemployment tax law coverage any service performed in the employ of a tax-exempt elementary or secondary school that is operated primarily for religious purposes.
Bill· HRH.R. 1497 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
Insurance Tax Fairness and Small Insurance Company Economic Growth Act of 1995 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method for determining the limitation on the deduction of policyholder dividends by mutual life insurance companies. Exempts small life insurance companies from the required capitalization of certain policy acquisition expenses. Expresses the sense of the Congress that revenues resulting from this Act shall be dedicated to the funding of: (1) deficit reduction; (2) tax incentives for the economic growth of small life insurance companies; and (3) programs benefiting the nutrition, early education, housing, and family support of the Nation's children.
Bill· HRH.R. 1509 (104th)open
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
District of Columbia Government Downtown Sports Arena and Convention Center Financing Act of 1995 - Amends the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act to authorize an agency or instrumentality of the District of Columbia (agency) with authority to issue bonds, notes, or other obligations to issue such obligations to borrow money to finance, refinance, or assist in the development, construction, and operation of a downtown sports and entertainment complex and convention center. Provides that any resolutions authorizing the issuance of obligations by such agency may provide for: (1) the payment of such an obligation from available revenues, including assets, property, or designated fees and taxes; and (2) the securing of such an obligation by the mortgage of real property or the creation of any security interest in available revenues. Provides that prohibitions against a District officer or employee obligating or expending any amount that has not been approved by an Act of Congress shall not apply to proceeds of, payments on, or amounts expended to secure such obligations. Provides that revenue bonds or other obligations issued by an agency may create a security interest in certain District revenues, including designated taxes or fees, as additional security for payment. Provides that such obligations shall not constitute general obligations of the District, a pledge of the faith and credit or taxing power of the District, a debt of the District, or lending of the public credit for private undertakings.
Bill· HRH.R. 1511 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
Nuclear Freeze: Part II Act - Prohibits the United States from obligating, in FY 1996 and thereafter, any funds for certain nuclear weapons and atomic energy defense activities of the Department of Energy (DOE) under the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 1995, except as necessary to terminate such activities in an orderly manner. (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary of Energy to maintain the Nevada Test Site at a cold standby level. (Sec. 4) Prohibits the United States from obligating any funds for the following DOE programs, except as necessary for termination in an orderly manner: (1) the advanced neutron source program; (2) the Tokamak Physics Experiment program; and (3) the Gas Turbine-Modular Helium Reactor program. (Sec. 6) Prohibits the United States from obligating any funds for carrying out fossil and nuclear energy research and development for any fiscal year after 1997.
Bill· HRH.R. 1518 (104th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 7 April 1995
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a defense contractor conversion investment tax credit to be equal to 15 percent of: (1) the incremental nondefense qualified investment for a taxable year; plus (2) the qualified nondefense product expenses incurred during such year. Defines a "defense contractor" as any taxpayer if more than ten percent of its gross receipts are derived from defense contracts. Bars a deduction for that portion of the qualified nondefense product expenses otherwise allowable as a deduction that is equal to the amount of credit with respect to such expenses.
PreviousPage 12 of 13Next