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Law· SS. 893 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
Amends Federal shipping law to subject an individual to income tax liability in the State where such individual resides with respect to income derived by the individual while: (1) engaged as a pilot on a vessel performing duties in more than one State; or (2) performing regularly-assigned duties as a master, officer, or crewman on a vessel operating on the navigable waters of more than one State.
Bill· SS. 886 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Authorizations of Appropriations for Department of State Title II: Department of State Basic Authorities and Activities Subtitle A: Basic Authorities and Activities Subtitle B: Consular Authorities Title III: Organization and Personnel of the Department of State Subtitle A: Organization Matters Subtitle B: Foreign Service Reform Subtitle C: Other Personnel Matters Title IV: Embassy Security and Counterrorism Measures Title V: United States International Broadcasting Activities Title VI: Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and National Security Subtitle A: Arms Control Subtitle B: Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safety, and Related Matters Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions Subtitle A: People's Republic of China Subtitle B: Other Matters Title VIII: International Organizations and Commissions Subtitle A: Authorizations of Appropriations Subtitle B: United Nations Activities Subtitle C: International Organizations Other Than the United Nations Title IX: Arrears Payments and Reform Subtitle A: General Provisions Subtitle B: Arrearages to the United Nations Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001 - Title I: Authorizations of Appropriations for Department of State - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of State for FY 2000 and 2001 for: (1) administration of foreign affairs; (2) international commissions; (3) migration and refugee assistance; (4) U.S. informational, educational, and cultural programs; and (5) the Asia Foundation. Title II: Department of State Basic Authorities and Activities - Subtitle A: Basic Authorities and Activities - Urges the Secretary of State to fill the position of Director of the Office of Children's Issues of the Department of State with a career member of the Senior Executive Service at the earliest date practicable. Designates in each U.S. diplomatic mission an employee who shall serve as the point of contact for matters relating to international abductions of children by parents. Directs the Secretary 24 hours after notice of a possible abduction of a child by a parent to a location abroad to report it, along with other specified information, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. (Sec. 202) Amends the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 to make permanent the requirement that the Secretary report to the appropriate congressional committees on compliance by member countries to the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (done at The Hague on October 25, 1980). Requires such report to include (among other things): (1) specific actions taken by the U.S. chief of mission in the country to which a child is alleged to have been abducted; and (2) a description of the efforts of the Secretary to encourage the parties to the Convention to facilitate the work of nongovernmental organizations within their countries that assist parents seeking the return of children under the Convention. Expresses the sense of Congress that the annual human rights report by the Department of State should include a section on each country regarding the treatment of children in that country. (Sec. 205) Requires the Secretary to study the feasibility of establishing a Russia-based foundation for the promotion of democratic institutions in the Russian Federation. Earmarks funding. (Sec. 206) Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 to authorize the United States Information Agency (USIA) to use certain funds to carry out its responsibilities: (1) under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 to provide for U.S. participation in international fairs and expositions abroad; (2) with respect to encouraging foreign governments, international organizations, and private individuals, firms, associations, agencies, and other groups to participate in international fairs and expositions and to make contributions for U.S. participation in such fairs and expositions; and (3) to facilitate support to the U.S. Commissioner General for participation in international fairs and expositions. Subtitle B: Consular Authorities - Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 with respect to fees charged for processing machine readable nonimmigrant visas and machine readable combined border crossing identification cards and nonimmigrant visas. Makes any fee collections that exceed a certain amount for FY 2000 and 2001 available for deposit as an offsetting collection to any State Department appropriation to recover the costs of providing consular services only if Congress is notified in accordance with specified reprogramming notification procedures. Repeals: (1) provisions making inapplicable certain requirements concerning accounting for consular fees to fees collected under this section; and (2) the prohibition against the charging of fees to citizens of countries signatory to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (Sec. 212) Authorizes the Secretary to charge a fee for State Department services provided to ensure that an affidavit of support provided by a sponsor is properly completed before it is forwarded to a consular post for adjudication of an immigrant visa. (Sec. 213) Amends the Passport Act to provide that a nonrefundable fee of $10 shall be collected for the filing of each passport application (including the cost of passport issuance and use). (Sec. 214) Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to revise requirements concerning the State Department and the death of U.S. citizens abroad. Sets forth requirements regarding: (1) notification of next of kin by consular officers; (2) the appointment of such officers as administrators of a decedent's estate; and (3) losses in connection with the conservation of the estate. Title III: Organization and Personnel of the Department of State - Subtitle A: Organization Matters - Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to specified congressional committees a plan for establishment of legislative liaison offices for the State Department within the House of Representatives and Senate office buildings. Subtitle B: Foreign Service Reform - Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to limit to no more than 33 percent (currently, 50 percent) the percentage of Senior Foreign Service members that may receive performance pay in any fiscal year. (Sec. 314) Requires the Director of the Foreign Service to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the placement of Senior Foreign Service personnel. (Sec. 315) Directs the State Department to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the feasibility of modifying current training programs so that the Department can provide significant and comprehensive management training at all career grades for Foreign Service personnel. (Sec. 316) Requires the Secretary of State to report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a specified Senate committee on: (1) the steps taken and planned in furtherance of maximum compatibility among agencies utilizing the Foreign Service personnel system, and the development of uniform policies and procedures and consolidated personnel functions; and (2) a five-year workforce plan, including projected personnel needs, by grade and by skill. (Sec. 317) Requires any record of disciplinary action taken against a member of the Foreign Service (including any correction of such record) to remain a part of the personnel records until such person is tenured as a career member of the Service or next promotion. (Sec. 318) Requires an employee, at any time the Secretary recommends such employee be separated from the Service, to be placed on leave without pay pending final resolution of the case, subject to reinstatement with back pay if cause for separation is not established in a hearing before the Foreign Service Grievance Board. (Sec. 319) Requires the Director General of the Foreign Service to report annually to specified congressional committees on the number of positions in each overseas mission requiring foreign language competence that became vacant during the previous year and were filled by individuals having the required foreign language competence. (Sec. 320) Declares that nothing shall prevent a Foreign Service grievant from placing a rebuttal to accompany a record of disciplinary action in such grievant's personnel records, nor prevent the Department from including a response to such rebuttal, including documenting those cases in which the Board has reviewed and upheld the discipline. (Sec. 321) Reduces from three years to one year after the occurrence giving rise to such grievance the deadline for the filing of a grievance by a Foreign Service employee with the Department; or, if the grievance arises from an employee's performance evaluation, one year after the date on which the employee ceased to be supervised by the reviewer in the evaluation. Requires the Chairman of the Board to report to specified congressional committees on its activities during the previous year. Subtitle C: Other Personnel Matters - Requires a Foreign Service employee who regularly commutes from his or her place of residence in the United States to an official duty station in Canada or Mexico to receive a border equalization adjustment (locality pay adjustment). (Sec. 332) Amends Federal law to set forth provisions regarding contributions made to the Thrift Savings Fund by Foreign Service employees who are reemployed by the Service after a temporary transfer to an international organization. (Sec. 333) Authorizes the spouse and dependents of Foreign Service employees who have died at post in a foreign country to receive a transfer allowance (extraordinary, necessary, and reasonable subsistence and other relocation expenses) for their return to the United States. (Sec. 334) Provides for an education allowance to an employee at a post in a foreign area not to exceed the cost of obtaining kindergarten, elementary and secondary educational services, plus room and board, where adequate schools are not available at the employee's post, and periodic transportation between that post and the school chosen by the employee, not to exceed the total cost to the Government of the dependent attending an adequate school in the nearest locality where an adequate school is available. (Currently, an employee can receive an allowance only for a school at the nearest locality). (Sec. 335) Authorizes up to three months advance pay to: (1) an employee (other than an employee appointed by the Secretary and employed as a family member of a Government employee) who is a U.S. citizen, stationed outside the United States, and requires (or has a family member who requires) medical treatment outside the United States; (2) a foreign national employee; and (3) a U.S. citizen who is not a family member of a government employee assigned abroad, but who is hired abroad for a position customarily filled by Foreign Service personnel or foreign nations, and who is located, and must undergo medical treatment, outside of the country of employment. (Sec. 336) Declares that Congress finds that administrative and technical personnel posted to U.S. missions abroad who do not have diplomatic status suffer financial disadvantages from their lack of such status. Requires the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on such disadvantages, including proposals to alleviate them. Title IV: Embassy Security and Counterterrorism Measures - Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 - Establishes within the Treasury an embassy construction and security account for the purpose of constructing, or providing major security enhancements to, U.S. diplomatic facilities in order to meet specified security requirements. Specifies among such requirements that: (1) threat assessments such as the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) and the Security Environment Threat List address threats to U.S. missions from large vehicular bombs and transnational terrorism; (2) in the selection of sites for new U.S. diplomatic facilities abroad, all U.S. Government agency personnel (except those under U.S. military command) be located on the same compound; (3) each newly constructed or acquired U.S. diplomatic facility be sited not less than 100 feet from the perimeter of the property on which the facility is situated; (4) appropriate State Department and U.S. diplomatic personnel undertake crisis management training for mass casualty and mass destruction incidents relating to diplomatic facilities; (5) there is adequate State Department support for the Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST); (6) the Secretary enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Secretary of Defense setting out rapid response procedures for mobilization of personnel and equipment of their respective departments to provide more effective assistance in times of emergency with respect to U.S. diplomatic facilities; and (7) all U.S. diplomatic missions have emergency equipment and records stored at a secure off-site facility. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 405) Directs the Secretary to report annually for five years to the appropriate congressional committees an identification of U.S. diplomatic facilities that are priority for replacement or for major security enhancement because of vulnerability to terrorist attack, setting them out, in groups of 20, from the most vulnerable to the least vulnerable. Dedicates the use of account funds to facilities in the first four groups. (Sec. 407) Directs the Secretary to review, and report to Congress on, the findings of the Overseas Presence Advisory Panel with respect to the closure of vulnerable U.S. diplomatic missions overseas. (Sec. 408) Amends the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 to require the Secretary to convene a Board not later than 60 days after the occurrence of serious injury, loss of life, or significant destruction of property, or breach of security at a U.S. diplomatic mission (except that such 60-day period may be extended for two additional 30-day periods if it is necessary for the convening of the Board). Requires the Secretary whenever he or she convenes a Board to inform the chairman of a specified congressional committee and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. (Sec. 409) Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to authorize the President to award a Foreign Service star to any member of the Foreign Service or any other civilian Government employee who while employed at, or assigned permanently or temporarily to, an official mission overseas, or while traveling abroad on official business, incurred a wound or other injury or an illness (whether or not resulting in death): (1) as the person was performing official duties; (2) as the person was on the premises of a U.S. mission abroad; or (3) by reason of the person's status as a U.S. Government employee. Specifies award requirements. Title V: United States International Broadcasting Activities - Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 for international broadcasting activities, radio construction, and broadcasting to Cuba. (Sec. 502) Amends the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 to: (1) authorize appropriations for FY 2000 and 2001 for Radio Free Asia; and (2) extend its authority through FY 2005. (Sec. 503) Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 to require the President to appoint (currently, designate) one member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors as Chairman of the Board, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. Title VI: Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and National Security - Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and National Security Act of 1999 - Subtitle A: Arms Control - Authorizes the Secretary of State to transfer available State Department funds to the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), or any other agency of the intelligence community, as needed, for retraining, researching, developing, or acquiring technologies or programs relating to the verification of arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament agreements or commitments. Earmarks amounts (Key Verification Assets Fund) to carry out this section, with limitation. (Sec. 612) Directs the Secretary to designate one of the Assistant Secretaries of State as the Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance. (Sec. 613) Amends the Arms Control and Disarmament Act to require a certain annual ("Pell") report by the President to Congress to include (among other things): (1) a detailed assessment of adherence of the United States to obligations undertaken in arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament commitments (including the Missile Technology Control Regime); and (2) a specific identification, to the maximum extent practicable in unclassified form, of each and every question that exists with respect to compliance by other countries with arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements with the United States. (Sec. 614) Requires the Director of Central Intelligence to report to the appropriate congressional committees on: (1) a comprehensive identification of all monitoring activities associated with the START and START II treaties; (2) the specific intelligence community assets and capabilities which the Senate was informed, before giving advice and consent to ratification of the treaties, would be necessary to accomplish those activities; (3) an identification of the extent to which those assets and capabilities have, or have not, been attained or retained, and the corresponding effect this has had upon U.S. monitoring confidence levels; and (4) an assessment of any Russian activities relating to the START Treaty which have had an impact upon the U.S. ability to monitor Russian adherence to the Treaty. (Sec. 615) Requires the Secretary, upon the request of the chairman or ranking member of specified congressional committees, to report to such committee on the degree to which elements of an arms control, nonproliferation, or disarmament proposal are capable of being verified. (Sec. 616) Requires the Government to make certain raw seismological data available to the public. (Sec. 617) Directs the U.S. National Authority to reimburse the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for all costs (up to $1 million) incurred by it in connection with the protection of U.S. companies. (Sec. 622) Authorizes the Secretary to transfer available State Department funds to the DOD, DOE, or any military departments for researching, developing, adapting, and deploying technologies to achieve the destruction or removal of antipersonnel landmines for humanitarian purposes. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safety, and Related Matters - Prohibits any Executive agency, in carrying out any U.S. obligation under the Convention on Nuclear Safety, from imposing any new reporting obligation upon any U.S. business. (Sec. 632) Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to authorize the President to suspend nuclear cooperation with any nation that has not ratified, among other treaties, the Convention on Nuclear Safety. (Sec. 634) Amends the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 to require certain Federal agencies to notify specified congressional committees with respect to their activities for preventing proliferation, including the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, or their means of delivery. Requires the Director of Central Intelligence to notify such committees about the current activities of foreign nations which are of significance from the proliferation standpoint. (Sec. 635) Directs the Secretary of Energy to report to specified congressional committees with respect to the effective use of resources under the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) program. Prohibits the provision of any assistance under the International Science and Technology Center program or the IPP to any person who is involved in the research, development, design, testing, or evaluation of offensive chemical or biological weapons. (Sec. 636) Directs the Secretary of Energy to report to specified congressional committees with respect to the agreement between the United States and Russia for the disposition of excess weapons plutonium. Prohibits the use of State Department or DOE funds to establish a mixed oxide fuel fabrication or production facility in Russia unless the Secretary makes a certain certification with respect to such facility. (Sec. 637) Prohibits, subject to waiver in certain circumstances, the approval of a license for the export of certain controlled items to Hong Kong or Macao, unless appropriate U.S. officials are provided the right to conduct prelicense verification of the validity of the item's stated end-user and end-use. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the submission to a specified congressional committee of a summary of the activities of any U.S. delegation engaged in negotiations on arms control, nonproliferation, or disarmament with another country. (Sec. 642) Prohibits any U.S. employee from knowingly withholding information from the chairman or ranking member of specified congressional committees with respect to certain required reports concerning the activities of certain Federal agencies to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Requires the Secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, and Energy, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to issue regulations to implement their responsibilities with respect to such reports. Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Subtitle A: People's Republic of China - Earmarks specified funds for FY 2001 for the support of additional personnel in U.S. Embassies in Beijing, Kathmandu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu, and Hong Kong, China, in order to monitor political and economic conditions there, including the respect for internationally recognized human rights. (Sec. 703) Establishes the Prisoner Information Registry for the People's Republic of China which shall provide information on all political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and prisoners of faith in China. Makes funds available to nongovernmental organizations for such monitoring activities. (Sec. 704) Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the feasibility of establishing an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Asia. (Sec. 705) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Government of China should stop the harvesting and transplanting of organs for profit from prisoners that it executes; and (2) the President should bar from entry into the United States any Chinese government official known to be directly involved in such activities. Subtitle B: Other Matters - Prohibits the Secretary, subject to waiver in certain circumstances, from issuing any visa to, and the Attorney General from admitting to the United States, any foreign national that has been directly involved in the establishment or enforcement of population control policies forcing a woman to undergo an abortion against her free choice or forcing a man or woman to undergo sterilization against his or her free choice. (Sec. 722) Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on the status of U.S. efforts to support the membership, or appropriate level of participation by, Taiwan in international organizations that do not or may require statehood as a prerequisite to membership. (Sec. 723) Declares that Congress: (1) commends the State Department for the U.S. vote against United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-10-6 affirming that the text of such resolution politicizes the Fourth Geneva Convention which was primarily humanitarian in nature; and (2) urges the State Department to continue its efforts against convening the conference. (Sec. 724) Authorizes the President to waive certain prohibitions with respect to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) if the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that: (1) it is in the national interest; and (2) neither the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, nor the Palestinian Legislative Council has made a declaration of statehood outside the framework of negotiations with Israel. (Sec. 725) Earmarks, with specified limitation, certain funds for FY 2000 and 2001 for the construction of a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. (Sec. 726) Declares that the United States: (1) supports a timely transition to democratic, civilian government in Nigeria; and (2) encourages the incoming civilian government in Nigeria to make the political, economic, and legal reforms necessary to ensure the rule of law and respect for human rights there. (Sec. 727) Directs the President to vest and liquidate so much of blocked Libyan assets as is necessary to pay for the reasonable costs of travel to and from the Hague, Netherlands, by immediate family members of U.S. citizens who were victims of the crash of Pan American flight 103 in 1988, for the purpose of attending the trial of the individuals suspected of terrorist acts causing the crash. (Sec. 728) Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should support members of Russia's Jewish community and continue to provide assistance to Russian Jewish refugees resettling in Israel. (Sec. 729) Expresses the sense of Congress that the President and other senior U.S. Government officials should raise at each bilateral meeting between U.S. officials and Russian Federation officials the issue of the extradition of Lt. General Igor Giorgadze to Georgia. Title VIII: International Organizations and Commissions - Subtitle A: Authorizations of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations to the State Department for FY 2000 and 2001 to carry out U.S. foreign affairs with respect to: (1) international organizations; and (2) international peacekeeping activities. Earmarks amounts, with limits, for the U.S. assessment for the civil budget of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). (Sec. 801) Withholds a specified percentage of funds for the assessed U.S. contribution to the UN until the Secretary certifies that the UN has taken specified actions. Prohibits the use of funds for any U.S. contribution to: (1) pay for any expense related to the holding of any UN global conference (except for any conference scheduled prior to October 1, 1998); or (2) the UN budget for the U.S. proportionate share of any other framework treaty-based organization, including the Framework Convention on Global Climate Change, the International Seabed Authority, the Desertification Convention, and the International Criminal Court. Authorizes appropriations to offset adverse fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Urges the United States to insist that the UN and its affiliated agencies refund any excess contributions made by its members. (Sec. 802) Amends the United Nations Participation Act of 1945 to require the President, with specified exceptions, to: (1) consult monthly with Congress on the status of UN peacekeeping operations; and (2) notify designated congressional committees at least 15 days before the United States provides any assistance to the UN to support such operations. Subtitle B: United Nations Activities - Declares it to be U.S. policy to: (1) promote an end to Israel's inequity in the UN due to its denied acceptance into any of the UN's regional blocs; and (2) seek abolition of certain UN Palestinian groups. Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on: (1) actions taken by U.S. representatives to encourage nations of the Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG) to accept Israel into their regional bloc; (2) other measures taken to ensure and promote Israel's full participation in the UN; and (3) steps taken by the United States to secure the abolition of the UN Palestinian groups. (Sec. 812) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct the President to provide the Secretary General of the UN with data regarding all costs incurred by DOD, as well as all costs incurred by all UN members, during the preceding year in support of all UN Security Council resolutions. (Sec. 813) Amends the United Nations Participation Act of 1945 to direct the President to obtain reimbursement from the UN for expenses incurred by it in UN peacekeeping operations, with specified exceptions. Provides a waiver for such requirement if it is in the national interest of the United States. Subtitle C: International Organizations Other Than the United Nations - Prohibits the use of funds made available by any Act to: (1) support the International Criminal Court unless the United States becomes a party to the Court; (2) extradite a U.S. citizen to a foreign nation that is under obligation to surrender persons to the Court unless such nation confirms that applicable prohibitions on reextradition apply to such surrender or gives other assurances that it will not extradite or transfer that citizen to the Court; or (3) provide consent to the extradition or transfer of a U.S. citizen to a third country by a foreign country that is under obligation to surrender persons to the Court, unless the third country makes such confirmation. (Sec. 823) Amends the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 to make permanent certain requirements prohibiting, without a prior estimated expense report to the Department's Director of the Office of International Conferences, the use of funds under such Act to pay: (1) foreign travel expenses of an employee of the U.S. Executive agencies (with certain exceptions) in attending any international conference; or (2) the routine services that a U.S. diplomatic mission provides in support of travel by such employee. Makes permanent the requirement that the Director report to Congress with respect to each international conference. (Sec. 824) Authorizes the Commissioner of the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission to provide, upon request of a State or local government, technical tests, evaluations, information, surveys, or other similar services on a reimbursable basis. Title IX: Arrears Payments and Reform - Subtitle A: General Provisions - United Nations Reform Act of 1999 - Defines terms. Subtitle B: Arrearages to the United Nations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 and 2000 only for the payment of arrearages in assessed contributions to the UN for: (1) the U.S. share of assessments for the regular UN budget; (2) the U.S. share of UN peacekeeping operations; (3) the U.S. share of UN specialized agencies; and (4) the U.S. share of other international organizations. Authorizes the disbursement of such funds only upon submission to Congress of certain certifications concerning the reform of UN fiscal, budget, and personnel practices, assessments, and peacekeeping operations. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Prohibits the use of funds to pay any arrearage for: (1) the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, including any costs to merge it into the UN; (2) the costs associated with any UN organization from which the United States has withdrawn; or (3) the World Tourism Organization, or any other organization with respect to Congress has rescinded funding.
Bill· SS. 889 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
Commercial Revitalization Tax Act of 1999 - 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· SS. 892 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to taxation of U.S. shareholders of controlled foreign corporations, to permanently extend the subpart F exemption (which excludes such income from the shareholder's foreign personal holding company income) for active financing (banking, financing, or similar business) income earned on business operations overseas. (Thus permits American financial services firms doing business abroad to defer U.S. tax on their earnings from their foreign financial services operations until such earnings are returned to the U.S. parent company.)
Bill· SS. 888 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify certain air transportation tax changes made by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. Repeals the inflation adjustment for the $12 tax ($6 tax for any domestic segment beginning or ending in Alaska or Hawaii) on the use of international travel facilities for any air transportation of any person. Applies to any airport not connected by paved roads to another airport the exemption from the domestic segment tax of any domestic segment of a flight beginning or ending in a rural airport. Increases from 7.5 percent to ten percent the general tax on air transportation involving one or more domestic segments at least one of which begins or ends in Alaska or Hawaii or in the case of a domestic segment beginning and ending in Alaska or Hawaii. Repeals the application of the domestic segment tax to such segments (thus restoring the rate for such segments in effect before the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997).
Law· HRH.R. 1568 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: General Provisions Title II: Veterans Business Development Title III: Technical Assistance Title IV: Financial Assistance Title V: Procurement Assistance Title VI: Reports and Data Collection Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 - Title I: General Provisions - Amends the Small Business Act (the Act) to revise or add definitions. Title II: Veterans Business Development - Designates the position of Associate Administrator for Veterans Business Development. Establishes the Office of Veterans Business Development, to be administered by such Associate Administrator, who shall be responsible for the formulation, execution, and promotion of policies and programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provide assistance to small businesses owned and controlled by veterans and service-disabled veterans (veteran small businesses). (Sec. 202) Establishes the National Veterans Business Development Corporation to: (1) expand the provision of and improve access to technical assistance regarding entrepreneurship for veterans; and (2) work with and organize public and private resources and the business development staffs of each Federal department and agency to assist veterans, including service-disabled veterans, with the formation and expansion of small businesses. Requires the Corporation to establish and maintain a network of information and assistance centers for use by veterans and the public. Requires an annual report from the Corporations's Board of Directors to the President and Congress describing its activities and accomplishments for the preceding year. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2003. (Sec. 203) Establishes the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations concerning veterans' business affairs. Requires an annual Committee report to Congress and the President on its activities and recommendations. Title III: Technical Assistance - Directs the SBA Administrator to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) for the: (1) appointment by SCORE in its national office of an individual to act as National Veterans Business Coordinator; (2) assistance of SCORE in establishing and maintaining a toll-free telephone number and Internet website to provide access for veterans to information about entrepreneurship counseling and training available through SCORE; and (3) collection of statistics concerning services provided by SCORE to veterans. (Sec. 302) Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the SBA Administrator, and the head of the association formed by small business development centers under the Act to enter into a memorandum of understanding with respect to entrepreneurial assistance to veterans through small business development centers and facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Title IV: Financial Assistance - Includes a service-disabled veteran within the definition of "handicapped individual" eligible for SBA general business loans. (Sec. 402) Authorizes the SBA to make loans to self-employed individuals or owners of small businesses who are called to active duty to assist such individuals with potential losses and disruption caused by mobilization or return to active duty. (Sec. 403) Makes veteran small business owners eligible for the SBA's Microloan program, Delta loan program, and State development company program. Title V: Procurement Assistance - Includes veteran small businesses within Federal contracting and subcontracting goals for small business owners and within goals for the participation of small businesses in Federal procurement contracts. Requires the head of each Federal agency to establish agency goals for the participation by small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans in that agency's procurement contracts. Title VI: Reports and Data Collection - Amends the Act and the Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 to require information concerning small businesses owned by veterans, including service-disabled veterans, to be included within certain reporting requirements. (Sec. 603) Directs the Administrator to report annually to the congressional small business committees on the needs of small businesses owned and controlled by veterans and service-disabled veterans. (Sec. 604) Requires the Administrator, for each fiscal year, to collect and make available to any small business information concerning the procurement practices and procedures of each Federal department and agency. Directs the Secretary, in each fiscal year, to identify U.S. veteran small businesses. Directs the Secretaries of Labor and Veterans Affairs and the Administrator to enter into a memorandum of understanding to provide for the coordination of vocational rehabilitation services, technical and managerial assistance, and financial assistance to veterans, including service-disabled veterans, seeking to employ themselves by forming or expanding small businesses. Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Administrator to strengthen and reissue a specified SBA order relating to non-discrimination and special considerations for veterans, and to fully and vigorously implement such order. (Sec. 702) Requires the SBA's Office of Advocacy to evaluate the efforts of each Federal department and agency, and of private industry, to assist veteran small businesses, and to make appropriate recommendations to the Administrator and Congress in order to promote the establishment and growth of such businesses. (Sec. 703) Directs the Comptroller General to study whether there would exist any additional risk or cost to the United States if up to ten percent of federally-guaranteed loans were made for the acquisition or construction of fixed assets used in a trade or business rather than for the purchase or construction of residential buildings. Requires a report to the congressional veterans' and small business committees.
Bill· HRH.R. 1583 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
District of Columbia $5,000 Homebuyer Credit Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the $5,000 first-time homebuyer credit for the District of Columbia.
Bill· HRH.R. 1586 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 April 1999
Small Business and Financial Institutions Tax Relief Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to subchapter S corporations (small businesses which do not pay corporate income taxes, and whose earnings are passed through to the shareholders where income taxes are paid) and subchapter C corporations (which do pay corporate income taxes on earnings, and whose shareholders pay income taxes again on those same earnings when they pass through as dividends). (Sec. 2) Permits S corporation eligible shareholders to include individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Exempts from prohibited transaction rules any sale of stock in an IRA pursuant to a small business corporation's election to be an S corporation. (Sec. 3) Excludes from the definition of passive income for purposes of S status termination any interest income earned by or dividends on assets required to be held by a bank, a bank holding company, or a qualified subchapter S subsidiary bank. (Sec. 4) Increases from 75 to 150 the maximum number of shareholders a small business organization may have to be eligible to elect S corporation treatment. (Sec. 5) States that stock held by a bank director as required by banking regulations (director qualifying stock) shall not be considered a disqualifying second class of S corporation stock. (Sec. 6) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to modify a certain regulation to permit an S corporation bank to treat certain bad debt deductions as built-in losses during the entire period during which the bank recognized built-in gains from changing its accounting method for recognizing bad debts from the reserve method to the charge-off method. (Sec. 7) Includes all banks within the three-year deduction preference rule. (Sec. 8) Repeals the current requirement that partnership rules apply to S corporations (and two- percent shareholders in such corporations) for fringe benefit purposes. Applies current special corporation) rules for health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to two-percent shareholders in S corporations, except that a two-percent shareholder's wages shall be treated as self-employed earned income. (Thus provides that non-health care related fringe benefits such as group-term life insurance will be excludible from such wages, and not taxed.) (Sec. 9) Makes family limited partnerships eligible to be S corporation shareholders. (Sec. 10) Permits the issuance of qualified preferred stock, which shall not be treated as second class stock. Makes any distribution (not in payment in exchange for stock) made by an S corporation with respect to qualified preferred stock includible as ordinary income of the holder and deductible to the corporation as an expense. (Sec. 11) Reduces from 100 percent to 90 percent the percentage of shares held by shareholders necessary for consent to election by a small business organization to be an S corporation. Prescribes rules for such consent. (Sec. 12) Revises exceptions to the criteria for the treatment of certain wholly owned subchapter S subsidiaries with reference to required information returns.
Bill· SS. 879 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce from 39 years (life of the building) to ten years the recovery period for the depreciation (by straight line method) of any qualified leasehold improvement to an interior portion of a building which is nonresidential real property if: (1) such improvement is made under or pursuant to a lease (including a commitment to lease) by the lessee (or any sublessee) or the lessor of such portion; (2) such portion is to be occupied exclusively by the lessee (or any sublessee); and (3) such improvement is placed in service more than three years after the date the building was first placed in service. Excludes from the meaning of qualified leasehold improvement any improvement for which the expenditure is attributable to: (1) enlargement of the building; (2) any elevator or escalator; (3) any structural component benefitting a common area; and (4) the internal structural framework of the building.
Bill· SS. 875 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Small Business and Financial Institutions Tax Relief Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to subchapter S corporations (small businesses which do not pay corporate income taxes, and whose earnings are passed through to the shareholders where income taxes are paid) and subchapter C corporations (which do pay corporate income taxes on earnings, and whose shareholders pay income taxes again on those same earnings when they pass through as dividends). (Sec. 2) Permits S corporation eligible shareholders to include individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Exempts from prohibited transaction rules any sale of stock in an IRA pursuant to a small business corporation's election to be an S corporation. (Sec. 3) Excludes from the definition of passive income for purposes of S status termination any interest income earned by or dividends on assets required to be held by a bank, a bank holding company, or a qualified subchapter S subsidiary bank. (Sec. 4) Increases from 75 to 150 the maximum number of shareholders a small business organization may have to be eligible to elect S corporation treatment. (Sec. 5) States that stock held by a bank director as required by banking regulations (director qualifying stock) shall not be considered a disqualifying second class of S corporation stock. (Sec. 6) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to modify a certain regulation to permit an S corporation bank to treat certain bad debt deductions as built-in losses during the entire period during which the bank recognized built-in gains from changing its accounting method for recognizing bad debts from the reserve method to the charge-off method. (Sec. 7) Includes all banks within the three-year deduction preference rule. (Sec. 8) Repeals the current requirement that partnership rules apply to S corporations (and two- percent shareholders in such corporations) for fringe benefit purposes. Applies current special corporation) rules for health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to two-percent shareholders in S corporations, except that a two-percent shareholder's wages shall be treated as self-employed earned income. (Thus provides that non-health care related fringe benefits such as group-term life insurance will be excludible from such wages, and not taxed.) (Sec. 9) Makes family limited partnerships eligible to be S corporation shareholders. (Sec. 10) Permits the issuance of qualified preferred stock, which shall not be treated as second class stock. Makes any distribution (not in payment in exchange for stock) made by an S corporation with respect to qualified preferred stock includible as ordinary income of the holder and deductible to the corporation as an expense. (Sec. 11) Reduces from 100 percent to 90 percent the percentage of shares held by shareholders necessary for consent to election by a small business organization to be an S corporation. Prescribes rules for such consent. (Sec. 12) Revises exceptions to the criteria for the treatment of certain wholly owned subchapter S subsidiaries with reference to required information returns.
Bill· SS. 874 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the 50 percent income tax deduction for business meal and entertainment expenses and replace it with an increasing percentage from 56 percent in calendar 1999 up to 80 percent in calendar 2003 and thereafter.
Bill· HRH.R. 1552 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Marine Research and Related Environmental Research and Development Programs Authorization Act of 1999 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 and 2001 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for marine research and related environmental research and development activities for: (1) the National Ocean Service; (2) the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; and (3) program support (including for aircraft services). Directs the Secretary of Commerce to enter into appropriate arrangements with an independent external auditor to determine whether outsourcing of aircraft services is a more cost-effective alternative to in-house operation of aircraft in meeting the NOAA's aircraft requirements for conducting marine and atmospheric research and related environmental research and development activities, and for other data and mission needs. Sets forth procedures for such audit. Authorizes appropriations for the NOAA for FY 2000 and 2001 for marine research and related environmental research and development activities for: (1) facilities maintenance and repairs and environmental compliance; and (2) fleet maintenance and planning. Authorizes appropriations for the National Science Foundation (NSF) for FY 2000 and 2001 for meeting the NOAA's marine research and related environmental research and development data requirements in the NOAA Fisheries Data Acquisition Plan, and that could also help meet the nation's marine research and related environmental research and development needs. Directs the NSF to develop a strategy for meeting such requirements and other Federal marine research and related environmental research and development requirements, considering all options, including methods of acquiring vessel services, remote sensing, and any other possible means. Directs the Secretary to enter into contracts, including multiyear contracts, subject to certain requirements, for the use of vessels to conduct marine research and related environmental research and development activities, monitoring, enforcement, and management (with exceptions), and to acquire other data necessary for carrying out the NOAA's missions. Prohibits the Secretary from entering into any contract for the construction, lease-purchase, upgrade, or service life extension of any vessel. Directs the Secretary to use excess capacity of University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System vessels where appropriate and permits the Secretary to enter into memoranda of agreement with the operators of these vessels for carrying out such requirement. Repeals the NOAA Fleet Modernization Act. Excludes from consideration for grant agreements for marine research and related environmental research and development activities made by the NOAA after FY 1999 any person who received funds appropriated for a fiscal year after FY 1999 under a grant agreement from any Federal funding source for a project that was not subjected to a competitive, merit-based award process. Makes such exclusion effective for a period of five years after the person receives such Federal funds except due to membership in a class specified by law for which assistance is awarded to members according to a formula.
Law· HRH.R. 1555 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Intelligence Activities Title II: Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System Title III: General Provisions Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 - Title I: I: Intelligence Activities - Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 for the conduct of intelligence and intelligence-related activities the: (1) Central Intelligence Agency; (2) Department of Defense; (3) Defense Intelligence Agency; (4) National Security Agency; (5) Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; (6) Departments of State, the Treasury, and Energy; (7) Federal Bureau of Investigation; (8) National Reconnaissance Office; and (9) National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Specifies that the amounts authorized to be appropriated and the authorized personnel ceilings as of September 30, 2000, for such activities are those specified in the classified Schedule of Authorizations, which shall be made available to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees and the President. Allows the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), with the approval of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to authorize employment of civilian personnel in excess of the number authorized for FY 2000 when the DCI determines that such action is necessary to the performance of important intelligence functions, subject to specified limitations. Requires notification of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees whenever such authority is exercised. Authorizes appropriations for the Intelligence Community Management Account of the DCI for FY 2000. Authorizes full-time personnel for elements within such Account as of September 30, 2000. Provides for the reimbursement of any U.S. officer of employee, or member of the armed forces, who is detailed to such staff. Title II: Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System - Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 for the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability Fund. Title III: General Provisions - Permits appropriations authorized by this Act for salary, pay, retirement, and other benefits for Federal employees to be increased by such additional amounts as may be necessary for increases in such compensation or benefits authorized by law. Specifies that the authorization of appropriations by this Act shall not be deemed to constitute authority for the conduct of any intelligence activity which is not otherwise authorized by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Expresses the sense of Congress that the DCI should continue to direct that elements of the intelligence community should competitively award contracts in a manner that maximizes the procurement of products properly designated as having been made in the United States.
Bill· HRH.R. 1553 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
National Weather Service and Related Agencies Authorization Act of 1999 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 and 2001 to the Secretary of Commerce to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to carry out: (1) Operations, Research, and Facilities activities of the National Weather Service (NWS); (2) Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction activities of NWS; (3) Atmospheric Research Operations, Research, and Facilities environmental research and development activities of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OOAR); (4) Atmospheric Research Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction environmental research and development activities of OOAR; (5) Operations, Research, and Facilities environmental research and development and related activities of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS); (6) Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction environmental research and development and related activities of NESDIS; and (7) Operations, Research, and Facilities environmental research and development and related activities required to meet recurring facilities operations costs associated with the David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder, Colorado. Revises requirements for the Secretary of Commerce's duties with respect to the NWS to include responsibilities for: (1) serving as the sole official source of weather warnings; (2) issuing storm warnings; (3) collecting, exchanging, and distributing meteorological, hydrological, climatic, and oceanographic data and information; and (4) preparing hydrometeorological guidance and core forecast information. Bars the NWS from providing or assisting other entities to provide a service (other than forecasts) if that service is currently provided or can be provided by commercial enterprise, unless: (1) the Secretary finds that the private sector is unwilling or unable to provide the service; or (2) the service provides vital weather warnings and forecasts for the protection of lives and property of the general public. Directs the Secretary to report to the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate detailing all NWS activities which do not conform to requirements of this Act and outlining a timetable for their termination. Requires the NOAA Administrator to exclude from consideration for grant agreements made after FY 1999 under the programs for which funds are authorized under this Act, any person who received funds (other than due to membership in a class specified by law for which assistance is awarded to class members according to a formula) appropriated for a fiscal year after FY 1999 under a grant agreement from any Federal funding source for a project that was not subjected to a competitive, merit-based award process. Makes such an exclusion effective for a period of five years after receipt of such Federal funds.
Bill· HRH.R. 1561 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Tax Equity Preservation Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the alternative minimum tax on individuals as of December 31, 1998. (Retains the alternative minimum tax on corporations.)
Bill· HRH.R. 1557 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Maritime Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001 - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of Transportation for: (1) operations and training activities; and (2) the costs of guaranteed loans authorized by the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as well as for administrative expenses related to loan guarantee commitments. (Sec. 3) Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to revise loan guarantee escrow fund provisions. Establishes a Treasury fund to hold related collateral, and provides for Secretary-obligor reserve funds. (Sec. 4) Exempts certain foreign-origin dry bulk and breakbulk cargo vessels that have transferred to United States flag registry from the three-year restriction on carrying U.S.- procured, furnished, or financially supported cargo (including agricultural cargo) (Sec. 5) Extends war risk insurance authority. (Sec. 6) Reduces specified United States Maritime Administration reporting requirements. (Sec. 7) Amends Federal law to state that ownership the vessel "Jeremiah O'Brien" shall belong to the National Liberty Ship Memorial, Inc., rather than the United States Maritime Administration.
Bill· HRH.R. 1558 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Panama Canal Commission Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 - Authorizes the Panama Canal Commission to make expenditures from the Panama Canal Revolving Fund for the operation, maintenance, improvement, and administration of the Panama Canal for FY 2000 through noon on December 31, 1999, at which point responsibility for such activities will be transferred to the Republic of Panama by authority of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977. Limits to $100,000 the amount to be so expended for official reception and representation expenses. Allows the use of available funds for the purchase and transportation to the Republic of Panama of passenger motor vehicles, limiting the per-vehicle purchase price to $26,000. Authorizes the Office of Transition Administration to use funds from the Panama Canal Commission Dissolution Fund to close out Commission affairs.
Bill· HRH.R. 1560 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 April 1999
Computer Equipment Common Sense Depreciation Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a two-year recovery period for depreciation (including alternative depreciation for tax-exempt use property, etc.) of computers and peripheral equipment used in manufacturing.
Bill· SS. 859 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
National Beverage Container Reuse and Recycling Act of 1999 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the sale of beer, mineral water, soda water, wine coolers, or carbonated soft drinks in beverage containers by retailers and distributors unless such containers carry a refund value of ten cents. Provides for the adjustment for inflation of the refund amount at ten-year intervals. Requires: (1) distributors to collect from retailers the refund value for each beverage sold to retailers; and (2) retailers to collect from consumers the refund value for each beverage sold to consumers. Requires retailers and distributors to pay the refund on returned containers of brands (in the same kind and size of container) sold. Directs distributors to pay annually to a State unclaimed refund amounts (the amount by which the total refund value of all containers sold by distributors exceeds the amount paid by distributors to persons in that State). Makes unclaimed refunds available to a State for carrying out pollution prevention and recycling programs. Prohibits distributors and retailers from: (1) selling beverages in metal beverage containers with detachable openings; and (2) disposing of containers subject to this Act or any metal, glass, or plastic from such containers (other than the top or seal) in landfills or solid waste disposal facilities. Makes this Act inapplicable to States that have adopted requirements similar to those under this Act or that have demonstrated achievement of a recycling or reuse rate for beverage containers of at least 70 percent. Prohibits States or political subdivisions that impose taxes on the sale of beverage containers from imposing any tax on the amount attributable to the refund value of such containers. Prescribes civil penalties for violations of this Act.
Bill· SS. 865 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat a danger pay allowance area in the same manner as if it were a combat zone.
Bill· SS. 862 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
Social Security and Medicare Lock Box Act - Declares that Congress reaffirms its support for section 13301 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which provides that the receipts and disbursements of the social security trust funds shall not be counted for the purposes of the budget submitted by the President, the congressional budget, or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to declare out of order in the House of Representatives or the Senate consideration of any concurrent resolution on the budget (or amendment, motion, or conference report on the resolution) that violates section 13301 of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. Declares that it shall be out of order in the Senate to consider any concurrent resolution on the budget (or amendment, motion, or conference report on the resolution) that would decrease the surplus in any of the fiscal years covered by the concurrent resolution below the levels of the Medicare surplus reserve for those fiscal years. Declares that, after a concurrent resolution on the budget has been agreed to, it shall not be in order in the House or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that would cause a decrease in the Medicare surplus reserve in any of the fiscal years covered by the concurrent resolution. Exempts from a point of order raised on this basis any appropriation of new subsidies from the general fund to the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. Makes all points of order established by this Act waivable only by a three-fifths supermajority vote. Establishes the Medicare Surplus Reserve in the Treasury, consisting of specified amounts for each fiscal year from FY 2001 through 2014 (roughly 40% of the on-budget Medicare surplus), subject to annual adjustment to extend the solvency of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund through FY 2027. Prohibits the Reserve, as adjusted, from exceeding the total baseline surplus in any fiscal year. Declares that certain pay-as-you-go requirements of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act and of H. Con. Res. 67 (104th Congress) (Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY 1996) shall be enforced until Congress enacts legislation that ensures the long-term fiscal solvency of the social security trust funds and extends the solvency of the Medicare trust fund through FY 2027. Amends the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to base the current services baseline for each fiscal year after 2002 on the discretionary spending limit for FY 2002. Directs the Chairmen of the Committees on the Budget to revise the current budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 68, 106th Congress) to make it consistent with this Act. Amends the current budget resolution to repeal the provision for a point of order in the Senate against the consideration of direct spending or revenue legislation that would increase, or cause, an on-budget deficit during specified time periods, subject to a waiver by a three-fifths majority vote. Restores the previous pay-as-you-go point of order in Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY 1996, which was repealed by the current budget resolution.
Law· HRH.R. 1528 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
National Geologic Mapping Reauthorization Act of 1999 - Amends the National Geologic Mapping Act of 1992 to revise requirements for the responsibilities of the U.S. Geological Survey with respect to the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, including to require the: (1) development of national priorities (currently, priorities) and standards; (2) development of a five-year strategic plan (currently, an implementation plan); (3) appointment of a new geologic mapping advisory committee; and (4) biennial submission of the report on the development and implementation of the program. Revises requirements for program components, including by: (1) including among the objectives of each component determining the geologic framework of areas determined to be vital to environmental welfare; (2) deleting provisions governing a geologic mapping support component and including interdisciplinary studies that add value to geologic mapping under the Federal geologic mapping component's responsibilities; (3) basing mapping priorities for the State geologic mapping component on State requirements for geologic map information in areas of multiple-issue need or of compelling single-issue need and in areas where mapping is required to solve critical earth science problems; (4) prohibiting the Survey and recipients of grants under the State or education component from using more than a specified percentage of the Federal funds made available under such component for any fiscal year to pay indirect, servicing, or program management charges; and (5) limiting to 50 percent the Federal share of the cost of activities under such components for any fiscal year. (Sec. 5) Revises provisions regarding the geologic mapping advisory committee, including by requiring such committee to update the five-year strategic plan. (Sec. 6) Sets forth requirements for the five- year strategic plan (similar to those for the implementation plan). (Sec. 7) Revises the provisions establishing the National geologic-map database, including by requiring that such database serve as a national catalog and archive (currently, archive), distributed through links to Federal and State geologic map holdings; and (2) provide for such database to include all maps developed under the Federal and education components (currently all maps developed pursuant to the Act). (Sec. 9) Authorizes appropriations. Allocates 48 percent of any amounts appropriated in excess of the amount appropriated for FY 2000 for the State component and two percent for the education component.
Bill· HRH.R. 1546 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Individual Retirement Plans Title II: Pension Plans Title III: Small Business Incentives Title IV: Catchup Contributions Title V: Plan Amendments Retirement Savings Opportunity Act of 1999 - Title I: Individual Retirement Plans - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) to increase from $2,000 to $5,000 (with cost-of-living adjustments) the maximum retirement savings deduction allowable. (Sec. 102) Repeals income limits for Roth IRA contributions. Increases the income cap for conversions to $1 million. (Sec. 103) Amends the Code and ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) to permit employees to make IRA contributions under a qualified employer plan. (Sec. 104) Allows electronic signatures for establishing any individual retirement plan. Title II: Pension Plans - Provides for optional treatment of elective deferrals as plus contributions. Defines such contributions. (Sec. 202) Increases the elective deferral limit from $7,000 to $15,000. (Sec. 203) Increases the limit on the deferred amount for State and local government plans to $12,000. (Sec. 204) Eliminates the 25 percent compensation limit on contributions to a defined contribution plan, thereby making the maximum contribution limit $30,000 for any individual. (Sec. 205) Amends the Code and ERISA to revise the percentage of the current liability funding limit. Revises maximum contribution deduction rules and applies them to all defined benefit plans under the Code. Title III: Small Business Incentives - Establishes a small employer pension plan credit equal to, subject to limitations: (1) 50 percent of qualified employer contributions; and (2) qualified start-up costs. (Sec. 302) Permits employers to establish SAFE annuities (a defined individual retirement annuity). (Sec. 303) Increases the $6,000 contribution amount for simple retirement accounts to $10,000. Title IV: Catchup Contributions - Permits "catchup contributions" for certain individuals over age 50. Title V: Plan Amendments - Prescribes requirements for plan amendments or annuity contract amendments under the Code and ERISA.
Bill· HRH.R. 1537 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
Brownfields Remediation and Economic Development Act of 1999 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to certify and, where appropriate, provide technical assistance to any State program for brownfields (abandoned industrial sites in need of hazardous waste remediation before they may be returned to productive use) if the program: (1) covers only sites that have been contaminated prior to enactment of this Act and are not listed on the National Priorities List; (2) provides for public participation prior to a landowner's release from liability upon completion of site remediation (carried out under a certified program) under State law and under abatement and response provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA); (3) provides for a reopening of a cleanup proposal under specified conditions; (4) contains standards for the sites that protect public health and the environment; and (5) includes coordination among State agencies for environmental protection and economic development. Provides (in addition to the release of landowners from liability described above) for the release from liability under State law and under CERCLA, upon completion of remediation, of lenders and developers (except with respect to pollution directly caused by them), prospective purchasers, and local governments not involved in the management of a site. Allows the Administrator to waive Federal permit requirements if the State program includes a waiver of State permit requirements. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for payments into a tax-exempt Hazardous Waste Remediation Reserve to be used exclusively to pay costs of the taxpayer to: (1) assess the extent of a site's environmental contamination and its expected remediation cost; and (2) remediate the contamination.
Bill· HRH.R. 1527 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Academic Opportunities Act for Fiscal Years 2000, 2001, and 2002 - Authorizes appropriations for the academic programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for FY 2000 through 2002.
Bill· HRH.R. 1541 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the provision limiting the deduction for business meals and entertainment to 50 percent.
Bill· HRH.R. 1525 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
Independent Contractor Clarification Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to employment taxes, to replace the current 20 point test for determining an independent contractor (for whom an employer need not pay or withhold the appropriate employment taxes) with a three-point test, including: (1) the employer's lack of control of the manner in which the individual service provider completes his or her assigned tasks; (2) the individual service provider is not precluded by the employer from soliciting and undertaking other business opportunities involving substantially similar services for others; and (3) the individual service provider encounters entrepreneurial risk, including the ability to generate a profit or bear the risk of financial loss. Sets forth restrictions on retroactive employment tax reclassifications, including safe harbor requirements. Provides that the statute of limitations on assessment of employment taxes shall run beginning on the date certain information returns (specifying payments to an individual for services performed where the payments are not taken into account in determining such taxes) are filed.
Bill· HRH.R. 1538 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 April 1999
Educational Opportunities Act of 1999 - Title I: HELP Scholarships - Helping Empower Low-Income Parents (HELP) Scholarships Amendments of 1999 - Amends title VI (Innovative Education Program Strategies) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to allow any State that has enacted or will enact a law establishing a voluntary public and private school parental choice scholarship program in compliance with specified ESEA requirements to reserve an additional 15 percent from its annual title IV allotment for use exclusively for such parental choice programs. Requires State educational agencies (SEAs), except in the case of such programs, to distribute 90 percent (currently 85 percent) of title VI funds to local educational agencies (LEAs). (Sec. 105) Includes such parental choice programs among State and local uses of title VI funds. Requires such parental choice programs to be located in an area designated as an empowerment zone or enterprise community. (Sec. 106) Directs the Comptroller General to make contracts for annual evaluation of each parental choice program. Requires the Secretary of Education to reserve certain funds for such evaluations. Provides that title VI funds to establish a parental choice program shall be considered assistance to the student and shall not be considered as assistance to any school that chooses to participate in such program. Prohibits the Secretary from exercising any direction, supervision, or control over curricula, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any school that chooses to participate in a parental choice program. Title II: Education Tax Credit - Children's Education Tax Credit Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a tax credit (of up to $1,000) for the qualified educational expenses (tuition, attendance fees, books, supplies, equipment, but excluding meals and lodging) paid by a taxpayer for the education at an eligible zone educational institution of each individual with respect to whom the taxpayer is allowed a deduction as a dependent. (Sec. 202) Provides for: (1) the inclusion of certain home schooling expenses; and (2) adjustments for certain scholarships. Defines "eligible zone educational institution" as a secondary school, an elementary school, or any private, parochial, religious, or home school that: (1) provides elementary or secondary education; and (2) is located in an area designated as an empowerment zone or enterprise community.
Bill· HRH.R. 1512 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1999
Child Safety Lock Act of 1999 - Title I: Criminal Provisions - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to define (firearm) "locking device." Makes it unlawful for a licensed manufacturer, importer, or dealer to sell, deliver, or transfer a handgun without a locking device and specified warnings to any person other than a licensed manufacturer, importer, or dealer, with exceptions for law enforcement officers (including certain rail police officers) and governmental entities. . Sets forth civil penalties (in addition to any administrative penalties) for related violations, including suspension or loss of license. Title II: Regulatory Provisions - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe such regulations governing the design, manufacture, and performance of trigger lock devices as are necessary to reduce or prevent the unintentional discharge of handguns. Specifies that such regulations shall, at a minimum, set forth a minimum safety standard that such devices must meet in order to be manufactured, sold, transferred, or delivered consistent with this title. Requires the Secretary, in developing the standard, to consider such devices that are not detachable, but are permanently installed and incorporated into the design of a handgun. Directs that such standard include provisions to ensure that any such device that meets the standard is of adequate quality and construction to prevent children who have not attained age 18 from operating a handgun, and to ensure that such a product cannot be removed except through the use of a key, combination, or other method of access provided in the manufacturer's design specifications. Directs that the standard be issued in final form within 12 months. (Sec. 202) Authorizes the Secretary to issue an order prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transfer, or delivery of a trigger lock device which the Secretary finds has been designed, manufactured, transferred, or distributed in violation of this title. Grants the Secretary specified authority regarding: (1) requiring the recall, repair, replacement, or refund with respect to such devices; and (2) inspections to ascertain compliance. (Sec. 203) Authorizes the Secretary to assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation. Amends the Brady Act to authorize the Secretary, after notice and opportunity for hearing, to revoke the Federal firearms license if the holder of the license violates title II of this Act or any rule or regulation prescribed thereunder. Imposes criminal penalties upon anyone who has received from the Secretary a notice that the person has violated a provision of this title or a regulation prescribed under it and subsequently knowingly violates such provision. (Sec. 204) Allows State law to afford greater protection with respect to trigger lock devices. Title III: Education Provisions - Directs that a portion of firearms tax revenue be used for public education programs on the safe storage and use of firearms.
Bill· HRH.R. 1503 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide an exclusion from gross income of gain from the sale of qualified farm property similar to the exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence. Excludes from gross income up to $500,000 ($250,000 in the case of a married individual filing a separate return), reduced by the aggregate amount of gain excluded for all preceding taxable years.
Bill· HRH.R. 1506 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 April 1999
Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1999 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to dispose of public land in the State of Nevada under specified current land use plans other than land identified under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998. Authorizes the State or local governments in the jurisdiction of which the land is located to obtain the land for local public purposes prior to the offering of such land for sale or exchange. Requires the Secretary to retain such land for conveyance to the State or a local government if such entities elect to obtain the land. Withdraws Federal land selected for disposal, subject to valid existing rights, from location and entry under the mining laws and from operation under the mineral and geothermal leasing laws until the Secretary terminates the withdrawal or the land is patented. Requires the Secretary, the local government that has jurisdiction over land identified for disposal, and the State to select land to be offered for sale or exchange. Sets forth requirements for sales, including those for competitive bidding. Bars the sale of a tract of land if the Federal costs of sale preparation and processing are estimated to exceed sale proceeds. Allocates the gross proceeds of land sales during a fiscal year as follows: (1) five percent to the State for the general education program; (2) 45 percent to the local government for use as determined by such government; and (3) 50 percent to the Special Account established by this Act. Sets forth requirements for land exchanges. Authorizes the Secretary, subject to certain consultation requirements, to use funds to acquire environmentally sensitive land and interests in such land. Permits such acquisitions only from willing sellers and with the consent of the State and local governments with jurisdiction. Defines "environmentally sensitive land" as land that would: (1) promote the preservation of specified values that contribute to public enjoyment or biological diversity; (2) enhance recreational opportunities or public access; (3) provide the opportunity to achieve better management of public land through consolidation of Federal ownership; or (4) otherwise serve the public interest. Includes such lands in the definition of "entitlement land" for purposes of Federal provisions governing payment for entitlement land. Establishes a Special Account in the Treasury to carry out this Act. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1491 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1999
Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 1999 - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize appropriations to the Department of Labor for FY 1999 through 2004 for trade adjustment assistance (TAA) for workers. (Sec. 2) Repeals the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program (effectively eliminating TAA for workers under such program). (Sec. 3) Revises requirements for the filing of petitions for TAA for a group of workers adversely affected by imports. Authorizes employers of such workers, one-stop career centers, or State employment agencies to file on their behalf with the Governor of the State (currently, with the Secretary of Labor) a petition for certification of eligibility for such assistance. Requires the Governor to: (1) transmit the petition to the Secretary immediately; (2) ensure that rapid response assistance and basic readjustment services are made available to the workers; and (3) assist the Secretary in the review of the petition. Requires the Secretary to review such a petition for certification of eligibility within 40 days (currently, 60 days) of its filing. (Sec. 4) Adds as a factor in the Secretary's determination of the eligibility of a group of workers for TAA any shift in production by such workers' firm to a foreign country of articles like or directly competitive with articles produced by such firm. (Sec. 5) Directs the Secretary to collect and maintain certain information with respect to certifications of TAA. (Sec. 6) Revises enrollment in training requirements with respect to the payment of TAA to adversely affected workers to set forth certain time periods during which such enrollment must occur. Authorizes the Secretary to issue a statement to a worker waiving the enrollment in training requirements if it is determined that such training requirement is not feasible or appropriate for the worker, based on specified factors. (Sec. 8) Increases from 14 to 30 the number of days an adversely affected worker may have a scheduled break in a training program and still be treated as participating in the program for purposes of TAA eligibility. (Sec. 9) Increases the total annual amount of payments for worker training from $80 million to $150 million for any fiscal year. (Sec. 11) Authorizes the Secretary to secure for adversely affected workers certain employment services, including services provided through one-stop career centers. Provides for the coordination of employment services for adversely affected workers under the Job Training Partnership Act and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. (Sec. 12) Authorizes an adversely affected worker to file an application with the Secretary for the provision of supportive services, including transportation, child and dependent care, and other similar services. Sets forth specified conditions with respect to such services. (Sec. 14) Makes unappropriated Treasury funds available in any fiscal year that TAA funds become exhausted. (Sec. 15) Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Labor for FY 1999 through 2004 for TAA for firms. (Sec. 16) Establishes the Presidential Commission on Workers and Economic Change in the New Economy to study and report to the President and the Congress on matters relating to economic dislocation and worker adjustment to such dislocations. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1488 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1999
Compassion for Children and Child Support Enforcement Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require employees to: (1) notify their employers of any child support obligations, including the monthly amount; and (2) file a withholding certificate with such information, updated with any pertinent changes. Requires every employer who receives such a certificate to deduct and withhold from the employee's wages an additional amount equal to the amount of such obligation. Requires payment of child support obligations with the employee's income tax return. Mandates treatment of such obligations as taxes for purposes of penalties and interest related to failure to deduct and withhold them. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to disburse amounts collected under this Act to the family for whom the employee is obligated to pay child support. Repeals Federal law relating to State enforcement of child support obligations other than medical support. Prescribes criminal penalties for willful failure to pay child support to the Internal Revenue Service. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to submit to Congress a plan for implementing this Act. Directs the Attorney General to study and report to specified congressional committees on the impact of this Act on the Department of Justice and the Federal courts, including workload, personnel staffing, and budget resources.
Bill· HRH.R. 1480 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Water Resources Projects Title II: General Provisions Title III: Project-Related Provisions Title IV: Studies Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions Water Resources Development Act of 1999 - Title I: Water Resources Projects - Authorizes projects for navigation, flood control, environmental restoration, recreation, hurricane and storm damage reduction, ecosystem restoration, and navigation mitigation in Alaska, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia, Minnesota, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and Texas. Authorizes projects for water resources development and conservation and related purposes, subject to a final report from the Army Corps of Engineers, in Alaska, California, Delaware and New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington, Texas, and Washington. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary of the Army to conduct studies and carry out small flood control projects in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Missouri. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary to conduct studies and carry out small bank stabilization projects in Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia. (Sec. 104) Directs the Secretary to conduct studies and carry out small navigation projects in Arkansas, California, Guam, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, and New York. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary to conduct studies and carry out small environmental restoration projects in California, Illinois, and Virginia. (Sec. 106) Directs the Secretary to conduct studies and carry out aquatic ecosystem restoration projects in California, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Title II: General Provisions - Amends the Flood Control Act of: (1) 1948 to allow the construction of both small structural and nonstructural projects and to increase from $5 million to $7 million the maximum amount to be expended for any single project; (2) 1960 to provide that certain fee collection limitations shall not apply to funds voluntarily contributed by State and local governments and non-Federal public agencies for expanding the scope of services requested by such entities; and (3) 1936 to authorize the Secretary to use funds contributed by States and other political subdivisions for environmental restoration (currently, only flood control) work. (Sec. 204) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to require that technologies selected for demonstration at a sediments decontamination project in the New York-New Jersey Harbor be intended to result in practical end-use products. Requires the Secretary to assist such project to ensure the availability of sufficient quantities of contaminated material. Increases the authorization of appropriations for such project to reflect costs for technology testing and commercialization and the development of full-scale processing facilities within the Harbor. (Sec. 205) Amends the River and Harbor Act of 1958 to: 1) include arundo within a comprehensive program for the control of aquatic growth; and (2) increase the annual authorization of appropriations for such program. Encourages the Secretary, under such program, to utilize contracts, cooperative agreements, and grants with colleges and universities and other non-Federal entities. (Sec. 206) Requires the Secretary to enter into continuing contracts with respect to a water resources project if initiation of construction has occurred but sufficient funds are not available to complete the project. (Sec. 207) States that competitive bid requirements applicable to certain defense contracts shall not apply with respect to a contract, agreement, or grant entered into between the Secretary and Marshall University or Juniata College in support of the Army civil works program. (Sec. 208) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of: (1) 1996 to permit studies undertaken by the Secretary concerning the Pacific region to include flood damage reduction and environmental restoration; (2) 1996 to extend through FY 2003 the Everglades and South Florida Ecosystem Restoration program; (3) 1992 to allow nonprofit entities to serve as the non-Federal interest for projects for beneficial uses of dredged material; (4) 1986 to require non-Federal interests to pay 25 percent of construction costs of a harbor project which has a depth in excess of 20 feet but not in excess of 53 (currently, 45) feet; (5) 1996 to allow nonprofit entities to serve as the non-Federal interest for aquatic ecosystem restoration projects and for watershed management, restoration, and development projects; and (6) 1996 to include for such watershed projects certain additional areas in California, Illinois, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Florida. (Sec. 214) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct projects to reduce flood hazards and restore the natural functions and values of rivers throughout the United States. Requires appropriate studies. Requires non-Federal interests to pay 35 percent of the cost of any environmental restoration or nonstructural flood control project carried out. Outlines project selection criteria, policies, and procedures. Requires a report to specified congressional committees. Provides a cost limitation of $30 million on any single project. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 215) Authorizes the Secretary to review and report to specified congressional committees on Corps implementation of the shoreline management program. (Sec. 216) Authorizes the Secretary to provide to State and local governments assistance for remediation, restoration, or reuse when such action will contribute to the conservation of water and related resources of drainage basins and watersheds. Encourages the beneficial use of dredged material in connection with such assistance. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 217) Amends the River and Harbor Act of 1968 to authorize additional shore damage mitigation activities for the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, as well as Palm Beach County, Florida, and Galveston County, Texas. (Sec. 218) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to provide the non-Federal share of construction costs for projects for periodic shore nourishment. Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit a fee charge to a State or local government for the use of Outer Continental Shelf sand, gravel, and shell resources. Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to Congress on the state of U.S. shorelines; and (2) establish a national coastal databank for data on the geophysical and climatological characteristics of such shorelines. (Sec. 219) Amends the: (1) Flood Control Act of 1960 to direct the Secretary to coordinate with the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other appropriate agencies to ensure that flood control projects and plans are complementary and integrated; and (2) Water Resources Development Act of 1996 to extend through December 31, 2003, the authority to sell annual passes for the use of recreation facilities. (Sec. 221) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with non-Federal public bodies and nonprofit entities for facilitating collaborative efforts for environmental protection and restoration, natural resources conservation, and recreation in connection with the development, operation, and management of Army water resources projects. Requires a report. (Sec. 222) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1990 to provide for the calculation of benefits for a proposed project for nonstructural flood damage reduction. Allows current flood control projects to be reevaluated to consider nonstructural alternatives. (Sec. 223) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to include certain lakes and ponds in California and New Hampshire as authorized projects under the lakes program. (Sec. 224) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of: (1) 1996 to allow non-Federal interests to carry out construction under flood control projects only if the Secretary approves such construction after reviewing construction studies and design documents; and (2) 1986 to limit the non-Federal share of first costs which may be satisfied through in-kind contributions in connection with fish and wildlife mitigation projects. (Sec. 226) Expresses the sense of Congress that all equipment and products purchased with funds made available under this Act should be American made. (Sec. 227) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of: (1) 1996 to authorize a shoreline protection project at Captiva Island, Florida; and (2) 1990 to reduce from 50 to 35 percent of project costs the required non-Federal share for removing contaminated sediments from U.S. navigable waters. Title III: Project-Related Provisions - Modifies projects for flood control, navigation, habitat restoration, water supply, shoreline protection, shore protection and harbor mitigation, beach erosion control, storm damage reduction and shoreline erosion protection, recreation, pedestrian access features, hurricane protection, levees, environmental infrastructure, mitigation of fish and wildlife losses, watersheds, canal system restoration, environmental restoration, and rediversion (together with certain study or report requirements and adjustments or extensions of authorization of appropriations, in some cases) in the Missouri River, Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, California, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and West Virginia and Pennsylvania. (Sec. 363) Reauthorizes projects for flood control, shore protection, storm damage reduction, and navigation in Arkansas and Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan, North Dakota, and Tennessee. (Sec. 364) Deauthorizes navigation projects in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts. (Sec. 365) Modifies: (1) a project for flood damage reduction on the American and Sacramento Rivers, California; and (2) a flood control project in Martin, Kentucky. Title IV: Studies - Directs the Secretary to conduct studies with respect to specified projects in the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois and Wisconsin, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, the Great Lakes, and the Chesapeake Bay. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary to complete remaining portions of Natural Resources Conservation Service flood control projects at Llagas Creek, California, and Thornton Reservoir, Illinois. (Sec. 502) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to authorize appropriations for construction assistance for specified projects in Georgia, New Jersey, and Virginia. (Sec. 503) Directs the Secretary to review sediment dredging technologies and to select the technology that will increase the effectiveness of removing contaminated sediments and significantly reduce contamination of the water column. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 504) Authorizes the Secretary to provide safety assistance at specified dams in California, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 505) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1990 to authorize nonprofit public or private entities to contribute all or a portion of the costs of Great Lakes remedial action plans. (Sec. 506) Authorizes the Secretary to undertake a program for the control of sea lampreys in and around waters of the Great Lakes. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 507) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of: (1) 1996 to add specified areas in Florida, Louisiana, and Washington under a program for the maintenance of navigation channels; (2) 1986 to increase the amount authorized to conduct measurements of Lake Michigan diversions; and (3) 1986 relating to the Upper Mississippi River environmental management program to include an applied research program, require program evaluation every six years, increase and extend through FY 2009 its authorization of appropriations, and require information on habitat needs assessments to be included in required reports. (Sec. 510) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to extend through FY 2003 the authorization of appropriations for a monitoring program for the Atlantic coast of New York. (Sec. 511) Authorizes the Secretary, in evaluating water control management, to consider a regionalized water control management plan, but prohibits the implementation of such plan until a report is submitted to specified congressional committees. (Sec. 512) Adds specified projects in California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas to those eligible for the beneficial use of dredged material under the Water Resources Development Act of 1992. (Sec. 514) Authorizes the Secretary, at full Federal expense, to complete a comprehensive report for environmental restoration and protection along the Lower Missouri River between Gavins Point Dam and the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. (Sec. 515) Authorizes the Secretary to develop and implement projects for fish screens, fish passage devices, and other similar measures to mitigate adverse impacts associated with irrigation system water diversions by local governmental entities in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. (Sec. 516) Directs the Secretary to use, and encourage the use of, innovative treatment technologies for watershed and environmental restoration and protection projects involving water quality. (Sec. 517) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to add specified projects in the regional Atlanta, Georgia, watershed and Paterson and Passaic Valley, New Jersey, to authorized environmental restoration projects. (Sec. 518) Directs the Secretary to expedite completion of required reports in connection with projects in California and Florida. (Sec. 519) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) establish a pilot project to restore natural water depths in specified portions of the Dog River, Alabama; (2) repair and rehabilitate a levee in Elba, Alabama, and Geneva, Alabama; and (3) perform operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation on 37 miles of levees in and around Augusta and Devalls Bluff, Arkansas. (Sec. 522) Directs the Secretary to survey, and provide technical, planning, and design assistance for, watershed management, restoration, and development on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. (Sec. 524) Directs the Secretary to: (1) reallocate approximately 31,000 additional acre-feet of Beaver Lake, Arkansas, to water supply storage; (2) construct the Beaver Lake trout hatchery by September 30, 2002; (3) provide technical assistance in the study, design, and implementation of measures for flood damage reduction and environmental restoration and protection in the Santa Ana River watershed, California; (4) carry out a project for flood control at Rush Creek, California; and (5) provide technical assistance in the study, design, and implementation of environmental restoration and protection of the Salton Sea, California. (Sec. 528) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) prepare special area management plans in Orange and San Diego Counties, California, for providing information regarding aquatic resources; and (2) modify a cooperative agreement with the Santa Cruz Port District, California, to reflect unanticipated additional dredging efforts and to extend such agreement for ten years. (Sec. 531) Provides a maximum Federal expenditure with respect to a hurricane and storm damage reduction project at Point Beach, Milford, Connecticut. (Sec. 532) Authorizes the Secretary to apply a specified computer model to assist non-Federal interests in developing strategies for improving water quality in the Lower St. Johns River basin, Florida. (Sec. 533) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) carry out certain environmental restoration and resource protection activities to restore Lake Allatoona and the Etowah River in Georgia; and (2) provide technical assistance for reconstruction of the Mayo's Bar Lock and Dam, Coosa River, Rome, Georgia. (Sec. 535) Directs the Secretary to study and report on development of a comprehensive flood impact response modeling system for the Coralville Reservoir and the Iowa River watershed, Iowa. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 536) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out additional construction assistance projects in Georgetown and Olney, Illinois. (Sec. 537) Directs the Secretary to offer Kansas the right to purchase water storage in Kanapolis Lake, Kansas, at a predetermined price. (Sec. 538) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 to increase the authorization of appropriations for: (1) environmental assistance to non-Federal interests in southern and eastern Kentucky; and (2) flood control and improvements to rainfall drainage systems in Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Tammany Parishes, Louisiana. (Sec. 540) Authorizes the Secretary to study and provide technical assistance for flood damage reduction activities in Snug Harbor, Maryland. (Sec. 541) Authorizes the Secretary to determine if the spillage or dredged materials that were removed as part of the navigation project for the Inland Waterway from Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay is a significant impediment to navigation and, if so, to conduct additional dredging to permit navigation on the Elk River near Welch Point, Maryland. Requires a related water supply damage study. (Sec. 542) Directs the Secretary to investigate contamination of the well system in West View Shores, Cecil County, Maryland, and, if necessary, provide alternative water supplies. (Sec. 543) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 to revise technical assistance, consultation, and funding requirements with respect to water quality restoration projects in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. (Sec. 544) Authorizes the Secretary to provide up to $300,000 for alternative transportation arising as a result of the operation, maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation of the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge. (Sec. 545) Directs the Secretary to conduct a demonstration project to improve water quality in the vicinity of St. Louis, Missouri. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 546) Authorizes the Secretary to compile and disseminate information on floods and flood damages, and provide technical assistance regarding floodplain management, for Beaver Branch of the Big Timber Creek, New Jersey. (Sec. 547) Directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance to the International Joint Commission and the St. Lawrence River Board of Control for studies on the effects of fluctuating water levels along the shorelines of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in New York. (Sec. 548) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) enter into cooperative agreements to investigate, develop, and support measures for sediment management and reduction of contaminant sources which affect navigation in the Port of New York-New Jersey and the environmental conditions of the New York-New Jersey Harbor estuary; and (2) construct a project for shoreline protection at Sea Gate Reach, Coney Island, New York. (Sec. 550) Directs the Secretary to provide planning, design, and technical assistance to non-Federal interests for identifying and mitigating sources of contamination at Woodlawn Beach, New York. (Sec. 551) Directs the Secretary to assist in a project for developing maps identifying 100- and 500-year old flood inundation areas in the State of New York. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 552) Directs the Secretary to determine if water quality deterioration and sedimentation of the White Oak River, North Carolina, are the results of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway navigation project and, if so, to undertake mitigation efforts. (Sec. 553) Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical assistance for the removal of military ordnance from the Toussaint River in Ottawa County, Ohio. (Sec. 554) Directs the Secretary to accept from the State of Oklahoma an amount representing its obligation for water supply storage at Sardis Reservoir in Oklahoma. (Sec. 555) Waives a required repayment by the Waurika Project Master Conservancy District for the construction of water conveyance facilities. (Sec. 556) Directs the Secretary to conduct a feasibility study for carrying out a riverbank stabilization project on the south bank of the Willamette River in Skinner Butte Park in Eugene, Oregon. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 557) Directs the Secretary, the FEMA Director, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies to assist the State of Oregon in developing and implementing a comprehensive basin-wide strategy in the Willamette River basin in order to improve water quality, reduce flood hazards, ensure economic activity, and restore fish and wildlife habitat. (Sec. 558) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) assist in water-related environmental infrastructure projects in Bradford and Sullivan Counties, Pennsylvania; (2) reimburse the non-Federal interest a limited amount for architect and engineering costs in connection with the Erie Harbor basin navigation project, Pennsylvania; and (3) conduct a breakwater-dock combination at the entrance to Seven Points' Harbor, Pennsylvania. (Sec. 560) Directs the Secretary to mitigate shoreline damages in connection with the project for navigation, Point Marion Lock and Dam, Pennsylvania. (Sec. 562) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 to authorize environmental restoration assistance to non-Federal interests in southeastern Pennsylvania. (Sec. 563) Authorizes the Secretary to prepare a watershed plan for the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna watershed. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 564) Directs the Secretary to study whether erosion and additional storm damage near Aguadilla Harbor, Puerto Rico, are the results of a Federal navigation project and, if so, to take mitigation measures. (Sec. 565) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 to require a report from the Secretary to Congress in connection with recurring flooding and related problems near Pierre and Ft. Pierre, South Dakota. (Sec. 566) Directs the Secretary to provide technical, planning, and design assistance to non-Federal interests in developing integrated water management plans and projects that will serve Texas cities, counties, water agencies, and planning regions. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 567) Authorizes the Secretary to design and construct a shore protection project: (1) in Jefferson, Chambers, and Galveston Counties, Texas, including the beneficial use of dredged material from Federal navigation projects; and (2) along Galveston Beach, Texas. (Sec. 569) Directs the Secretary to construct a navigation and storm protection project at Packery Channel, Mustang Island, Texas. (Sec. 570) Authorizes specified water resources development projects in West Virginia. (Sec. 571) Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a research program to manage peak flood flows in urbanized watersheds in New Jersey. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 572) Amends the Flood Control Act of 1928 to increase the annual salary of members of the Mississippi River Commission. (Sec. 573) Authorizes the Secretary to cooperate with specified Federal officials in the development of a management strategy to address problems associated with toxic microorganisms and the resulting degradation of ecosystems in tidal and nontidal wetlands and waters of the United States along the Atlantic Ocean. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 574) Authorizes the Secretary, during FY 2000 through 2003, to withhold 100 percent of the fees collected at selected recreation sites, and to use such funds for backlogged repair and maintenance projects and for interpretation, signage, habitat or facility enhancement, resource preservation, annual operation and maintenance, and law enforcement related to public use at such sites. (Sec. 575) Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical, planning, and design assistance to Federal and non-Federal interests for carrying out projects to address water quality problems caused by drainage and related activities from abandoned and inactive non-coal mines. Authorizes the maintenance of a technology database for the reclamation of abandoned mines. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 576) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct pilot projects for the beneficial use of waste tire rubber. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 577) Amends the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1976 to extend until January 1, 2005, the authority of the EPA Administrator to designate sites for the dumping of nontoxic or nonhazardous wastes. (Sec. 578) Directs the Secretary, subject to certain conditions and requirements, to convey real property in: (1) Pike County, Missouri, to Holnam, Inc.; (2) Osage County, Oklahoma, to qualified buyers (with a right of notice to previous owners); (3) Lake Hugo, Oklahoma, to Choctaw County Industrial Authority in Oklahoma; (4) Marshall County, Oklahoma, to the State of Oklahoma for public park and recreation purposes; (5) Leflore County, Oklahoma, to the Summerfield Cemetery Association in Oklahoma; (6) Dexter, Oregon, to the Dexter Sanitary District; (7) the Richard B. Russell Dam and Lake, South Carolina, to the State of South Carolina for fish and wildlife purposes; (8) Charleston, South Carolina, to a qualified buyer; (9) Clarkston, Washington, to the Port of Clarkston; and (10) Matewan, West Virginia, to the town of Matewan. (Sec. 579) Designates the: (1) eight-mile creek in Paragould, Arkansas, as the Francis Bland Floodway Ditch; and (2) bridge over lock and dam number 4 on the Arkansas River in Arkansas as the Lawrence Blackwell Memorial Bridge. (Sec. 580) Directs the Secretary to study increasing surcharge flood control storage at the Folsom Dam and Reservoir by replacing spillway gates and raising the dam and embankment. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to study opportunities to increase the available water supply storage there due to such actions. Requires the Secretary of the Army to plan, design, and construct alternative transportation to replace Folsom Dam Road. (Sec. 581) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) amend a specified contract entered into with the Placer County Water Agency to provide for the diversion and delivery of water from the Sacramento River; (2) design and construct facilities, including fish screens, for the diversion of Central Valley Project water to Placer County; (3) design, construct, or expand facilities for a pumping station to be used by the Agency to divert and pump water from the American River; and (4) design and construct gates and other facilities at Hell Hole Dam and Reservoir to enable the Agency to provide flood protection for lands and inhabitants adjacent to the American River downstream of Folsom Dam. Directs the Secretary to: (1) enter into a municipal and industrial water supply contract with the El Dorado Irrigation District to provide a specified annual amount of water, by way of diversion from Folsom Lake or water upstream on the American River or its tributaries; and (2) design and construct facilities needed to retrofit such District's current diversion infrastructure in order to provide the diversion capacity needed. Directs the Secretary to: (1) design and construct necessary facilities to provide for the diversion, transportation, treatment, and storage of a specified amount of water annually from the American River for the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District; (2) provide specified funds to the San Juan Water District for a study of water diversion facility conjunctive use opportunities within Placer and Sacramento Counties, California, and to implement a specified pilot project; (3) design and construct improvements to diversion, pumping, and transport facilities at Folsom Dam in order to pump additional water to Roseville, the San Juan Water District, Folsom, and the Placer County Water Agency; (4) contract with San Joaquin County, California, for diversion of water at the American River Nimbus diversion facility for the development of recharge projects within the East San Joaquin County Recharge Project (with an authorized $100 million loan to such County for such purpose); and (5) make available annually a specified amount of water for South Sacramento County agriculture and water users. Directs the Secretary to provide water resource grants to implement projects to provide water supply benefits to areas cited under this section. Authorizes appropriations for such grants. Outlines implementation requirements, including environmental compliance. Directs the Secretary to contract with the State of California to undertake studies to determine opportunities to increase the available water supply and water storage capacity within specified California areas. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to administer Central Valley Project water contracts on the American River. (Sec. 582) Provides for the allocation of funds authorized to be appropriated under sections 580 and 581, above, during various fiscal years. (Sec. 583) Directs the Secretary of the Army to take emergency action to protect Wallops Island, Virginia, from damaging coastal storms. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 1496 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Affordable Health Coverage for Employees of Small Businesses Title II: Deduction for Health Insurance Costs of Self-Employed Individuals Small Business Access and Choice for Entrepreneurs Act of 1999 - Title I: Affordable Health Coverage for Employees of Small Businesses - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to establish rules governing health plans sponsored by certain associations, including requirements for: (1) certification; (2) sponsors and boards of trustees, and treatment of franchised networks and collectively bargained plans; (3) participation and coverage of employers and individuals and of previously uninsured employees; (4) plan documents, contribution rates, and benefit options; (5) maintenance of reserves, excess-stop loss insurance, and solvency indemnification for plans providing health benefits in addition to health insurance coverage; (6) applications and related reporting; (7) notice for voluntary termination; and (8) corrective actions and mandatory termination. (Sec. 101) Directs the Secretary of Labor to apply, to the appropriate Federal district court, to be appointed trustee of certain insolvent association health plans which provide health benefits in addition to health insurance coverage. Allows a State to impose a contribution tax on an association health plan that begins operations in such State after the enactment of this Act. (Sec. 102) Revises requirements for treatment of single employer arrangements. (Sec. 103) Revises requirements for certain collectively bargained arrangements. (Sec. 104) Sets forth enforcement requirements relating to association health plans. (Sec. 105) Sets forth State responsibilities, and requirements for cooperation between Federal and State authorities, with respect to association health plans. (Sec. 106) Prescribes special rules for certain existing health benefits programs. Title II: Deduction for Health Insurance Costs of Self-Employed Individuals - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the amount allowed as a tax deduction for health insurance costs of self-employed individuals.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 142 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1999
Sets forth the rule (open) for the consideration of H.R. 1184 (earthquake hazards reduction authorization).
Bill· SS. 824 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Voluntary State Reform Incentive Grants Title II: Ensuring that Children Begin School Ready to Learn Title III: Excellent Principals Challenge Grant Title IV: Second Chance Programs for Disruptive or Violent Students Title V: Teacher Quality and Training Title VI: Investment in Community-Based Schools and Community Service Title VII: Encouraging Public School Choice Comprehensive School Improvement and Accountability Act of 1999 - Sets forth eligibility requirements for States and local educational agencies (LEAs) to receive assistance under specified titles of this Act and under specified parts, added by this Act, of title XIII (Support and Assistance Programs to Improve Education) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). (Sec. 3) Requires a State educational agency (SEA), consortium of SEAs, or State to: (1) specify to the Secretary of Education how receipt of Federal funds will lead to school improvements, such as increasing student academic achievement, reducing out-of-field teacher placements, increasing teacher retention, and reducing the number of emergency teaching certificates; (2) conduct an annual evaluation to determine whether or not such improvements have occurred; (3) if the improvements have not occurred, specify to the Secretary what steps will be taken in the future to ensure the improvements; and (4) cover administrative expenses of the assisted activities. Requires LEAs, in order to be eligible for such funds, to: (1) serve low-achieving students as measured by low graduation rates or low scores on assessment exams; (2) have a low teacher retention rate in their schools; (3) have a high rate of out-of-field placement of teachers in their schools; and (4) have a shortage of teachers of mathematics or physical science in their schools. Title I: Voluntary State Reform Incentive Grants - Directs the Secretary to award grants to SEAs to enable the States to provide for comprehensive school reforms. (Sec. 101) Requires SEAs to use such funds to award competitive grants to LEAs to provide funds to schools to carry out activities relating to comprehensive school reform, including: (1) professional development and training of teachers, administrators, staff and parents; (2) use of expert technical assistance; (3) instructional materials development and acquisition; and (4) parent and community outreach programs. Sets forth requirements for: (1) components of a comprehensive school reform program; (2) State and local grant applications; (3) non-Federal matching funds. Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004 to carry out this title. Directs the Secretary to reserve one percent of such funds for each fiscal year for schools that receive funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. (Sec. 102) Extends through FY 2004 the authorization of appropriations for ESEA title I (Helping Disadvantaged Children Meet High Standards). Increases the amount of such funding for each fiscal year from FY 2000 through 2004. Title II: Ensuring that Children Begin School Ready to Learn - Directs the Secretary to make allotments to eligible States to pay for the Federal share of the cost of enabling the States to make grants to local collaboratives for young child assistance activities. (Sec. 202) Bases such allotment amounts on the relative total numbers of young children in poverty in the eligible States. Requires a State Governor, in order for a State to be eligible for such an allotment, to establish or designate a State Early Learning Coordinating Board to receive the allotment and make such grants. (Sec. 203) Requires such State boards to use the Federal allotment and the State contribution to make competitive grants to local collaboratives to carry out young child assistance activities. Requires local collaboratives to use such grant funds to provide, in their communities, education and supportive services, such as: (1) home visits for parents of young children; (2) services provided through community-based family resource centers for such parents; and (3) collaborative pre-school efforts that link parenting education for such parents to early childhood learning services for young children. Allows local collaboratives to use such funds also for: (1) activities designed to strengthen the quality of child care for young children and expand the supply of high quality child care services for young children; (2) health care services for young children, including immunization, preventive health care screening and education, and expanding health care services in schools, child care facilities, clinics in public housing projects, and mobile dental and vision clinics; (3) services for young children with disabilities; (4) assistance to schools in providing educational and other support services to young children and their parents of young children to be carried out in the community during extended hours when appropriate; and (5) payment for the administrator's salary and expenses. Allows multiyear grants to successful local collaboratives. Sets forth eligibility demonstration, grant application, and local share requirements for local collaboratives. Requires State boards to: (1) ensure that at least 60 percent of the funds made available through each grant is used to provide the specified assistance activities to young children and their parents who reside in school districts in which half or more of the students receive free or reduced price lunches under the National School Lunch Act; and (2) monitor local collaborative activities to ensure compliance with grant requirements. (Sec. 204) Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004. Title III: Excellent Principals Challenge Grant - Directs the Secretary to award grants to eligible SEAs or SEA consortia to enable them to award subgrants to LEAs for professional development services for public elementary school and secondary school principals to enhance their leadership skills. Requires criteria for such grant awards to include: (1) the quality of the proposed use of the grant funds; and (2) the educational need of the State or States. (Sec. 301) Sets forth requirements for SEA or consortium eligibility, applications, and matching funds. Requires grant funds to be used for training and other activities to increase the leadership and other skills of principals. Allows such activities to include ones to: (1) enhance and develop school management and business skills; (2) provide principals with knowledge of effective instructional skills and practices and comprehensive whole-school approaches and programs; (3) improve understanding of the effective uses of educational technology; (4) provide training in effective, fair evaluation of school staff; and (5) improve knowledge of State content and performance standards. Authorizes the Secretary to develop model national programs to provide such activities to principals. Requires the Secretary to appoint a commission to examine existing professional development programs and to report on the best practices to help principals in multiple education environments across the United States. Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004. Title IV: Second Chance Programs for Disruptive or Violent Students - Amends ESEA title XIII (Support and Assistance Programs to Improve Education) to establish a new part E, Second Chance Programs for Disruptive or Violent Students. (Sec. 401) Directs the Secretary to make grants to SEAs to enable them to provide financial assistance to LEAs for programs or projects designed to meet the educational needs of violent or disruptive students, including the training of school personnel in the education of such students. Sets forth requirements for: (1) State and local applications; (2) use of funds; (3) local eligibility based on enactment and implementation of a specified type of discipline code; and (3) relative amount of each State grant. Provides that nothing in such part E shall be construed to: (1) prohibit a funds recipient from serving disruptive or violent students simultaneously with students with similar educational needs, in the same educational settings where appropriate; or (2) restrict or eliminate any protection provided for in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act with respect to students with disabilities. Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004. Title V: Teacher Quality and Training - Amends ESEA title XIII to establish a new part F, Increasing Salaries for Teachers. (Sec. 501) Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible SEAs to enable them to increase the salaries of teachers in elementary schools and secondary schools. Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible States to provide incentives, such as signing bonuses, to encourage individuals to accept employment as teachers in elementary schools and secondary schools that are served by LEAs that meet specified eligibility requirements under this Act. Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004 to carry out such teacher salary increase and signing bonus grant programs. (Sec. 502) Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to add a new subpart 9, Scholarships for Future Teachers, to title IV (Student Assistance) part A (Grants to Students in Attendance at Institutions of Higher Education). Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States to award scholarships to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and make a commitment to become State certified teachers for a five-year period in elementary schools or secondary schools served by LEAs that meet specified eligibility requirements. Requires such scholarships to be awarded for between one and four years during the first four years of study at any institution of higher education eligible to participate in any program assisted under ESEA title IV. Gives the administering SEA discretion to determine the period of the award within such specified limits. Allows a student awarded such a scholarship to attend any institution of higher education. Sets forth requirements for allocation of grant amounts among States, agreements between the Secretary and participating States, eligibility and selection of scholars, scholarship conditions, recruitment, and information. Authorizes and makes appropriations to carry out such grants program for scholarships for future teachers. (Sec. 503) Amends HEA title II (Academic Libraries and Information Services) to revise and extend the authorization of appropriations for such title. (Sec. 504) Extends through FY 2004 the authorization of appropriations for, and revises, HEA title IV provisions for loan forgiveness and cancellation for teachers under the Federal Stafford loans and the direct loan programs. (Sec. 505) Includes teacher mentoring programs among authorized uses of teacher quality enhancement grants to States and partnerships. (Sec. 506) Adds teacher technology training as a focal point or authorized activity under various ESEA title I and II programs, including school improvement, professional development, national teacher training project, local plans for improving teaching and learning, and certain higher education activities. Title VI: Investment in Community-Based Schools and Community Service - Amends ESEA title X (Programs of National Significance) part I (21st Century Community Learning Centers) (also known as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Act) to add to the list of activities from which grant uses must be chosen: (1) mentoring programs; (2) academic assistance; and (3) drug, alcohol, and gang prevention activities. Extends through FY 2004, and increases the amount of, the authorization of appropriations for such Centers programs. (Sec. 602) Directs the Secretary to award grants to SEAs for programs to help students meet State secondary education graduation requirements relating to community service. Sets forth requirements for use of funds and for matching funds. Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004 for such grants program. Title VII: Expanding National Board Certification Program for Teachers - Directs the Secretary to award grants to States to provide subsidies to elementary and secondary school teachers who enroll in the certification program of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 200 through 2004 for such program. Title VIII: Encouraging Public School Choice - Directs the Secretary to award grants to States to implement statewide public school choice programs, under which elementary and secondary school students who attend a school that meets specified eligibility requirements may enroll in any public school of their choice. Allows such grants to be used also: (1) to improve low-performing school districts that lose students as a result of such program; and (2) for other activities the State determines appropriate. Authorizes and makes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004 for such program.
Bill· SS. 819 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
National Park Preservation Act - Requires the Secretary of the Interior to deposit in a separate account of the Treasury of $500 million in Outer Continental Shelf revenues from oil and natural gas production during each fiscal year, which shall, without further Act of appropriation, be available to the Secretary in subsequent fiscal years until expended. Makes such funds available for expenditure in units of the National Park System (NPS) that have ecosystems, critical habitat, cultural resources, or other core park resources that are threatened or impaired. Allocates 30 percent of funds to NPS units threatened or impaired by activities occurring inside the unit, and 70 percent to units threatened or impaired by activities occurring outside the unit. Specifies an annual amount for FY 2000 through 2015 for the Federal share (50 percent) of the Everglades and South Florida ecosystem restoration project under the Water Resources Development Act of 1996. Prohibits from deposit in the separate account any revenues from any new oil and gas leases, or from development of any existing leases in a moratorium area.
Bill· SS. 815 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Poultry Electric Energy Power (PEEP) Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the income tax credit for producing electricity from certain renewable resources to include poultry waste as a qualified energy resources.
Bill· SS. 811 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Tax Relief for Families With Children Act - Title I: Tax Benefits for Families With Children - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the dependent care tax credit to: (1) increase the dollar limit on creditable employment-related expenses; (2) increase the percentage of employment-related expenses; and (3) include transportation costs and costs of educational programs. (Sec. 102) Increases the child care credit from $400 to $900. (Sec. 103) Increases the dollar limit for dependent care services, and allows payments for infant care, including stay-at-home care. Allows carryovers of certain unused dependent care assistance to later taxable years. Allows payments to certain related individuals for routine care. Amends Federal civil service law to direct the Office of Personnel Management to establish a dependent care assistance program for Federal employees. (Sec. 104) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer to elect either the dependent care tax credit, the child tax credit, or the dependent care assistance program exclusion for each dependent, but only one of such tax benefits. (Sec. 105) Revises the home office deduction to include the use of the office for dependent care. (Sec. 106) Amends title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of the Social Security Act to require child support orders to include an equitable division between the custodial and noncustodial parents of any costs of providing child care services in any case where the custodial parent is employed or is actively seeking employment. Title II: Activities to Improve the Quality of Child Care - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an employer-provided child care credit equal to 40 percent of an employer's qualified child care expenditures to: (1) acquire, construct, rehabilitate, or expand property for, or operate a qualified child care facility for employees; or (2) contract with a qualified child care facility to provide child care services to employees. (Sec. 202) Revises the business charitable deduction for contributions of scientific property used for research to include contributions of scientific equipment, computer technology and equipment, and other services to child care providers and to elementary and secondary schools.
Bill· SS. 807 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Working Americans Wage Restoration Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual a deduction in arriving at adjusted gross income for the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) taxes paid by the individual as an employee during the taxable year. Includes in such deduction: (1) the portion of the tier 1 railroad retirement tax paid equivalent to OASDI taxes; as well as (2) amounts equivalent to such taxes imposed with respect to remuneration covered by a voluntary agreement under the Social Security Act for coverage of State and local government employees, or a specified kind of agreement entered into by American employers with respect to foreign affiliates. Allows a self-employed individual to deduct, in arriving at adjusted gross income, all OASDI taxes paid and half the hospital insurance taxes paid.
Bill· SS. 825 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow small business employers a credit against income tax for employee health insurance expenses the employer pays or incurs. Allows a credit equal to 60 percent of expenses (up to $600 per employee) for self-only coverage and 70 percent of expenses (up to $1,200 per employee) for family coverage. Limits such credit to expenses paid for an employee whose total annual wages range between $5,000 and $16,000, indexed for inflation.
Bill· SS. 817 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
After School Education and Anti-Crime Act of 1999 - Revises the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Act to: (1) authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the support of public elementary or secondary schools, including middle schools, that serve communities with substantial needs for expanded learning opportunities for children and youth in the communities, to enable the schools to establish or expand projects that benefit specified community needs; (2) direct the Secretary, in awarding grants, to assure an equitable distribution of assistance among the States and among urban and rural areas of the United States; and (3) direct the Secretary to award such grants for a period not to exceed five years. (Sec. 6) Requires an LEA, to be eligible to receive a grant, to submit an application as specified. Requires that such application include: (1) information demonstrating that the LEA will provide not less than 35 percent of the annual cost of the activities assisted under the project from sources other than funds provided under the Act, which may be provided in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, and provide not more than 25 percent of the annual cost of the activities assisted under the project from funds provided by the Secretary under other Federal programs that permit the use of those other funds for activities assisted under the project; and (2) an assurance that the LEA, in each year of the project, will maintain the agency's fiscal effort, from non-Federal sources, from the preceding fiscal year for the activities that the LEA provides with funds made available under the Act. (Sec. 7) Allows the use of grant funds to establish or expand community learning centers. Allows such centers to provide one or more of specified listed activities, including after school programs that: (1) include at least two of the following: mentoring programs, academic assistance, recreational activities, or technology training; and (2) may include drug, alcohol, and gang prevention activities, health and nutrition counseling, and job skills preparation activities. Limits the amount of appropriated funds that may be used for after school programs. (Sec. 8) Directs an LEA to: (1) request volunteers from business and academic communities, and law enforcement organizations, to serve as mentors or to assist in other ways; (2) ensure that youth in the local community participate in designing the after school activities; (3) develop creative methods of conducting outreach to youth in the community; (4) request donations of computer equipment and other materials and equipment; and (5) work with State and local park and recreation agencies so that activities carried out by the agencies prior to this Act's enactment are not duplicated. (Sec. 10) Authorizes appropriations through FY 2004.
Bill· SS. 822 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Flat Tax Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal current tax provisions for individuals and businesses and replace them with provisions for a flat tax of 20 percent of the income of individuals and businesses. Allows, for an individual, for: (1) a standard deduction, with an inflation adjustment; (2) limited charitable contribution deductions; and (3) a limited deduction for home acquisition indebtedness. Allows deductions to a business for: (1) the cost of business inputs (the cost of specified goods, services, travel, entertainment, and lobbying and political expenditures); (2) compensation paid to employees; and (3) the cost of personal and real property used in business activities. Repeals the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Repeals provisions concerning: (1) the financing of presidential elections; and (2) coal industry health benefits.
Bill· SS. 820 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Transportation Tax Equity and Fairness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the 4.3-cent motor fuel excise taxes on railroads and inland waterway transportation which remain in the general fund of the Treasury.
Bill· SS. 810 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Caring for America's Children Act - Title I: Tax Benefits for Families with Children - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the Dependent Care Tax Credit (DCTC) by: (1) increasing the amount of allowable expenses from $2,400 to $3,600 for one dependent, and from $4,800 to $6,000 for two or more; (2) increasing the maximum percentage of the allowable employment-related expenses to 40 percent; (3) raising the adjusted gross income level receiving the maximum percentage to $50,000; and (4) permitting educational programs and third party transportation costs to be counted as allowable expenses. (Sec. 102) Increases the Child Tax Credit from $500 per year to $900 per year. (Sec. 103) Increases the dollar contribution limit in the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) to $7,000 a year for two or more dependents. Permits contributions to DCAP accounts during pregnancy, usable for one year after the birth of a child. Permits the use of DCAP funds to pay a spouse or grandparent to care for a pre-school aged child at home. Establishes a DCAP for Federal employees. (Sec. 104) Permits parents to choose between the DCTC, Child Tax Credit, and the DCAP for each dependent child (each tax benefit mutually exclusive for each child). (Sec. 105) Revises the Home Office tax deduction to permit parents to care for a dependent child within the home office space and maintain the "exclusive use" designation for the home office tax deduction. (Sec. 106) Amends title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) the Social Security Act to require States to include the cost of child care in the calculation of child support orders. Title II: Activities to Improve the Quality of Child Care - Subtitle A: Encouraging Business Involvement in Child Care - Establishes a child care tax credit for employers up to $150,000 a year ($250,000 a year with respect to three or more company child care facilities in different locations) in allowable employee-related child care expenses such as the construction or renovation of facilities and employee subsidies. (Sec. 202) Extends the charitable tax deduction for contributions of scientific property used for research to include the contribution of scientific and computer equipment, transportation services, qualified employee volunteer time, and the use of facilities and equipment to public schools and child care providers. Subtitle B: Child Care Quality Improvement Incentive Program - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a State grant program to fund activities designed to improve the quality of child care. (Sec. 213) Allocates funds to the States (based on the Child Care and Development formula). (Sec. 214) Requires States, in order to receive grant funds, to: (1) certify that the State has not reduced the scope of State child care requirements since 1995; (2) be in compliance with the Child Care and Development Block Grant; and (3) have expended at least 80 percent of the funds allocated to the State for child care matching funds under SSA title IV part A (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) (TANF). Sets the Federal share of the cost of State activities at 90 percent. (Sec. 215) Authorizes a State to use grant funds for specified activities designed to improve the quality of child care, including: (1) supplements to child care provider salaries; (2) assistance to small businesses desiring to provide child care assistance to employees; (3) expansion of resource and referral services, educational and training scholarship for child care providers; (4) increased subsidies for Child Care and Development Block Grant recipients; (5) subsidies for child care for special needs children; and (6) background checks and increasing the monitoring of child care providers. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Increased Enforcement of State Health and Safety Standards - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBGA) to provide for: (1) a bonus for States which effectively enforce existing state law and regulations regarding the inspection of child care facilities; and (2) a decrease in CCDBG administrative funds for States which do not adequately enforce State child care inspection requirements. Subtitle D: Distribution of Information About Quality Child Care - Directs the Secretary, through the award of competitive contracts, to: (1) provide technical assistance and disseminate information on high quality child care to parents, local governments, child care organizations, and child care providers; and (2) conduct a public awareness campaign promoting quality child care. (Sec. 231) Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop a mechanism for the collection and dissemination of information on the supply and demand for child care services; and (4) award competitive grants to existing child care credentialing or accreditation entities to assist them in improving their procedures and methods. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Expanding Professional Development Opportunities - Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible organizations to develop and operate technology-based child care training infrastructures utilizing the Internet and existing distance learning resources to provide high quality, interactive skills training for child care providers. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 302) Directs the Chief Executive Project Officer to use at least ten percent of the authorized funds, within the child care training infrastructure, to establish and operate a revolving fund to make no-interest loans to enable child care providers to purchase computers and other equipment to access the child care training infrastructure. Title IV: Expanding Youth Development Opportunities During the Non-School Hours - Directs the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families of the Department of HHS to award grants to States for the Federal share (80 percent) of the cost of establishing programs that provide care for school-aged children during the non-school hours. (Sec. 408) Requires the use of grant funds for activities that: (1) meet the child care needs of working parents during the non-school hours, including before- and after-school, weekends, school holidays, and vacation periods; (2) will promote at least two youth development competencies (social, physical, emotional, moral or cognitive); (3) are designed to increase youth protective factors and reduce risk factors; and (4) include leadership development, delinquency prevention, sports and recreation, arts and cultural activities, character development, tutoring and academic enrichment, mentoring, and other locally determined programs. Requires that at least 50 percent of the funds made available to an entity be used to subsidize the cost of participation in the non-school hours program for low-income youth. (Sec. 409) Directs the Assistant Secretary to: (1) establish mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of funded activities; (2) coordinate the grant program with similar activities in other Federal agencies; (3) provide appropriate training and technical assistance to States and local entities; and (4) terminate funding for States or entities which fail to comply with the requirements of this Act. (Sec. 410) Requires the Governor of each State to designate an entity to administer the grant activities. (Sec. 412) Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Child Care in Federal Facilities - Federal Employees Child Care Act - Requires any Federal agency operating, or entity contracting with a Federal agency to operate, a child care facility primarily for the use of Federal employees (including executive and judicial branch employees) to comply with child care standards no less stringent than those required of other child care facilities in the same geographical area within six months, and within three years with those established by a child care accreditation entity. (Sec. 503) Requires the Administrator of General Services to establish an interagency council to facilitate cooperation and sharing of best practices, and develop and coordinate policy, regarding the provision of child care, including the provision of areas for nursing mothers and other lactation support facilities and services, in the Federal Government. (Sec. 504) Directs the Administrator and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to evaluate jointly for Congress of child care services in executive, legislative, or judicial facilities. (Sec. 505) Authorizes Federal agencies to use appropriated funds to subsidize or otherwise assist lower income Federal employees meet the costs of child care provided through contract or on-site. (Sec. 506) Amends Federal law to re-authorize the Trible Amendment which permits federal facilities to provide on-site child care services. Authorizes Federal agencies to conduct pilot projects on innovative approaches to providing employee child care services. Requires criminal background checks for employees of child care facilities located in Federal facilities. Title VI: Expanding Child Care Subsidy for Low-Income Families - Amends the CCDBGA to increase the authorization of appropriations. (Sec. 602) Requires a State CCDBG plan to assure that the use of automated payment systems will not limit parental choice and will facilitate the prompt, accurate payment of child care providers. Requires a State to ensure that 70 percent (currently, a substantial portion) of CCDBG funds are used for low-income families who are not TANF-qualified recipients of child care subsidies. Requires States to ensure maximum parental choice of child care providers by establishing separate subsidy rates dependent upon the age of the child, the setting of the child care services (home, center, group), special needs, and geographic location. Requires States to reduce any required parental co-payment by the amount of the difference between the market rate and any State child care subsidy that is less than 85 percent of such market rate. Title VII: Construction and Renovation of Child Care Facilities - Subtitle A: Community Development Block Grants - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to authorize the use of Community Development Block Grant funds to renovate or construct child care facilities. Subtitle B: Mortgage Insurance For Child Care Facilities - Amends title II of the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to insure mortgages on new and rehabilitated child care facilities, as well as fire safety equipment loans to such facilities. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 712) Authorizes the Secretary of HUD to insure mortgages for the purchase or refinancing of existing child care facilities. (Sec. 713) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to Congress on the secondary mortgage markets to determine: (1) whether markets exist for purchase of mortgages eligible for insurance under the National Housing Act; (2) whether the market will affect the availability of credit for development of child care facilities; and (3) the extent to which the market will provide credit enhancement for loans for such facilities. (Sec. 714) Authorizes the Secretary of HUD to award competitive grants to eligible private, nonprofit intermediary organizations to provide technical and financial assistance to child care providers for the renovation, construction, and purchase of child care facilities. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 806 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Taxpayer Freedom and Fairness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the 15 percent individual income tax rate to ten percent over five years. Authorizes a married couple to file a combined return under which: (1) each spouse is taxed using the rates applicable to unmarried individuals; but (2) their joint tax liability shall be for the aggregate amount resulting from applying the separate rates to each taxable income.
Bill· SS. 808 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Conservation Tax Incentives Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income 50 percent of any gain from the sale of land or an interest in land or water (determined without regard to any improvements) to an eligible entity if: (1) such land or interest in land or water was owned by the taxpayer or a member of the taxpayer's family at all times during the three-year period ending on the date of the sale; and (2) it is being acquired by an eligible entity which provides the taxpayer, at the time of acquisition, a written letter of intent which states that the purchaser's intent is that the acquisition will serve one or more of specified conservation purposes. Includes as "land or an interest in land or water" stock in any corporation, if the fair market value of the corporation's land or interests in land or water equals or exceeds 90 percent of the fair market value of all of its assets at all times during the three-year period ending on the date of the sale. Deems a purchaser an eligible entity if it is: (1) any Federal, State, or local governmental agency; or (2) any tax-exempt charitable organization that is organized and at all times operated principally for one or more specified conservation purposes, and meets certain other requirements.
Resolution· SCONRESS.Con.Res. 26 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Declares the sense of Congress that the Federal income tax deduction for interest paid on debt secured by a first or second home should not be further restricted.
Bill· HRH.R. 1430 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 April 1999
Caring for America's Children Act - Title I: Tax Benefits for Families with Children - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the Dependent Care Tax Credit (DCTC) by: (1) increasing the amount of allowable expenses from $2,400 to $3,600 for one dependent, and from $4,800 to $6,000 for two or more; (2) increasing the maximum percentage of the allowable employment-related expenses to 40 percent; (3) raising the adjusted gross income level receiving the maximum percentage to $50,000; and (4) permitting educational programs and third party transportation costs to be counted as allowable expenses. (Sec. 102) Increases the Child Tax Credit from $500 per year to $900 per year. (Sec. 103) Increases the dollar contribution limit in the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) to $7,000 a year for two or more dependents. Permits contributions to DCAP accounts during pregnancy, usable for one year after the birth of a child. Permits the use of DCAP funds to pay a spouse or grandparent to care for a pre-school aged child at home. Establishes a DCAP for Federal employees. (Sec. 104) Permits parents to choose between the DCTC, Child Tax Credit, and the DCAP for each dependent child (each tax benefit mutually exclusive for each child). (Sec. 105) Revises the Home Office tax deduction to permit parents to care for a dependent child within the home office space and maintain the "exclusive use" designation for the home office tax deduction. (Sec. 106) Amends title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) the Social Security Act to require States to include the cost of child care in the calculation of child support orders. Title II: Activities to Improve the Quality of Child Care - Subtitle A: Encouraging Business Involvement in Child Care - Establishes a child care tax credit for employers up to $150,000 a year ($250,000 a year with respect to three or more company child care facilities in different locations) in allowable employee-related child care expenses such as the construction or renovation of facilities and employee subsidies. (Sec. 202) Extends the charitable tax deduction for contributions of scientific property used for research to include the contribution of scientific and computer equipment, transportation services, qualified employee volunteer time, and the use of facilities and equipment to public schools and child care providers. Subtitle B: Child Care Quality Improvement Incentive Program - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a State grant program to fund activities designed to improve the quality of child care. (Sec. 213) Allocates funds to the States (based on the Child Care and Development formula). (Sec. 214) Requires States, in order to receive grant funds, to: (1) certify that the State has not reduced the scope of State child care requirements since 1995; (2) be in compliance with the Child Care and Development Block Grant; and (3) have expended at least 80 percent of the funds allocated to the State for child care matching funds under SSA title IV part A (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) (TANF). Sets the Federal share of the cost of State activities at 90 percent. (Sec. 215) Authorizes a State to use grant funds for specified activities designed to improve the quality of child care, including: (1) supplements to child care provider salaries; (2) assistance to small businesses desiring to provide child care assistance to employees; (3) expansion of resource and referral services, educational and training scholarship for child care providers; (4) increased subsidies for Child Care and Development Block Grant recipients; (5) subsidies for child care for special needs children; and (6) background checks and increasing the monitoring of child care providers. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Increased Enforcement of State Health and Safety Standards - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBGA) to provide for: (1) a bonus for States which effectively enforce existing state law and regulations regarding the inspection of child care facilities; and (2) a decrease in CCDBG administrative funds for States which do not adequately enforce State child care inspection requirements. Subtitle D: Distribution of Information About Quality Child Care - Directs the Secretary, through the award of competitive contracts, to: (1) provide technical assistance and disseminate information on high quality child care to parents, local governments, child care organizations, and child care providers; and (2) conduct a public awareness campaign promoting quality child care. (Sec. 231) Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop a mechanism for the collection and dissemination of information on the supply and demand for child care services; and (4) award competitive grants to existing child care credentialing or accreditation entities to assist them in improving their procedures and methods. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Expanding Professional Development Opportunities - Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible organizations to develop and operate technology-based child care training infrastructures utilizing the Internet and existing distance learning resources to provide high quality, interactive skills training for child care providers. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 302) Directs the Chief Executive Project Officer to use at least ten percent of the authorized funds, within the child care training infrastructure, to establish and operate a revolving fund to make no-interest loans to enable child care providers to purchase computers and other equipment to access the child care training infrastructure. Title IV: Expanding Youth Development Opportunities During the Non-School Hours - Directs the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families of the Department of HHS to award grants to States for the Federal share (80 percent) of the cost of establishing programs that provide care for school-aged children during the non-school hours. (Sec. 408) Requires the use of grant funds for activities that: (1) meet the child care needs of working parents during the non-school hours, including before- and after-school, weekends, school holidays, and vacation periods; (2) will promote at least two youth development competencies (social, physical, emotional, moral or cognitive); (3) are designed to increase youth protective factors and reduce risk factors; and (4) include leadership development, delinquency prevention, sports and recreation, arts and cultural activities, character development, tutoring and academic enrichment, mentoring, and other locally determined programs. Requires that at least 50 percent of the funds made available to an entity be used to subsidize the cost of participation in the non-school hours program for low-income youth. (Sec. 409) Directs the Assistant Secretary to: (1) establish mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of funded activities; (2) coordinate the grant program with similar activities in other Federal agencies; (3) provide appropriate training and technical assistance to States and local entities; and (4) terminate funding for States or entities which fail to comply with the requirements of this Act. (Sec. 410) Requires the Governor of each State to designate an entity to administer the grant activities. (Sec. 412) Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Child Care in Federal Facilities - Federal Employees Child Care Act - Requires any Federal agency operating, or entity contracting with a Federal agency to operate, a child care facility primarily for the use of Federal employees (including executive and judicial branch employees) to comply with child care standards no less stringent than those required of other child care facilities in the same geographical area within six months, and within three years with those established by a child care accreditation entity. (Sec. 503) Requires the Administrator of General Services to establish an interagency council to facilitate cooperation and sharing of best practices, and develop and coordinate policy, regarding the provision of child care, including the provision of areas for nursing mothers and other lactation support facilities and services, in the Federal Government. (Sec. 504) Directs the Administrator and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to evaluate jointly for Congress of child care services in executive, legislative, or judicial facilities. (Sec. 505) Authorizes Federal agencies to use appropriated funds to subsidize or otherwise assist lower income Federal employees meet the costs of child care provided through contract or on-site. (Sec. 506) Amends Federal law to re-authorize the Trible Amendment which permits federal facilities to provide on-site child care services. Authorizes Federal agencies to conduct pilot projects on innovative approaches to providing employee child care services. Requires criminal background checks for employees of child care facilities located in Federal facilities. Title VI: Expanding Child Care Subsidy for Low-Income Families - Amends the CCDBGA to increase the authorization of appropriations. (Sec. 602) Requires a State CCDBG plan to assure that the use of automated payment systems will not limit parental choice and will facilitate the prompt, accurate payment of child care providers. Requires a State to ensure that 70 percent (currently, a substantial portion) of CCDBG funds are used for low-income families who are not TANF-qualified recipients of child care subsidies. Requires States to ensure maximum parental choice of child care providers by establishing separate subsidy rates dependent upon the age of the child, the setting of the child care services (home, center, group), special needs, and geographic location. Requires States to reduce any required parental co-payment by the amount of the difference between the market rate and any State child care subsidy that is less than 85 percent of such market rate. Title VII: Construction and Renovation of Child Care Facilities - Subtitle A: Community Development Block Grants - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to authorize the use of Community Development Block Grant funds to renovate or construct child care facilities. Subtitle B: Mortgage Insurance For Child Care Facilities - Amends title II of the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to insure mortgages on new and rehabilitated child care facilities, as well as fire safety equipment loans to such facilities. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 712) Authorizes the Secretary of HUD to insure mortgages for the purchase or refinancing of existing child care facilities. (Sec. 713) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to Congress on the secondary mortgage markets to determine: (1) whether markets exist for purchase of mortgages eligible for insurance under the National Housing Act; (2) whether the market will affect the availability of credit for development of child care facilities; and (3) the extent to which the market will provide credit enhancement for loans for such facilities. (Sec. 714) Authorizes the Secretary of HUD to award competitive grants to eligible private, nonprofit intermediary organizations to provide technical and financial assistance to child care providers for the renovation, construction, and purchase of child care facilities. Authorizes appropriations.
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