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Bill· HRH.R. 5542 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Taxpayer Relief Act of 2000 - Title I: FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal subpart C (Taxation of Foreign Sales Corporations) of part III (Income From Sources Without the United States) of subchapter N ( Tax Based on Income From Sources Within or Without the United States) of chapter 1 (Normal Taxes and Surtaxes). Excludes from gross income "extraterritorial income," except that extraterritorial income which is not qualifying "qualifying foreign trade income" shall not be excluded from gross income. Defines "extraterritorial income" as gross income of the taxpayer attributable to "foreign trading gross receipts" of the taxpayer. Defines "qualifying foreign trade income," with respect to any transaction, as the amount of gross income which, if excluded, will result in a reduction of the taxable income of the taxpayer from such transaction equal to the greatest of: (1) 30 percent of the foreign sale and leasing income derived by the taxpayer from such transaction; (2) 1.2 percent of the foreign trading gross receipts derived by the taxpayer from the transaction; or (3) 15 percent of the foreign trade income derived by the taxpayer from the transaction. Prohibits, in any event, the amount determined under clause (2) from exceeding 200 percent of the amount determined under clause (3). Permits an alternative computation. Defines "foreign trading gross receipts" as the gross receipts of the taxpayer which are: (1) from the sale, exchange, or other disposition of qualifying foreign trade property; (2) from the lease or rental of qualifying foreign trade property for use by the lessee outside the United States; (3) for services which are related and subsidiary to either any sale, exchange, or other disposition of qualifying foreign trade property by such taxpayer, or any lease or rental of qualifying foreign trade property described in clause (2) by such taxpayer; (4) for engineering or architectural services for construction projects located (or proposed for location) outside the United States; or (5) for the performance of managerial services for a person other than a related person in furtherance of the production of foreign trading gross receipts described in clause (1), (2), or (3). Prohibits clause (5) from applying to a taxpayer for any taxable year unless at least 50 percent of its foreign trading gross receipts (determined without regard to this sentence) for such taxable year is derived from activities described in clause (1), (2), or (3). Excludes specified receipts from the definition. Sets forth additional definitions and rules. Title II: Small Business Tax Relief - Extends the work opportunity tax credit. (Sec. 202) Increases the maximum dollar limitation on reforestation expenses eligible for amortization and suspends such dollar limitation through calendar year 2003. (Sec. 203) Increases to $35,000 the amount which may be expensed as section 179 property. (Sec. 204) Increases the deduction for meal expenses. (Sec. 205) Restores the business meal expense deduction to 80 percent for individuals subject to the hours of service limitations of the Department of Transportation. (Sec. 206) Amends IRC provisions (as amended by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999) to repeal revisions to the Code (made by the Act) which repealed the use of the installment method of accounting for accrual method taxpayers and modified the pledge rules of installment obligations. (Sec. 207)provide that income averaging for farmers shall not increase alternative minimum tax liability. Extends to commercial fishermen the same income averaging provisions currently allowed to farmers. (Sec. 208) Repeals specified occupational taxes relating to distilled spirits, wine, and beer. Revises recordkeeping requirements for wholesale and retail liquor dealers. Makes it unlawful for any liquor dealer (except one selling beer exclusively) to purchase distilled spirits from any person other than a specified wholesale liquor dealer. (Sec. 209) Excludes from individual gross income the discharge of qualified residential indebtedness in excess of the outstanding principal of such indebtedness (prior to discharge) over the sum of any sales proceeds and any other outstanding principal indebtedness secured by the property. (Sec. 210) Permits certain small businesses to use cash accounting. (Sec. 211) Amends the Federal Reserve Act, the Home Owners' Loan Act, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to: (1) provide that a depository institution may permit owners of interest or dividend paying accounts to make up to 24 transfers monthly for any purpose to their other demand deposits in the same institution; and (2) repeal the proscription against the payment of interest on demand deposits. Title III: Health Insurance and Long-Term Care Insurance Provisions - Permits the deduction of 100 percent of the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals. (Sec. 302) Phases-in a 100 percent deduction (for both itemizers and nonitemizers) for the health and long-term care insurance costs of individuals not participating in employer-subsidized health plans. (Sec. 303) Extends, for two years the availability of medical savings accounts. (Sec. 304) Revises consumer protection provisions for long-term care insurance contracts. (Sec. 305) Allows a deduction, to itemizers and nonitemizers, for providing long-term care in the home to household members. Title IV: Pension and Individual Retirement Arrangement Provisions - Retirement Savings and Pension coverage Act of 2000 - Subtitle A--Individual Retirement Accounts - Increases IRA contribution limits. Provides for catch-up contributions for individuals over age 50. (Sec. 402) Amends the IRC and ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) to permit employees to make IRA contributions under a qualified employer plan. (Sec. 403) Exempts from inclusion as income individual retirement account (IRA) distributions used for qualified charitable purposes. (Sec. 404) Increases the adjusted gross income limit for Roth IRA contributions and conversions. Subtitle B: Expanding Coverage - Provides for increases in amounts of benefit and contribution limits. Sets indexes for inflation in various increments on such increased limits. (Sec. 412) Revises requirements relating to plan loans for subchapter S owners, partners, and sole proprietors. (Sec. 413) Revises specified top-heavy rules. Repeals family aggregation rules. Revises the definition of key employee. Provides that, at the election of the employer, any employee elective contribution to a plan shall not be taken into account for purposes of determining: (1) whether a plan is a top-heavy plan (or whether any aggregation group which includes such plan is a top-heavy group); or (2) compensation. Requires that employer matching contributions be taken into account for purposes of minimum contribution requirements. Revises requirements for qualifications. Provides for distributions during the last year before a determination date is taken into account. Excludes from the definition of top-heavy plan: (1) cash or deferred arrangements using alternative methods of meeting nondiscrimination requirements; and (2) defined contribution plans using alternative methods of meeting nondiscrimination requirements. Provides that elective deferrals will not be taken into account for purposes of a special rule where the maximum contribution is less than three percent. (Sec. 414) Provides that elective deferrals shall not be taken into account for purposes of limits on certain plan contributions. (Sec. 415) Repeals specified coordination requirements under the Code for deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations. (Sec. 416) Eliminates user fee requirements for requests to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) concerning the status of pension plans. (Sec. 417) Revises certain deduction limits for stock bonus and profit sharing trusts and for defined contribution plans. (Sec. 418) Provides for optional treatment of elective deferrals as Roth contributions. Subtitle C: Enhancing Fairness for Women - Allows individuals who are age 50 or older to make additional contributions to an applicable employer plan (Section 401(k) plan or similar plan). (Sec. 422) Sets forth requirements relating to equitable treatment for contributions of employees to defined contribution plans. Increases the 25 percent of compensation limitation on annual additions under a defined contribution plan to 100 percent. Declares that certain contributions by church plans are not to be treated as exceeding a specified limit. Sets limits on contributions to a tax-sheltered annuity which are similar to the limits applicable to tax-qualified plans. Increases the 33 and one-third percent of compensation limitation on deferrals under a section 457 plan to 100 percent of compensation. (Sec. 423) Provides for faster vesting of certain employer matching contributions under the Code and ERISA. Requires employer matching contributions to vest at least as rapidly as under three-year cliff vesting or under six-year graded vesting that provides for a nonforfeitable right to 20 percent of employer matching contributions for each year of service beginning with the participant's second year of service and ending with 100 percent after six years of service. (Sec. 424) Revises minimum distribution rules under the Code. Revises requirements for actuarial adjustment of benefits under a defined benefit plan. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) to: (1) simplify and finalize the regulations relating to minimum distribution requirements; and (2) modify such regulations to reflect increases in life expectancy, and revise required distribution methods so that, under reasonable assumptions, the amount of the required minimum distribution does not decrease over a participant's life expectancy. Provides that, during the first year that such revised regulations are in effect, required distributions for future years may be redetermined, with the opportunity to choose a new designated beneficiary and to elect a new method of calculating life expectancy. Excludes specified amounts from minimum distribution requirements. Repeals a rule relating to distributions begun before death occurs. Reduces the excise tax on failures to satisfy the minimum distribution rules to ten percent of the amount that was required to be distributed but was not distributed. (Sec. 425) Revises requirements relating to tax treatment of division of section 457 plan benefits upon divorce. Applies the taxation rules for qualified plan distributions pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order to distributions made pursuant to a domestic relations order from a section 457 plan. (Sec. 426) Modifies provisions for safe harbor relief for hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Directs the Secretary to reduce from 12 months to six months the period during which an employee is prohibited from making elective contributions and employee contributions in order for a distribution to be deemed necessary to satisfy an immediate and heavy financial need. Provides that a hardship distribution made pursuant to plan terms is not an eligible rollover distribution. (Sec 427) Makes the ten percent excise tax on nondeductible contributions inapplicable to a nondeductible SIMPLE plan or a SIMPLE IRA solely because the contributions are not trade or business expenses. Subtitle D: Increasing Portability for Participants - Permits rollovers from and to various types of plans under the Code. (Sec. 432) Permits individual retirement plan (IRA) rollovers into workplace retirement plans only if certain conditions are met. (Sec. 433) Permits rollover of after-tax contributions in an exempt trust under specified conditions. (Sec. 434) Sets forth a hardship exception to the 60-day rule. Authorizes the Secretary to waive the 60-day rollover period if the failure to waive such requirement would be against equity or good conscience, including cases of casualty, disaster, or other events beyond the reasonable control of the individual subject to such requirement. (Sec. 435) Sets forth requirements for treatment of forms of distribution available under transferor and transferee plans under the Code and ERISA. (Sec. 436) Revises restrictions on distributions, including the same desk exception. Repeals business sale requirements. (Sec. 437) Authorizes trustee-to-trustee transfers to purchase permissive service credit with respect to governmental defined benefit plans. (Sec. 438) Allows employers to disregard rollovers for purposes of cash-out amounts, under retirement plan provisions of the Code. (Sec. 439) Revises minimum distribution and inclusion requirements for section 457 plans. Subtitle E: Strengthening Pension Security and Enforcement - Increases and repeals, for plan years beginning in 2004 and following years, the current liability full funding limit. (Sec. 442) Revises maximum contribution deduction rules. Applies such rules to all defined benefit plans. (Sec. 443) Allows an employer, in determining the amount of nondeductible contributions for any taxable year, to elect not to take into account any contributions to a defined benefit plan except to the extent that they exceed the full-funding limitation. (Sec. 444) Imposes an excise tax on a plan failing to provide required notice of a significant reduction in the rate of future benefit accrual. (Sec. 445) Makes certain compensation limitations for defined benefit plans inapplicable to governmental and multiemployer plans. Prohibits combining or aggregating a multiemployer plan with any other plan maintained by the employer for the purpose of applying such limitations. (Sec. 446) Amends the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 to protect investment of employee contributions to 401(k) plans by providing that specified requirements apply to elective deferrals for plan years beginning after December 31, 1998. (Sec. 447) Requires that pension benefit statements be furnished annually (once every three years for defined benefit plans) or on request. Allows written or electronic statements. Requires multiemployer plans to furnish a statement (written or electronic) on request. (Sec. 448) Imposes an excise tax on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) that engage in prohibited transactions with disqualified individuals who are deemed to be substantial shareholders of the corporation sponsoring the plan. Subtitle F: Reducing Regulatory Burdens - Revises requirements relating to timing of plan valuations. (Sec. 452) Allows applicable dividends of ESOPs to be reinvested without loss of dividend deduction. (Sec. 453) Repeals a transition rule relating to certain highly compensated employees under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. (Sec. 454) Directs the Secretary to modify certain regulations with respect to certain plan participation by employees of tax-exempt entities under the Code. (Sec. 455) Treats the provision of certain retirement planning services by an employer to an employee as a de minimis fringe benefit to the extent it is not treated as a working condition fringe. Prohibits including an amount in an employee's gross income solely because the employee may choose between any retirement planning fringe and compensation otherwise includible in gross income, providing such choices are available in a way that does not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees. (Sec. 456) Directs the Secretary to provide simplified annual filing requirements for: (1) one-participant (an owner and spouse) retirement plans with assets below a specified amount; and (2) plans with fewer than 25 employees. (Sec. 457) Directs the Secretary to continue to update and improve the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), or any successor program, giving special attention to: (1) increasing the awareness and knowledge of small employers concerning the availability and use of EPCRS; (2) taking into account special concerns and circumstances that small employers face with respect to compliance and correction of compliance failures; (3) extending the duration of the self-correction period under the Administrative Policy Regarding Self-Correction (APRSC) for significant compliance failures; (4) expanding the availability to correct insignificant compliance failures under APRSC during audit; and (5) assuring that any tax, penalty, or sanction that is imposed by reason of a compliance failure is not excessive and bears a reasonable relationship to the nature, extent, and severity of the failure. (Sec. 458) Repeals a multiple use test, and directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations, as necessary, including ones permitting appropriate aggregation of plans and contributions. (Sec. 459) Directs the Secretary to provide by regulation circumstances under which plans can use a facts and circumstances test, which was in effect before 1994, to satisfy nondiscrimination, coverage, and line of business rules. (Sec. 460) Exempts plans maintained by any governmental entity from certain nondiscrimination rules. (Sec. 461) Directs the Secretary to modify specified regulations to require: (1) that the applicable distribution notice period be not more than 180 (currently 90) and not less than 30 days before the date distribution commences; and (2) the description of a participant's right, if any, to defer receipt of a distribution include a description of the consequences of failing to defer such receipt. (Sec. 462) Revises ERISA requirements for annual report dissemination. (Sec. 463) Revises ERISA provisions concerning the National Summit on Retirement Savings. (Sec. 454) Requires a study concerning the effects of this Act on pension coverage. Subtitle G: Other ERISA Provisions - Amends ERISA to revise requirements relating to missing participants. Directs the PBGC to prescribe rules relating to missing participants for multiemployer plans covered by the PBGC that terminate. Allows the administrator of a plan not otherwise subject to such PBGC regulation to elect to transfer a missing participant's benefits to the PBGC upon termination of the plan, under specified conditions. (Sec. 472) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 to provide that, during the first five years of a new single-employer plan of a small employer (100 or fewer employees), the flat rate Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PGBC) premium will be five dollars per plan participant. (Sec. 473) Provides for a reduced additional PGBC variable premium for new employers. (Sec. 474) Authorizes the PBGC to pay, subject to regulations, interest on the amount of any overpayment of premium refunded to a designated payor. (Sec. 475) Amends ERISA, with respect to limitations on the guarantee of single-employer plan benefits, to rename a "substantial owner" a "majority owner," who owns either the entire interest in an unincorporated trade or business, or: (1) 50 percent or more (currently more than ten percent) of either the capital interest or the profits interest in a partnership; or (2) 50 percent or more (currently more than ten percent) in value of either the voting stock of a corporation or all its stock. Revises the formula for the amount of benefits guaranteed for a majority owner of a plan which is in effect for less than 60 months when the plan terminates. Prescribes priorities for the allocation of assets to benefits when the assets available for the initial allocation are insufficient to satisfy in full the accrued benefits of all the individuals derived from their contributions. (Sec. 476) Increases the amounts of multiemployer plan benefits guaranteed under ERISA. (Sec. 477) Changes from mandatory to discretionary the Secretary of Labor's authority to assess civil penalties against fiduciaries or other persons. Changes the penalty amount from 20 percent of the applicable recovery amount to any amount up to 20 percent of the applicable recovery amount. Revises the meaning of applicable recovery amount. Makes a person jointly and severally liable for the penalty to the same extent that such person is jointly and severally liable for the applicable recovery amount on which the penalty is based. Conditions the assessment of any penalty upon notice to the person and the opportunity for a hearing on the violation and the applicable recovery amount. (Sec. 478) Directs the Secretary of Labor to modify a certain regulation concerning benefit suspension notification in the case of an employer returning to work for a former employer. Subtitle H: Plan Amendments - Prescribes time requirements for plan amendments. Title V: School Construction Provisions - Increases the amount by which certain governmental bonds used to finance public school capital expenditures may be exempted from specified arbitrage bond provisions. (Sec. 502) Modifies arbitrage rebate rules applicable to public school construction bonds. (Sec. 503) Amends the Tax Reform Act of 1984 to revise the special arbitrage rule. (Sec. 504) Provides for the treatment of qualified public educational facility bonds as exempt facility bonds. Defines a "qualified public educational facility" as any school facility which is: (1) part of a public elementary school or a public secondary school; and (2) owned by a private, for-profit corporation pursuant to a public-private partnership agreement with a State or local educational agency. Provides for an exception from the State volume cap. (Sec. 505) Permits a tax credit to an eligible taxpayer holding a qualified zone academy bond. Defines such a bond. Sets a national zone academy bond limitation. Title VI: Community Revitalization - Subtitle A: Tax Incentives for Renewal Communities - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to designate (upon local or State nomination) up to 40 renewal communities, of which at least 12 shall be in rural areas. Requires for nomination purposes that: (1) the area be experiencing high rates of poverty and unemployment and general distress; and (2) State and local governments enter into written contracts with community organizations to promote specified economic growth and employment activities. Excludes from gross income capital gains on the sale or exchange of a qualified community asset (stock, business property, or partnership interest) held for more than five years. Allows: (1) a renewal community employment credit; (2) a commercial revitalization deduction; (3) increased expensing for renewal community business assets; and (4) the work opportunity credit for hiring youth residing in renewal communities. Subtitle B: Extension and Expansion of Empowerment Zone Incentives - Provides for the designation of additional empowerment zones and increased empowerment zone tax incentives. Subtitle C: New Markets Tax Credi t- Establishes a new markets tax credit with respect to specified qualified low-income community investments. Sets a national new markets tax credit limitation. Subtitle D: Improvements in Low-Income Housing Credit - Amends the Code, with respect to the low-income housing credit, to revise the formula for the State housing credit ceiling. Provides for cost-of-living adjustments to the State ceiling. (Sec. 632) Revises the housing priority selection criteria a housing credit agency must use to develop a qualified plan for allocating housing credit dollar amounts among projects. Requires such criteria to include: (1) whether the project would use existing housing as part of a community revitalization plan; (2) tenant populations of individuals with children; and (3) projects intended for eventual tenant ownership. Drops from such criteria participation of local tax-exempt organizations. Requires a qualified allocation plan to give preference in making allocations to projects located in qualified census tracts whose development contributes to a concerted community revitalization plan. (Sec. 633) Requires housing credit agencies to: (1) provide for a comprehensive market study (by a disinterested party, at the developer's expense) of the housing needs of low-income individuals in the area to be served by the project before the credit allocation is made; and (2) make public a written explanation for any allocation of a housing credit dollar amount not made in accordance with the agency's established priorities and selection criteria. (Sec. 634) Revises special rules for the determination of the adjusted basis of buildings eligible for the low-income housing credit. Requires adjusted basis to include property used throughout the taxable year in providing any community service facility designed to serve primarily individuals (even if they are not tenants) whose income is 60 percent or less of area median income. Declares that assistance under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 shall be disregarded in determining whether a building is federally subsidized for purposes of the low-income housing credit. (Sec. 635) Revises the definition of a qualified building (placed in service not later than the second calendar year following a housing credit dollar amount allocation) with respect to which the amount of a low-income housing credit may exceed the credit amount allocated to the building. Sets an alternative date for valuation of the taxpayer's actual basis in the project of which the building is a part (where the actual basis is more than ten percent of the taxpayer's reasonably expected basis). Allows the valuation of the actual basis to be as of the later of the date which is six months after the date that the allocation was made or (as currently) the close of the calendar year in which the allocation is made. Revises the formula for determination of the amount of State housing credit ceiling returned in a calendar year to include the dollar amount previously allocated to a project which fails to meet the ten percent test on a date after the close of the calendar year in which the allocation was made. Revises special rules for the increased basis of a building located in certain high cost areas to redefine a qualified census tract to include, as an alternative to existing criteria, a tract with a poverty rate of at least 25 percent. (Sec. 636) Revises the formula for determining unused housing credit carryovers allocated among certain States. Subtitle E: Other Community Renewal and New Markets Assistance - Amends the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997 to direct the Secretary to transfer ownership of qualified HUD-held properties (substandard or unoccupied multifamily or unoccupied single family properties) to local governments and community development corporations under specified conditions. Requires such properties to be held by HUD for at least six months. (Sec 642) Directs the Secretary, upon request of the appropriate jurisdiction, to designate as a revitalization area all portions of such jurisdiction meeting the necessary criteria. (Sec. 643) Revises the current demonstration mortgage reinsurance program to: (1) make such program a risk-sharing program served by private mortgage insurers and insured community development financial institutions (as defined by this Act); (2) enlarge the program to four administrative areas; and (3) require such entities to assume a secondary percentage of loss of an insured mortgage. (Sec. 644) Permits a religious organization to receive Federal funding through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Prohibits funding discrimination against such an organization so long as its program is implemented in a manner consistent with the Establishment Clause of the first amendment to the Constitution. Subtitle F: Other Provisions - Provides for an accelerated phase-in of specified increases in the volume cap on private activity bonds. (Sec. 652) Repeals the targeted area limitation on the expense deduction for environmental remediation costs and to extend the termination date of such deduction from December 31, 2001, to June 30, 2003. (Sec. 653) Extends the DC homebuyer tax credit for two additional years. Title VII: Administrative, Miscellaneous, and Technical Provisions - Subtitle A: Administrative Provisions - Sets forth various administrative provisions, including provisions concerning: (1) the exemption of certain reporting requirements; (2) the extension of deadlines for IRS compliance with certain notice requirements; (3) the extension of authority for undercover operations; (4) confidentiality of certain documents relating to closing and similar agreements and to agreements with foreign governments; (5) an increase in the threshold for Joint Committee reports on refunds and credits; (6) the treatment of missing children with respect to certain tax benefits; and (7) the prevention of the duplication of loss through the assumption of liabilities giving rise to a deduction. Subtitle B: Miscellaneous Provisions - Repeals the: (1) 4.3-cent motor fuel excise taxes on railroads and inland waterway transportation which remain in general fund; (2) reduction of deductions for mutual life insurance companies; and (3) policyholders surplus account provisions. Sets forth provisions concerning, among other things: (1) a credit to holders of qualified Amtrak bonds; (2) farm, fishing, and ranch risk management accounts; (3) the extension of the enhanced deduction for corporate donations of computer technology; (4) relief from Federal tax liability arising with respect to certain claims against the Department of Agriculture for discrimination in farm credit and benefit programs; (5) the expansion of the credit for adoption expenses; and (6) the treatment of Indian tribal governments under Federal Unemployment Tax Act. Subtitle C: Technical Corrections - Makes amendments to the: (1) Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999; (2) Tax and Trade Relief Extension Act of 1998; (3) Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998; (4) Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997; (5) Balanced Budget Act of 1997; (6) Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996; and (7) Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990. Subtitle D: Pay-Go Adjustments - Sets forth pay-go adjustment provisions.
Bill· HRH.R. 5551 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Basic Access to Secure Health Insurance Coverage Health Plan (BASIC Health Plan) Act - Title I: Affordable Health Insurance for Parents and Children - Amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (Children's Health Insurance) (CHIP) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) require State Medicaid plans to provide that the State will provide medical assistance or health coverage under CHIP for certain families in accordance with specified conditions; and (2) require, with respect to a State that does not provide such medical assistance for such families, to provide health coverage under CHIP for them through an amendment to its State CHIP plan. Provides for enhancing matching Medicaid and CHIP funds for medical and for child health assistance. (Sec. 101) Makes the CHIP program into a permanent entitlement program, and makes necessary appropriations. (Sec. 102) Amends SSA titles XIX and XXI to require a State to provide Medicaid for aliens lawfully residing in the United States and otherwise eligible for such assistance. (Sec. 103) Amends SSA titles XIX and XXI to provide Medicaid and CHIP coverage of children through age 20 (currently, through age 19). (Sec. 104) Amends SSA title XIX to: (1) establish State requirements for determining the eligibility of individuals under age 20 for Medicaid in the case of States with a State CHIP plan; (2) qualify additional entities to determine Medicaid presumptive eligibility for pregnant women; and (3) provide for automatic reassessment of CHIP and Medicaid eligibility for children losing it. Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require provision of Medicaid and CHIP applications and information under the school lunch program. (Sec. 105) Amends SSA title XXI to: (1) include vision, hearing, and dental services for children as basic services required for benchmark-equivalent coverage; and (2) prohibit limitation on the scope or the duration for Federal Employees' Health Benefit Program-equivalent children's health insurance coverage. (Sec. 106) Amends SSA title XIX with regard to assuring coverage for certain low-income families to provide for elimination of the 100 hour rule and other Aid to Families and Dependent Children program-related eligibility restrictions. (Sec. 107) Amends SSA title XXI with respect to payments to States to impose restrictions on expenditures for marketing activities in order for them to be considered reasonable costs to administer the State's CHIP plan. Amends SSA titles XIX and XXI to prohibit payment to the States with respect to any amounts expended for an entity that receives payments under the State Medicaid or CHIP plan unless: (1) no person with an ownership or control interest in the entity is a person that is debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from participating in procurement or non-procurement activities under the Federal Acquisition Regulation; and (2) such entity has not entered into an employment, consulting, or other agreement with such a person for items or services material to its plan obligations. (Sec. 108) Authorizes the Secretary to award demonstration grants to up to seven States (or other qualified entities) to conduct innovative programs designed to improve outreach to homeless individuals and families under such programs and their provision of services. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Access to Affordable Care for all Americans - Amends SSA title XIX to require State Medicaid plans to extend Medicaid to certain single individuals not otherwise eligible for medical assistance whose income is at least a certain percentage of the poverty line for each fiscal year beginning with FY 2003 through 2008. Amends SSA title XXI with respect to require similar coverage under CHIP for certain single individuals. Title III: Additional Provisions - Amends SSA title XIX to require each State with an approved Medicaid plan to make Medicaid or CHIP available to any individual or family with income exceeding 300 percent of the poverty line through payment of a premium determined in accordance with specified guidelines. Amends SSA title XXI to make CHIP available through premium payments to an individual or family for whom a State does not make such coverage available. Requires a covered employer to inform each employee who is not eligible for the employer's health benefits coverage of the opportunity to purchase such health benefits coverage under Medicaid or CHIP.
Bill· HRH.R. 5543 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 - Title I: Medicare Beneficiary Improvements - Subtitle A: Improved Preventive Benefits - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for coverage of: (1) biennial (currently, triennial) screening pap smear and pelvic exams; (2) screening for glaucoma for high-risk individuals; and (3) screening colonoscopy for average risk individuals. (Sec. 104) Revises provisions for payments and standards for screening mammography. Outlines payment for certain screening mammographies that use a specified new technology. (Sec. 105) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for coverage of specified medical nutrition therapy services for certain beneficiaries with diabetes or a renal disease. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to report to Congress any recommendations with respect to the expansion to other Medicare beneficiary populations of such medical nutrition therapy services benefit. Subtitle B: Other Beneficiary Improvements - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to the prospective payment system(PPS) for hospital outpatient department (ODP) services, reducing the upper limit on beneficiary copayment. (Sec. 111) Directs the Comptroller General to evaluate and report to Congress on the extent to which the premium levels for Medicare supplemental (Medigap) policies reflect the reductions in copayment resulting from this subtitle. (Sec. 112) Amends SSA title XVIII to include as "medical and other health services," for coverage purposes, drugs and biologicals which are not usually self-administered by the patient (currently, drugs and biologicals which cannot be self-administered). (Sec. 113) Eliminates the time limitation on Medicare benefits for immunosuppressive drugs. (Sec. 114) Provides for the imposition of billing limits on prescription drugs. Subtitle C: Demonstration Projects and Studies - Directs the Secretary to conduct a demonstration project with respect to the impact on costs and on health outcomes of applying disease management to eligible Medicare beneficiaries with diagnosed, advanced-stage congestive heart failure, diabetes, or coronary heart disease. (Sec. 122) Directs the Secretary to conduct demonstration projects for the purpose of developing models and evaluating methods that: (1) improve the quality of items and services provided to target individuals in order to facilitate reduced disparities in early detection and treatment of cancer; (2) improve clinical outcomes, satisfaction, quality of life, and appropriate use of Medicare-covered services and referral patterns among those target individuals with cancer; (3) eliminate disparities in the rate of preventive cancer screening measures among target individuals; and (4) promote collaboration with community-based organizations to ensure cultural competency of health care professionals and linguistic access for persons with limited English proficiency. Directs the Secretary to: (1) evaluate best practices in the private sector, community programs, and academic research of methods that reduce disparities among individuals of racial and ethnic minority groups in the prevention and treatment of cancer; (2) design the demonstration projects based on such evaluation; and (3) implement at least nine such projects, including two for each of the four major racial and ethnic minority groups. Provides that if a report on the cost-effectiveness of the demonstration projects contains an evaluation that they reduce or do not increase Medicare expenditures, reduce racial and ethnic health disparities in the quality of health care services provided to target individuals, and increase satisfaction of beneficiaries and health care providers, the Secretary shall continue the existing projects, and may expand their numbers. Provides for funding. (Sec. 123) Directs the Secretary to request the National Academy of Sciences to study and report to Congress on the addition of Medicare coverage of routine thyroid screening using a thyroid stimulating hormone test as a preventive benefit. (Sec. 124) Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) to study and report to Congress on the use of consumer coalitions in the marketing of Medicare+Choice (Medicare part C (Medicare+Choice) plans. (Sec. 125) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on whether access to certain services (including mental health services) for qualified Medicare beneficiaries has been affected by limitations on a State's payment for Medicare cost-sharing for such beneficiaries. (Sec. 126) Directs the Secretary to contract with the Institute of Medicine to study and report to Congress and the Secretary on the appropriateness of waiving the 24-month waiting period for Medicare disability eligibility for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other similar diseases. (Sec. 127) Requires the Secretary to conduct a series of studies for a report to Congress identifying preventive interventions most valuable to older Americans that can be delivered in the primary care setting. Amends the mission statement of the United States Preventive Services Task Force to include the evaluation of services of particular relevance to older Americans. (Sec. 128) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to Congress on Medicare coverage of cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation therapy services. Title II: Rural Health Care Improvements - Subtitle A: Critical Access Hospital Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to special payment rules for particular items and services to: (1) prohibit the application of beneficiary cost-sharing under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) to clinical diagnostic laboratory services furnished as an outpatient critical access hospital service; (2) increase the amount a critical access hospital may elect to be paid for outpatient critical access hospital (OCAH) services with respect to the fee schedule payment for OCAH professional services; (3) direct the Secretary to cover the reasonable costs for emergency room on-call physicians; and (4) provide for the treatment of ambulance services furnished by certain critical access hospitals. (Sec. 203) Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to payment to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) for routine service costs to: (1) exempt critical access hospital swing beds from the SNF PPS; and (2) base payment on a reasonable cost basis for swing bed services furnished by critical access hospitals. (Sec. 206) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the eligibility requirements for Medicare critical access hospitals with respect to limitations on average length of stay and number of beds in such a hospital. Subtitle B: Other Rural Hospitals Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to payment to hospitals for inpatient hospital services to provide for: (1) application of a uniform threshold for urban and rural hospitals to be classified as disproportionate share hospitals (DSHs) for discharges occurring on or after April 1, 2001; (2) adjustment of payment formulas for various specified hospitals, including hospitals that are both sole community hospitals and rural referral centers for discharges occurring during such period; (3) establishment of the option to base eligibility for the Medicare dependent, small rural hospital program on discharges during two of the three most recently audited cost reporting periods; and (4) extension of the option to use rebased target amounts to all sole community hospitals. (Sec. 214) Directs MEDPAC, in its study of and report to Congress on rural providers under BBRA, to analyze the impact of volume on the per unit cost of rural hospitals with psychiatric units, and recommend whether special treatment for such hospitals may be warranted. Subtitle C: Other Rural Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to special payment rules for particular items and services to provide transitional assistance for providers of ambulance services in rural areas. (Sec. 221) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the: (1) cost of efficiently providing ambulance services for trips originating in rural areas; and (2) means by which rural areas with low population densities can be identified for the purpose of designating areas in which, because of low usage, the cost of providing ambulance services would be expected to be higher than similar services provided in more heavily populated areas. (Sec. 222) Amends SSA title XVIII part B with regard to the use of carriers for administration of benefits concerning payment for certain physician assistant services. (Sec. 223) Amends BBA'97 to: (1) set a time limit for Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services; and (2) provide for an expansion of Medicare payment for such services. Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on additional: (1) settings and sites for the provision of telehealth services; (2) practitioners that may be reimbursed for furnishing telehealth services; and (3) geographic areas in which telehealth services may be reimbursed. (Sec. 224) Amends SSA title XVIII part B to provide for expanding access to rural health clinics. (Sec. 225) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to Congress on the effect of low patient and procedure volume on the financial status of low-volume, isolated rural health care providers participating in Medicare. Title III: Provisions Relating to Part A - Subtitle A: Inpatient Hospital Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to revise the acute care hospital payment update for 2001, with a special rule for payment for FY 2001 for inpatient hospital services furnished by DSH hospitals. (Sec. 301) Directs the Secretary, when rebasing and revising the hospital market basket index, to consider the prices of blood and blood products purchased by hospitals and to determine whether those prices are adequately reflected in such index. Requires MEDPAC to study and report to Congress on: (1) any increased costs incurred by DSHs in providing inpatient hospital services to Medicare beneficiaries during the period from October 1, 1983, through September 30, 1999, that were attributable to complying with new blood safety measure requirements and providing such services using new technologies; (2) the extent to which the PPS for such services provides adequate and timely recognition of such increased costs; (3) the prospects for cost increases that hospitals will incur in providing such services that are attributable to complying with new blood safety measure requirements and providing such services using new technologies during the ten years after enactment of this Act; and (4) the feasibility and advisability of establishing mechanisms under such PPS to provide for more timely and accurate recognition of such cost increases in the future. Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to payment to hospitals for inpatient hospital services and updating previous standardized amounts to provide for: (1) an adjustment for inpatient case mix changes; (2) modification of the transition for indirect medical education percentage adjustment for DSHs; and (3) decreases in reductions for DSH payments. (Sec. 304) Provides for a three-year effective period for any decision of the Medicare Geographic Classification Review Board to reclassify a DSH for purposes of adjusting the diagnosis-related group (DRG) prospective payment rate for hospital wage level area differences for FY 2001 or any fiscal year thereafter. Requires the Secretary to establish procedures under which a DSH hospital may elect to terminate such reclassification before the end of such period. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a process under which an appropriate statewide entity may apply to have all the geographic areas in a State treated as a single geographic area for purposes of computing and applying the area wage index; and (2) provide for the collection of data every three years on occupational mix for employees of each DSH in the provision of inpatient hospital services in order to construct an occupational mix adjustment in the applicable hospital area wage index. (Sec. 305) Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to prospective payment for inpatient rehabilitation hospital services and: (1) assistance with administrative costs associated with completion of patient assessment; and (2) a rehabilitation facility election to apply full prospective payment rate without phase-in. (Sec. 306) Provides that, with respect to the inpatient services of psychiatric hospitals and certain psychiatric units, in making incentive payments to such hospitals for cost reporting periods from October 1, 2000, through October 1, 2001, the Secretary shall increase the percent of the target amount used in determining such payments. (Sec. 307) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for: (1) increased target amounts and caps for long-term care hospitals before implementation of the PPS required under the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 for payment for inpatient hospital services provided in long-term care hospitals; and (2) alternative implementation of such PPS by the Secretary based on the use of existing hospital DRGs that have been modified. Subtitle B: Adjustments to PPS Payments for Skilled Nursing Facilities - Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to payment to SNFs for routine service costs to revise updating requirements, among other changes eliminating the reduction in the skilled nursing facility market basket update in 2001. (Sec. 311) Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the adequacy of Medicare payment rates to SNFs and the extent to which Medicare contributes to the financial viability of such facilities. Requires the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the different systems for categorizing patients in Medicare SNFs in a manner that accounts for the relative resource utilization of different patient types. (Sec. 312) Directs the Secretary to increase the nursing component of the case-mix adjusted Federal prospective payment rate specified in the final rule published in the Federal Register by the Health Care Financing Administration on July 31, 2000, effective for services furnished on or after April 1, 2001, and before October 1, 2002. Requires the Comptroller General to conduct an audit for a report to Congress on nursing staffing ratios in a representative sample of Medicare SNFs. (Sec. 313) Amends SSA title XVIII to limit application of the SNF consolidated billing requirement to a period during which the resident is provided Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) covered post-hospital extended care services. Requires the Secretary to monitor payments made under Medicare part B for items and services furnished to SNF residents during a time in which they are not being provided Medicare covered post-hospital extended care services, in order to ensure that there is not duplicate billing for services or excessive services provided. (Sec. 314) Provides that, for purposes of computing payments for certain covered SNF services, the Secretary shall increase the adjusted Federal per diem rate for covered SNF services for specified RUG-III (resource utilization group) rehabilitation groups furnished to an individual during the period in which such individual is classified in such a RUG-III category. Directs the HHS Inspector General to review the Medicare payment structure for services classified within RUGs and report to Congress on whether payment incentives exist for the delivery of inadequate care. (Sec. 315) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a procedure for the geographic reclassification of a SNF for purposes of payment for covered SNF services under the PPS for SNFs for routine service costs. Subtitle C: Hospice Care - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for a full market basket increase for hospice care for FY 2001. (Sec. 322) Requires that the certification regarding an individual's terminal illness be based on the physician's or medical director's clinical judgment regarding the normal course of the illness. Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the appropriateness of requiring such a certification in order for an individual to receive hospice benefits under Medicare. (Sec. 323) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to Congress on the factors affecting the use of hospice benefits under Medicare program and differences in such use between urban and rural hospice programs and based upon the presenting condition of the patient. Subtitle D: Other Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for a reduction in Medicare part A late enrollment premium increases (penalty) for a qualified State or local government retiree group in the case where a State, a local government, or an agency or instrumentality of a State or local government, determines to pay, for the life of each individual in such a group, the monthly premiums due. Title IV: Provisions Relating to Part B - Subtitle A: Hospital Outpatient Services - Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to the PPS for hospital OPD services to provide for: (1) a full market basket increase for such services for 2001; (2) adjustment for service mix changes; (3) use of categories in determining eligibility of a device for pass-through payments; (4) application of OPD PPS transitional corridor payments to certain hospitals that did not submit a 1996 cost report; (5) treatment of children's hospitals under the PPS; and (6) inclusion of temperature monitored cryoablation in transitional pass-through for certain medical devices, drugs, and biologicals under the PPS. (Sec. 404) Provides that, for purposes of making determinations of provider-based status under Medicare on or after October 1, 2000, any facility or organization that is treated as provider-based in relation to a hospital or critical access hospital under Medicare as of October 1, 2000: (1) shall continue to be treated as provider-based in relation to such hospital or critical access hospital under Medicare during the two year period beginning on October 1, 2000; and (2) the requirements, limitations, and exclusions specified in appropriate Federal regulations detailing requirements for a determination that a facility or an organization has provider-based status shall not apply to such facility or organization in relation to such hospital or critical access hospital until after the end of such two year period. Prohibits a facility or organization for which a determination of provider-based status in relation to a hospital or critical access hospital is requested during FY 2001 or 2002 from being treated as not having such status in relation to such a hospital for any period before a determination is made with respect to such status pursuant to such request and in making a determination with respect to such status for any facility or organization in relationship to such a hospital on or after October 1, 2000, the facility or organization shall be treated as satisfying any requirements and standards for geographic location in relation to such a hospital if the facility or organization: (1) satisfies appropriate Federal regulations pertaining to location in immediate vicinity or is located not more than 35 miles from the main campus of the hospital or critical access hospital; and (2) is owned and operated by a hospital or critical access hospital that meets specified criteria. Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Physicians' Services - Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on: (1) the appropriateness of furnishing in physicians' offices specialist physicians' services which are ordinarily furnished in hospital outpatient departments; and (2) the refinements to the practice expense relative value units during the transition to a resource-based practice expense system for physician payments under Medicare. (Sec. 412) Amends SSA title XVIII to require the Secretary to conduct demonstration projects to test and, if proven effective, expand the use of incentives to health care groups participating in Medicare that: (1) encourage coordination of the care furnished to individuals under Medicare parts A and B by institutional and other providers, practitioners, and suppliers of health care items and services; (2) encourage investment in administrative structures and processes to ensure efficient service delivery; and (3) reward physicians for improving health outcomes. (Sec. 413) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the current Medicare enrollment process for groups that retain independent contractor physicians with particular emphasis on hospital-based physicians. Subtitle C: Other Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for a one-year extension of the moratorium on certain physical therapy services caps. (Sec. 421) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the implications: (1) of eliminating the "in the room" supervision requirement for Medicare payment for services of physical therapy assistants supervised by physical therapists; and (2) of such requirement on the cap imposed under Medicare on physical therapy services. (Sec. 422) Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to Medicare coverage for end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients to increase the update for dialysis services furnished on or after January 1, 2001. Directs the Secretary to: (1) collect data and develop an ESRD market basket whereby the Secretary can estimate, before the beginning of a year, the percentage by which the costs for the year of the mix of labor and nonlabor goods and services included in the ESRD composite rate will exceed the costs of such mix for the preceding year; and (2) develop a system which includes in such composite rate, to the maximum extent feasible, payment for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests and drugs that are routinely used in furnishing dialysis services to Medicare beneficiaries, but which are currently separately billable by renal dialysis facilities. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the access of Medicare beneficiaries to renal dialysis services. (Sec. 423) Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to payment for ambulance services to provide for: (1) restoration of the full consumer price index (CPI) increase for 2001; and (2) continued phase-in of the application of the payment rates under the ambulance services fee schedule in an efficient and fair manner; except that when the Secretary implements such fee schedule, such phase-in shall provide for full payment of any national mileage rate for ambulance services provided by suppliers that are paid by carriers in any of the 50 States where payment by a carrier for such services for all such suppliers in such State, before the fee schedule's implementation, did not include a separate amount for all mileage within the county from which the beneficiary is transported. (Sec. 424) Prohibits the Secretary from implementing a revised PPS for services of ambulatory surgical facilities before January 1, 2002. Amends BBRA with respect to the phase-in of the PPS for ambulatory surgical centers to: (1) extend the phase-in to four years; and (2) direct the Secretary, by January 1, 2003, to incorporate data from a 1999 Medicare cost survey or a subsequent cost survey for purposes of implementing or revising such PPS. (Sec. 425) Amends SSA title XVIII, with respect to special payment rules for particular items and services, to provide for: (1) the full update for durable medical equipment, orthotics, and prosthetics in 2001; and (3) addition of special payment provisions and requirements for prosthetics and certain custom fabricated orthotic items. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) Ruling 96-1, issued on September 1, 1996, with respect to distinguishing orthotics from durable medical equipment under Medicare. (Sec. 428) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the replacement of, and payment for, prosthetic devices and parts. (Sec. 429) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress and the Secretary on the reimbursement for drugs and biologicals under the current Medicare payment methodology and for related services under Medicare part B, with recommendations for revised payment methodologies. Directs the Secretary to revise such payment methodology based on such recommendations. (Sec. 430) Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to the PPS for hospital OPD services to direct the Secretary to create additional groups of covered OPD services that classify separately those procedures that utilize contrast media from those that do not. (Sec. 431) Amends SSA title XVIII part D (Miscellaneous) to revise the qualifications for community mental health centers under provisions defining partial hospitalization services. (Sec. 432) Makes a hospital or a free-standing ambulatory care clinic, whether operated by the Indian Health Service or by an Indian tribe or tribal organization, eligible for payments for services for which payment is made under Medicare part B for physicians' services if and for so long as it meets all of the requirements which are applicable generally to such payments, services, hospitals, and clinics. (Sec. 433) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the effect on Medicare and on Medicare beneficiaries of coverage of surgical first assisting services of certified registered nurse first assistants. (Sec. 434) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to Congress on the appropriateness of: (1) the current Medicare payment rates for services provided by a certified nurse-midwife, a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner, and a clinical nurse specialist; and (2) Medicare coverage for services provided by a surgical technologist, a marriage counselor, a marriage and family therapist, a pastoral care counselor, and a licensed professional counselor of mental health. (Sec. 436) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on: (1) the costs of providing emergency and medical transportation services across the range of acuity levels of conditions for which such transportation services are provided; (2) the post-payment audit process under Medicare as such process applies to physicians; and (3) the aggregate effects of regulatory, audit, oversight, and paperwork burdens on physicians and other health care providers participating in Medicare. (Sec. 438) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to Congress on the barriers to coverage and payment for outpatient interventional pain medicine procedures under Medicare. Title V: Provisions Relating to Parts A and B - Subtitle A: Home Health Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for a one-year additional delay in the application of the 15 percent reduction on payment limits for home health services. (Sec. 501) Amends BBRA to delay for an additional year the 15 percent reduction in payment rates for home health services after implementation of the PPS. Requires the Comptroller General, instead of the Secretary (as currently required), to report to Congress an analysis of the need for such a reduction. Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to the PPS for home health services concerning the annual update to provide for an adjustment for case mix changes. (Sec. 502) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for restoration of the full home health market basket update for home health services for FY 2001. Establishes a special rule for payment under the PPS for home health services for FY 2001 based on adjusted prospective payment amounts. (Sec. 503) Provides for a temporary two-month extension of periodic interim payments under BBA '97 in the case of a home health agency receiving periodic interim payments as of September 30, 2000. (Sec. 504) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the use of telehealth in the delivery of home health services. (Sec. 505) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on variations in prices paid by home health agencies furnishing home health services under Medicare in purchasing nonroutine medical supplies and volumes if such supplies used determine the effect (if any) of variations on prices and volumes in the provision of such services. (Sec. 506) Provides that, in determining for Medicare purposes whether an office of a home health agency constitutes a branch office or a separate home health agency, neither the time nor distance between a parent office of the home health agency and a branch office shall be the sole determinant of a home health agency's branch office status. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the provision of adequate supervision to maintain quality of home health services delivered under Medicare in isolated rural areas. (Sec. 507) Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to the Medicare home health benefit to declare that absences from home to receive medical treatment shall not disqualify an individual from such benefit. Directs the Comptroller General to evaluate and report to Congress on the effect of such amendment on the cost of and access to home health services under Medicare. Subtitle B: Direct Graduate Medical Education - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for an increase in the floor for direct graduate medical education payments for FY 2002. (Sec. 512) Changes the distribution formula for Medicare+Choice-related nursing and allied health education costs. Subtitle C: Changes in Medicare Coverage and Appeals Process - Amends SSA title XVIII to revise the Medicare appeals process. Provides for initial determinations of entitlement and benefits by the Secretary, by a utilization and quality control peer review organization, or by an independent contractor. Provides for redeterminations of denied benefit claims. Specifies appeals rights. (Sec. 522) Provides for the review of coverage determinations under the Medicare appeals process. Amends SSA title XI to require any advisory committee on certain Medicare coverage exclusions to: (1) assure the full participation of a nonvoting member in its deliberations; and (2) provide such nonvoting member access to all information and data (with certain exceptions) made available to the committee's voting members. Provides that, if such committee organizes into panels of experts according to types of items or services, any such panel may report directly to the Secretary without prior approval. Subtitle D: Improving Access to New Technologies - Amends SSA title XVIII to establish a new payment rule for any clinical diagnostic laboratory test performed on or after January 1, 2001, that is a new test for which no limitation amount has previously been established. (Sec. 531) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish procedures for coding and payment determinations for the categories of new clinical diagnostic laboratory tests and new durable medical equipment under Medicare part B that permit public consultation in a manner consistent with the procedures established for implementing coding modifications for ICD-9-CM; and (2) report to Congress on the specific procedures used under Medicare part B to adjust payments for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests and durable medical equipment which are classified to existing codes where, because of a technology advance, there has been a significant increase or decrease in the resources used in the test or in the manufacture of the equipment, and a significant improvement in test or equipment performance. (Sec. 532) Directs the Secretary to: (1) maintain and continue through December 31, 2003, the use of level III codes of the HCPCS (HCFA Common Procedure Coding System) coding system (as such system was in effect on August 16, 2000); and (2) make such codes publicly available. (Sec. 533) Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to Congress on methods of expeditiously incorporating new medical services and technologies into the clinical coding system used with respect to Medicare payment for inpatient hospital services, together with a detailed description of the Secretary's preferred methods to achieve this purpose; and (2) implement such preferred methods. Amends SSA title XVIII to direct the Secretary to establish a mechanism to recognize the costs of new medical services and technologies with respect to inpatient hospital services under the hospital reimbursement control system. Subtitle E: Other Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII to reduce from 45 percent to 30 percent the reduction in the amount of bad debts otherwise treated as allowable costs attributable to the deductibles and coinsurance amounts under Medicare for FY 2001 and subsequent fiscal years in determining the reasonable costs of outpatient hospital services. (Thus increases by 15 percent the amount that may be reimbursed.) (Sec. 542) Provides for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under Medicare. Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the effects of this treatment on hospitals and laboratories and access of fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries to the technical component of physician pathology services. (Sec. 543) Amends SSA title XI to make permanent the authority for the Secretary to issue written advisory opinions under provisions for guidance regarding application of health care fraud and abuse sanctions. (Sec. 544) Amends SSA title XVIII to make various specified changes in annual MEDPAC reporting with regard to revision of deadlines for submission of reports and on the record votes on recommendations. (Sec. 545) Directs the Secretary to submit to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a report on the development of standard instruments for the assessment of the health and functional status of patients, for whom specified items and services are furnished, and include in the report a recommendation on the use of such standard instruments for payment purposes. (Sec. 546) Directs the Comptroller General to report to specified congressional committees on the effect of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act on hospitals, emergency physicians, and physicians covering emergency department call throughout the United States. Title VI: Provisions Relating to Part C (Medicare+Choice Program) and Other Medicare Managed Care Provisions - Subtitle A: Medicare+Choice Payment Reforms - Amends SSA title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) with regard to payments to Medicare+Choice organizations to: (1) increase the minimum payment amount for 2001 for certain areas; (2) increase the minimum percentage increase for 2001; and (3) provide for a ten-year phase in of risk adjustment. (Sec. 604) Provides for a transition to revised Medicare+Choice payment rates. (Sec. 605) Amends SSA title XVIII part C to provide for revision of payment rates for ESRD patients enrolled in Medicare+Choice plans. (Sec. 606) Amends SSA title XVIII part C with regard to premiums to permit Medicare part B premium reductions as additional benefits under Medicare+Choice plans. (Sec. 607) Amends SSA title XVIII part C with regard to payments to Medicare+Choice organizations to: (1) ensure full implementation of risk adjustment methodology for congestive heart failure enrollees for 2001; and (2) provide for the expansion of the application of Medicare+Choice's new entry bonus. (Sec. 609) Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on a method to phase-in the costs of military facility services furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and those furnished by the Department of Defense, to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries in the calculation of an area's Medicare+Choice capitation payment. Subtitle B: Other Medicare+Choice Reforms - Amends SSA title XVIII part C to provide for payment of additional amounts for new Medicare+Choice benefits covered during a contract term. (Sec. 612) Prohibits the Secretary from implementing, other than at the beginning of a calendar year, regulations that impose, significant regulatory requirements on a Medicare+Choice organization or plan. (Sec. 613) Provides for timely approval of marketing material that follows model marketing language, and for avoiding duplicative regulation with respect to plan requirements. (Sec. 615) Provides that, in the case of a Medicare+Choice organization that offers a Medicare+Choice plan in an area in which more than one local coverage policy is applied with respect to different parts of the area, the organization may elect to have the local coverage policy for the part of the area that is most beneficial to Medicare+Choice enrollees apply with respect to all Medicare+Choice enrollees enrolled in the plan. (Sec. 616) Requires: (1) the quality assurance program under the Medicare+Choice program to include a separate focus on racial and ethnic minorities; and (2) the Secretary to submit to Congress a report regarding how such quality assurance programs focus on racial and ethnic minorities. (Sec. 617) Authorizes the Secretary to waive or to modify requirements that hinder the design of, the offering of, or enrollment in Medicare+Choice plans under contracts between Medicare+Choice organizations and employers, labor organizations, or the trustees of a fund established by one or more employers or labor organizations (or combination thereof) to furnish benefits to the entity's employees, former employees (or combination thereof) or to members or former members (or combination thereof) of the labor organizations. (Sec. 618) Amends SSA title XVIII part D with regard to special Medigap enrollment anti-discrimination provision for certain beneficiaries. (Sec. 619) Amends SSA title XVIII part C to restore the effective date of elections and changes of elections of Medicare+Choice plans. (Sec. 620) Permits ESRD beneficiaries to enroll in another Medicare+Choice plan if the plan in which they are enrolled is terminated. (Sec. 621) Provides that, in covering post-hospital extended care services, a Medicare+Choice plan shall provide for such coverage through a home SNF if: (1) the enrollee elects to receive such coverage through such SNF; and (2) the SNF has a contract with the Medicare+Choice organization for the provision of such services, or the SNF agrees to accept substantially similar payment under the same terms and conditions that apply to similarly situated SNFs under contract with the Medicare+Choice organization through which the enrollee would otherwise receive such services. Requires a MEDPAC report to Congress on the effects of such requirements. (Sec. 622) Directs HCFA's Chief Actuary to review the actuarial assumptions and data used by the Medicare+Choice organization with respect to such rates, amounts, and values to determine the appropriateness of such assumptions and data. Subtitle C: Other Managed Care Reforms - Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to provide for a one-year extension of the social health maintenance organization (SHMO) demonstration project authority. (Sec. 632) Amends BBRA to provide for revised terms and conditions for extension of Medicare community nursing organization (CNO) demonstration project. (Sec. 633) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to provide for a two-year extension of Medicare municipal health services demonstration projects. (Sec. 634) Amends SSA title XVIII part D with regard to payments to health maintenance organizations and competitive medical plans and service area expansion for Medicare cost contracts during transition period. Title VII: Medicaid - Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) with respect to adjustment in payment for inpatient hospital services furnished by DSH hospitals and the limit on Federal financial participation to provide for: (1) increased allotments for FY 2001 and 2002; and (2) a special rule for Medicaid DSH allotment for extremely low DSH States. (Sec. 701) Amends SSA title XIX with respect to adjustment in payment for inpatient hospital services furnished by DSH hospitals and Medicaid provisions relating to managed care to provide for identification of patients for purposes of making DSH payments. Provides, during a specified period, for application of Medicaid DSH transition rule under BBA '97 to public hospitals in all States, except California. States that beginning with FY 2002, and subject to a specified limitation on expenditures, with respect to a State, payment adjustments made under Medicaid to a specified hospital shall be made without regard to the DSH allotment limitation for the State. Directs the Secretary to implement accountability standards to ensure that Federal funds provided with respect to DSH adjustments made under Medicaid provisions for adjustment in payment for inpatient hospital services furnished by DSH are used to reimburse States and hospitals eligible for such payment adjustments for providing uncompensated health care to low-income patients. (Sec. 702) Amends SSA title XIX to create a new PPS for Federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics. Directs the Comptroller General to provide for a study and report to Congress on the need for, and how to, rebase or refine costs for making Medicaid payment for services provided by Federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics. (Sec. 703) Amends SSA XI to establish an approval process for a State's application for an extension of any State-wide comprehensive demonstration project for which a waiver of compliance with Medicaid requirements is granted. (Sec. 704) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 with respect to Medicaid county-organized health systems. (Sec. 705) Directs the Secretary to issue a final regulation based on the proposed rule announced on October 5, 2000, that: (1) modifies the upper payment limit test applied to State Medicaid spending for inpatient hospital services, outpatient hospital services, nursing facility services, intermediate care facility services for the mentally retarded, and clinic services by applying an aggregate upper payment limit to payments made to government facilities that are not State-owned or operated facilities; and (2) provides for a specified transition period. (Sec. 706) Prescribes a formula for the Federal medical assistance percentage for Alaska for purposes of SSA titles XIX and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP), which shall be applicable only for FY 2001 through 2005. Title VIII: State Children's Health Insurance Program - Amends SSA title XXI to: (1) establish a rule for redistribution and extended availability of unused FY 1998 and 1999 SCHIP allotments; (2) provide authority to pay Medicaid expansion SCHIP costs from SCHIP appropriations; (3) eliminate requirement to reduce SCHIP allotment by Medicaid expansion SCHIP costs; and (4) provide authority to transfer SCHIP appropriations to the Medicaid appropriation account as reimbursement for Medicaid expenditures for Medicaid expansion SCHIP services. Title IX: Other Provisions - Subtitle A: PACE Program - Amends BBA '97 with respect to programs of all-inclusive care for the elderly (PACE programs) to provide for an extension of transition for the current PACE demonstration project waiver authority. (Sec. 902) Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to payments to, and coverage of benefits under, PACE programs, and regulations and use of PACE protocol to provide for the continuation of modifications or waivers of operational requirements under demonstration status. (Sec. 903) Directs the Secretary to approve or deny a request for a modification or a waiver of provisions of the PACE protocol not later than 90 days after the Secretary receives the request, in order to provide flexibility in exercising waiver authority. Permits the Secretary to exercise authority to modify or to waive such provisions in a manner that responds promptly to the needs of PACE programs relating to areas of employment and the use of community-based primary care physicians in order to provide flexibility in exercising waiver authority. Subtitle B: Outreach to Eligible Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries - Amends SSA title XI to direct the Commissioner of Social Security to: (1) conduct outreach efforts to identify individuals entitled to Medicare benefits who may be eligible for medical assistance for payment of the cost of Medicare cost-sharing under Medicaid; and (2) notify such individuals of the availability of such medical assistance. (Sec. 911) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the impact of such outreach efforts on the enrollment of individuals for Medicare cost-sharing under Medicaid. Subtitle C: Maternal and Child Health Block Grant - Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to increase the authorization of appropriations for the Maternal and Child Health Services block grant for FY 2001 and each fiscal year thereafter. Subtitle D: Diabetes - Amends the Public Health Service Act to increase FY 2001 through 2003 appropriations for special diabetes programs for children with type I diabetes and for special diabetes programs for Indians. (Sec. 931) Amends BBA '97 to extend the final report on diabetes grant programs. (Sec. 932) Amends the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act of 1998 to make appropriations to the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund for FY 2001.
Bill· HRH.R. 5547 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for the District of Columbia for FY 2001, including amounts for the Federal payments: (1) for District of Columbia Resident Tuition Support; (2) for incentives for adoption of children; (3) for the commercial revitalization program; (4) to the District of Columbia Public Schools; (5) for the Metropolitan Police Department; (6) to Covenant House Washington for a new community service center for homeless, runaway and at-risk youth; (7) to the District of Columbia Corrections Trustee Operations; (8) to the District of Columbia Courts; (9) to the Defender Services in District of Columbia Courts; (10) to the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (including transfer of funds); (11) to the Washington Interfaith Network for costs incurred in carrying out preconstruction activities at the former Fort Dupont Dwellings and Additions; (12) for a study and development of a plan to simplify the District government employee compensation system; (13) for construction of a Metrorail station to be located at New York and Florida Avenues, Northeast; (14) for Brownfield Remediation at Poplar Point; (15) to reimburse the District for expenses incurred in connection with presidential inauguration activities; (16) to the Children's National Medical Center; (17) to the Child Advocacy Center; (18) to the St. Coletta of Greater Washington, Inc. expansion project; and (19) to the District of Columbia Special Olympics. Appropriates specified sums out of the District's general fund (and other funds, in some cases) for the current fiscal year for: (1) operating expenses (with certain limits); (2) the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority (Authority); (3) governmental direction and support; (4) economic development and regulation; (5) public safety and justice; (6) the public education system; (7) human support services; (8) public works; (9) receivership programs; (10) replacement of funds expended during FY 2000 from the Reserve established by the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995; and (11) the emergency reserve fund established under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act by this Act. Provides funds for the purpose of restructuring the delivery of health services in the District of Columbia, provided the restructuring plan reduces personnel levels of D.C. General Hospital and of the Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) consistent with the reduction set forth in the August 25, 2000, PBC Board of Directors resolution. Appropriates funds for: (1) repayment of loans and interest; (2) repayment of general fund recovery debt; (3) payment of interest on short-term borrowing; (4) reimbursement for necessary expenses incurred in connection with presidential inauguration activities; (5) lease payments in accordance with the Certificates of Participation involving the land site underlying the building located at One Judiciary Square; (6) expenses associated with the John A. Wilson Building; (7) optical and dental insurance payments; (8) management supervisory service; (9) the implementation of a Cafeteria Plan; (10) the Water and Sewer Authority and the Washington Aqueduct; (11) the Lottery and Charitable Games Enterprise Fund; (12) the Sports and Entertainment Commission; (13) the District of Columbia Health and Hospitals Public Benefit Corporation; (14) the District of Columbia Retirement Board; (15) the Correctional Industries Fund; (16) the Washington Convention Center Enterprise Fund; and (17) capital outlay (including rescissions). Transfers specified funds to the Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund to be spent pursuant to local law. Requires the Mayor and District Council to make reductions of specified amounts for operational improvements savings and for management reform savings in local funds to one or more of the appropriation headings in this Act. Sets forth authorizations as well as limitations and prohibitions on the uses of appropriations under this Act, and directives to the Mayor, the Council, and the Board of Education identical with or similar to those in the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2000. (Sec. 104) Requires the Mayor to maintain an index of all employment personal services and consulting contracts (except collective bargaining agreements or related contracts) in effect on behalf of the District government, including severance clause information. (Sec. 129) Amends the District of Columbia School Reform Act to modify contracting requirements for public charter schools with respect to: (1) specify exceptions to the notice requirements for procurement contracts; and (2) submission of contracts to the eligible chartering authority. Provides that no provision of any law regarding the establishment, administration, or operation of District public charter schools shall apply if it duplicates or is inconsistent with such Act. Subjects a public charter school which offers a preschool or prekindergarten program to the same child care licensing requirements (if any) which apply to a District public school which offers such a program. Allows a public charter school to: (1) assign payments made to the school to a financial institution for use as collateral to secure a loan or for the repayment of a loan; (2) acquire goods and services through the General Services Administration (GSA) and participate in GSA programs in the same manner and to the extent as any District government entity; and (3) delegate to a nonprofit, District tax-exempt organization the school's authority to participate in such programs. (Sec. 123) Prohibits the expenditure of funds appropriated under this Act for abortions except where the mother's life would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in cases of rape or incest. (Sec. 124) Bars the use of funds made available by this Act to implement or enforce: (1) the District of Columbia Health Care Benefits Expansion Act of 1992 (also known as the District Domestic Partner Act); or (2) any system of registration of unmarried, cohabiting couples for purposes of extending them benefits on the same basis as such benefits are extended to legally married couples. (Sec. 126) Allows the Mayor to accept, obligate, and expend Federal, private, and other grants received by the District government that are not reflected in the amounts appropriated in this Act if the Chief Financial Officer reports to the Authority on detailed information regarding such grant, and the Authority approves such activity. Prohibits any obligation or expenditure from the general fund or other District government funds in anticipation of the approval or receipt of a Federal, private, or other grant not subject to this Act. (Sec. 129) Prohibits any D.C. government officer or employee from entering into a procurement agreement in excess of $2,500 on behalf of any D.C. government entity until the officer or employee has analyzed how procurement under D.C. government regulations and procedures would differ from procurement under the Federal supply schedule and other Government Services Administration regulations and procedures. (Sec. 131) Requires recipients of funds under this Act to comply with the Buy American Act. Expresses the sense of Congress that, to the greatest extent practicable, such funds should be used to purchase only American-made equipment and products. Declares a person ineligible to receive any contract made with funds provided under this Act if the person has been judicially determined to have intentionally affixed a "Made in America" label to a product that is not U.S.-made. (Sec. 134) Prohibits the use of funds contained in this Act to transfer or confine inmates classified above the medium security level, as defined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons classification instrument, to the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center located in Youngstown, Ohio. (Sec. 135) Amends Federal law to transfer from the Comptroller General of the United States to the District's Inspector General responsibility for the annual financial statement audit of the District's Highway Trust Fund. (Sec. 137) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for any program of distributing sterile needles or syringes for the hypodermic injection of any illegal drug. (Sec. 140) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act 60 days after its enactment to pay the salary of any chief financial officer of any District government office who has not filed a certification with the Mayor and the Chief Financial Officer that the officer understands the duties and restrictions applicable, including any duty to prepare certain requested reports. (Sec. 141) Requires the proposed FY 2002 budget of the District government to specify potential adjustments that might become necessary in the event that the management savings achieved by the District during the year do not meet the level of management savings projected. (Sec. 142) Requires any document showing the budget for a District government office that contains specified general, nondescriptive labels categorizing activities to include descriptions of the types of activities covered and a detailed breakdown of the amount allocated for each one. (Sec. 143) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act or any tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) derivative. Provides that the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998, also known as Initiative 59, approved by the electors of the District on November 3, 1998, shall not take effect. (Sec. 144) Authorizes the D.C. Mayor to allocate the District's limitation amount of qualified zone academy bonds among qualified zone academies within the District. (Sec. 145) Amends the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to treat the Trustee and employees of the Office of the Trustee and the Office of Adult Probation, the employees of the Office of Parole, and the employees of the Pretrial Services Agency as Federal employees solely for purposes relating to the Civil Service Retirement System, the Federal Employees Retirement System, life insurance, and health insurance. (Sec. 146) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Authority should quickly complete the sale of the Franklin School property which has been vacant for over 20 years. (Sec. 147) Declares that: (1) nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the Council or Mayor from addressing the issue of the provision of contraceptive coverage by health insurance plans; but (2) it is the intent of Congress that any legislation enacted on such issue should include a "conscience clause" which provides exceptions for religious beliefs and moral convictions. (Sec. 148) Repeals the Medical Examiner chapter of the District of Columbia Code. Makes such repeal effective on the date on which legislation enacted by the Council to establish the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the executive branch of the District government takes effect. (Sec. 149) Requires the Superior Court of the District or the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to assign interest on a voucher submitted by a court-appointed attorney for payment if the voucher is not paid within 45 days of its submission. (Sec. 150) Makes it unlawful for any person to distribute any needle or syringe for the hypodermic injection of any illegal drug in any area of the District of Columbia within 1000 feet of a public or private elementary or secondary school (including a public charter school). Specifies sites deemed outside or inside such 1000-foot perimeter. (Sec. 151) Appropriates a Federal contribution to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department upon enactment by the District of a specified law banning possession of tobacco products by individuals under age 18. (Sec. 152) Declares that nothing in this Act bars the District of Columbia Corporation Counsel from reviewing or commenting on briefs in private lawsuits, or from consulting with officials of the District government regarding such lawsuits. (Sec. 153) Declares that nothing in the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreements Act of 1977 may be construed to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from negotiating and entering into cooperative agreements and grants which affect real property of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia, if the principal purpose of the agreement or grant is to provide comparable benefits for Federal and Non-Federal properties in the District of Columbia. (Sec. 154) Amends the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to direct the District of Columbia to conduct its financial management in accordance with a comprehensive financial management policy covering cash, debt, financial asset, emergency reserve management policies, and a policy for determining real property tax exemptions for the District of Columbia. Prescribes procedures for: (1) annual review of the comprehensive management policy by the Chief Financial Officer; and (2) development of the first such policy. (Sec. 155) Amends the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to outline the duties of the Chief Financial Officer in a non-control year or following the lapse of the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority. (Sec. 156) Declares that employees of the District of Columbia government will only receive overtime compensation for time worked in excess of 40 hours per week. (Sec. 157) Authorizes the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency to continue to operate its ongoing drug-free workplace testing program during the period that its plan is being reviewed for approval by the Department of Health and Human Services. (Sec. 158) Requires the Mayor to report quarterly, beginning October 1, 2000, to specified congressional committees on the District's progress with respect to: (1) crime; (2) access to drug abuse treatment; (3) management of parolees and pre-trial violent offenders; (4) education; (5) improvement in basic District services, including rat control and abatement; (6) application for and management of Federal grants; and (7) indicators of child well-being. (Sec. 159) Amends the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to establish an interest-bearing emergency cash reserve fund into which the Mayor shall deposit an amount required to maintain a balance (by FY 2004, and incrementally until then) of at least four percent of the total budget appropriated for operating expenditures for the fiscal year which is derived from local funds. Requires full replenishment of the fund at the beginning of each fiscal year. Limits the use of the emergency reserve fund to unanticipated and non-recurring extraordinary needs of an emergency nature, including a natural disaster or calamity or unexpected obligations by Federal law. Prohibits use of such fund for: (1) District agency receiverships; (2) shortfalls in projected reductions in the District's proposed budgets; or (3) settlements and judgments by or against the District government. Establishes an interest- bearing contingency cash reserve fund into which the Mayor shall deposit an amount required to maintain a balance (by FY 2007, and incrementally during FY 2005 and 2006) of at least three percent of the total budget appropriated for operating expenditures for the fiscal year which is derived from local funds. Requires full replenishment of the fund at the beginning of each fiscal year. Limits the use of the fund to non-recurring or unforeseen needs arising during the fiscal year, including expenses associated with unforeseen weather or other natural disasters, unexpected obligations by Federal law or new public safety or health needs or requirements identified after the budget process has occurred, or opportunities to achieve cost savings. Allows use of the fund to cover revenue shortfalls experienced for cash receipts that are at least five percent below forecast for three consecutive months (based on a two-month rolling average). Prohibits use of such fund for shortfalls in projected reductions included in the District's proposed budgets. Conditions any use of the fund on the Chief Financial Officer's analysis of: (1) the availability of other sources of funding to carry out a particular allocation; and (2) the impact of such allocation on the balance and integrity of the fund itself. Amends the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995 to repeal current requirements for a positive reserve fund balance. (Sec. 160) Amends the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to authorize the City Council to delegate to the District of Columbia Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation the Council's authority to issue revenue bonds, notes, and other obligations used to finance capital projects which are secured by payments under the Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement. Waives the congressional review period for the Tobacco Settlement Financing Act of 2000. (Sec. 161) Amends the Student Loan Marketing Association Reorganization Act of 1996, as amended by the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2000, to provide a set aside of specified appropriations for a credit enhancement fund for grants to eligible nonprofit corporations and other specified entities for public charter schools in the District. (Sec. 162) Grants the D.C. Mayor exclusive authority to approve and execute leases of the Washington Marina and the Washington municipal fish wharf with the existing lessees for an initial term of 30 years and other terms and conditions the Mayor deems appropriate. (Sec. 163) Amends the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 to provide for transfer without consideration to Fairfax County, Virginia, of any property located south of Silverbrooke Road identified for educational uses in the County reuse plan. (Sec. 164) Amends the District of Columbia Procurement Practices Act of 1985 to allow the District's Inspector General to contract for the independent audit of the District's financial statements with an auditor who was a subcontractor to the independent auditor who audited the District's financial statements for the preceding fiscal year. (Sec. 165) Amends the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 to direct the Administrator of General Services to convey to Fairfax County, Virginia, fee simple title to the Laurel Hill Residential Land located at the Lorton Correctional Complex north of Silverbrooke Road, if by January 15, 2001, Fairfax County agrees to convey Meadowood Farm to the Secretary of the Interior. (Sec. 166) Amends the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2000 to authorize the Federal Highway Administration to conduct and perform specified 14th Street bridge work related to a project to complete design requirements for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act for the construction of expanded lane capacity for the 14th Street Bridge.
Bill· HRH.R. 5541 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) move the Hope and Lifetime Learning credits from subpart A (Nonrefundable Personal Credits) to subpart C (Refundable Credits); and (2) permit the use of a future refund of such credits as collateral for short-term student loans.
Bill· HRH.R. 5548 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the judiciary, and related agencies. Title I: Department of Justice - Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for the Department of Justice for: (1) general administration; (2) a Joint Automated Booking System; (3) conversion to narrowband communications; (4) counterterrorism activities; (5) payments of costs of telecommunications carriers in complying with capability requirements; (6) administration of pardon and clemency petitions and immigration-related activities; (7) establishment of a Federal Detention Trustee to exercise functions relating to the detention of Federal prisoners in non-Federal institutions or those in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and detention of aliens in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); (8) the Office of Inspector General; (9) the U.S. Parole Commission; (10) legal activities; (11) antitrust activities; (12) the Offices of U.S. Attorneys; (13) the U.S. Trustee Program; (14) the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission; (15) the U.S. Marshals Service, including amounts for Federal prisoner detention; (16) fees and expenses of witnesses; (17) the Community Relations Service; (18) certain uses of the Assets Forfeiture Fund; (19) administrative expenses related to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act; (20) the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund; (21) interagency law enforcement with respect to organized crime drug trafficking; (22) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (23) construction for specified agencies; (24) the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); (25) the INS; (26) the Federal prison system, including an amount for buildings and facilities; (27) Office of Justice programs; (28) State and local law enforcement assistance; (29) the Executive Office for Weed and Seed; (30) community oriented policing services; (31) juvenile justice programs; and (32) public safety officers' benefits. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. (Sec. 103) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this title to: (1) pay for abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or in the case of rape; or (2) require any person to perform or facilitate an abortion. (Sec. 109) Makes a provision of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 relating to grants for assistance to the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 applicable for FY 2001. (Sec. 111) Makes a certain provision of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 that prohibits the use of funds by any Act to pay premium pay to any Department of Justice attorney applicable hereafter. (Sec. 112) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish the Genealogy Fee for providing genealogy research and information services. Provides for deposit of the fee as offsetting collections in the Examinations Fee Account. Requires INS employees to collect fees before disseminating any requested genealogical information. Authorizes the Attorney General to establish and collect a premium fee for employment-based petitions and applications. Requires the fee to be used to provide certain premium-processing services to business customers and to make infrastructure improvements in the adjudications and customer-service processes. Provides for deposit of the fee as offsetting collections in the Immigration Examinations Fee Account. (Sec. 114) Amends Federal law to make amounts in the Crime Victims Fund available to the FBI for improving services for the benefit of crime victims in the Federal criminal justice system. (Sec. 115) Authorizes the use of funds appropriated to the Federal Prison System for the placement of certain prisoners sentenced under the District of Columbia Code in privately operated prisons. (Sec. 118) Bars the availability of funds for grant programs under this title to any local jail that runs "pay-to-stay" programs. Title II: Department of Commerce and Related Agencies - Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for the Department of Commerce for: (1) the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; (2) the International Trade Commission; (3) the International Trade Administration; (4) export administration and national security activities; (5) the Economic Development Administration; (6) minority business development; (7) economic and statistical analysis programs; (8) the Census Bureau; (9) the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; (10) public telecommunications facilities planning and construction grants; (11) information infrastructure grants; (12) the Patent and Trademark Office; (13) the Under Secretary for Technology-Office of Technology Policy; (14) the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including amounts for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Advanced Technology Program and for construction of new research facilities; (15) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including amounts for procurement, acquisition, and construction of capital assets and for coastal and ocean activities; (16) restoration of Pacific salmon populations; (17) the Coastal Zone Management Fund; (18) the Fishermen's Contingency Fund; (19) the Foreign Fishing Observer Fund; (20) the fisheries finance program account; (21) departmental management; and (22) the Office of Inspector General. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. (Sec. 210) Requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish and administer through the National Ocean Service the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program to award graduate education scholarships in marine biology, oceanography, or maritime archaeology. Title III: The Judiciary - Judiciary Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for: (1) the Supreme Court, including an amount for care of the building and grounds; (2) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; (3) the U.S. Court of International Trade; (4) the courts of appeals, district courts, and other judicial services; (5) defender services; (6) fees of jurors and commissioners; (7) court security; (8) the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; (9) the Federal Judicial Center; (10) judicial retirement funds; and (11) the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. (Sec. 304) Authorizes the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to designate judicial branch officers and employees to be disbursing officers and to certify payment requests from appropriations and funds. Sets forth provisions regarding liability of such officers and employees. (Sec. 305) Requires the President to appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, additional district judges for Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. (Sec. 306) Authorizes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to appoint a circuit executive. (Sec. 307) Includes judicial branch agencies under the scope of Federal civil service provisions that authorize employment of personal assistants for handicapped employees. (Sec. 308) Deems service performed before the effective date of this section by a member of the Supreme Court Police who is a member on such date to be service performed as a law enforcement officer for purposes of Federal civil service retirement provisions. Deems service performed before such effective date by a member of the Supreme Court Police who is not a member on such date to be employee service for purposes of such provisions. Sets forth provisions regarding mandatory separation of members eligible for immediate retirement and entitlement to annuities. (Sec. 309) Authorizes justices and judges of the United States during FY 2001 to receive salary adjustments only if annual pay adjustments under Federal civil service provisions take effect in FY 2001. Appropriates an amount for such adjustments, provided they take effect. Title IV: Department of State and Related Agency - Department of State and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2001 - Makes appropriations for the Department of State for: (1) administration of foreign affairs, diplomatic and consular programs; (2) the Capital Investment Fund; (3) the Office of Inspector General; (4) educational and cultural exchange programs; (5) representation allowances; (6) protection of foreign missions and officials; (7) embassy security, construction, and maintenance; (8) emergencies in the diplomatic and consular service; (9) the repatriation loans program account; (10) the American Institute in Taiwan; (11) the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund; (12) international organizations, conferences, peacekeeping, and commissions; (13) the Asia Foundation; (14) the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, Incorporated; (15) the Israeli Arab Scholarship Program; (16) the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West (East-West Center); and (17) the National Endowment for Democracy. Makes appropriations for the Broadcasting Board of Governors for international broadcasting operations, broadcasting to Cuba, and capital improvements. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title. (Sec. 403) Bars the use of funds made available in this Act by the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors to provide assistance to the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation. (Sec. 404) Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to require the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources to be appointed by the President. Makes such Deputy Secretary a Level II Executive Schedule position. (Sec. 405) Prohibits funds made available in this Act for the United Nations (UN) from being used by the UN for the enforcement of any treaty, resolution, or regulation authorizing the UN to tax any aspect of the Internet. (Sec. 406) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by any Act to allow for the entry into, or withdrawal from warehouse for consumption in the United States of diamonds if the country of origin in which such diamonds were mined (as evidenced by a legible certificate of origin) is Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Angola, with the exception of diamonds certified by lawful governments of Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Angola. (Sec. 407) Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act to authorize special agents of the Department of State and the Foreign Service to protect and perform protective functions related to maintaining the security and safety of: (1) a departing Secretary of State for a limited time period after termination of the individual's incumbency as Secretary on the basis of a threat assessment; and (2) an individual who has been designated as Secretary prior to such individual's appointment. Title V: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for the: (1) Maritime Administration for maritime security, operations and training, and the maritime guaranteed loan program; (2) Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad; (3) Commission on Civil Rights; (4) Commission on Ocean Policy; (5) Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; (6) Congressional-Executive Commission on the People's Republic of China; (7) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); (8) Federal Communications Commission (FCC); (9) Federal Maritime Commission; (10) Federal Trade Commission (FTC); (11) Legal Services Corporation; (12) Marine Mammal Commission; (13) Securities and Exchange Commission; (14) Small Business Administration (SBA), including amounts for the Office of Inspector General and business and disaster loans; and (15) State Justice Institute. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. Title VI: General Provisions - Sets forth limitations on the use of funds under this Act. (Sec. 607) Sets forth Buy American provisions. (Sec. 608) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act to: (1) enforce any EEOC guidelines covering harassment based on religion if such guidelines do not differ from proposed guidelines of October 1, 1993; (2) pay for costs incurred in operating certain diplomatic or consular posts in Vietnam or increasing the number of personnel assigned to such posts until the President makes a specified certification; or (3) provide specified personal comforts in the Federal prison system. (Sec. 609) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act for any United Nations undertaking if: (1) such undertaking is a peacekeeping mission and will involve U.S. armed forces under the control of a foreign national; and (2) the President's military advisors have not submitted a recommendation that such involvement is in the national security interest and the President has not submitted such recommendation to Congress. (Sec. 616) Makes funds provided by this Act unavailable to promote the sale or export of tobacco or tobacco products or to seek the reduction or removal by any foreign country of restrictions on the marketing of such products, except for restrictions which are not applied equally to products of the same type. (Sec. 617) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to issue visas to certain individuals from Haiti, including those involved in specified extrajudicial and political killings. (Sec. 618) Bars funds appropriated under any law from being used for: (1) the implementation of any tax or fee in connection with any criminal background check system that implements requirements under the Federal criminal code in connection with certain restrictions on the transfer of firearms; and (2) any such system that does not result in the destruction of information submitted by persons determined not to be prohibited from owning a firearm. (Sec. 621) Bars the use of funds appropriated in this Act for purposes of granting immigrant or nonimmigrant visas to residents of countries that the Attorney General has determined deny or unreasonably delay accepting the return of certain deportable aliens. (Sec. 622) Prohibits the use of funds made available to the Department of Justice in this Act for transporting any maximum or high security prisoner to any prison other than one certified by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as appropriately secure. (Sec. 623) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this Act to propose or issue rules or orders for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. (Sec. 624) Bars the use of funds made available by this Act for participation by U.S. delegates to the Standing Consultative Commission unless the President certifies to the Appropriations Committees that the U.S. Government is not implementing the Memorandum of Understanding Relating to the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems of May 26, 1972, entered into on September 26, 1997, by the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine or until the Senate provides its advice and consent to the Memorandum. (Sec. 625) Prohibits the availability of funds appropriated in this Act for the Department of State to approve the purchase of property in Arlington, Virginia, by the Xinhua News Agency. (Sec. 627) Amends the 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act to consider a taking of a Cook Inlet beluga whale under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to be a violation of such Act unless such taking occurs pursuant to a cooperative agreement between the National Marine Fisheries Service and affected Alaska Native organizations. (Currently, such act is considered a violation if it takes place between the enactment date of such Act and October 1, 2000.) (Sec. 628) Amends the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 to revise and extend the authorization of appropriations for activities related to the Pacific Salmon Treaty Agreement. Authorizes appropriations to provide economic adjustment assistance to fishermen pursuant to such agreement. (Sec. 629) Amends the Interstate Horseracing Act to include within the definition of "interstate off-track wager" pari-mutuel wagers placed or transmitted by an individual in one State via telephone or other electronic media and accepted by an off-track betting system in the same or another State as well as the combination of pari-mutuel wagering pools. (Sec. 630) Amends provisions of the Clayton Act to revise conditions under which a person is prohibited from acquiring voting securities or assets of another person prior to filing premerger notification and the expiration of a waiting period. Provides for graduated filing fees of up to $280,000, based on the amount of voting securities and assets held by the acquiring person as a result of the acquisition. (Currently, such fees are set at $45,000.) Directs the Assistant Attorney General and the FTC each to designate for hearing certain petitions a senior official without direct responsibility for the merger review process concerning the proposed acquisition at issue. Requires such officials to hear any petition filed with the FTC, by the acquiring person or by the person whose voting securities or assets are to be acquired, to determine: (1) whether a request for additional information or documentary material is unreasonably cumulative, unduly burdensome or duplicative; or (2) whether the request for such information or material has been substantially complied with by the petitioning person. Provides for an expedited merger review process of petitions filed with the FTC. Increases the number of days by which the waiting period may be extended from 20 to 30 days. (Sec. 631) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to take necessary measures to stabilize and renovate Lock and Dam 10 at Boonesborough, Kentucky, for extending the design life of the structure by an additional 50 years. (Sec. 632) Directs the FCC to modify its rules authorizing the operation of low-power FM radio stations to: (1) prescribe minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels (as well as co-channels and first- and second-adjacent channels); and (2) prohibit any applicant from obtaining a low-power FM license if such applicant has engaged in the unlicensed operation of any radio station in violation of FCC radio licensing requirements. Prohibits the FCC, without specific authorization by Congress, from: (1) eliminating or reducing such minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels; or (2) extending the eligibility for low-power FM stations beyond those organizations and entities proposed in MM Docket No. 99-25. Invalidates any previously issued low-power FM station license that does not comply with such rule modifications. Directs the FCC to conduct an experimental program to test whether low- power FM stations will result in harmful interference to existing FM radio stations if such stations are not subject to the minimum distance separation requirements. Requires the FCC to: (1) publish test results and allow an opportunity for public comment; and (2) report test results and FCC recommendations on reducing or eliminating minimum distance standards to specified congressional committees. (Sec. 633) Makes an additional amount available for SBA salaries and expenses. (Sec. 634) Prohibits the use of funds provided in this or any previous Act or made available to the Department of Commerce for the issuance or renewal, for any fishing vessel, of any general or harpoon category fishing permit for Atlantic bluefin tuna that would allow the vessel to: (1) use an aircraft to locate, or otherwise assist in fishing for, catching, or possessing such tuna; or (2) fish for, catch, or possess such tuna located by the use of an aircraft. Amy Boyer's Law - Amends the Social Security Act to bar the public display or sale of any individual's social security number, or any identifiable derivative of such number, without the expressed consent, electronically or in writing, of such individual. Prohibits obtaining a social security number for purposes of locating or identifying an individual with the intent to physically injure, harm, or use the identity of the individual for illegal purposes. Provides prerequisites for consent, including that the individual be informed of the general purposes for which the number will be utilized and the types of persons to whom the number may be available. Provides that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or limit display, sale, or use of social security numbers: (1) required under certain Federal laws; (2) by professional and commercial users who use the information in the normal course of their business so long as a number is not publicly displayed or sold; (3) for law enforcement; or (4) that may appear in a public record. Authorizes persons aggrieved by violations of this law to bring civil actions in district courts to recover damages. Prohibits actions from being commenced more than three years after the date the violation was or should have been reasonably discovered. Subjects violators to civil money penalties as determined by the Commissioner of Social Security in addition to any other penalties that may be prescribed. Prescribes criminal penalties for such violations under the Social Security Act. Requires the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the feasibility and advisability of imposing additional limitations on the use of social security numbers in public records. (Sec. 636) Prohibits the redesignation of Cuyahoga Valley National Park as a Class I area under the Clean Air Act. Title VII: Rescissions - Rescinds specified amounts for the DEA Drug Diversion Control Fee Account and the Maritime Administration maritime guaranteed loan program account. Title VIII: Debt Reduction and Other Matter - Provides for deposit of an additional amount into the account established to reduce the public debt. (Sec. 801) Requires the presiding officer of the Senate, on the first day of the 107th Congress, to apply all of the precedents of the Senate under rule XXVIII (conference committees, reports; open meetings) in effect at the conclusion of the 103rd Congress. Provides that there is now in effect a standing order of the Senate that the reading of conference reports is no longer required if the report is available in the Senate. Title IX: Wildlife, Ocean and Coastal Conservation - Makes an amount available to support activities that supplement existing funding available to the States and territories from the sport fish restoration and wildlife restoration accounts to be used for wildlife conservation and restoration plans and programs. (Sec. 902) Amends the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act to establish in the Federal aid to wildlife restoration fund a subaccount known as the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Account. Authorizes and allocates appropriations. Authorizes States to apply to the Secretary of the Interior for approval of a wildlife conservation and restoration program or for Account funds to develop a program. Prohibits the use of no more than ten percent of the amount apportioned to a State for a program for wildlife-associated recreation. Permits Account funds to be used for wildlife conservation education programs except for programs that promote opposition to the regulated taking of wildlife. Makes a State agency ineligible to receive matching funds under this title if sources of revenue available to the agency after January 1, 2000, for wildlife conservation are diverted for any purpose other than agency administration. Amends the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to increase the maximum amount authorized to be appropriated to the Department of the Interior to carry out North American wetlands conservation. (Sec. 903) Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to authorize appropriations for coastal impact assistance to producing coastal States with approved coastal impact assistance plans. Defines a "producing coastal State" as a coastal State with a coastal seaward boundary within 200 miles from the geographic center of a tract leased for drilling, developing, and producing oil and natural gas other than a tract within any Outer Continental Shelf area where a specified moratorium on new leasing was in effect as of January 1, 2000. Sets forth the formula for allocating such funds to producing coastal States and coastal political subdivisions and describes authorized uses. Requires the development and submission of a Coastal Impact Assistance Plan by each producing coastal State for transmittal to the Secretary of Commerce for approval prior to the disbursement of funds. Title X: Local TV Act - Launching Our Communities' Access to Local Television Act of 2000 - Establishes the LOCAL Television Loan Guarantee Board to approve or disapprove loan guarantees under this Act. Allows loan guarantees to be approved only to the extent provided for in advance in appropriations Acts. Requires such loans to be used to finance the means by which local television (TV) broadcast signals will be delivered to nonserved or underserved areas, with a loan priority for nonserved areas. States that the Board should give additional consideration to projects that also provide high-speed Internet access. Prohibits the Board from approving a loan for a project that is designed primarily to serve one of the 40 designated market areas or would alter or remove National Weather Service warnings from local broadcast signals. Limits a loan guarantee to 80 percent of a loan meeting requirements under this Act, with a total loan aggregate value limit of $1.25 billion. (Sec. 1005) Requires the Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service to administer all loan guarantees approved under this Act. Requires loan applicants to enter into stipulated performance schedules with respect to the signals to be provided through the project. Sets forth provisions regarding credit requirements, default procedures, and recovery of payments. Requires the Board to charge and collect a loan guarantee fee and use such fee to cover administrative costs. (Sec. 1006) Requires an annual audit and report concerning the loan guarantee program. (Sec. 1007) Directs the FCC to reinstate as tentative rural service selectees, and permit application amendments for: (1) Great Western Cellular Partners; (2) Monroe Telephone Services L.P.; and (3) FutureWave General Partners L.P. (Sec. 1008) Amends the Communications Act of 1934 with respect to the definition of "satellite carrier." (Includes distributors under specified circumstances.) (Sec. 1009) Prohibits any loan guarantee from being approved after December 31, 2006. (Sec. 1011) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2006. (Sec. 1012) Requires the FCC to provide for an independent technical demonstration of any terrestrial service technology proposed by any entity that has applied to provide such service in the direct broadcast satellite frequency band to determine whether the proposed technology will cause harmful interference to any direct broadcast satellite service. Title XI: Encouraging Immigrant Family Reunification - Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (LIFE Act) - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to accord nonimmigrant status to certain aliens: (1) with pending or approved but unavailable visa petitions who are the spouses or unmarried sons and daughters of permanent resident aliens; and (2) with approved but unavailable visa petitions who are the spouses of U.S. citizens or minor children of such spouses. Permits related status adjustments for qualifying aliens. (Sec. 1104) Provides for the permanent resident status adjustment of certain alien class action participants who entered the United States prior to January 1, 1982, and maintained a qualifying period of unlawful U.S. residence. Considers certain Cuban and Haitian entrants as so qualifying. Requires demonstration of basic citizenship skills, with exceptions for elderly or disabled persons. Provides for related temporary stay of removal, employment authorization, and public assistance eligibility.
Bill· HRH.R. 5546 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Retirement Enhancement Revenue Act of 2000 - Title I: Public Employee Pension Plans - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to public employee pension plans, to set forth additional reporting and disclosure requirements and provide for the review of employee contribution changes by qualified review boards. Title II: Pension Improvements - Requires 401(k) plans to be offered to all eligible employees and to meet minimum coverage requirements. Makes other revisions concerning pension plans, including: (1) raising the contribution limit on simplified employee pensions; (2) increasing from the age of 70-and-one-half to age 75 the requirement to begin mandatory pension distributions; (3) repealing specified coordination requirements for deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations; (4) permitting rollovers from and to various types of plans. Title III: Additional Amendments - Makes additional revisions to pension provisions, including: (1) concerning cash-outs from section 457 plans (deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations) to qualified plans; and (2) permitting loans from a pension plan for involuntarily separated employees for health insurance and job training expenses. Title IV: General Provisions - Sets forth effective date provisions.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 653 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Waives points of order against consideration of the conference report on H.R. 4942 (District of Columbia appropriations).
Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 436 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2000
Makes corrections in the enrollment of H.R. 4811 (appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001).
Bill· SS. 3229 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a limited tax credit for the cost of certain equipment used to convert public television broadcasting from analog to digital transmission.
Bill· HRH.R. 5531 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Electricity Price Spike Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax on the sale in the United States of any electricity equal to the applicable percentage of the windfall profit on such sale. Allows (until December 31, 2003), in the case of an individual, a limited tax credit for the amount paid or incurred by the taxpayer for qualified energy efficiency improvements installed during such taxable year. Requires each State to have or create a not-for-profit membership corporation to be known as the Citizens' Utility Board, Inc. Establishes an independent board to be known as the Reasonable Profits Board. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 5527 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Missouri River Restoration Act of 2000 - Establishes: (1) a Missouri River Trust committee to vote on approval of a plan for the use of payments to it and to recommend proposals to be funded by its Executive Committee; and (2) a Missouri River Restoration Trust Fund into which the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) shall deposit $300 million on the first day of the eleventh fiscal year beginning after the enactment of this Act. Requires the Secretary to: (1) invest such portion of the Fund not required to meet current withdrawals in interest-bearing U.S. obligations or obligations guaranteed by the United States; (2) designate the aggregate amount of interest deposited in the Fund for the preceding fiscal year as available for making payments as requested by the Trust; and (3) make requested payments only after the Trust has adopted its plan. Requires the Federal share of the cost of any project carried out under this Act to be 80 percent of the project's total cost. Requires the Trust to prepare a plan for the use of such payments for carrying out Missouri River projects and programs to promote: (1) conservation practices; (2) the control and removal of sediment; (3) the protection of recreation on the River from sedimentation; (4) the protection of Indian and non-Indian historical and cultural sites along the River from sedimentation; (5) the conservation of fish and wildlife; or (6) erosion control. Provides for: (1) public review and comment; and (2) an audit of the Trust's activities. Requires the Secretary of the Army, within one year after funding under this Act becomes available, to report on: (1) the impact of the siltation of the Missouri River in the State of South Dakota; (2) the status of such historical and cultural sites; and (3) the extent of erosion along the River in the State. Authorizes the Secretary to use funds appropriated to the operations and maintenance account of the Corps of Engineers and available for use with respect to a water resources development project along the Missouri River to: (1) reduce the siltation of the River in South Dakota; (2) protect recreation on, water quality in, and Indian and non-Indian historical and cultural sites along the River from sedimentation; and (3) improve erosion control along the River. Prohibits any funds appropriated to carry out this Act from being used to purchase or otherwise acquire property unless the acquisition is from willing sellers. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 5526 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2001 - Title I: Export and Investment Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) direct loans, loan guarantees, tied-aid grants, insurance, and administrative expenses under Export-Import Bank programs; (2) Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) direct and guaranteed loans and credit and insurance programs, including administrative expenses; and (3) the Trade and Development Agency. Title II: Bilateral Economic Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) expenses of the President in carrying out certain programs under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; (2) the Agency for International Development (AID) child survival and infectious disease programs, including basic education programs (earmarking amounts for child survival and maternal health, vulnerable children, HIV-AIDS, other infectious diseases, children's basic education, UNICEF, U.S. contributions to the Global Fund for Children's Vaccines and to an international HIV-AIDS fund, and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative); (3) specified development assistance (allowing availability of limited amounts for the Inter-American Foundation and the African Development Foundation, agriculture and rural development programs (including plant biotechnology research and development), the International Fertilizer Development Center, AmeriCares for the construction, rehabilitation, and operation of community-based primary healthcare facilities in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, the U.S. Telecommunications Training Institute, the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program, and an international media training center); (4) specified projects aimed at reunification of Cyprus; (5) specified assistance for Lebanon for scholarships and direct support of the American educational institutions there; (6) democracy and humanitarian activities in Burma; (7) specified assistance for the preservation of habitats and related activities for endangered wildlife; (8) international disaster assistance; (9) international disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance to support transition to democracy and to long-term development of countries in crisis (provided AID reports to the Committees on Appropriations at least five days before the beginning of such program assistance); (10) micro and small enterprise development programs; (11) direct loans and loan guarantees under the development credit authority program for development assistance to foreign countries (provided such funds are made available only for urban and environmental programs); (12) the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund; (13) operating expenses of AID and the AID Office of Inspector General; (14) Economic Support Fund (ESF) assistance (earmarking amounts for Israel, Egypt, Jordan, East Timor, Indonesia, Mongolia, and the National Democratic Alliance of Sudan); (15) the International Fund for Ireland; (16) ESF assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States (earmarking amounts for Kosova and Bosnia and Herzegovina, subject to specified conditions); (17) assistance for the Independent States of the former Soviet Union (earmarking amounts for the Southern Caucasus region, the Russian Far East, assistance to meet the health and other assistance needs of victims of trafficking in persons, Ukraine, Georgia, and child survival, environmental health, and to combat infectious diseases, subject to specified conditions); (18) the Peace Corps (but with a prohibition on the use of such funds for abortions); (19) international narcotics control and law enforcement; (20) migration and refugee assistance; (21) the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund; (22) nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining, and related programs and activities (including U.S. contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), subject to a specified condition, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Preparatory Commission, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), subject to specified conditions, and the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund); (23) international affairs technical assistance activities of the Department of the Treasury; and (24) debt restructuring of concessional loans, guarantees, and credits made to least developed countries. Bars the use of development assistance funds for: (1) coercive abortions or involuntary sterilizations (but allowing them for voluntary family planning projects in developing nations that meet specified requirements; and (2) U.S. private and voluntary organizations which obtain less than 20 percent of annual funding from sources other than the U.S. Government. Withholds 60 percent of funds appropriated to the Government of the Russian Federation until the President certifies to the Committees on Appropriations it has met certain conditions. Title III: Military Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) expanded international military education and training (IMET) to Indonesia and Guatemala (subject to a specified condition); (2) foreign military financing grants (earmarking amounts for Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Malta, Tunisia, and Georgia (including drawdowns of defense articles and services)); and (3) international peacekeeping operations (subject to a specified condition). Prohibits foreign military financing for Sudan, Liberia, and Guatemala. Title IV: Multilateral Economic Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for the U.S. contribution to: (1) the Global Environment Facility of the International Bank for reconstruction and Development (World Bank); (2) the International Development Association (IDA) (providing that in negotiating U.S. participation in the next replenishment of the IDA that the Secretary of the Treasury accord high priority to providing it with the policy flexibility to provide new grant assistance to countries eligible for debt reduction under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative); (3) the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency; (4) the Inter-American Investment Corporation; (5) the Enterprise for the Americas Multilateral Investment Fund; (6) the Asian Development Fund; (7) the African Development Bank; (8) the African Development Fund; (9) the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and (10) the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for international organizations. Earmarks a specified amount for the World Food Program. Prohibits the use of funds for the United Nations Fund for Science and Technology, KEDO, or the IAEA. Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth limits on the use of appropriations, including that no more than 15 percent of such appropriations shall be obligated during the last month of availability. (Sec. 502) Prohibits: (1) the use of funds for bilateral funding of international financial institutions; and (2) the transfer of such funds by AID directly to such an institution for the purpose of repaying a foreign country's loan obligations to it. (Sec. 503) Sets forth limits on the use of appropriations, including no more than specified maximums for official residence expenses, entertainment expenses, and representation allowances for AID, and for entertainment and representation allowances for the Inter-American Foundation and the Trade and Development Agency. Limits the use of funds for entertainment expenses of the Peace Corps, and of entertainment and representation allowances under the Foreign Military Financing Program. (Sec. 506) Prohibits the use of funds for: (1) the export of nuclear equipment, fuel, or technology (except for nuclear safety purposes); (2) direct assistance or reparations to Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, or Syria; (3) assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree; (4) certain transfers between appropriations accounts without prior presidential consultation with Congress; (5) assistance to any country in default in excess of a year on payments on a U.S. loan (except for any narcotics-related assistance for Colombia, Bolivia, or Peru); and (6) assistance (except in certain circumstances) for production of any commodity for export by a foreign country, if the commodity is likely to be in surplus on world markets when the resulting productive capacity is expected to become operative, and if the assistance will cause substantial injury to U.S. producers of a similar commodity. (Sec. 514) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of specified international financial institutions to oppose any assistance for the production or extraction of any commodity or mineral for export if it is in surplus on world markets and such assistance will cause substantial injury to U.S. producers of a similar commodity. (Sec. 516) Declares that funds appropriated for foreign operations, export financial, and related programs, that are returned or not made available for international organizations and programs, shall remain available for obligation through FY 2002. (Sec. 517) Prohibits the availability of assistance for the Independent States of the former Soviet Union to a Government of such an Independent State, unless such Government is making progress in implementing comprehensive economic reforms based on market principles, private ownership, respect for commercial contracts, and equitable treatment of foreign private investment. Prohibits the availability of assistance also: (1) if such a Government applies or transfers U.S. assistance to any entity for the purpose of expropriating or seizing ownership of assets, investments, or ventures (unless the President determines such assistance is in the national interest); (2) if such Government directs any action in violation of the territorial integrity or national sovereignty of any other Independent State such as those violations included in the Helsinki Final Act; or (3) to enhance its military capability (except for demilitarization, demining, or nonproliferation programs). (Sec. 518) Prohibits the use of development assistance funds for abortions or involuntary sterilizations as methods of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions, or provide financial incentive to undergo sterilization. (Sec. 519) Limits to no more than five percent the amount of export financing funds (other than for administrative expenses) that can be transferred from one appropriation to another, with no appropriation being increased by more than 25 percent by such transfer. (Sec. 520) Prohibits the use of funds for Colombia, Haiti, Liberia, Serbia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, except through the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 522) Makes funds available to AID for child survival, basic education, infectious disease activities and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) research and control in developing countries. (Sec. 523) Bars funding for indirect assistance or reparations to Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Syria, North Korea, or China unless the President certifies that the withholding of such funds is contrary to the U.S. national security interest. (Sec. 524) Requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to notify the Committees on Appropriations before providing excess DOD articles to certain NATO and major non-NATO countries. (Sec. 526) Authorizes the availability of ESF funds to provide general support and grants for nongovernment organizations located outside China that have as their primary purpose fostering democracy and rule of law in that country (including earmarking amounts to such organizations to support activities which preserve cultural traditions and promote sustainable development and environmental conservation in Tibetan communities). Earmarks ESF funds to the Jamestown Foundation (currently the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights) for a project to disseminate information and support research about China, and related activities. (Sec. 527) Prohibits bilateral assistance funds to any country which the President determines grants sanctuary from prosecution to any individual or group which has committed an act of international terrorism or otherwise supports such activities. Authorizes the waiver of this prohibition by the President for national security and humanitarian reasons, requiring notification to the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 528) Directs the Secretary of State to report quarterly to the Committees on Appropriations on the use of supplemental appropriations for ESF assistance and military asistance to certain countries. (Sec. 529) Requires all AID contracts and subcontracts to include a clause requiring that U.S. insurance companies have a fair opportunity to bid for insurance when insurance is necessary or appropriate. (Sec. 530) Directs the Secretary of State to determine, and report periodically to the Committees on Appropriations, whether Peru has made substantial progress in creating the conditions for free and fair elections, and in respecting human rights, the rule of law, the independence and constitutional role of the judiciary and national congress, and freedom of expression and independent media. Prohibits the use of funds for assistance to Peru unless the Secretary determines that it has made substantial progress with respect to such goals. Earmarks amounts to support the work of nongovernmental organizations and the Organization of American States in promoting free and fair elections, democratic institutions, and human rights in Peru. (Sec. 531) Authorizes nongovernmental organizations which are AID grantees or contractors to place funds made available to them under this Act in interest bearing accounts in order to enhance their participation in economic activities under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, including endowments and debt-for-development and debt-for-nature exchanges. (Sec. 532) Directs the Administrator of AID to require foreign countries that receive foreign assistance which results in the generation of local currencies to deposit such currencies in a separate account to be used to finance foreign assistance activities. (Sec. 533) Prohibits payments to any international financial institution while the U.S. Executive Director to the institution is compensated at a rate in excess of that for Level IV of the Executive Schedule. (Sec. 534) Bars assistance to any country that is not in compliance with the United Nations (UN) sanctions against Iraq, unless the President certifies to Congress that such assistance: (1) is in the U.S. national interest; (2) will directly benefit the needy people in that country; or (3) will be humanitarian assistance for foreign nationals who have fled Iraq and Kuwait. (Sec. 535) Declares that provisions under this or any other Act authorizing appropriations for foreign operations or export financing shall not be construed to prohibit activities authorized by the Peace Corps Act, the Inter-American Foundation Act, or the African Development Foundation Act. Requires an agency to report to the Committees on Appropriations whenever it is conducting or proposing activities in a country for which such assistance is prohibited. (Sec. 536) Prohibits the use of funds to provide: (1) any financial incentive to a business for purposes of inducing it to relocate outside the United States if it will reduce the number of employees in the United States; (2) assistance for establishing or developing in a foreign country an export processing zone or other designated area in which a country's tax, tariff, labor, environment, and safety laws do not apply to activities in the area, unless the President certifies that such assistance is not likely to cause a loss of U.S. jobs; or (3) assistance for any project that contributes to the violation of internationally recognized workers rights in the recipient country. (Sec. 537) Urges the export of U.S. clean coal technology. (Sec. 538) Declares that funds appropriated under this Act for Afghanistan, Lebanon, Montenegro, and for victims of war, displaced children, and displaced Burmese may be made available notwithstanding any other provision of law. Prohibits the use of funds made available to Cambodia for military or paramilitary purposes. Authorizes the use of foreign assistance funds to support tropical forestry and biodiversity conservation programs, and subject to the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations, energy programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Authorizes the use of foreign assistance funds by AID to employ up to 25 personal services contractors in the United States for the purpose of providing direct, interim support for new or expanded overseas programs and activities managed by it until permanent direct hire personnel are hired and trained. Authorizes the President to waive certain prohibitions with respect to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) if the President determines and certifies to Congress that it is in the national interest. (Sec. 539) Expresses the sense of Congress with respect to: (1) immediate public renunciation by the Arab League countries of the boycott of Israel (reinstated in 1997) and of American firms having commercial ties with Israel; (2) normalization of relations with Israel by such Arab countries; and (3) steps the President should take to encourage such renunciation. (Sec. 540) Authorizes the use of ESF funds to strengthen the administration of justice in countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in other regions. (Sec. 541) Declares that the restrictions on assistance to foreign countries contained in this Act or any other Act (except those relating to international terrorism or human rights violations) shall not be construed to restrict assistance: (1) in support of certain programs of nongovernmental organizations; or (2) under specified provisions of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. (Sec. 542) Authorizes the reprogramming of earmarked appropriations for other programs within the same account, provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 544) Prohibits the use of funds for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States that were not authorized before the enactment of this Act. Earmarks specified amounts to private and voluntary organizations to deal with world hunger abroad. (Sec. 545) Declares that assistance under this Act should make full use of American resources, including commodities, products, and services, to the maximum extent possible. Declares the sense of Congress that, to the greatest extent practicable, all agricultural commodities, equipment, and products purchased with funds made available in this Act should be American-made. Requires Federal agency heads, in providing financial assistance to or entering into any contract with any entity using funds made available in this Act, to notify such entity of this intention. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually on the efforts of such agency heads and the U.S. directors of international financial institutions in complying with such requirements. (Sec. 546) Prohibits the use of funds to pay any assessments, arrearages, or dues of any UN member (including costs for attendance of another country's delegation at international conferences). (Sec. 548) Prohibits the provision of funds to a private voluntary organization that fails to provide any document, file, or record necessary to the auditing requirements of AID. (Sec. 549) Prohibits the provision of funds to any foreign government that provides lethal military equipment to a country that the Secretary of State has determined has a terrorist government, unless the President determines that the furnishing of such assistance is in the U.S. national interest. (Sec. 550) Withholds assistance from a foreign country in an amount equal to 110 percent of the total unpaid parking fines and penalties owed by the country to the District of Columbia. (Sec. 551) Prohibits the obligation of any appropriations for the PLO for the West Bank and Gaza unless the President has exercised certain authorities to suspend prohibitions on assistance to the PLO. (Sec. 552) Permits the President to provide up to a specified amount of commodities and services to the UN War Crimes Tribunal if doing so will contribute to a just resolution of charges regarding genocide or other violations of international law in the former Yugoslavia. (Sec. 553) Authorizes disposal on a grant basis in foreign countries of demining equipment used in support of the clearance of land mines and unexploded ordnance for humanitarian purposes. (Sec. 554) Prohibits the obligation of appropriations to create in Jerusalem a new U.S. agency office for the purpose of conducting U.S. business with the Palestinian Authority over Gaza and Jericho (or any successor Palestinian governing entity) provided for in the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles. (Sec. 555) Prohibits the obligation of certain funds appropriated for Informational Program activities to pay for: (1) alcoholic beverages; or (2) entertainment expenses for recreational activities. (Sec. 556) Authorizes the President to reduce amounts owed to the United States by eligible countries as a result of: (1) housing guarantees made pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; (2) credits extended or guarantees issued under the Arms Export Control Act; or (3) any obligation to pay for purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities guaranteed by the Commodity Credit Corporation. Permits the exercise of such authority only: (1) to implement multilateral official debt relief and referendum agreements known as the Paris Club Agreed Minutes; and (2) with respect to countries with heavy debt burdens that are eligible to borrow from the IDA (but not from the World Bank) (IDA-only countries). Prescribes additional conditions for the exercise of such authority. (Sec. 558) Bars funds appropriated by this Act or any previous appropriations Act for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs to be made available for assistance for the Government of Haiti until: (1) the Secretary of State reports to the Committees on Appropriations that Haiti has held free and fair elections to seat a new parliament; and (2) the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy reports to the Committees on Appropriations that such Government is fully cooperating with the U.S. efforts to interdict illicit drug traffic through it to the United States. Earmarks a specified percentage of funds appropriated under this Act for bilateral assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean region. (Sec. 559) Requires a specified annual report of the Secretary of State containing the voting record of each foreign member country of the UN to include a side-by-side comparison of each country's overall support for the United States at the UN and the amount of U.S. assistance provided to it in FY 2000. (Sec. 560) Prohibits the United States from paying any voluntary contribution to the UN, including the UN Development Program, unless the President certifies to Congress 15 days in advance of such payment that the UN is not engaged in any effort to implement or impose any taxation on U.S. persons in order to raise revenue for itself or any of its specialized agencies. (Sec. 561) Makes the Government of Haiti eligible to purchase U.S. defense articles and services for its Coast Guard. (Sec. 562) Prohibits the obligation of any appropriations for the PLO unless the President certifies to Congress that it is in the U.S. national security interests. (Sec. 563) Prohibits the use of funds for the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State believes they have committed gross violations of human rights, unless the Secretary reports to the Committees on Appropriations that such country is taking steps to bring the responsible persons to justice. (Sec. 564) Provides for bilateral and multilateral assistance sanctions (with humanitarian, democratization, and certain infrastructure project exceptions) against countries harboring war criminals indicted with respect to the former Yugoslavia. Prohibits the provision of bilateral assistance for programs in which publicly indicted war criminals are known to have any financial interest or communities that are not in compliance with specified sections of the Dayton Agreement relating to war crimes and the Tribunal. Requires the Secretary of State to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the location, if known, of publicly indicted war criminals, on country, entity and municipality authorities known to have obstructed the work of the Tribunal, and on sanctioned countries, entities, and municipalities. (Sec. 565) Prohibits the use of funds for the Government of the Russian Federation unless the President certifies to specified congressional committees that the Federation has not enacted laws or promulgated executive orders that discriminate against religious minorities in violation of international agreements on human rights and religious freedoms to which it is a party. (Sec. 566) Subjects the availability of funds in this Act to support programs or activities promoting country participation in the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) to the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 567) Bars funds to the Central Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Sec. 568) Earmarks specified foreign assistance funds for Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, the Israel-Lebanon Monitoring Group, the Multinational Force and Observers, the Middle East Regional Democracy Fund, Middle East Regional Cooperation, and Middle East Multilateral Working Groups. (Sec. 569) Requires the President to submit to specified congressional committees a plan for the distribution of assets of an Enterprise Fund before any distribution resulting from liquidation, dissolution, or winding up of the Fund. (Sec. 570) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors of international financial institutions to oppose loans to Cambodia (except loans to support basic human needs). Prohibits the availability of funds under this Act for assistance for the Government of Cambodia. (Sec. 571) Directs the Secretaries of Defense and of State to report jointly to Congress on all overseas military training provided to, and proposed to be provided to, foreign military personnel under programs administered by the Defense and State Departments during FY 2000 and 2001. (Sec. 572) Earmarks specified funds for KEDO for administrative expenses and heavy fuel oil costs associated with the Agreed Framework (Joint Declaration on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula). Earmarks other amounts to KEDO if the President certifies to Congress that North Korea is complying with the provisions of the Agreed Framework. (Sec. 573) Authorizes investment of funds made available to grantees of the African Development Foundation pending expenditure for project purposes when authorized by the President of the Foundation. (Sec. 574) Bars the use of funds appropriated under this Act to provide equipment, technical support, consulting services, or any other assistance to the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation. (Sec. 575) Earmarks specified amounts of ESF funds for programs benefitting the Iraqi people, including for food, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance, and for a political transition in Iraq, Iraqi opposition groups for political, economic, humanitarian, and other activities, and for groups and activities seeking the prosecution of Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi government officials for war crimes. Bars the use of such funds for administrative expenses of the State Department. (Sec. 576) Directs AID to submit an annual budget justification consistent with certain requirements of this Act to the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 577) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated under this Act to propose or issue rules, regulations, decrees, or orders for implementation, or in preparation for implementation, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United States Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has not been submitted to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, and which has not entered into force. (Sec. 578) Directs the Secretary of State, 30 days prior to the initial obligation of ESF funds for the bilateral West Bank and Gaza Program, to certify to the appropriate congressional committees that procedures have been established to assure that the Comptroller General will have access to appropriate U.S. financial information in order to review the uses of such funds for the Program. (Sec. 579) Makes foreign military financing program funds available for Indonesia if the President determines and reports to the appropriate congressional committees that the Indonesian government and the Indonesian armed forces are taking specified actions to: (1) bring to justice, and cooperate with investigations and prosecutions of, members of the armed forces and militia groups with respect to human rights violations in Indonesia and East Timor; (2) allow safe passage for refugees returning home to East Timor from West Timor; and (3) not impede the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor. (Sec. 580) Bars the use of appropriated funds under this Act for the UN Man and the Biosphere Program or the UN World Heritage Fund for programs in the United States. (Sec. 581) Directs the President, not less than 30 days prior to the next round of arms talks between the United States and Taiwan, to consult with appropriate congressional leaders and committee chairmen and ranking members regarding: (1) Taiwan's requests for purchase of defense articles and defense services during the pending round of arms talks; (2) the Administration's assessment of the legitimate defense needs of Taiwan; and (3) the decision-making process used by the Executive branch to consider such requests. (Sec. 582) Urges funds appropriated by this Act for U.S. assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States to the maximum extent practicable to be used for the procurement of articles and services of U.S. origin. (Sec. 583) Bars the use of funds appropriated by this Act for assistance for the government of any country that has been determined to have: (1) provided lethal or non-lethal military support or equipment, directly or through intermediaries, within the previous six months to the Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front (RUF), or any other group intent on destabilizing the democratically elected government of the Republic of Sierra Leone; or (2) aided or abetted, within the previous six months, in the illicit distribution, transportation, or sale of diamonds mined in Sierra Leone. (Sec. 584) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2000 to authorize voluntary separation incentive payments to AID employees who voluntarily separate (whether by retirement or resignation) on or before December 31, 2001, to eliminate AID positions and functions contained in a mandatory strategic plan outlining such payments. (Sec. 585) Earmarks a specified amount of international organizations and program funds for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) (except for any country program in China). Conditions the availability of such funds to UNFPA on specified requirements, including that it does not fund abortions. (Sec. 586) Makes any national of Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos who was paroled into the United States before October 1, 1997, eligible for adjustment of status. (Sec. 587) Requires information relevant to the December 2, 1980, murders of four American churchwomen in El Salvador to be made public to the fullest extent possible. (Sec. 588) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to withhold ten percent of the U.S. payment to any international financial institution until the Secretary certifies that such institution has implemented certain procurement and financial management reforms. (Sec. 589) Authorizes the commercial leasing of defense articles (instead of government-to-government sale) to Israel, Egypt, NATO, and major non-NATO allies if the President determines that there are compelling foreign policy or national security reasons. (Sec. 591) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2000 to abolish the Inter-American Foundation in 2001. (Sec. 593) Extends the authorities of the General Accounting Office until all available funds appropriated under the 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act are expended. (Sec. 594) Earmarks funds made available under this Act for Serbia, subject to specified conditions. (Sec. 595) Declares that the provisions of S. 3140 relating to the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over land of the Tennessee Valley Authority within the Daniel Boone National Forest to the Secretary of Agriculture are hereby enacted into law. (Sec. 596) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors at specified international financial institutions to oppose any loan of such institutions that would require user fees or service charges on poor people for primary education or primary health care, including prevention and treatment efforts for HIV-AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and infant, child, and maternal well-being, in connection with the institutions' lending programs. (Sec. 597) Makes certain foreign assistance funds available for basic education programs for Pakistan. (Sec. 598) Earmarks a certain amount of bilateral economic assistance funds for population planning activities or other population assistance. Title VI: Emergency Supplemental Appropriation - Authorizes emergency supplemental appropriations for FY 2001 to the President for: (1) the AID for international disaster assistance for rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance for Mozambique, Madagascar, and southern Africa; (2) operating expenses of AID; (3) bilateral economic assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States (earmarking amounts only for Montenegro, Croatia, and Serbia); (4) IMET and foreign military financing for grants to countries of the Balkans and southeast Europe; and (5) the Department of the Treasury for a contribution to the HIPC Trust Fund of the World Bank. (Sec. 601) Declares that amounts appropriated under this title or under any other provision of law for FY 2001 that are in addition to funds made available under title II of this Act shall be deemed to have been appropriated under such title and are subject to all limitations and restrictions contained in this Act. Title VII: Debt Reduction - Makes additional funds available for FY 2001 for the Bureau of the Public Debt for reduction of the public debt. Title VIII: International Debt Forgiveness and International Financial Institutions Reform - Amends the Bretton Woods Agreement Act to authorize appropriations for FY 2001 though 2003 for U.S. contributions to the HIPC Trust Fund of the World Bank. (Sec. 802) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of each multilateral development bank to exert U.S. influence to strengthen each bank's procedures and management controls to ensure that funds disbursed by it to borrowing countries are used as intended and in a manner that complies with the conditions of the bank's loan to such country. (Sec. 803) Directs the Comptroller General to report annually to the appropriate congressional committees on the sufficiency of audits of the financial operations of each multilateral development bank conducted by persons or entities outside of such bank. (Sec. 804) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to repeal the President's discretionary authority to transfer certain funds to certain international financial institutions for the purpose of bilateral funding. (Sec. 805) Amends the Bretton Woods Agreement Act to declare that it is the policy of the United States to work to implement specified lending reforms in the International Monetary Fund.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 119 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 30, 2000.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 117 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 28, 2000.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 115 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 26, 2000.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 120 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 31, 2000.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 118 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 29, 2000.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 116 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 27, 2000.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 647 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Waives points of order against consideration of the conference report on H.R. 4811 (foreign operations, export financing, and related programs appropriations).
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 646 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Sets forth rules (separate closed) for the consideration of H.J. 115, H.J. 116, H.J. 117, H.J. 118, H.J. 119, and H.J. 120 (continuing FY 2001 appropriations).
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 649 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2000
Global School Meals and Women and Children Nutrition Resolution of 2000 - Commends Ambassador George McGovern and former Senator Robert Dole for their endorsement and leadership in promoting a worldwide school meals program and for their remarks at the May 2000 National Nutrition Summit at which they called on the U.S. Government to lead the world in providing such meals for the more than 300 million hungry children in developing countries. Urges the President to: (1) continue efforts to support programs and activities that provide food to the needy and school-age children in such countries, including under the Global Food and Education Initiative; (2) ensure that the appropriate offices within the Department of Agriculture and the United States Agency for International Development have an adequate number of personnel to carry out, monitor, and evaluate the Initiative; and (3) continue to lead in organizing a worldwide school meals program and a supplementary feeding program for pregnant and nursing women and their children under the age of five, including by transmitting a request for legislation to authorize and fund such programs for FY 2002 and subsequent fiscal years.
Bill· HRH.R. 5524 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 23 October 2000
Tax Relief for Working Families Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the earned income credit for an eligible individual with two or more children; (2) revise the definition of the term "earned income" with respect to such credit; (3) make other modifications to such credit; and (4) revise the definition of the term "dependent."
Bill· SS. 3225 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2000
Cosmetology Tax Fairness and Compliance Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the credit for the portion of employer social security taxes paid with respect to employee cash tips to include tips given for cosmetology services. Requires information reporting by providers of cosmetology services.
Bill· HRH.R. 5521 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2000
Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2000 - Requires any executive agency that is not otherwise required to submit annual audited financial statements (currently, only specified departments and agencies are so required) to submit such statements to Congress and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (currently, only to the Director). Exempts such an agency from preparing such a statement for any fiscal year for which the total amount of budget authority available to the agency is less than $25 million.
Bill· HRH.R. 5509 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the child tax credit to $2,000 per child. Permits claiming the credit on Form 1040EZ.
Bill· HRH.R. 5505 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income the value of any diploma, medal, or amount received as an international award for individual achievement in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics, or peace.
Bill· HRH.R. 5506 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2000
Cosmetology Tax Fairness and Compliance Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the credit for the portion of employer social security taxes paid with respect to employee cash tips to include tips given for cosmetology services. Requires information reporting by providers of cosmetology services.
Bill· HRH.R. 5504 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 October 2000
National Improvement in Mathematics and Science Teaching Act of 2000 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish, and authorize appropriations for, various programs for improvement of science and mathematics education. Directs the Secretary of Education to: (1) make grants to States for improvement and recruitment of quality teachers in science and mathematics education; (2) make grants to States for professional development of mathematics and science teachers; (3) establish, in cooperation with the Director of the National Science Foundation, 15 John Glenn Academies, and make grants to such Academies for summer workshops for mathematics and science education teachers and for intensive, year-long fellowships for 3,000 individuals to prepare them to meet State certification requirements for teaching mathematics or science in grades seven through 12; (4) establish and operate a National Clearinghouse of Best Practices to coordinate successful and proven professional development opportunities for teachers, collect, and disseminate curricular materials, and undertake other activities to encourage teacher interest and involvement in professional development, particularly for mathematics and science teachers of grades seven through 12; (5) make grants to States to improve science and mathematics education, and encourage more students to enter the fields of mathematics, science, and technology; and (6) make grants to local educational agencies for subgrants to public elementary and secondary schools to promote both achievement equity and gender equity in mathematics and science education. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish: (1) a tax credit for businesses that employ science, mathematics, and technology teachers in summer fellowships that are related to their fields of teaching; and (2) a fair market value tax deduction for charitable contributions of science, mathematics, or technology equipment to public elementary and secondary schools.
Bill· SS. 3217 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
District of Columbia Economic Renaissance Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow residents of the District of Columbia (DC) to elect to limit their net income tax to the sum of: (1) 15 percent of so much District-sourced income as exceeds the exemption amount (as defined); and (2) the average rate of the non-District-sourced adjusted gross income (as defined). Provides, with respect to the zero percent capital gains rate currently applicable only to the sale of DC Zone assets, that the DC Zone shall include all DC census tracts. Makes the first-time homebuyer credit for DC permanent. Excludes certain DC source income for purposes of the alternative minimum tax.
Bill· SS. 3213 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit an individual to designate three dollars on his or her income tax return (six dollars on a joint return) to be used to reduce the public debt of the United States.
Bill· HRH.R. 5483 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2001 - Title I: Department of Defense - Civil - Makes appropriations to the Department of the Army and its Corps of Engineers for FY 2001 for: (1) authorized civil functions of the Department of the Army relating to rivers and harbors, flood control, beach erosion, and related purposes; (2) expenses necessary for the collection and study of information related to such purposes; (3) the prosecution of river and harbor, flood control, shore protection, and related projects; (4) certain flood control projects on the Mississippi River and its tributaries; (5) the navigable waters and wetlands regulatory program; (6) formerly utilized sites remedial action program; and (7) general expenses. States that amounts in the Revolving Fund are available for relocating the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters to office space in the General Accounting Office headquarters building in Washington, D.C. (Sec. 101) Instructs the Secretary of the Army to enter into an agreement with the City of Grand Prairie, Texas, wherein the City agrees to assume certain contractual responsibilities of the Trinity River Authority of Texas. (Sec. 102) States that agreements proposed for execution by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shall be limited to specified credits and reimbursements per project, and total credits and reimbursements for all applicable projects. (Sec. 103) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army (acting through the Chief of Engineers) to construct the locally preferred plan for flood control, environmental restoration and recreation, Murrieta Creek, California. (Sec. 104) Bars the use of funds to implement any activity relating to closure or removal of the St. Georges Bridge across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, Delaware. (Sec. 105 ) Directs the Secretary of the Army to provide specified amounts to replace and upgrade the dam which collapsed in Kake, Alaska, in order to provide drinking water and hydroelectricity. Title II: Department of the Interior - Makes FY 2001 appropriations to the Department of the Interior for: (1) the Central Utah Project; (2) the Bureau of Reclamation, water and related resources; (3) Bureau of Reclamation Loan Program Account; (4) Central Valley Project Restoration Fund; and (5) general administrative expenses. (Sec. 201) Prohibits the use of appropriated funds to pay the salaries and expenses of personnel to purchase or lease water in the Middle Rio Grande or the Carlsbad Projects in New Mexico unless such purchase or lease is in compliance with specified statutory purchase requirements. (Sec. 202) States that Drought Emergency Assistance funds under this title shall be made available primarily for leasing of water from willing lessors for specified drought related purposes subsequent to State approval. (Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) assess and collect annually from Central Valley Project water and power contractors specified sums to be remitted to the Trinity Public Utilities District; (2) continue funding from power revenues the activities of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program as authorized by the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992; and (3) use up to $1 million to refund specified payments (including the amount of associated interest) to the United States for pre-1994 charges assessed for failure to file certification or reporting forms before receipt of irrigation water under the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982. (Sec. 206) Amends the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 to require the Canyon Ferry (Montana) Cabin Site appraisal to be consistent with the Universal Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisition. Repeals the repeal of the limitation on reinvestment of interest earned on the principal of the Canyon Ferry-Broadwater County Trust (thus allowing reinvestment of the interest, and its consideration as part of the Trust corpus, only until $3 million, or a lesser amount as offset by in-kind contributions, is deposited as the initial corpus of the Trust). (Sec. 207) Declares that any amounts provided for the Newlands Water Rights Fund for purchasing and retiring water rights in the Newlands Reclamation Project shall be non-reimbursable as of FY 2000. (Sec. 208) Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into contracts with the city of Loveland, Colorado, (and related entities) providing for the use of facilities of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, Colorado, for specified water uses. (Sec. 209) Amends the Irrigation Project Contract Extension Act of 1998 to extend from December 31, 2000, to December 31, 2003: (1) certain water service or repayment contracts for the Glendo Unit of the Missouri River Basin Project; and (2) certain contract extensions that are coterminous with a specified cooperative agreement. (Sec. 210) Amends Federal law to extend through FY 2001 the prohibition on the use of funds to further reallocate Central Arizona Project water until the enactment of legislation authorizing and directing the Secretary of the Interior to make allocations and enter into contracts for the delivery of Project water. (Sec. 211) Amends the San Luis Rey Indian Water Rights Settlement Act to: (1) require the Secretary of the Interior permanently to furnish annually water, power capacity, and energy through the Yuma Arizona Area Power Managers on behalf of the San Luis Rey Bands and local entities;and (2) provide that certain annual repayment installments under the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act shall continue to be non-reimbursable during the period that the Indian Water Authority and the local entities receive specified amounts of water conserved by specified canal works and facilities. (Sec. 212) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the El Dorado Irrigation District, all Federal right, title, and interest in the Sly Park Dam and Reservoir, Camp Creek Diversion Dam and Tunnel, and certain conduits and canals. Title III: Department of Energy - Makes appropriations to the Department of Energy (DOE) for FY 2001: (1) energy supply programs; (2) non-defense environmental management; (3) uranium facilities maintenance and remediation; (4) general DOE science activities; (5) nuclear waste disposal activities; (6) DOE administration; (7) Office of the Inspector General; (8) atomic energy defense weapons activities (including immediate funds for the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory); (9) atomic energy defense and defense nuclear nonproliferation activities; (10) naval reactors activities; (11) Office of the Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); (12) defense environmental restoration and waste management; (13) defense facilities closure projects; (14) defense environmental management privatization; (15) other DOE defense activities; (16) defense nuclear waste disposal; (17) the various geographical power marketing administrations of DOE (including specified costs for the hydroelectric facilities at the Falcon and Amistad Dams under the Western Area Power Administration); and (18) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Rescinds specified funds earmarked for: (1) interim storage of nuclear waste; and (2) the Tank Waste Remediation System at Richland, Washington. (Sec. 301) Prohibits the use of appropriations under this Act to award a management and operating contract unless it is awarded using competitive procedures, or the Secretary of Energy grants a waiver on a case-by-case basis. Prohibits delegation of such waiver authority. (Sec. 302) Prohibits the use of appropriations under this Act to: (1) develop or implement a workforce restructuring plan for DOE employees, or to provide them with enhanced severance payments or other benefits (unless the Department of Energy submits a reprogramming request); or (2) prepare or initiate Requests for Proposals for a program that has not been funded by Congress. (Sec. 306) Declares that no more than six percent of funds provided to government-owned, contractor-operated laboratories shall be available for Laboratory Directed Research and Development. (Sec. 307) Cites a maximum fund amount for the reimbursement of management and operating contractor travel expenses. (Sec. 308) Denies any funds for the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration to enter into any agreement to perform energy efficiency services outside the Bonneville service territory without certification that such services are not available from private sector businesses. (Sec. 309) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to dispose of transuranic waste containing concentrations of plutonium exceeding 20 percent by weight in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. (Sec. 310) Authorizes the NNSA Administrator to authorize the plant manager of a covered nuclear weapons production plant to engage in research, development, and demonstration activities in order to maintain and enhance plant engineering and manufacturing capabilities. (Sec. 311) Authorizes each Federal Power Marketing Administration to engage in activities and undertake studies and proposals relating to the formation and operation of a regional transmission organization. (Sec. 312) Makes specified funds available to DOE for interim waste storage activities for Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal upon certification by the Secretary of Energy that the Site Recommendation Report cannot be completed timely without additional funding. (Sec. 313) Establishes a three-year term of office for the first person appointed as Under Secretary for Nuclear Security of DOE. (Sec. 314) Amends the National Nuclear Security Administration Act to set forth: (1) the scope of the Secretary of Energy's authority to modify NNSA organization; and (2) a prohibition on the pay of personnel engaged in concurrent service or duties inside and outside the NNSA. Title IV: Independent Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) the Appalachian Regional Commission; (2) the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board; (3) the Delta Regional Authority; (4) the Denali Commission; (5) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); (6) the NRC Office of the Inspector General; and (7) the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Title V: Fiscal Year 2001 Emergency Appropriations - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for expenses to remediate damaged DOE facilities and other expenses associated with the Cerro Grande fire. Mandates that a specified amount of such funds be made available to the Army Corps of Engineers to undertake immediate measures to provide erosion control and sediment protection to sewage lines, trails, and bridges in Pueblo and Los Alamos Canyons downstream of the Diamond Drive in New Mexico. Authorizes appropriations to implement programs authorized by the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, of which specified amounts are available only to the extent that the President transmits an emergency budget request for them to Congress. Title VI: General Provisions - Expresses the sense of Congress that all equipment and products bought with funds under this Act should be American-made. Requires each Federal agency to give notice of this policy to any entity to which it provides financial assistance or contracts. Bars contracts funded under this Act from being awarded to any person determined by a court or Federal agency to have falsely labeled products as made in America. (Sec. 603) Prohibits the use of any funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act to determine the final point of discharge for the interceptor drain for the San Luis Unit until the Secretary of the Interior and the State of California have developed a plan, which conforms to California water quality standards approved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to minimize any detrimental effect of the San Luis drainage waters. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to classify the costs of the Kesterson Reservoir Cleanup and the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Programs as reimbursable or nonreimbursable and collected until fully repaid pursuant to the "Cleanup Program--Alternative Repayment Plan" and the "SJVDP--Alternative Repayment Plan" described in a specified report. (Sec. 604) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated under this Act for: (1) promulgations to implement a certain 1997 Kyoto Protocol regarding climate change which has not been submitted to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification. (Sec. 605) Extends from FY 2000 to 2009 funding for the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act. (Sec. 606) Redesignates: (1) a certain "Interstate Sanitation Commission" for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut as the "Interstate Environmental Commission"; and (2) a certain "Interstate Sanitation District" for those States as the "Interstate Environmental District." Title VII: Department of the Treasury - Makes a supplemental appropriation for FY 2001 to reduce the public debt. Title VIII: Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to extend to September 20, 2005, the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assess and collect user fees and annual charges. Revises the formula and percentages used to determine the aggregate amount of annual charges collected from licensees and certificate holders. Reduces the fee recovery requirement from 100 percent to 98 percent in FY 2001 and by yearly increments down to 90 percent in FY 2005.
Bill· HRH.R. 5497 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a limited credit against income tax for certain audio or video postproduction equipment.
Bill· HRH.R. 5484 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Electricity Windfall Profit Tax Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax equal to the windfall profit on the retail sale of electricity for use in Orange and San Diego Counties in California during June, July, or August of 2000. Appropriates revenues from such tax to Orange and San Diego Counties to provide relief to residents for the high costs of electricity incurred during the summer of 2000.
Bill· HRH.R. 5486 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include wireless telecommunications equipment in the definition of qualified technological equipment for purposes of determining the depreciation treatment of such equipment under the accelerated cost recovery system.
Bill· HRH.R. 5482 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001- Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and for sundry independent agencies. Title I: Department of Veterans Affairs - Makes appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs for: (1) veterans' compensation, pensions, and readjustment benefits; (2) veterans' insurance and indemnities; (3) veterans' housing, education, and vocational rehabilitation loan accounts; (4) veterans' medical care; (5) medical and prosthetic research; (6) medical administration; (7) departmental administration; (8) the National Cemetery Administration; (9) the Office of Inspector General; (10) construction; (11) the parking revolving fund; and (12) grants to States for construction of extended care facilities and cemeteries. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds made available under this title. (Sec. 114) Prohibits the obligation of funds appropriated for medical care for the Department of Veterans Affairs for the realignment of the health care delivery system in Veterans Integrated Service Network 12 until the Secretary of Veterans Affairs makes a specified certification regarding impacts on the accessibility of veterans health care services to affected veterans. Title II: Department of Housing and Urban Development - Makes appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for: (1) public and Indian housing; (2) the Public Housing Capital and Operating Funds; (3) drug elimination grants for low-income housing; (4) revitalization of severely distressed public housing; (5) Native American housing block grants; (6) Indian housing loan guarantees; (7) housing opportunities for persons with AIDS; (8) the Office of Rural Housing and Economic Development; (9) empowerment zones and enterprise communities; (10) the community development fund; (11) brownfields redevelopment; (12) the HOME investment partnerships program; (13) homeless assistance grants; (14) Shelter Plus Care program renewals; (15) housing for special populations; (16) the Federal Housing Administration (FHA); (17) the Government National Mortgage Association; (18) housing policy development and research; (19) fair housing activities; (20) the Lead Hazard Reduction Program; (21) management and administration; (22) the Office of Inspector General; and (23) carrying out the Federal Housing Enterprise Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds made available under this title. (Sec. 203) Requires the Secretary of HUD, from amounts made available under this title for FY 2001 for housing opportunities for persons with AIDS, to make a grant for any State that: (1) received an allocation in a prior fiscal year due to having a specified number of AIDS cases outside of a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with a population exceeding 500,000; and (2) is not otherwise eligible for a FY 2001 allocation because the areas outside the MSAs that qualify for funding in FY 2001 do not have the number of AIDS cases required. (Sec. 206) Bars the use of funds appropriated by any Act by the Secretary of HUD to prohibit any entity that is responsible for convening and managing a continuum of care process in a community for purposes of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act from participating in such capacity unless the Secretary has published in the Federal Register a description of all circumstances that would be grounds for, and the procedures for, such prohibition. (Sec. 207) Requires any grant or assistance made pursuant to this title to be made in accordance with HUD accountability provisions of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989 on a competitive basis. (Sec. 210) Amends the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 to make housing assistance under such Act available for law enforcement officers on reservations or in other Indian areas if the presence of such officers may deter crime. (Sec. 211) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated in any Act by the Secretary of HUD to provide any assistance to benefit a facility which sells predominantly cigarettes or other tobacco products (such sales representing more than 35 percent of the annual, total in-store, non-fuel sales). (Sec. 212) Bars the use of funds to implement the June 2000 agreement between the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration, and HUD related to the allocation of operating subsidies for such Housing Administration unless the Housing Administration and HUD submit by December 31, 2000, a schedule of benchmarks and measurable goals to the Appropriations Committees designed to address issues of mismanagement and safeguards against fraud and abuse. (Sec. 214) Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to provide for onsite computer access and training resources for public housing residents. Authorizes computer centers in and around public housing, through a Neighborhood Networks initiative and related activities, to be established, operated, and assisted by the use of: (1) public housing capital and operating funds, and certain technical assistance; and (2) demolition, site revitalization, replacement housing, and tenant-based assistance grants for projects. (Sec. 215) Considers the properties known as the Hawthornes in Independence, Missouri, as eligible multifamily housing for purposes of participating in a specified multifamily housing restructuring program. (Sec. 216) Amends the National Housing Act to extend through FY 2001 the authority for all project owners to retain excess income under the rental and cooperative housing program. (Sec. 217) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to modify the definition of "urban county" for purposes of the community development block grant program and to authorize an urban county that was so classified for FY 1999, at its option, to remain classified as such for purposes of such Act. (Sec. 218) Exempts public housing agencies in Alaska and Mississippi from certain membership requirements for their boards of directors under the United States Housing Act of 1937. (Sec. 221) Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to make recipients under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 eligible for certain supportive services and empowerment activities currently offered to public housing residents. (Sec. 222) Extends the availability of certain grants made available under an economic development initiative pursuant to the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 through FY 2001. (Sec. 224) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to extend through FY 2001 the 25 percent public services cap for the City of Los Angeles, California, under the community development block grant program. (Sec. 226) Amends the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to permit the use of assistance for the costs of implementing management information systems for collecting unduplicated counts of homeless people and analyzing patterns of use of assistance under such Act. (Sec. 227) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to authorize loan guarantees for Indian housing to be used to refinance standard housing on Indian trust lands or in Alaska Native areas. (Sec. 228) Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to include within the definition of "eligibility event," for purposes of eligibility for enhanced Section 8 voucher assistance, any termination or expiration of a contract for rental assistance during fiscal years after 1996 prior to the effective date of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001. (Sec. 229) Amends the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to prohibit grants for housing assistance for any governmental entity unless such entity agrees to develop and implement policies for the discharge of persons from publicly funded institutions to prevent such discharge from immediately resulting in homelessness. (Sec. 230) Amends the Preserving Affordable Housing for Senior Citizens and Families into the 21st Century Act to redesignate the Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Care Facility Needs in the 21st Century as the Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Care Facility Needs for Seniors in the 21st Century. (Sec. 231) Amends the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to terminate the Interagency Council on the Homeless on October 1, 2005 (currently, October 1, 1994). (Sec. 232) Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to revise provisions regarding Section 8 public housing agency (PHA) project-based assistance. Allows a PHA to use amounts provided under an annual contributions contract to enter into a housing assistance payment contract with respect to an existing, newly constructed, or rehabilitated structure subject to specified requirements, including those for: (1) income mixing; (2) resident choice; (3) contract terms and extensions; (4) rent calculations; and (5) tenant selection. (Sec. 233) Requires the Secretary of HUD, in managing and disposing of any multifamily property that is held by the Secretary and occupied primarily by elderly or disabled families, to maintain any Section 8 rental assistance payments that are attached to any dwelling units in the property. (Sec. 234) Makes section 8 family unification assistance available for up to 18 months for eligible youths between the ages of 18 and 21 who have left foster care at age 16 or older. (Sec. 235) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to make permanent an FHA multifamily mortgage credit demonstration program. Title III: Independent Agencies - Makes appropriations for: (1) the American Battle Monuments Commission; (2) the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; (3) the Department of the Treasury for community development financial institutions; (4) the Consumer Product Safety Commission; (5) the Corporation for National and Community Service (with a rescission of amounts available in the National Service Trust); (6) the Office of Inspector General; (7) the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; (8) the Department of Defense for Army cemeterial expenses; (9) the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for carrying out specified activities under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA); and (10) the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for carrying out specified activities under CERCLA, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, and the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Appropriates funds for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for: (1) science and technology activities; (2) environmental programs and management; (3) the Office of Inspector General; (4) buildings and facilities; (5) Superfund; (6) the leaking underground storage tank program; (7) oil spill response programs; and (8) assistance to States and Indian tribes for environmental programs and infrastructure. Amends the Clean Air Act to make prohibitions on Federal assistance (including highway funds) for activities which do not comply with State implementation plans for air quality standards inapplicable to nonattainment areas until one year after the area is first designated nonattainment for a specific national ambient air quality standard. Applies this provision with respect to the standard for which an area is newly designated nonattainment and provides that it does not affect the area's requirements with respect to other standards for which it is designated nonattainment. Appropriates funds for: (1) the Executive Office of the President for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Office of Environmental Quality; and (2) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General. Makes appropriations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency for: (1) disaster relief; (2) disaster assistance direct loans; (3) salaries and expenses; (4) the Office of Inspector General; (5) emergency management planning and assistance; (6) a specified emergency food and shelter program; (7) the National Flood Insurance Fund; and (8) the National Flood Mitigation Fund. Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to extend through December 31, 2001: (1) a certain ceiling on obligations issued under the national flood insurance program; and (2) the authorization of appropriations for certain studies. Makes appropriations for: (1) the General Services Administration for the Federal Consumer Information Center; (2) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for human space flight, science, aeronautics, and technology research and development, mission support, and the Office of Inspector General; (3) the National Credit Union Administration's Central Liquidity Facility; (4) the National Science Foundation for research, major construction projects, science and engineering education and human resources programs, salaries and expenses, and the Office of Inspector General; (5) the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; and (6) the Selective Service System. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title. Title IV: General Provisions - Sets forth provisions regarding availability, and prohibitions on the use, of funds appropriated by this Act. Expresses the sense of Congress that equipment and products purchased with funds made available in this Act should be American-made. (Sec. 426) Prohibits the obligation or expenditure of any of the funds provided in title II of this Act for technical assistance, training, or management improvements unless HUD provides a description of each proposed activity and a detailed budget estimate of costs as part of the budget justifications to the Appropriations Committees. (Sec. 427) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for the designation, or approval of the designation, of any area as an ozone nonattainment area under the Clean Air Act pursuant to the eight-hour national ambient air quality standard for ozone promulgated by the EPA on July 18, 1997, and remanded by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on May 14, 1999, in the case American Trucking Ass'ns. v. EPA prior to June 15, 2001, or final adjudication of such case by the Supreme Court, whichever occurs first. (Sec. 428) Amends the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Federal Employment Reduction Assistance Act of 1996 to authorize the NASA Administrator to offer voluntary separation incentive payments in order to restructure and improve the efficiency of the workforce. Extends voluntary separation incentives under such Act for separations occurring before September 30, 2002 (currently, September 30, 2000). Requires the NASA Administrator to report to the Appropriations Committees on restructuring activities. (Sec. 429) Amends the Commercial Space Launch Act to extend, though December 31, 2001, its commercial space launch industry damage indemnification provisions. Title V: Filipino Veterans' Benefits Improvements - Makes a certain payment rate for service-connected disability benefits paid to members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army who served with U.S. armed forces during World War II inapplicable to those members who are U.S. citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence. Makes such individuals eligible for hospital and nursing home care and medical services in the same manner as a veteran. Authorizes medical services to veterans with service-connected disabilities within the limits of an outpatient clinic in the Philippines under the Secretary of Veterans Affairs' direct jurisdiction. Title VI: Debt Reduction - Provides for the deposit of an additional amount into the account to reduce the public debt.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 114 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 25, 2000. Requires funds to be made available and permits obligations for mandatory payments due on or about November 1, 2000, to continue to be made.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 637 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Sets forth the rule (closed) for the consideration of H. J. Res. 114 (continuing FY 2001 appropriations).
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 638 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 18 October 2000
Waives points of order against consideration of the conference report on H.R. 4635 (Departments of Veterans Affairs and of Housing and Urban Development and independent agencies appropriations).
Bill· HRH.R. 5473 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 16 October 2000
Rapid Change Opportunity Act - Title I: Funding for Additional Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, and Strategic Planning Communities - Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Enhancement Act of 2000 - Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act to revise additional grants requirements, providing for: (1) additional State entitlements to grants for designated qualified empowerment zones and qualified enterprise communities as well as for strategic planning communities (currently not provided for); (2) specified funding for such additional empowerment zone State grants (according to urban or rural status) as well as for additional enterprise community State grants and strategic planning community State grants; (3) direct grants to the governing bodies of eligible Indian tribes or Alaska Native villages or regional or village corporations, subject to certain conditions; (4) use of grant funds for revolving loan fund loans to residents, institutions, organizations, or businesses that hire disadvantaged adults and youths; and (5) environmental review to ensure that the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and other applicable Federal law are most effectively implemented in connection with the expenditure of grant funds under SSA title XX additional grants provisions. Title II: Credit Against Income Tax for Certain Investments in Businesses Located in Low-Income Communities - New Markets Tax Credit Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a limited credit to a taxpayer making a qualified low-income community investment. Title III: Exclusion of Certain Severance Payment Amounts from Income - Layoff Tax Relief Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income up to$50,000 of any "qualified severance payment." Excludes from such definition payments exceeding $150,000. Title IV: Extension of Medical Benefits - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to establish a new qualifying event to extend medical benefits to covered employees who become eligible for trade adjustment assistance under the Trade Act of 1974. Title V: Community Economic Adjustment Act of 2000 - Community Economic Adjustment Act of 2000 - Amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act to establish an Office of Community Economic Adjustment in the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce to coordinate the Federal response in regions and communities experiencing severe and sudden economic distress, to help such regions and communities in restructuring their economies. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Secretary of Labor to study and report to Congress on the feasibility of establishing and carrying out one or more pilot projects to provide public employment for temporarily dislocated workers. Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to include assistance for the preparation of resumes and related pre-employment assistance for eligible individuals under required local: (1) elements of programs for youth; and (2) core services for adults and dislocated workers. Authorizes appropriations to the President for a specified FY 2001 contribution to the International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Bill· SS. 3193 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2000
Amends Section 527 (Political Organizations) of the Internal Revenue Code to exempt State and local political committees from required notification of section 527 status.
Bill· HRH.R. 5471 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2000
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude, subject to a $5,000 maximum exclusion (double for a joint return), from gross income a capital gain dividend: (1) which is distributed by a regulated investment company; and (2) which is automatically reinvested by the company in the stock of such company with respect to which the dividend is distributed.
Bill· HRH.R. 5463 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2000
Amends provisions of the Internal Revenue Code concerning the confidentiality of return information to include within the definition of return information any closing agreement and any background information related to such an agreement or request for such an agreement. Prohibits the disclosure of tax convention information.
Bill· HRH.R. 5455 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 12 October 2000
Small Investment Tax Relief Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, in the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, to provide a limited exclusion from gross income for gain from the sale or exchange of certain qualified small business stock held for more than one year.
Bill· SS. 3189 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2000
Child Support Distribution Act of 2000 - Title I: Distribution of Child Support - Amends title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to revise requirements for the distribution of child support collected by States on behalf of children receiving certain welfare benefits. Title II: Review and Adjustment of Child Support Orders - Requires the chief executive officer of a State to certify that the State has established procedures to ensure that the State agency administering the child support enforcement program will be notified of certain families leaving the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program under SSA title IV part A. (Sec. 201) Requires the State child support enforcement agency to review and, if appropriate, adjust any child support order relating to any individual leaving the TANF program. Title III: Demonstration of Expanded Information and Enforcement - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop recommendations which address the participation of public non-IV-D child support enforcement agencies in establishing and enforcing child support obligations. (Sec. 302) Prescribes requirements for ten demonstration projects involving establishment and enforcement of child support obligations by such public non-IV-D agencies. (Sec. 303) Requires a Comptroller General report to Congress on private child support enforcement agencies. Title IV: Expanded Enforcement - Reduces from $5,000 to $2,500 the amount of child support arrearage which shall trigger denial of a passport. (Sec. 402) Revises requirements for the use of tax refund intercept program to collect past-due child support on behalf of non-minor children. (Sec. 403) Prohibits garnishment of certain compensation for a service-connected disability paid to a former member of the Armed Forces for: (1) alimony; or (2) child support less than 60 days in arrears. Permits no more than 50 percent of such compensation to be garnished to pay for such child support. Title V: Fatherhood Programs - Directs the Secretary to award competitive matching grants to eligible entities to establish programs to promote marriage and successful parenting, and help fathers and their families avoid or leave cash welfare (TANF) and improve their economic status. Establishes the Fatherhood Grants Recommendations Panel to review grant applications and recommend awards. (Sec. 502) Directs the Secretary to award a $5 million grant to an experienced, nationally recognized, nonprofit fatherhood promotion organization to develop a media campaign and establish a national clearinghouse for information relating to fatherhood promotion. (Sec. 503) Directs the Secretary to award grants to States to encourage such media campaigns. (Sec. 504) Directs the Secretary to award block grants to encourage States to support the efforts of local governments, public agencies, and private nonprofit organizations to promote responsible fatherhood. Title VI: Miscellaneous - Requires the Secretary to report to Congress: (1) an interim evaluation of abstinence education programs; and (2) on undistributed child support payments. (Sec. 603) Requires the Secretary to disclose new hire information to a State to assist in the administration of unemployment compensation programs. (Sec. 604) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make ineligible to receive a visa and to exclude from admission to the United States any nonimmigrant alien more than $2,500 in arrears in legally obligated child support. (Sec. 605) Declares that certain (welfare-to-work and child support) amendments made by Public Law 106-246 shall take effect as if included in the enactment of section 806 of H.R. 3424 of the 106th Congress by Public Law 106-113. (Sec. 606) Eliminates the set-aside of welfare-to-work funds for payment of a successful performance bonus. (Sec. 607) Provides for an increase in payment rate, according to a specified formula, to States for short term training of staff of State-licensed or State-approved child welfare agencies providing services. Title VII: Effective Date - Specifies the effective date of this Act.
Bill· SS. 3186 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2000
Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2000 - Title I: Needs Based Bankruptcy - Amends Federal bankruptcy law to revamp guidelines governing dismissal or conversion of a Chapter 7 liquidation petition (complete relief in bankruptcy) to one under Chapter 11 (Reorganization) or Chapter 13 (Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income). Allows a bankruptcy panel trustee and any party in interest to move for such dismissal or conversion (current law prohibits a party in interest from such motions). Lowers the "substantial abuse" standard for dismissal or conversion to one of simple abuse. Replaces the presumption in favor of granting the relief sought by the debtor with a presumption that abuse exists if the debtor's current monthly income exceeds specified formulae. (Sec. 102) Includes within the calculation of debtor's monthly expenses: (1) those expenses incurred to maintain the safety of the debtor and the debtor's family from family violence as identified under the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act or other applicable Federal law; and (2) continuation of actual expenses paid by the debtor for the care and support of an elderly, chronically ill, or disabled household or non-dependent immediate family member. Provides that the presumption of abuse may only be rebutted with detailed documentation of special circumstances requiring additional expenses or adjustment of currently monthly total income for which there is no reasonable alternative. Requires the debtor's counsel to reimburse the bankruptcy trustee for legal fees in prosecuting a dismissal or conversion motion if the court finds that counsel's filing under Chapter 7 was in violation of certain bankruptcy rules. Requires the court, upon motion by the victim of a crime of violence or a drug trafficking crime (or at the request of a party in interest), to dismiss a voluntary case filed by an individual debtor convicted of that crime (unless the debtor establishes that filing of the case is necessary to satisfy a claim for a domestic support obligation). Redefines "disposable income" of a chapter 13 debtor to exclude such debtor's domestic support obligation that first becomes payable after the date the petition is filed. (Sec. 103) Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of the Treasury has the authority to alter Internal Revenue Service (IRS) standards established to set guidelines for repayment plans as needed to accommodate their use under the Bankruptcy Code. Instructs the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to report to certain congressional committees regarding the utilization of Internal Revenue standards for determining specified monthly expenses of a debtor and the impact of such standards upon debtors and the bankruptcy courts. (Sec. 104) Revises procedural guidelines to mandate a written notice to the individual consumer debtor before commencement of a case stating: (1) the types of services available from credit counseling agencies; (2) the criminal penalties for fraudulent concealment of assets; and (3) that all creditor-supplied information is subject to examination by the Attorney General. (Sec. 105) Instructs the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to: (1) develop a financial management training curriculum and materials to educate individual debtors on how to better manage their finances; and (2) test, evaluate, and report to the Congress on the curriculum's effectiveness. (Sec. 106) Precludes an individual debtor from filing under Federal bankruptcy law unless the individual has received a briefing from an approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling service prior to filing a bankruptcy petition, unless the U.S. trustee or bankruptcy administrator determines that the service for the district in which the debtor lives is not reasonably able to provide adequate services to the additional individuals who would otherwise seek credit counseling because of such requirement. Conditions a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 discharge in bankruptcy upon the debtor's completion of an approved instructional course concerning personal financial management. Requires the clerk of each district to maintain a public list of credit counseling agencies and instructional courses concerning personal financial management. Prescribes criteria for approval of such agencies and courses. Prohibits such counseling service from informing a credit reporting agency whether an individual debtor has received or sought personal financial management instruction. Establishes civil penalties for noncompliance. Title II: Enhanced Consumer Protection - Subtitle A: Penalties for Abusive Creditor Practices - Cites circumstances under which the court may reduce by up to 20 percent a claim based in whole upon unsecured consumer debts if the debtor can show by clear and convincing evidence that the claim was filed by a creditor who unreasonably refused to negotiate a reasonable alternative repayment schedule proposed by an approved credit counseling agency acting on the debtor's behalf. (Sec. 202) Makes a creditor's willful failure to credit payments received from a debtor (with a specified exception), if such failure caused material injury to the debtor, a violation of a discharge operating as an injunction. (Sec. 203) Modifies debt reaffirmation guidelines governing wholly unsecured consumer debts to mandate specified detailed disclosures and explanations to the debtor for dischargeable debt agreements. Exempts a credit union creditor from such detailed disclosures and explanations. Amends Federal criminal law to instruct the Attorney General to designate U.S. attorneys and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to implement enforcement activities in addressing: (1) abusive reaffirmations of debt; and (2) materially fraudulent statements in bankruptcy schedules that are intentionally false or misleading. Directs the bankruptcy court to establish procedures for referring those cases to such U.S. attorneys and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Subtitle B: Priority Child Support - Revises priority payment guidelines to place within the first priority claim category certain unsecured claims for domestic support obligations, on the condition that funds received by a governmental unit be applied in a prescribed order. (Sec. 213) Conditions court confirmation of a debt repayment plan under Chapters 11, 12 (Debts of a Family Farmer), and 13 (and the subsequent discharge of debts) upon certification of debtor's full payment of all adjudicated domestic support obligations that are due after the petition filing date. (Sec. 214) Excepts from an automatic stay specified choses-in-action pertaining to domestic support obligations proceedings including: (1) child custody or visitation; (2) dissolution of marriage; (3) domestic violence; (4) withholding of income that is property of the bankrupt estate for payment of domestic support obligations; (5) suspension of drivers' licenses and professional licenses; (6) reporting of overdue support owed by a parent to certain consumer reporting agencies; (7) interception of specified tax refunds; (8) establishment of paternity; (9) establishment or modification of an order for domestic support obligations; and (10) enforcement of medical obligations under title IV, part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of the Social Security Act. (Sec. 215) Revamps guidelines governing the nondischargeability of certain debts for alimony, maintenance, and support to repeal the exceptions granted the debtor under specified conditions. (Sec. 216) Modifies guidelines governing property exempt from the bankruptcy estate to declare such property liable for a debt arising from domestic support obligations. (Sec. 217) Prohibits the bankruptcy trustee from avoiding a transfer that is a bona fide payment of a debt for a domestic support obligation. (Sec. 218) Redefines "disposable income" received by certain debtors, with respect to confirmation of a plan under Chapter 12 or 13, to include income not reasonably expected to be expended for a domestic support obligation that first becomes payable after the date on which a petition for debt relief is filed. (Sec. 219) Sets forth the duties of the bankruptcy trustee under chapters 7, 11, 12 and 13 regarding a claim against an individual debtor for the collection of child support, including notifying the claim holder and the appropriate State child support agency of the debtor's last known address. (Sec. 220) Makes dischargeable any debts for certain qualified educational loans which, if not discharged, would impose an undue hardship upon either the debtor or the debtor's dependent. Subtitle C: Other Consumer Protections - Modifies guidelines governing nonattorney bankruptcy petition preparers to mandate that as a prerequisite to any collection of fees for services: (1) such preparers officially disclose to debtors that they cannot practice law or give legal advice; and (2) such disclosure be signed by the debtor and filed with the requisite court documents. Prescribes enforcement and penalty guidelines for preparer noncompliance. (Sec. 222) Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should develop curricula relating to the subject of personal finance, designed for use in elementary and secondary schools. (Sec. 223) Places in the tenth order of prioritized claims against the bankrupt estate any death or personal injury claims resulting from the unlawful operation of a motor vehicle or vessel because the debtor was drug or alcohol-impaired. (Sec. 224) Permits an individual debtor to exempt from the property of the bankrupt estate certain tax-exempt retirement funds that have not been obligated in connection with any extension of credit. Exempts from either an automatic stay or a discharge in bankruptcy specified income withheld from the debtor pursuant to pension or profit sharing plans sponsored by such debtor's employer to pay certain loans from such plans. (Sec. 225) Sets forth criteria for excluding certain education individual retirement accounts from the property of the bankruptcy estate if the designated beneficiary is a child or grandchild of the debtor. (Sec. 227) Sets forth restrictions on and requirements for debt relief agency practices. Provides for civil penalties for intentional violations. Requires a debt relief agency providing bankruptcy assistance to provide prescribed disclosures to an assisted person. (Sec. 230) Instructs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost of requiring trustees or the bankruptcy courts to provide the Office of Child Support Enforcement with the names and address of an individual debtor promptly after such debtor commences a case. Title III: Discouraging Bankruptcy Abuse - Modifies exceptions to a discharge in bankruptcy to prohibit discharge of a filing fee imposed by any court upon a prisoner. (Sec. 302) Terminates the automatic stay 30 days after filing of a petition if a chapter 7, 11, or 13 petition was pending and dismissed the previous year, unless the subsequent filing is in good faith. Delineates conditions under which a history of previous petitions in bankruptcy give rise to a rebuttable presumption that the case is not filed in good faith. (Sec. 303) Directs the court to grant two-year relief from the automatic stay upon request of a party in interest with respect to certain real property actions if the court finds that filing the bankruptcy petition was part of a scheme to delay, hinder, and defraud creditors. (Sec. 304) Modifies debtor's duties to mandate specified affirmative actions to be taken by a chapter 7 debtor, including reaffirmation of the debt, or redemption of the property within 45 days, in order to retain possession of personal property. Allows a creditor to take action with respect to such property under nonbankruptcy law if the debtor fails to act within 45 days, unless the court determines upon trustee motion that such property is of consequential value or benefit to the estate. (Sec. 305) Declares that the automatic stay is terminated regarding property of the debtor's estate securing a claim or subject to an unexpired lease, if the debtor fails to complete an intended surrender of consumer debt collateral, or an intended property redemption or debt reaffirmation in order to retain such collateral, within a revised, accelerated time frame (unless the court determines upon trustee motion that such property is of consequential value or benefit to the estate). (Sec. 306) Requires the bankruptcy court to confirm a Chapter 13 plan if it provides that the holder of a secured allowed claim shall retain the attendant lien until payment or discharge of all debts. Provides that if a Chapter 13 proceeding is dismissed or converted without completion of the plan, the holder shall retain such lien to the extent recognized by applicable nonbankruptcy law. Provides that statutory guidelines to determine the secured status of a creditor's claim do not apply if: (1) the creditor has a purchase money security interest securing the debt; (2) the underlying debt was incurred within the five-year period preceding the filing of the bankruptcy petition; and (3) the collateral for that debt consists of a motor vehicle acquired for the debtor's personal use (or if the collateral consists of any other thing of value if the debt was incurred during the one-year period preceding such filing). (Sec. 307) Increases from 180 to 730 days the length of a debtor's location of domicile for purposes of determining which State law governs the debtor's selection of property exempt from the bankrupt estate. Moderates such time frame if the debtor's domicile has not been located at a single State for such 730-day period. (Sec. 308) Reduces the value of the homestead exemption and debtor's burial plot to the extent it is attributable to any portion of any property: (1) disposed of by the debtor within the seven-year period ending on the bankruptcy petition filing date with the intent to obstruct or defraud a creditor; and (2) which the debtor could not exempt. (Sec. 309) Revamps prescriptions governing the effects of conversion from chapter 13 to another chapter. Declares that: (1) valuations of property and of allowed secured claims in a chapter 13 case shall not apply in a case converted to chapter 7; and (2) with respect to cases converted from Chapter 13, the claim of any creditor holding security as of the date of the petition shall continue to be secured by that security unless the full claim amount, as determined under applicable nonbankruptcy law, has been paid in full as of the conversion date. States that a prebankruptcy default shall have the effect given under applicable nonbankruptcy law unless it has been fully cured pursuant to the plan at the time of conversion. Provides for a Chapter 7 debtor's assumption of unexpired leases of personal property. Declares that in a Chapter 11 case in which the debtor is an individual, and in a Chapter 13 case, if the lease is not assumed in the plan, it is rejected (thus no longer subject to an automatic stay) as of the conclusion of the hearing on confirmation. Delineates a cash payment plan for chapter 13 debtors for payments to any lessor of personal property and to any creditor holding a claim secured by personal property in order to ensure adequate protection to the claim holder during the payment period. Mandates that a debtor-in-possession provide reasonable evidence of any requisite insurance coverage with respect to the use or ownership of such property. (Sec. 310) Reduces from the threshold amounts of luxury goods and consumer credit any consumer debts owed to a single creditor presumed nondischargeable in bankruptcy, if acquired within 90 days and 70 days, respectively (currently 60 days) before an order for relief is issued. (Sec. 311) Precludes an automatic stay of any eviction, unlawful detainer action, or similar proceeding by a lessor against a debtor involving residential real property in which: (1) the debtor resides as a tenant under a rental agreement; (2) the debtor resides as a tenant under a rental agreement that has terminated; or (3) eviction actions are based upon endangerment to property or person or the use of illegal drugs. Denies an automatic stay of any transfer not avoidable by the trustee. (Sec. 312) Extends the period between Chapter 7 discharges to eight years, and between Chapter 13 discharges to five years. (Sec . 313) Requires the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to report to specified congressional committees about utilization of the definition of household goods under this Act with respect to: (1) the avoidance of nonpossessory, nonpurchase money security interests in household goods; and (2) the impact that such definition has had on debtors and on the bankruptcy courts. (Sec. 314) Lists among debts that are not dischargeable in bankruptcy a debt incurred to pay a tax to a non-Federal governmental unit. Revamps Chapter 13 debt discharge guidelines. Prohibits discharge from a debt for restitution or damages awarded in a civil action against the debtor for willful or malicious injury that caused personal injury or death of an individual. (Sec. 315) Prescribes notice procedures for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 creditors. Expands debtor's duties to require filing with the bankruptcy court of: (1) all tax returns; (2) evidence of employer payments received; (3) monthly net income projections; and (4) anticipated income or expenditure increases. Permits a Chapter 7 or chapter 13 creditor to request the debtor's petition, schedules, and statement of affairs, including the debt adjustment plan filed by the debtor. Requires dismissal of a Chapter 7 or 13 case upon debtor's failure to provide to the bankruptcy trustee not later than seven days before the date first set for the first meeting of creditors a tax return for the latest taxable period prior to filing. Mandates that, at the time of filing with the taxing authority, a Chapter 7 or 13 debtor file with the bankruptcy court specified tax documentation pertaining to the period from case commencement until case termination. Requires a Chapter 13 debtor to file with the court a statement of income and expenditures in the preceding tax year, and monthly net income, showing how calculated. Makes debtor's mandatory documentation available for inspection and copying to certain bankruptcy officers and any party in interest. Requires debtors to furnish driver's license, passport, or other photograph-containing documentation establishing debtor identification. (Sec. 316) Provides for automatic dismissal if a Chapter 7 or 13 debtor fails to furnish all mandatory information, or fails to timely file the requisite schedules. Requires the court to order dismissal within five days of a request by a party in interest for debtor's failure to timely submit requisite documentation. (Sec. 317) Requires a Chapter 13 confirmation hearing to be held not later than 45 days after the first meeting of creditors. (Sec. 318). Sets forth a statutory formula to determine whether a Chapter 13 debt readjustment payment plan shall be of either three-year or five-year duration. (Sec. 319) Expresses the sense of the Congress that rule 9011 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure should include a requirement that all debtors' documents be submitted to the court only after debtors have made reasonable inquiry to verify that all information therein is well grounded in fact, and warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for extension, modification or reversal of existing law. (Sec. 320) Revises automatic stay guidelines to provide that in the case of an individual filing under Chapters 7, 11, or 13, the automatic stay shall terminate 60 days after a request for its release by a party in interest, unless the court orders or the parties agree to a longer time. (Sec. 321) Revamps guidelines governing a Chapter 11 business reorganization case filed by an individual to: (1) identify the property of the estate in bankruptcy; and (2) revise the contents, confirmation, and modification of a reorganization plan. (Sec. 322) Prohibits a debtor from exempting from the estate in bankruptcy any amount of interest acquired during the two years before petition filing that exceeds in the aggregate $100,000 in value in: (1) real or personal property used as a residence; (2) a cooperative that owns property used as a residency by the debtor or debtor's dependent; or (3) a burial plot for the debtor or debtor's dependent. (Sec. 323) Excludes employee benefit plan participant contributions from the property of the bankruptcy estate. (Sec. 324) Amends the Federal judicial code to: (1) grant the district court presiding over a title 11 case exclusive jurisdiction over property of the debtor and of the estate, as well as to claims relating to employment or disclosure of bankruptcy professionals; and (2) increase bankruptcy fees and the amounts deposited as offsetting collections to both the United States Trustee Systems Fund, and to a special fund of the Treasury available to offset funds appropriated for court operation and maintenance. (Sec. 326) Exempts from the prohibition against sharing of compensation or reimbursement with respect to administrative expenses of a debtor's estate any sharing, or agreeing to share, compensation with a bona fide public service attorney referral program that operates in accordance with non-Federal law regulating attorney referral services, and with rules of professional responsibility applicable to attorney acceptance of referrals. (Sec. 327) Declares that the value of personal property securing an allowed claim shall be determined based on its replacement value as of the date of petition filing without deduction for costs of sale or marketing. (Sec. 328) Revises requirements for the assumption by a trustee of a defaulted executory contract or unexpired lease. Exempts from the requirement that the trustee cure such a default any default that is a breach of a provision relating to the satisfaction of any non-penalty provision relating to a default arising from any failure to perform nonmonetary obligations under an unexpired lease of real property, if it is impossible for the trustee to cure such default by performing nonmonetary acts at and after the time of assumption. Provides, however, that if such default arises from a failure to operate in accordance with a nonresidential real property lease, then such default shall be cured by performance at and after the time of assumption in accordance with such lease, and pecuniary losses resulting from such default shall be compensated in accordance with specified law. Makes the same exception to requirements a plan must meet to avoid impairing a class of claims or interests. Requires a plan, to avoid impairment, to compensate a claim holder for any actual pecuniary loss incurred by such holder as a result of any failure to perform a nonmonetary obligation, other than a default arising from failure to operate a non-residential real property lease subject to certain requirements. Title IV: General and Small Business Bankruptcy Provisions - Subtitle A: General Business Bankruptcy Provisions - Denies a debtor an automatic stay of the commencement of an investigation or action by a securities self-regulatory organization to enforce compliance with its regulations, or of the enforcement of any order or decision obtained by such an organization, other than for monetary sanctions. (Sec. 402) Authorizes the bankruptcy court, upon request of a party in interest, to order that the U.S. trustee not convene a meeting of creditors or equity security holders if the debtor has filed a plan for which acceptances have been solicited before commencement of the case. (Sec. 403) Increases from ten days to 30 days the length of time for the perfection of a transfer of property with respect to a trustee's authority to avoid such a transfer. (Sec. 404) Amends guidelines for rejection and surrender of executory contracts and unexpired leases. (Sec. 405) Authorizes a Chapter 11 trustee to increase the membership of a committee of creditors and equity security holders to include a creditor that is a small business concern following the court's determination that such creditor holds claims of the kind represented by the committee, the aggregate amount of which is disproportionately large in comparison to the creditor's annual gross revenue. Requires such committee to provide to certain creditors who are not committee members access to information. (Sec. 406) Prohibits the bankruptcy trustee from avoiding a warehouseman's lien for costs incidental to the storage and handling of certain goods. (Sec. 407) Directs the bankruptcy court to treat the compensation awarded a trustee as a commission. (Sec. 408) States that acceptance or rejection of a chapter 11 plan may be solicited from a holder of a claim or interest if: (1) the solicitation complies with applicable nonbankruptcy law; and (2) it was made before commencement of the case in a manner complying with applicable nonbankruptcy law. (Sec. 409) Prohibits the bankruptcy trustee from avoiding a transfer if, in a case filed by a debtor whose debts are not primarily consumer debts, the aggregate value of all property that constitutes or is affected by such transfer is less than $5,000. (Sec. 411) Limits the extensions of time permitted for filing a Chapter 11 reorganization plan. (Sec. 412) Denies a discharge in bankruptcy for a debt for a fee or assessment arising from a debtor's interest in a lot in a homeowners association for as long as the debtor retains specified interests in such lot. (Sec. 413) Authorizes a creditor holding a consumer debt to participate in a meeting of creditors in a chapter 7 or 13 case, either alone or in conjunction with an attorney. (Sec. 414) Revises the definition of "disinterested person" to remove persons who are not investment bankers (thus allowing investment bankers for any outstanding security of the debtor to be treated as a disinterested person). (Sec. 418) Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize the district court or bankruptcy court to waive the Chapter 7 filing fee and other attendant fees for certain Chapter 7 debtors whom the court has determined to be unable to pay fees in installments. (Sec. 419) Directs the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States to propose amended Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and Official Bankruptcy Forms directing chapter 11 debtors to disclose information relating to the value, operations, and profitability of any closely held corporation, partnership, or other entity in which the debtor holds a substantial or controlling interest. Subtitle B: Small Business Bankruptcy Provisions - Sets forth mandatory factors for court consideration in determining whether the disclosure statement regarding a small business reorganization plan provides adequate information. (Sec. 432) Defines a small business debtor, generally, as a person (including a debtor affiliate) with not more than $3 million in aggregate non-contingent, liquidated secured and unsecured debts as of the date of the petition or the order for relief (excluding debts owed to one or more affiliates or insiders). (Sec. 433) Directs the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference (Advisory Committee) to propose for adoption standardized disclosure statements and plans of reorganization for small business debtors. (Sec. 434) Sets forth uniform national reporting requirements for small business debtors. (Sec. 435) Directs the Advisory Committee to propose for adoption revisions to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and Official Bankruptcy Forms enabling small business debtors to comply with such uniform national reporting requirements. (Sec. 436) Sets forth duties and administrative procedures in small business reorganization cases, including serial filer provisions and expanded grounds for dismissal or conversion and appointment of a trustee. (Sec. 443) Directs the Small Business Administration to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the factors that cause small businesses to become debtors in bankruptcy; and (2) how Federal bankruptcy laws can be made more efficient in assisting small businesses to retain their viability. (Sec. 444) Revises the circumstance precluding a secured single asset real estate interest creditor's relief from an automatic stay where a debtor has commenced monthly payments to each such creditor to allow the debtor, in the debtor's sole discretion, to make such payments from rents or other income generated before or after the commencement of the case by or from the property. Requires such payments in an amount equal to the interest on the value of the creditor's interest in the real estate, determined at the then-applicable nondefault contract rate of interest (currently, at the fair market rate). (Sec. 445) Allows as an administrative expense, for the two-year period following either the later of the rejection date or date of actual turnover of the premises, all monetary obligations due from a nonresidential real property lease previously assumed and subsequently rejected under the requirements governing executory contracts and unexpired leases. Title V: Municipal Bankruptcy Provisions - Makes technical amendments to requirements for a municipal bankruptcy petition. Title VI: Bankruptcy Data - Amends the Federal judicial code to require the clerk of each district to compile bankruptcy statistics for individual debtors with primarily consumer debts seeking relief under chapters 7, 11, and 13. Directs the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (Administrative Office) to make such statistics public and to report them annually to the Congress. (Sec. 602) Instructs the Attorney General to promulgate requirements for uniform forms for: (1) final reports by trustees in cases under chapters 7, 12, and 13; and (2) periodic reports by chapter 11 debtors or trustees in possession. Prescribes report contents. (Sec. 603) Prescribes guidelines for the Attorney General and the Judicial Conference of the United States (as appropriate) to establish procedures to audit debtors. (Sec. 604) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the national policy should be that all public record data held in electronic form by bankruptcy clerks should be released in electronic form in bulk to the public subject to appropriate privacy concerns and safeguards as Congress and the Judicial Conference of the United States may determine; and (2) a bankruptcy data system should be established in which a single set of data definitions are used to collect data nationwide, and in which all data for any particular bankruptcy case are aggregated in the same electronic record. Title VII: Bankruptcy Tax Provisions - Amends the bankruptcy code to modify the treatment of certain tax liens. (Sec. 702) Provides that a claim for debtor's liability for fuel tax which is filed by the base jurisdiction designated under the International Fuel Tax Agreement shall be allowed as a single claim. (Sec. 703) Mandates that the clerk of each district maintain a listing under which a governmental entity responsible for the collection of taxes within such district may designate an address for service of requests and describe where further information for filing such requests may be found. (Sec. 704) Prescribes the rate of interest to be paid on mandatory interest payments on tax claims. (Sec. 705) Revises the specifications for income tax claims receiving eighth priority (allowed unsecured claims of governmental units). Provides for tolling of the time periods covering such tax claims for stays of proceedings in a prior bankruptcy case, and the pendency or effect of offers in compromise or installment agreements. (Sec. 707) Prohibits discharge under Chapter 13 of any debt for fraudulent tax payments. (Sec. 708) States that confirmation of a bankruptcy plan does not discharge a corporate debtor from any debt for a tax or customs duty with respect to which the debtor made a fraudulent return or willfully attempted to evade or defeat such tax. (Sec. 709) Amends the automatic stay of U.S. Tax Court proceedings concerning the debtor to restrict such stay to: (1) a corporate debtor's tax liability for a taxable period the bankruptcy court may determine; or (2) concerning an individual debtor's tax liability for a taxable period ending before the order for relief. (Sec. 710) Includes among the requirements for court confirmation of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan which includes tax claims, that the debtor, at the minimum, make regular cash installment payments over a period ending not later than five years after the date of entry of the order for relief, and in a manner not less favorable than the most favored nonpriority unsecured claim provided for in the plan. (Sec. 711) Prohibits the avoidance of statutory tax liens by certain purchasers. (Sec. 712) Amends the Federal judicial code to require officers and agents conducting any business under court authority to pay all Federal, State and local taxes when due in the course of the business, unless it is a property tax secured by a lien against estate property which is abandoned by the bankruptcy trustee, or payment of the tax is excused under a specific bankruptcy law. Cites circumstances in which payment of such taxes may be deferred in a case pending under chapter 7 until final distribution is made. Entitles to administrative expense priority payment certain secured and postpetition unsecured taxes incurred by the bankruptcy estate, including ad valorem property taxes. Declares that a governmental unit shall not be required to file a request for the payment of administrative expenses relating to a tax liability or tax penalty. Allows a trustee to recover from property securing a claim for the payment of all ad valorem property taxes relating to such property. (Sec. 713) Requires as a condition for payment of tardily filed priority tax claims that they be filed either before the trustee commences distribution or ten days following the mailing to creditors of the summary of the trustee's final report, whichever is earlier (currently, before the trustee commences distribution of the estate). (Sec. 714) Makes nondischargeable any obligations based on income tax returns or equivalent reports or notices prepared by tax authorities. (Sec. 715) Declares that an estate's liability for unpaid tax is discharged upon payment of such tax according to certain requirements. (Sec. 716) Conditions court confirmation of a chapter 13 bankruptcy plan upon filing by the debtor: (1) of all prepetition tax returns; and (2) before the day on which the first meeting of the creditors is convened, of all tax returns for taxable periods ending in the four-year period that ends on the date of the filing of the petition. Authorizes the court to dismiss a plan or convert it to chapter 7, whichever is in the best interests of the creditors and the estate, if a chapter 13 debtor fails to comply with such time frame. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference should propose for adoption amended Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure pertaining to objections to tax returns and to plan confirmation. (Sec. 717) Redefines "adequate disclosure," for postpetition disclosure and solicitation purposes, to include full discussion of the potential material Federal and State tax consequences of the plan to the debtor and to a hypothetical investor domiciled in the State in which the debtor resides or has its principal place of business typical of the holders of claims or interests in the case. (Sec. 718) Denies an automatic stay (unless specified conditions are met) to the setoff of an income tax refund for a taxable period which ended before the order for relief against an income tax liability for a taxable period which also ended before the order for relief. (Sec. 719) Revises special provisions related to the treatment of State and local taxes, including the creation of a separate taxable estate when such is done for Federal tax purposes. (Sec. 720) Provides that if the debtor fails to timely file a tax return or obtain an extension, a taxing authority may petition the court to convert or dismiss a case, whichever is in the best interests of creditors and the estate. Title VIII: Ancillary and Other Cross-Border Cases - Expands the scope of bankruptcy law to incorporate the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, and to establish a statutory mechanism for: (1) dealing with cases of cross-border insolvency; and (2) cooperation between U.S. courts, trustees, and debtors and their foreign counterparts. Prescribes guidelines for: (1) access of foreign representatives and creditors to Federal and State courts; (2) recognition of a foreign proceeding and relief; (3) cooperation and direct communication with foreign courts and representatives; and (4) concurrent proceedings and the coordination of foreign and domestic proceedings. Title IX: Financial Contract Provisions - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to redefine specified contracts, agreements, and transfers entered into with an insolvent insured depository institution before the appointment of a conservator or receiver for it. (Sec. 901) Declares that no person shall be stayed or prohibited from exercising any right to cause the acceleration of any qualified financial contract with an insured depository institution which arises upon the appointment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver at any time after such appointment. (Sec. 902) Declares that no provision of law shall be construed as limiting the right or power of the FDIC, or authorizing any court or agency to limit or delay, in any manner, the FDIC's right or power to transfer, disaffirm, or repudiate any qualified financial contract of a failed institution. Prohibits enforcement of a walkaway clause in a qualified financial contract of a failed insured depository institution (a clause that either does not create a payment obligation of a party, or extinguishes it solely because of such party's status as a nondefaulting party). (Sec. 903) Revises guidelines governing transfers of qualified financial contracts of an insolvent institution to include: (1) transfers to a foreign bank or foreign financial institution (including its branch or agency) (but only when the contractual rights of the parties to such qualified financial contracts are enforceable substantially to the same extent as permitted under such Act); and (2) transfers of contracts subject to the rules of a clearing organization. Defines financial institution to include a broker or dealer, a depository institution, a futures commission merchant, or any other institution as determined by FDIC regulation. Suspends certain termination rights of counterparties to a qualified financial contract with an insolvent insured depository institution until after the receiver's appointment, or after receipt of notice that the contract has been transferred. Declares that none of the following institutions shall be considered a financial institution for which a conservator, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, or other legal custodian has been appointed or which is otherwise the subject of a bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding: (1) a bridge bank; or (2) an FDIC-organized depository institution for which a conservator is appointed either immediately upon organization, or at the time of a purchase and assumption transaction between such institution and the FDIC as receiver for a depository institution in default. (Sec. 904) Prescribes guidelines for: (1) the disaffirmance or repudiation of qualified financial contracts by the conservator or receiver for a failed depository institution; and (2) the treatment of a master agreement as a single agreement and a single qualified financial contract. (Sec. 906) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 to make conforming amendments with respect to: (1) bilateral netting contracts; (2) security agreements; (3) clearing organization netting contracts; (4) contracts with uninsured national banks; and (5) contracts with uninsured Federal branches or agencies. (Sec. 907) Amends the Federal Bankruptcy Code to reflect the changes made by this Act and to: (1) deny an automatic stay to set-offs under certain swap agreements and netting agreements; and (2) restrict the avoidance power of the bankruptcy trustee regarding certain master netting agreement transfers to those transfers that are fraudulent in nature. Sets forth statutory guidelines for: (1) the termination or acceleration of designated contracts and agreements; and (2) commodity broker and stockbroker liquidation with respect to the priority of unsecured claims, or customer property or distributions. (Sec. 908) Amends the FDIA to authorize the FDIC to prescribe more detailed recordkeeping requirements for qualified financial contracts (including market valuations) by insured depository institutions. (Sec. 909) Exempts specified collateralization agreements from the contemporaneous execution requirement that renders invalid certain agreements against FDIC interests in certain asset acquisitions. (Sec. 910) Amends Federal bankruptcy law to specify the date for the measure of damages in connection with: (1) rejection by the bankruptcy trustee of designated contracts and agreements relating to executory contracts and unexpired leases; or (2) the liquidation, acceleration, or termination of such contracts and agreements. (Sec. 911) Amends the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 to provide that neither the filing of a protective decree by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, nor any court protective order, shall operate as a stay of a creditor's contractual rights to liquidate, terminate, or accelerate designated contracts and agreements. Allows such application, order, or decree, however, to operate as a stay of foreclosure on securities collateral pledged by the debtor, whether or not with respect to one or more of such contracts, agreements, or securities sold by the debtor under a repurchase agreement. (Sec. 912) Declares that property of the bankrupt estate does not include any eligible asset (or its proceeds) to the extent that it was transferred by the debtor before commencement of the case to an eligible entity in connection with an asset-backed securitization (except to the extent that such asset, or its proceeds or value, may be recovered through avoidance by the bankruptcy trustee). Title X: Protection of Family Farmers - Amends the Federal bankruptcy code to: (1) reenact Chapter 12, Adjustment of Debts of a Family Farmer with Regular Annual Income (thereby reinstating family farmer bankruptcy relief); and (2) cite circumstances under which the claim of a governmental unit that arises as a result of the disposition of a farm asset used in the debtor's farming operation shall be treated as an unsecured claim not entitled to priority. Title XI: Health Care and Employee Benefits - Amends bankruptcy provisions to prescribe guidelines for disposal of the patient records of a health care business (not including a health maintenance organization) that commences a proceeding for debtor relief and the trustee does not have sufficient funds to pay for the storage of patient records as required by law. (Sec. 1103) Allows an administrative expense claim for the costs of closing a health care business, including disposal of patient records and transfer of patients to another health care business. (Sec. 1104) Requires the bankruptcy court to appoint an ombudsman to represent the interests of the patients of a health care business within 30 days after commencement of a case under chapter 7 (Liquidation), 9 (Adjustment of Debts of a Municipality), or 11 (Reorganization). (Sec. 1105) Requires the bankruptcy trustee to use all reasonable and best efforts to transfer patients from the health care business in the process of being closed to an appropriate substitute. (Sec. 1106) Denies an automatic stay to a debtor's exclusion by the Secretary of Health and Human Services from participation in the Medicare program or any other Federal health care program (thus precluding the debtor's continuation or reinstatement in such a program). Title XIV: Technical Amendments - Makes technical corrections to Federal bankruptcy, judicial, and criminal law. (Sec. 1201) Redefines single asset real estate to exclude family farms and to repeal the $4 million ceiling on the amount of noncontingent, liquidated secured debts on such property. Defines the term "transfer" to include: (1) creation of a lien; (2) retention of title as a security interest; (3) foreclosure of the debtor's equity of redemption; and (4) every mode of disposing of property or parting with an interest in property. (Sec. 1202) Requires triennial adjustment of the $5,000 value of certain implements, professional books, tools of the trade, farm animals, and crops which a debtor may exempt from the property of the estate (protecting them from creditors' liens). (Sec. 1206) Provides that a trustee or a creditors' and equity security holders' committee may pay a professional person they employ on a fixed or percentage fee basis, as well as on other bases already permitted. (Sec. 1208) Excludes from compensable professional services any expenses incurred for an attorney or an accountant by an individual member of a creditors' and equity security holders' committee. (Sec. 1209) Declares nondischargeable in bankruptcy a debt for death or personal injury caused by the debtor's operation of a vessel or aircraft while intoxicated from alcohol, a drug, or other substance. (Sec. 1213) Revises guidelines governing preferences to provide that, if the trustee avoids a security interest given between 90 days and one year before the date of the filing of the petition, by the debtor to a non-insider for the benefit of a creditor that is an insider, then such security interest shall be considered to be avoided only with respect to the insider creditor. (Sec. 1222) Permits the bankruptcy trustee to sell, use, or lease property in accordance with nonbankruptcy law governing the transfer of property by nonprofit charitable corporations, if doing so is not inconsistent with certain relief granted under the automatic stay. (Sec. 1223) Extends from 20 to 30 days the length of time after a debtor receives possession of property for perfection of a security interest in such property created by a transfer which the trustee may not avoid. (Sec. 1224) Amends the Bankruptcy Judges, United States Trustees, and Family Farmer Bankruptcy Act of 1986 to repeal the October 1, 2002, alternate effective date for application of specified amendments of such Act regarding U.S. Trustees to certain judicial districts for Alabama and North Carolina. (Makes such amendments applicable to such districts only if they elect to be included in certain bankruptcy regions.) (Sec. 1225) Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2000 - Amends the Federal judicial code to mandate appointments for additional temporary bankruptcy judgeships in California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Virginia. Provides that the first vacancy occurring in such district five years or more after a judge is appointed under this Act shall not be filled. Extends temporary bankruptcy judgeship positions authorized for the northern district of Alabama, and the districts of Delaware, Puerto Rico, and South Carolina, and the eastern district of Tennessee. (Sec. 1226) Prescribes compensation guidelines for the services and expenses of a trustee who has petitioned the court to convert or dismiss a chapter 7 case. (Sec. 1227) Denies an automatic stay with respect to creation or perfection of a statutory lien for a special tax or special assessment on real property whether or not ad valorem, if the tax or assessment comes due after the filing of a petition for debtor relief. (Sec. 1228) Requires the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to develop materials and conduct training useful to courts in implementing this Act. (Sec. 1229) Amends Federal bankruptcy law to modify the right of the seller of goods to the debtor to reclaim such goods if the debtor received such goods while insolvent. Limits the period of receipt to 45 days after commencement of the case, and the time during which the seller may demand reclamation to 45 days after receipt, or before 20 days after commencement of the bankruptcy case. (Sec. 1230) Prohibits a court from granting a discharge in a chapter 7 case, or from confirming a reorganization plan in a chapter 11 or 13 case, unless requested tax documents are filed with or otherwise provided to the court. (Sec. 1231) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) consumer credit may sometimes be offered indiscriminately without lender action to ensure consumer repayment capacity, and in a manner which may encourage additional debt accumulation; and (2) resulting consumer debt may increasingly be a major contributing factor to consumer insolvency. Instructs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to study indiscriminate solicitation and extension of credit by the credit industry. Authorizes the Board to: (1) promulgate regulations requiring additional disclosures to consumers; and (2) take measures to ensure responsible industrywide practices and to prevent resulting consumer debt and insolvency. (Sec. 1232) Excludes from property of the estate in bankruptcy certain tangible personal property (other than securities or written or printed evidences of indebtedness or title) pledged or sold by the debtor as collateral for a loan or money advance, and: (1) the pledgee or transferee possesses such property; (2) the debtor has no obligation to repay or redeem; and (3) neither the debtor nor the trustee has exercised any right to redeem in a timely manner. (Sec. 1233) Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize private trustees and standing trustees, after exhausting administrative remedies, to obtain judicial review in a U.S. district court of: (1) any suspension or termination; or (2) denial of a claim of actual, necessary expenses. (Sec. 1235) Prescribes requirements for expedited appeals of bankruptcy cases to courts of appeals. Deems any judgment, decision, order, or decree of a bankruptcy judge to be the judgment, decision, order, or decree of an appellate district court, unless the district court files its own decision on the appeal within 30 days after the appeal from the bankruptcy judge is filed. Title XIII: Consumer Credit Disclosure - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require: (1) specified minimum payment warnings governing an open end credit plan on which finance charges are accruing; and (2) disclosure of a toll-free number to call for an estimate of the time required to repay the balance making only minimum payments. Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish a toll-free number for the same purpose in the case of a creditor with respect to which the FTC is enforcing compliance with such Act. Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) to promulgate implementing regulations. (Sec. 1301) Authorizes the Board to study and report to Congress on the types of information available to potential borrowers from consumer credit lending institutions regarding factors qualifying such borrowers for credit, repayment requirements, and the consequences of default. (Sec. 1302) Mandates additional disclosures in credit applications and advertising about credit extensions secured by a dwelling which exceed the dwelling's fair market value, stating that the interest on the excess portion of such extension is not tax deductible for Federal income tax purposes. (Sec. 1303) Requires specified additional disclosures for: (1) introductory rates and temporary annual percentage rates of interest; (2) Internet-based credit card solicitations; and (3) late payment deadlines and penalties. (Sec. 1306) Prohibits a creditor from terminating an open end consumer credit account before its expiration date solely because finance charges have not been incurred on such account. (Sec. 1307) Authorizes the Board to study and report to Congress on certain consumer protections limiting consumer liability for unauthorized use of a debit card or similar access device. (Sec. 1308) Instructs the Board to study and report to Congress on the impact that credit extensions to dependent students have upon the rate of bankruptcy cases filed under Federal law. (Sec. 1309) Instructs the Board to promulgate regulations to provide guidance regarding the meaning of the term "clear and conspicuous" as used in the Truth in Lending Act. (Sec. 1310) Prohibits a Federal court from recognizing or enforcing any judgment rendered in a foreign court if such Federal court determines that the foreign judgment effectuates a right or interest derived from fraudulent misrepresentation or omission that occurred in the United States during a specified period. Title XIV: General Effective Date; Application of Amendments - Sets forth the effective date of this Act and the application of its amendments.
Bill· HRH.R. 5444 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2000
Fair Tax Treatment for Insurance Agents' Termination Payments Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to consider a qualified termination payment received from an insurance company by a former insurance salesman for such company as a sale or exchange of a capital asset held for more than 12 months.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 111 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2000
Extends the law making continuing appropriations for FY 2001 through October 20, 2000.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 627 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2000
Sets forth the rule (closed) for the consideration of H. J. Res. 111 (continuing FY 2001 appropriations).
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 626 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 11 October 2000
Waives points of order against consideration of the conference report on H.R. 4392 (authorizing appropriations for intelligence and intelligence-related activities).