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1,251 records in US in 1991
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow penalty-free distributions from annuity contracts, qualified retirement plans, or modified endowment contracts made to an Operation Desert Storm participant before the end of 180 days after the termination of such partipation.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Amends the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to declare that a foreign principal shall be considered to control a person in major part if: (1) such principal holds more than 50 percent of equitable ownership in such person; or (2) such principal, subject to rebuttal evidence, holds at least 20 percent but not more than 50 percent of equitable ownership in such person. Requires agents of foreign principals who have filed registration statements to file supplements to such statements with the Attorney General on January 31 and July 31 of each year. Authorizes agents with accounting systems using different fiscal years to petition the Attorney General to permit the filing of statements at the close of the first and seventh month of such fiscal year in lieu of the required dates. Provides that the exemption from the foreign agent registration requirement for individuals providing legal representation for a foreign principal before a U.S. agency shall apply only to representation before the Patent and Trademark Office. Imposes civil penalties upon persons who have: (1) failed to file registration statements; or (2) omitted a material fact or made false statements on registration statements. Authorizes the Attorney General to serve civil investigative demands on persons in control of material relevant to investigations concerning violations of registration requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
National Energy Security Act of 1991 - Title I: Findings and Purposes - Sets forth the energy efficiency and development purposes of this Act. Title II: Definitions - Sets forth definitions used in this Act. Title III: Energy Efficiency - Subtitle A: Industrial, Commercial, and Residential - Amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act (ECPA) to mandate that the construction of new public housing units comply with energy efficiency performance standards. Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NECPA) to direct the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to: (1) promulgate guidelines for State government procedures that would enable the assignment of energy efficiency ratings to residential buildings; (2) establish a technical assistance program for State or local organizations adopting residential energy efficiency rating systems; and (3) undertake joint ventures to encourage commercialization of technologies developed in a research and development program intended to improve energy efficiency and productivity in energy intensive industries and industrial processes. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to report triennially to the Congress on energy efficiency policy options that would decrease domestic oil and energy consumption by specified percentages. Amends the Energy Security Act to repeal provisions regarding energy targets. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish voluntary guidelines for energy efficiency audits of industrial facilities and insulation in such facilities; (2) conduct an education and technical assistance program to promote the use of such guidelines; and (3) report on them annually. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to provide financial and technical assistance to support the voluntary development of a national program to establish energy efficiency ratings for windows. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration to expand the scope and frequency of certain energy efficiency data and to report on it annually to the Congress. Directs the Secretary of Energy to provide financial and technical assistance to support voluntary development of a national energy efficiency rating program for lamps and luminaries. Directs the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe labeling rules for them. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) to direct the Secretary to report to the Congress concerning evaluations of: (1) electric lights and utility distribution transformers; and (2) minimum energy efficiency performance standards of electric motors and pumps. Subtitle B: Federal Energy Management - Amends NECPA to prescribe energy management requirements for energy conservation and efficiency in Federal buildings. Directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration: (1) to conduct an analysis of significant energy consuming products in the Federal Supply Schedule; and (2) to develop a method to identify products which offer cost-effective opportunities to reduce energy consumption and costs. Requires the Administrator of the General Services Administration to consider fuel efficiency and cost savings when evaluating bids for the purchase of passenger vehicles and light trucks. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on: (1) the funding of Federal energy efficiency projects; and (2) a biennially updated demonstration plan for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in Federally-owned facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Utilities - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to permit State-regulated electric utilities to charge rates that will make their investments in energy efficiency and conservation measures as profitable as their investments in new facilities construction. Requires the Secretary to report to the President and the Congress on: (1) the extent to which State-regulated electric utility rates reflect least-cost planning; (2) specified effects of least-cost planning; and (3) the extent to which ratemaking methodologies implementing least-cost planning take into account the impact of such measures upon electric utilities' rate of return on investment. Prescribes guidelines for conservation grants to State regulatory authorities. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Used Oil Energy Production - Amends EPCA to prescribe market incentive guidelines for the reuse of used oil. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress on the implementation of the recycled oil program. Subtitle E: Insular Areas Energy Assistance - Sets forth guidelines for Federal financial assistance to Insular area governments for renewable energy and energy efficiency measures to reduce their dependence on imported fuels. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Renewable Energy - Subtitle A: CORECT - Amends the EPCA to name a certain interagency working group the Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT). Requires CORECT: (1) to promote the export of United States renewable energy and energy efficiency products and technologies; (2) to promote the development and application in lesser-developed countries of renewable energy and energy efficiency resource technologies; and (3) to provide in-country technical training and financial assistance. Authorizes CORECT to establish renewable energy industry outreach offices in the Pacific Rim and in the Caribbean Basin. Requires the Secretary to report biennially to the Congress on the range of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies available to meet the energy needs of developing countries. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Renewable Energy Initiatives - Amends the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989 to direct the Secretary to solicit proposals and provide financial assistance for joint ventures with respect to: (1) oil and diesel fuel displacement using specified renewable energy sources; and (2) training individuals from developing countries in the United States in the operation and maintenance of renewable energy equipment and of energy efficiency equipment. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to report to certain congressional committees an evaluation of opportunities to minimize waste from processes in the U.S. industries. Subtitle C: Hydropower - Prohibits any State or interstate water pollution control agency from making as a prerequisite to certification any requirements not needed to ensure that discharges resulting from a hydroelectric project will comply with statutory requirements. Amends the Federal Power Act to direct the Federal Power Commission, when issuing a hydroelectric power project licenses, to consider the recommendations of the Secretary under whose supervision the project reservation falls concerning its adequate protection and utilization. Exempts from application of the Federal Power Act any project with a power production capacity of 1500 kilowatts or less. Requires the Secretary to study and report to certain congressional committees on cost-effective opportunities to increase hydropower production at existing federally-owned or operated water regulation, storage, and conveyance facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Coal Technology and Electricity - Subtitle A: Coal and Coal Technology - Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct an advanced coal-based technology research and development program aimed at controlling sulfur and nitrogen oxides at greater proficiency levels; (2) periodically report to the Congress on the program's status; (3) conduct a research and development plan with respect to technologies for non-fuel use of coal; and (4) submit to certain congressional committees a plan for the export of U.S. coal. Establishes the Clean Coal Technology Export Coordinating Council (Council) to: (1) expand the export and use of clean coal technologies (especially in lesser developed countries); and (2) develop a comprehensive data base and information dissemination system regarding their potential need and availability. Requires the Secretary to: (1) report to certain congressional committees regarding the status of technologies for combining coal with other materials; and (2) conduct a research, development, and demonstration program for utilizing "ultra-clean coal-water slurry" in diesel locomotive engines. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a data base containing all transportation rates for specified modes of transporting domestic coal for a certain period; (2) study the rates and distribution patterns of domestic coal to determine the impact of Federal policies upon such patterns; and (3) report the data base and study results to the Congress. Subtitle B: Electricity - Declares that for purposes of the Clean Air Act certain physical or operational changes to an electric utility steam generating unit undertaken for purposes of pollution control shall not be treated as a modification if the change does not increase the potential emission of the specific regulated pollutant above the pre-existing potential. Sets conditions for finding such a unit in compliance with technology requirements regarding nitrogen oxide emissions. Requires the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on physical impediments to the transfer of excess electrical energy from regions with surplus electrical energy to those experiencing shortages. Title VI: Research, Development, Demonstration and Commercialization Activities - Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish priorities according to prescribed criteria for energy research and development and commercialization; and (2) submit to the Congress an accompanying management plan which shall be revised biennially. Requires the Secretary to implement a program: (1) promoting the development and commercialization of new and advanced natural gas utilization technologies; (2) of research and development to increase the recoverable natural gas resource base; and (3) of research, development, and commercialization of specified high efficiency heat engines. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Strategic Petroleum Reserve - Amends the EPCA to direct the Secretary to implement a program for ensuring that: (1) crude oil stored at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be increased at a specified daily rate; and (2) the petroleum product needs of the Department of Defense will be met by requiring importers to provide petroleum products according to prescribed percentage guidelines. Title VIII: Outer Continental Shelf - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to add a new title: the "Coastal State and Community Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Act". Establishes the Coastal State and Community Outer Continental Shelf Impact Assistance Fund, to be funded by a specified percentage of all new revenue attributable to an Outer Continental Shelf lease any part of which is within 200 geographical miles of the coast line. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to transmit impact assistance from such Fund annually to coastal States according to prescribed guidelines. Requires a recipient coastal State to prioritize allocation of such revenue among its subdivisions which are socially or economically impacted by Outer Continental Shelf mineral development. Directs the Secretary to report to certain congressional committees on the availability of Outer Continental Shelf areas for oil and gas leasing, development and production. Title IX: Oil and Gas Leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - Subtitle A: Statement of Purpose and Policy and Definitions - Declares that it is the congressional purpose to: (1) authorize competitive oil and gas leasing development on the Arctic Coastal Plain in a manner consistent with environmental and wildlife protection; and (2) provide a new funding source for energy-related projects to enhance energy security and reduce dependence on imported oil. Subtitle B: Congressional Determination of Compatibility - Declares that it is congressional policy that oil and gas activities on the Coastal Plain which are conducted with no significant adverse impact upon fish, wildlife, and the environment shall be deemed compatible with the purpose of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and that no further compatibility findings by the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretary) are required under the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act. Subtitle C: Coastal Plain Competitive Leasing Program - Directs the Secretary to establish and implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program that will result in an environmentally sound program for Coastal Plain resources exploration, development, and production. Declares that this title is the sole authority for leasing on the Coastal Plain. Directs the Secretary to promulgate rules and regulations to implement this title. Declares that the Congress finds that the "Final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement" (April 1987) on the Coastal Plain satisfies the legal requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Sets forth the administrative parameters for: (1) lease sales and lease terms; (2) antitrust review by the Attorney General; (3) exploration and development and production plans; (4) plan approval; (5) bonding requirements; and (6) lease suspension and cancellation. Allows the Secretary to cancel leases in any areas of particular environmental sensitivity. Requires the Secretary's consent for lease assignments or subletting. Mandates that lessees unite to the greatest extent practicable in collectively adopting and operating under a cooperative or unit plan for oil pools and gas fields. Provides for the confidentiality of privileged or proprietary information regarding development activities which must be furnished to the Secretary. Sets forth civil and criminal penalties for violations of this title. Provides for adjudication of lease controversies. Sets forth joint, several, and strict liability for environmental damages and removal costs resulting from oil pollution or the discharge of hazardous substances. Provides for judicial review of complaints regarding regulations issued by the Secretary. Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress regarding the leasing program under this Act. Repeals certain limitations applicable to subsurface interests owned by the Inupiat Eskimo people. Provides for expedited judicial consideration of any claims for relief by certain Alaskan corporations. Subtitle D: Coastal Plain Environmental Protection - Directs the Secretary to promulgate environmental protection regulations which ensure that Coastal Plain activities will result in no significant adverse effect on fish and wildlife, their habitat, and the environment. Requires site-specific assessment and mitigation. Designates the Sadlerochit Spring area as a special area for wildlife conservation and environmental protection. Authorizes the Secretary to exclude such area from leasing and to designate other Coastal Plain areas as special areas requiring protection. Directs the Secretary to prepare and periodically update a facilities construction and siting plan for oil and gas development and transportation. Authorizes the Secretary to grant rights-of-way and easements across the Coastal Plain in a manner that does not adversely affect fish, wildlife, and the environment. Requires the Secretary to conduct additional studies to monitor the human, marine, and coastal environments. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations providing for bi-annual facility inspections for compliance with environmental and safety regulations. Provides funding for a ten-year period for environmental monitoring and enforcement on the Coastal Plain. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) consult with the Department of Transportation and the State of Alaska about the State's role in monitoring and enforcing the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act; and (2) report annually to the Congress regarding the environmental monitoring activities. Subtitle E: Land Reclamation and Reclamation Liability Fund - Makes leaseholders fully responsible and liable for land reclamation within the Coastal Plain and other Federal lands adversely affected by lease activities. Requires establishment of the Coastal Plain Liability and Reclamation Fund within six months of a commercial discovery within the Coastal Plain. Directs the Secretary to collect fees based upon the crude oil volume entering the trans-Alaska pipeline. Prescribes revenue collection and expenditure procedures. Subtitle F: Disposition of Oil and Gas Revenues - Sets forth an allocation schedule for revenue distribution related to oil and gas leasing within the Arctic National Refuge, Alaska. Mandates that revenues distributed to the United States from such oil and gas leases be deposited into the Energy Security Fund. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make such funds directly available to the Secretary of Energy for a list of specified energy projects transmitted to the Congress as part of the first budget submitted by the President following the initial deposit of funds in the Energy Security Fund. Subtitle G: Export Restrictions - Prohibits the export of crude oil produced from Coastal Plain lands except in specified circumstances. Title X: Natural Gas - Provides that for purposes of the Natural Gas Act a certificate of public convenience and necessity is not required for the construction of a transportation service facility. Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for such transportation service immediately upon initiation of transportation service rendered by such a facility. Prescribes administrative procedures for rate schedules, accounts and records, and rate base treatment. Amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to authorize FERC to permit: (1) any interstate pipeline to transport natural gas; and (2) the construction of natural gas transportation facilities for interstate commerce. Outlines administrative procedures for FERC compliance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with respect to natural gas transportation. Declares FERC the lead agency for NEPA compliance purposes. Sets forth administrative procedures for rates and charges, utilization of rulemaking procedures, and review of FERC orders. Declares that the formation or operation of an independent producer cooperative shall only be an illegal antitrust law violation if anticompetitive effects substantially outweigh the procompetitve effects. Outlines the scope of State jurisdiction over persons with service area determinations with respect to vehicular natural gas sales for resale and for transportation. Title XI: Transportation and Alternative Fuels - Motor Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Act of 1991 - Subtitle A: Corporation Average Fuel Economy - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe average fuel economy standards for passenger automobiles and light trucks manufactured in model years 1996 through 2001, and for those manufactured in model years 2002 and thereafter. Requires such Secretary to determine the maximum feasible average fuel economy achievable according to prescribed formulas for passenger automobiles, light trucks, or class of light trucks manufactured during such model years. Provides that credits for exceeding average fuel economy standards may be transferred among manufacturers and among vehicle classes of a manufacturer. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to issue rules implementing such a credit trading system. Grants average fuel economy credits for small passenger automobiles manufactured with airbags for either driver seating position only, or for both the driver and front seat outboard seating positions. Directs the Secretary of Energy to distribute at least 100 explanatory booklets each year to every dealer and an additional number if requested. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to assess an excessive fuel consumption fee upon a manufacturer whose average fuel economy does not meet certain statutory standards. Replaces civil penalties for such non-compliance with the excessive fuel consumption fee according to prescribed guidelines. Establishes the Excessive Fuel Consumption Fund. Authorizes the Secretary of Energy to make payments from the Fund for purposes of: (1) providing financial assistance to State programs encouraging voluntary removal from the marketplace of pre-1980 model-year automobiles; and (2) funding other energy conservation programs. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to the Congress regarding the Fund's financial condition and operations. Requires the Secretary of Energy to adopt rules necessary to review and approve State programs that qualify for financial assistance for the older vehicle scrappage program. Mandates that as a prerequisite to Federal assistance at least 50 percent of scrappage program costs be paid from non-Federal funds. Subtitle B: Alternative Fuels - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to enter into cooperative agreements and joint ventures with local or regional transit authorities in urban areas of over 100,000 population to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of using natural gas or other alternative fuels for mass transit. Mandates that as a prerequisite to such a cooperative agreement or joint venture at least 25 percent of the demonstration costs be borne by the local or regional transit authority. Authorizes the Secretary to grant priority to any entity that demonstrates that the use of alternative fuels for mass transit would have a signficant effect on the ability of an air quality region to comply with regulations governing ambient air quality. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of the Department of Labor to implement a technician training and certification program for the vehicle installation of equipment that converts gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicles to run solely on alternative fuels. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration - Electric Vehicle Technology Development and Demonstration Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) identify by a specified deadline the nonattainment areas in which conventionally fueled vehicles contribute significantly to that nonattainment and in which the use of electric vehicles could contribute to attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards; (2) designate nonattainment areas eligible to participate in a specified electric vehicle research and demonstration program; (3) solicit applications from manufacturers to sell, warranty, and service electric vehicles in eligible nonattainment areas; and (4) report to the Congress on the program's status. Authorizes appropriations. Title XII: Advanced Nuclear Reactor Commercialization - Civilian Advanced Nuclear Reactor Commercialization Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Energy to implement a comprehensive program to encourage the deployment of advanced nuclear reactor technologies according to specified guidelines, including appropriate steps for development and submission for certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commision (NRC) of completed standard designs for commercial nuclear reactors (or their components). Requires the Secretary to report annually to the Congress on progress in certifying standard designs and setting forth certification program plans. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on the results of public meetings implemented to develop information upon which to base decisions with respect to the commercialization of advanced nuclear reactor technologies. Outlines the parameters within which the Secretary must: (1) encourage siting, financing, licensing, construction, and operation of facilities for the generation of commercial electric power from nuclear fission in regions where a need for additional electric generating capacity exists; and (2) commercialize promising advanced nuclear reactor technologies for commercial electric power generation. Authorizes appropriations. Restricts appropriations to those specifically set forth under this Act. Requires the NRC to recommend to the Congress legislative changes found necessary for timely licensing consistent with public safety of commercial nuclear power reactors. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress on: (1) his assessment of commercial nuclear reactor technologies in use or under development in other nations; and (2) the annual status of the advanced nuclear reactor commercialization program. Title XIII: Nuclear Reactor Licensing - Nuclear Reactor Licensing Act of 1991 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to require the NRC to hold a hearing before granting a combined license to construct and operate a nuclear reactor. Title XIV: Uranium - Subtitle A: Uranium Enrichment - Uranium Enrichment Act of 1991 - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to repeal the existing statutory contracting requirements applicable to uranium enrichment enterprises. Establishes the United States Enrichment Corporation as a wholly-owned Government corporation to conduct uranium marketing and enrichment activities as a commercial, profitable, self-financing enterprise. Sets forth the Corporation's corporate office and powers and vests its management in an Administrator (appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate). Grants the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) general supervision over such Administrator only with respect to national security and health and environmental concerns. Establishes a Corporate Board whose members shall be appointed by the President, and who shall advise the Administrator and the Secretary regarding Corporation matters. Prescribes guidelines for: (1) Corporation personnel; (2) certain property transfers from the Department of Energy; (3) the Corporation's capital structure; and (4) Corporation pricing policies, including user charges for decommissioning, decontamination, and remedial activities. Requires the Corporation to make annual status reports to certain congressional committees, the President, and the Secretary. Prescribes licensing and taxation guidelines for the Corporation. Sets guidelines for payments in lieu of taxes by the Corporation to States and local governments. Requires the Administrator to make recommendations to the President and the Congress by specified dates regarding the transfer of the Corporation's functions and assets to private ownership. Establishes the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund to cover the Corporation's decommissioning and decontamination expenses. Applies Federal environmental and occupational safety and health law to the Corporation as though it were privately owned. Exempts the Corporation from sequestration because the maximum deficit amount has been exceeded under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Prohibits the Corporation's total FY 1991 expenditures from exceeding its total FY 1991 receipts. Subtitle B: Uranium - Uranium Security and Tailings Reclamation Act of 1991 - Sets forth findings, purposes, and definitions of this title. Directs the Corporation to establish for a minimum five-year period a voluntary overfeeding program to be made available to its enrichment services customers. ("Overfeeding" means the use of uranium in the enrichment process in excess of the amount required at the transactional tails assay, thus reducing customers' power costs). Provides that the resultant savings shall be credited to such customers. Establishes the National Strategic Uranium Reserve, consisting of 50,000,000 pounds of natural uranium, to be restricted to military purposes and Government research under the control of the Secretary. Confers continuing responsibility upon the Secretary for promotion of the domestic uranium industry, but without using any supervisory authority over the Corporation. Directs the Secretary to develop recommendations and implement Government programs promoting domestic uranium exports. Restricts all uranium purchases by Federal entities to uranium purchased from domestic producers. Exempts the Tennessee Valley Authority from such restriction. Subtitle C: Remedial Action for Active Processing Sites - Provides that remedial action costs such as decontamination, decommissioning, and reclamation at an active uranium or thorium processing site shall be borne by specified licensees for any activity resulting in byproduct material. Sets forth a reimbursement schedule for: (1) individual active site uranium licensees; (2) all active site uranium licensees; and (3) thorium licensees. Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations governing such reimbursement. Authorizes appropriations. Title XV: Public Utility Holding Company Act Reform - Defines an "exempt wholesale generator" (EWG) as a corporate entity engaged exclusively in the business of selling electric energy at wholesale (including ownership or operation of electric energy production facilities). Requires approval of certain rates or charges by the State commission having jurisdiction over them with respect to rates or charges for facility construction or electric production. Declares that an EWG shall not be considered an "electric utility company" under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) (thus exempting it from coverage by such Act). Permits holding companies that are exempt under PUHCA to: (1) own and maintain an interest in one or more EWGs; and (2) acquire and hold securities in one or more EWGs. Retains Securities and Exchange Commission jurisdiction over specified securities activities by a registered holding company with respect to EWGs. Declares that ownership of one or more EWGs shall not result in the owner's being considered as primarily engaged in the sale of generation of electric power under the Federal Power Act (thus ensuring that a non-utility company which acquires an EWG is not required to divest itself of certain business interests in "qualifying facilities" - small power production facilities or cogeneration facilities). Permits the filing of a declaration by an electric utility company that it intends to avoid purchasing electric energy from EWGs. Makes such declaration irrevocable for up to a ten-year period. Prohibits such company from: (1) purchasing electric energy from any EWG during such period; (2) acquiring or owning an interest in the business of an EWG during such period; or (3) offering to sell electric energy from an EWG in whose business it would acquire or own an interest after such declaration expires.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit mortgage revenue bond financing of mortgages for veterans of Operation Desert Storm.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to remove charitable contributions of appreciated capital gain property as an item of tax preference for purposes of the alternative minimum tax.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Excess Oil Profits Tax Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on large oil companies and applicable foreign owners equal to 40 percent of the excess net profits of such companies.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Securities Regulatory Equality Act of 1991 - Title I: Regulation of Securities Activities of Depository Institutions - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to modify the definitions of broker and dealer to delineate under which circumstances a bank shall not be considered a broker or a dealer. Authorizes the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to exempt any person from such definitions. Prohibits any bank from acting as broker or dealer, except in the course of an exclusively intrastate business. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to declare that bank affiliates of a registered management company may provide custodial services only within the regulatory scheme prescribed by the SEC. Expands the definition of "affiliated person" to include a class of persons which the SEC has determined to be affiliated because it has had a material business or professional relationship within the last two fiscal years with an investment company principal underwriter, sponsor, promoter, or any affiliated person. Prohibits a registered investment company from acquiring, during the underwriting phase, any security the proceeds of which will be used to retire any part of indebtedness owed to a bank which is affiliated with the registered company. Prohibits a registered open-end company from borrowing from any affiliated bank unless exempted by special SEC ruling. Amends the definition of "interested person" of another person to include: (1) any person that has engaged in specified transactions or loaned money within the last six months to the investment company or certain affiliated parties; or (2) any employee of a bank that acts as custodian or transfer agent for such company. Prohibits a registered investment company, except in specified circumstances, from having a majority of its board of directors consist of personnel of any one bank or any one bank holding company (together with their affiliates or subsidiaries). Declares that it is deceptive and misleading for a registered investment company which has a bank or affiliated person as an investment adviser or distributor to adopt as part of the company's name or logo (or that of any security it issues) any word or design that is the same or similar to that of the bank. Amends the definition of "broker" to provide that it does not include a person solely because that person is an investment company underwriter. Amends the definition of "dealer" to exclude an insurance company or investment company. (Amends similarly the same definition in the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.) Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Act of 1933, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to exempt from the definition of "investment company" a common trust fund or similar fund that is administered by a bank and that is not offered to the general public. Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to define as an "investment adviser" any bank or bank holding company which acts as an investment adviser to a registered investment company. Title II: Administration of Securities Laws with Respect to Securities of Depository Institutions - Part A: Amendments to the Securities Act of 1933 - Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to remove from the list of exempt securities: (1) securities issued or guaranteed by any bank; and (2) savings association-issued securities. Adds to the class of securities exempt from coverage by the Act securities exchanges in connection with specified transactions which are part of a reorganization of a corporation into a holding company if certain conditions are met. Specifies bank and savings association instruments which are excluded from the Act's purview except in certain circumstances. Part B: Securities Exchange Act Administration Transfer - Repeals a provision of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 relating to the issuance of securities by banks. Part C: Miscellaneous Provision - Amends the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 to make a technical amendment.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Amends Federal law to continue appropriations automatically if a regular appropriations bill covering a project or activity does not become law by the beginning of a fiscal year. Continues appropriations at the funding level of the preceding fiscal year or, if the relevant Act did not become law, in accordance with criteria prescribed in this Act. Declares it to be out of order in the House of Representatives or in the Senate to consider or to vote on the question of agreeing to any continuing appropriations legislation. Permits a waiver of this restriction in the Senate by a three-fifths vote.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Operation Desert Storm Contributions Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the Operation Desert Storm Trust Fund and to allow taxpayers to designate portions of overpayments or make contributions to such Fund through tax returns. Requires the use of such Fund for activities of the Department of Defense in connection with the Persian Gulf conflict.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Postsecondary Recognition, Innovation, Deregulation, and Excellence Act of 1991 - Title I: General Provisions - Establishes a National Board for Postsecondary Recognition, Innovation, and Improvement (the Board), with members appointed by the Secretary of Education (the Secretary). Title II: Recognition of Institutional Achievements - Part A: Certification of Meritorious Institutions - Directs the Board to prescribe, within one year, at least five criteria for the recognition of postsecondary institutions. Requires such criteria to be new objective measures which can be readily applied to an institution's programs and which can be or already are attained by a significant portion of postsecondary institutions. Requires such criteria to encourage: (1) increasing numbers of disadvantaged and minority students being enrolled and graduated and of minority faculty members being employed; (2) increasing assistance for school-to-work and secondary-to-postsecondary transition; (3) removing barriers to access to education; (4) innovative technologies and strategies for improving instruction; (5) improved evaluation of institutional performance in academic achievement, retention, program efficiency, and student support services; (6) more efficient and economical operations; (7) linkages among various postsecondary sectors; (8) community service; and (9) other goals determined by the Board. Requires annual publication of final form criteria, to be incorporated in Department of Education program regulations, and to be preceded by proposed criteria publication and opportunity for comment by interested persons. Allows any postsecondary institution to submit an application for certification to the Department of Education, if it believes its activities meet or exceed at least a Board-specified proportion of such prescribed criteria, and submits appropriate evidence. Directs the Secretary to review such applications and transmit to Members of Congress the names of institutions within their State or district that have been so certified, for public announcement by such Members and publication thereafter. Part B: Thomas Jefferson Awards for Exemplary Postsecondary Institutions - Directs the Board to prescribe, within one year, criteria to be used in selection of Awards for Exemplary Postsecondary Institutions. Requires such criteria to be designed to annually identify, beginning in 1993, the three most exemplary postsecondary institutions in the United States during the preceding academic year, placing special emphasis on teaching quality, student achievement and improvement, student services, community service, at-risk students' education, and attainment of national educational goals by the year 2000. Requires publication of final form criteria, to be incorporated in Department of Education program regulations, and to be preceded by proposed criteria publication and opportunity for comment by interested persons. Allows any certified postsecondary institution to apply to the Board for such recognition (with a five-year waiting period for previous award recipients), but not if it is in violation of any Federal education statute or regulation. Directs the Board to: (1) select award winners on the basis of peer review panel reviews; and (2) transmit their names, and those of the three nearest runnerups, to the President for announcement at a public ceremony. Sets forth benefits to, and expectations of, award recipients. Title III: Innovation in Postsecondary Education - Part A: TRIO Evaluation and Demonstration Grants - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to provide for certain evaluation and demonstration grants under special programs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds (TRIO programs). Authorizes the Secretary to make up to 20 such competitive grants each fiscal year, divided among the various TRIO programs, to institutions meeting specified requirements. Limits grant duration and amount. Sets forth reporting and information dissemination requirements, and the Secretary's related responsibilities. Authorizes appropriations. Part B: Tate Innovation Endowment Grants - Directs the Secretary to award endowment grants, to provide capital to establish State Innovation Endowment Funds, during each of five successive fiscal years to up to ten States, selected competitively for that five-year period. Requires income from such Funds to be used to provide grants to develop and analyze innovative techniques and support research in areas of postsecondary education that are significant Federal and State concerns. Requires State matching amounts of specified proportions, and repayments under specified conditions. Requires that selected States not have been recipients of such grants during any preceding five-year period. Sets forth provisions for: (1) designation of State agencies; (2) grant agreements; (3) authorized uses of State innovation grants by specified types of eligible consortia; and (4) endowment requirements. Directs the Board to designate the areas of significant Federal concern once each three years, but requires for the first five years that such areas be: (1) improving postsecondary teaching; (2) improving a State's economic competitiveness by improving its postsecondary education; and (3) restructuring elementary and secondary matriculation schedules. Authorizes appropriations. Part C: Demonstration Grants - Establishes a national program of demonstration grants to test innovative ideas and generate data for evaluating and reauthorizing Federal higher education assistance programs. Directs the Board (within one year after enactment of this Act and thereafter no later than three months after enactment of any reauthorization of programs under HEA) to designate and publish topics on which proposals will be accepted for such demonstration project grants. Makes grants awarded on the basis of such topics available during the three succeeding fiscal years. Requires the Board, in establishing such topics to promote innovations in student financial aid, teaching improvement, student services, recruitment, and retention, Federal program administration, regulatory relief, academic achievement, and significant national concerns. Directs the Secretary to conduct a competition for award of up to ten demonstration grants on each of the Board-established topics. Limits grant duration and amount. Sets forth technical assistance, coordination, and reporting requirements. Part D: Expansion of FIPSE Grant Authority - Amends HEA to expand grant authority under the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Program. Adds to the subjects for which FIPSE grants may be awarded: (1) study of methods to improve administrative efficiency and effectiveness, particularly with regard to Federal programs; and (2) demonstrating innovative approaches for international exchanges of faculty and students. Diversifies FIPSE grants and contracts into the following modes: (1) planning grants; (2) development grants; (3) international exchanges grants and contracts; and (4) regular grants and contracts. Authorizes appropriations in specified amounts for each of such modes for FY 1992 through 1996 (1997 in the case of planning grants). Title IV: Regulatory Relief - Directs the Board to report annually to the Congress on the impact of Federal laws and regulations on postsecondary institutions, including analysis of specified factors including the desirability of negotiated rulemaking. Directs the Secretary to report biennially to the Congress on current or anticipated regulatory issues and problems encountered by the Department of Education in implementing and enforcing Federal postsecondary education laws and regulations, including specified descriptions and recommendations. Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to establish an Office of Regulatory Review and Assessment in the Department of Education. Grants the Secretary limited authority to grant a postsecondary institution waivers or modifications of requirements of any Federal education statute or regulation as appropriate to carry out the policies or promote the general purposes of that statute or regulation or HEA in general. Sets forth conditions for, limitations on, and examples of such authorized waivers or modifications. Terminates such authority, and any waiver or modification granted under it, on October 1, 1996. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into up to five performance agreements with States, consortia, and postsecondary institutions, to provide them inducements to achieve specified performance levels and be accountable for such attainment. Authorizes the Secretary, as such inducements, to waive or modify any program requirement for any Federal education program. Limits such agreements' effectiveness to not more than three years, but allows them to be renewed. Directs the Secretary to report annually on the status of such agreements and achievements of performance levels. Authorizes the Secretary to expand the incentives available to participants in the Quality Control Project established pursuant to specified regulations of the Department of Education. Amends HEA to provide for performance inducements under TRIO programs. Authorizes the Secretary to permit an institution, agency, or organization to receive a grant or contract under TRIO programs for a six-year period, under specified conditions relating to prior experience and additional quality control or program improvement standards. Title V: Postsecondary Diffusion Network - Establishes the National Postsecondary Diffusion Network, to promote: (1) awareness and implementation of exemplary educational programs, products, and practices to interested postsecondary institutions nationwide; and (2) the utilization of the knowledge, talents, and services of local staff associated with various educational excellence and recognition efforts. Requires that such Network be designed to improve educational quality through: (1) implementing promising and validated innovations and improvements in educational programs, products, and practices; and (2) providing training, consultation, and related assistance services. Sets forth the Secretary's responsibilities related to such Network's activities. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and contracts for such Network activities to various entities. Sets forth funding criteria for such projects. Directs the Secretary to actively solicit, for Network dissemination, information on innovative educational practices from various specified additional information sources (in addition to information obtained from funded projects). Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996 for such National Postsecondary Diffusion Network. Makes conforming amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 which delete postsecondary references and rename the National Diffusion Network under such Act the National Elementary and Secondary Diffusion Network.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Middle-Income Family Higher Education Savings Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual an income tax deduction for contributions to a savings account established to pay the educational expenses (tuition, supplies, meals, and lodging) of the taxpayer's child at an institution of higher education or a vocational school. Limits the deduction to $1,000 per year per child. Phases out such deduction based on adjusted income. Provides that no account may have more than one beneficiary. Permits a deduction with respect to only one account in cases of multiple accounts for the same beneficiary. Disallows the deduction for contributions made to an account after the beneficiary either attains age 25 or graduates from an eligible educational institution. Permits the exclusion from the gross income of the recipient beneficiary of payments and distributions from an education savings account as long as such amounts: (1) are used for the educational expenses of that individual; or (2) are rolled over into an education savings account established for a sibling of that individual. Exempts the education savings accounts themselves from taxation unless they cease to be proper education savings accounts because either the contributor taxpayer or the beneficiary engages in prohibited transactions or the beneficiary pledges the account as security. Establishes penalties in the form of additional tax when account funds or distributions are improperly used. Requires that the trustee of an education savings account report to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the account's benefactor on the maintenance of the account. Identifies the criteria and requirements applicable to an education savings account. Provides that contributions to an education savings account shall not be subject to gift tax. Establishes: (1) a five percent excise tax on amounts connected with any prohibited transaction with respect to an education savings account; (2) a penalty for failure to file required reports concerning the education savings account; and (3) a tax on excess contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Farm and Woodland Owners Tax Simplification Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to consider a taxpayer as materially participating in a farming activity for tax accounting purposes if he or she, on a regular and continuing basis, makes substantially all significant decisions and performs substantially all the work required to conduct the activity.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow subchapter S corporations to have foreign sales corporations as subsidiaries.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Family and Economic Growth Incentive Act of 1991 - Title I: Education Savings Accounts - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual income tax deduction for contributions to a savings account established to pay the educational expenses (tuition, supplies, meals, and lodging) of the taxpayer's child or certain other relatives at an institution of higher education or a vocational school. Limits the deduction to $100,000 for all taxable years (adjusted for inflation) for each account. Disallows the deduction for contributions to an account maintained for any individual aged 19 or older. Requires any account balance to be distributed after the beneficiary attains age 30. Permits an exclusion from the gross income of the contributor or the beneficiary of account distributions used to pay educational expenses of the latter. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization), unless a contributor or the beneficiary engages in specified prohibited transactions in connection with it. Imposes a ten percent surtax on distributions not used for educational purposes. Requires the account trustee to report to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the account's beneficiary concerning the account. Imposes a penalty for failure to report. Allows taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize deductions to deduct for contributions to an education savings account. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account. Title II: Affordable Housing and First-Home Buyer Assistance - Permits a personal deduction for specified contributions to a first home ownership account. Treats such account as an individual retirement account upon a first home purchase. Repeals the taxation of gain on the sale of a principal residence. Extends through 1994 the issue period for qualified mortgage bonds. Title III: Reinstatement of Investment Tax Credit for Certain Property - Reinstates the ten-percent investment tax credit for property used as an integral part of manufacturing, production, or extraction or of furnishing transportation, communications, electrical energy, gas, water, waste disposal, or pollution control services. Allows such tax credit to offset 100 percent of a C corporation's minimum tax. Title IV: Reduction in Capital Gains Rates - Reduces the individual and corporate capital gains rate from 34 percent to 15 percent. Reduces such tax to 7.5 percent for low- and middle-income taxpayers. Requires indexing, based on the gross national product deflator, of the adjusted basis of certain assets (corporate stock and tangible property that is a capital asset of property used in a trade or business) that have been held for more than one year at the time of sale or other transfer, solely for the purpose of determining gain or loss. Provides for indexing the limitation on capital losses of noncorporate taxpayers.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 1991
Desert Storm Fairness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow penalty-free distributions from annuity contracts, qualified retirement plans, or modified endowment contracts made to an Operation Desert Storm participant before the end of 180 days after the termination of such participation.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Uranium Enrichment Reorganization Act - Title I: United States Uranium Enrichment Corporation - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to establish the United States Uranium Enrichment Corporation as a wholly-owned Government corporation to conduct uranium marketing and enrichment activities as a commercial, profitable, self-financing enterprise. Provides for a Board of Directors appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Prescribes guidelines for: (1) certain property transfers from the Department of Energy; and (2) the Corporation's capital structure, financing, pricing policies, and user charges for decommissioning, decontamination, and remedial activities. Requires the Corporation to prepare an annual status report for the President and the Congress. Prescribes licensing and taxation guidelines for the Corporation. Sets guidelines for payments in lieu of taxes by the Corporation to States and local governments. Directs the Board to make recommendations to the President regarding the transfer of its functions and assets to private ownership. Requires congressional approval before the Corporation may be sold and its functions transferred. Applies Federal, State, and local environmental and occupational safety and health laws to the Corporation as though it were privately owned. Declares that the Corporation receipts and disbursements shall: (1) not be included in the totals of the President's budget or the congressional budget; (2) be exempt from any general budget limitation imposed by statute on expenditures and net lending (budget outlays) of the U.S. Government; and (3) be exempt from any order issued under a specified section of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Requires the Corporation to undertake decontamination and decommissioning activities at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Tennessee. Establishes the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund to cover the Corporation's decommissioning and decontamination expenses, including remedial action activities. Requires the Corporation to study and report to the Congress its recommendations for cost effective decontamination, decommissioning, and remedial action of its facilities. Title II: Remedial Action for Active Processing Sites - Declares that the costs of decontamination, decommissioning, reclamation, and remedial action at an active uranium or thorium processing site shall be borne by persons licensed under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 for any activity at such site which results in the production of byproduct material. Requires the Secretary to reimburse such licensees annually for the portion of such costs that are: (1) attributable to tailings generated as an incident of sales to the United States; and (2) incurred no later than December 31, 2002. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Charity Care and Hospital Tax-Exempt Status Reform Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to declare that an otherwise tax-exempt organization which operates a hospital shall not be exempt from tax unless the hospital: (1) has an open-door policy toward Medicare and Medicaid patients and serves in a nondiscriminatory manner a reasonable number of such patients; and (2) provides in a nondiscriminatory manner sufficient qualified charity care and sufficient qualified community benefits. Provides for determining the standards of such service. Sets forth special reporting requirements for such organizations. Provides for rewarding hospitals which consistently meet charitable requirements. Establishes an excise tax for hospitals which fail to meet such requirements. Amends the Social Security Act to provide for the use of such excise tax payments under the Medicaid program. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require a hospital organization applying for tax-exempt status to include a statement from the appropriate State official on the hospital's compliance under this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to change from April 1, 1991, to the later of such date or the date of the termination of combat activities in the Persian Gulf, the effective date for scheduled increases in the annual deductible required of coverage beneficiaries of military personnel under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS).
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Repeals provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 that restrict the types of scholarships and fellowship grants that may be excluded from gross income for income tax purposes. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on a qualified educational loan incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. Eliminates the current requirement that such indebtedness be secured by an interest in real property.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions governing the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1991); and (2) phase in an increase in the allowable deduction, reaching 100 percent for taxable years beginning in 1994 and thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Tax Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an investment tax credit for renewable electricity which is generated and sold by a qualified taxpayer within the United States using solar, wind, or geothermal energy and which is not used by the taxpayer or a related person. Allows the use of such credit for a ten-year period. Excludes from gross income employer-provided transportation using a commuter highway vehicle (van pooling) and mass transit between the employee's residence and place of employment. Limits such exclusion to $75 per month. Excludes from gross income the amount or value of any subsidy provided by a public utility to a customer in connection with the purchase, installation, use, or maintenance of any energy or water conservation measure or for energy savings delivered by such measures. Disallows any other deduction or credit for such subsidy.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt cooperative housing corporations from provisions which limit the deductibility of transactions attributable to furnishing services, insurance, goods, or other items of value to members.
United States · United States Congress · 4 February 1991
Constitutional Amendment - Requires the Congress, prior to each fiscal year, to adopt a statement in which total Federal outlays (except those for repayment of debt principal) do not exceed total receipts (except those derived from borrowing), unless a three-fifths vote of both Houses authorizes a specific excess. Limits the rate of increase in receipts in the statement to that of the increase in national income in the previous calendar year, unless law is enacted solely to approve specific additional receipts. Directs the President to submit a balanced budget. Authorizes waiver of these provisions in time of war. Sets a permanent limit on the amount of Federal public debt, prohibiting any increase unless legislation enacted by a three-fifths majority of both Houses becomes law.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose an excise tax on the sale or exchange of any international airline route certificate. Imposes such tax on the transferor of such certificate. Makes such tax nondeductible for income tax purposes.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Military Family Assistance Act of 1991 - Directs the Secretary of Defense to provide assistance for eligible military families of members serving on active duty during the Persian Gulf conflict in order to ensure that such families obtain needed child care services. Outlines with respect to such assistance provisions defining: (1) eligible military families; (2) eligible child care providers; (3) the amount of assistance to be provided; and (4) fees to be charged to parents for such child care assistance. Provides eligibility for such child care assistance for 60 days after release from active duty for families of reserve personnel called to active duty in connection with the Persian Gulf conflict. Directs the Secretary to ensure that: (1) each family eligible to receive financial assistance for child care services receives appropriate information concerning local child care and referral programs; and (2) the child care services provided in military child development centers and providers of family home day care are coordinated with child care resources and referral programs in the locality in which such services are provided. Authorizes the Secretary to use up to ten percent of the amount available for such assistance for grants for the repair of minor deficiencies in family day care homes. Outlines conditions under which the Secretary may make grants to a child care provider for such corrections. Gives a priority in the awarding of such repair grants to child care providers who are members of families of members of the armed forces. Prohibits grant funds to be used for the purchase or improvement of land or for the purchase or major renovation of any building or facility. Authorizes appropriations. Requires such funds to be used to supplement, not supplant, other public funds authorized or expended for such purpose. Prohibits financial assistance awarded under this Act from being used for: (1) sectarian worship or religious instruction; and (2) services provided during the regular school day for which students receive academic credit or which supplant or duplicate the academic program of any public or private school. Applies certain nondiscrimination provisions of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to provisions of this Act. States that reserve personnel ordered to active duty in connection with the Persian Gulf conflict shall be considered as involuntarily separated from the armed forces upon completion of such duty for purposes of eligibility for certain transitional health care provided through the armed forces if the member: (1) serves on active duty for not less than 90 days; and (2) is an officer who is discharged under conditions other than adverse, or, if enlisted, is denied reenlistment or is discharged under conditions other than adverse. Provides that eligibility for such transitional health care benefits shall continue for up to 60 days after such involuntary separation, unless or until the member becomes covered by an employer-provided health plan. Delays until one year after the termination of the Persian Gulf conflict the effective date of a required reduction in the provision of certain mental health services to former military personnel under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991. Delays until the same date a requirement in such Act which increases the annual deductible required of medical beneficiaries of military personnel. States that all direct or discretionary spending contained in this Act is to be considered emergency expenditures related to Operation Desert Shield for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
PRIME Retirement Account Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a simplified retirement plan for small business to be known as PRIME accounts (private retirement incentives matched by employers). Allows an income tax deduction to employees who make pre-tax contributions of up to $3,000 annually to a PRIME account and requires an employer to match such contributions up to three percent of the employee's compensation. Declares that such accounts are not to be treated as pension plans. Excludes such accounts from limitation on the maximum amount allowed for retirement savings deductions. Specifies the pension plan rules that are applicable to PRIME accounts. Establishes a 25-percent penalty on withdrawals made from such accounts during the first three years. Imposes penalties upon: (1) account trustees for failure to provide requirement information to employers; and (2) employers for failure to make required notifications to employees.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Title I: Federal Programs - Directs the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to establish the Federal Energy Efficiency Fund to provide financing to enable Federal agencies to install energy conservation measures. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the Congress detailing funds allocation and the projected energy savings from installed measures. Authorizes appropriations. Sets deadlines by which Federal agencies must: (1) report to the Secretary a list of energy conservation projects that will meet a ten-year payback criterion; and (2) substantially complete energy conservation projects. Permits exceptions for reasons of impracticability. Exempts from this program Federal facilities engaged in either electric energy generation or transmission or uranium enrichment activities. Provides for the continued availability of appropriations for energy conservation purposes through the following fiscal year to agencies that achieve energy cost savings. Authorizes Federal entities to participate in certain gas and electric utility energy management programs (including acceptance of utility financial incentives). Sets forth guidelines under which the Secretary shall develop a simplified method of contracting for shared energy savings contract services. Directs the Secretary to establish a financial bonus program to reward outstanding energy managers at Federal plants. Requires the Administrator of the General Services Administration to ensure that the average fleet fuel efficiency in each class of federally purchased vehicles is at least equal to the average fuel economy level for that class in the previous model year. Sets a deadline by which the Secretary must establish an energy efficiency technologies demonstration program at Federal facilities that have received Federal financial assistance for research and development. Title II: Utilities - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to declare that gross income does not include the value of a subsidy (rebate) provided by a public utility to a customer for the purchase or installation of any energy conservation measure. Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to provide that the rates allowed to be charged by a State-regulated electric utility shall be such that its investments and expenditures for energy conservation and energy efficiency resources are as profitable as its investments and expenditures for the construction of new generation facilities. Requires the Secretary to report to the President and the Congress on: (1) the extent to which State regulatory practices require least-cost planning by electric utilities; and (2) an evaluation of likely results of least-cost energy planning. Prohibits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from approving interstate electric power sales by a utility unless the utility has adopted a least-cost plan complying with State requirements. Requires the purchaser or transferee of an interstate electric power sale to furnish FERC with a statement that such transfer is the least costly means by which it can obtain power. Requires the Tennessee Valley Authority to adopt a least-cost plan. Prohibits the Western Area Power Administration from selling power to a purchaser that does not have a least-cost plan in effect. Requires the Secretary of Energy to devise plans for the implementation of: (1) energy conservation standards and labeling for specified electric applicances and window systems; and (2) an insulation value rating system. Title III: Building and Housing - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish an income tax credit for granting oil retrofit conservation expenditures. Outlines standards for the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to develop energy efficiency rating guidelines for new and existing residential buildings. Permits certain residential buildings with heating, cooling, or hot water systems operated directly by renewable energy sources to have their energy usage credited toward the building's energy efficiency rating. Directs the Secretary to establish a five-year program to provide technical and financial assistance to State and local organizations for residential energy efficiency rating systems. Requires the Secretary of Energy to ensure that Federal mortgage assistance is not permitted unless certain small family dwellings have met with minimum residential energy efficiency ratings. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) recommend improved commercial building energy efficiency standards to State and local governments for adoption in their building codes; (2) initiate a three-year technical assistance program to promote adoption of such standards; (3) develop model incentives for increasing energy efficiency in commercial buildings beyond the energy efficiency ratings program; and (4) establish a task force to assist in the development of the energy efficiency program and review its results. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Improvement of Industrial Audits and Voluntary Guidelines For Industrial Insulation - Directs the Secretary to: (1) select and assist a nonprofit organization to develop industrial insulation guidelines; (2) review the status of industrial energy auditing procedures; (3) conduct an education and technical assistance program concerning such procedures; and (4) report to the Congress on the program. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: International Market Assessments and Export Promotion - Directs the Secretary to: (1) issue an annual report on at least three countries detailing the market potential for energy efficiency technologies; (2) issue a biannual report on the research and development of energy efficiency technologies in major industrialized countries; (3) conduct a specified number of trade missions to countries identified as good markets for energy efficiency technologies; (4) conduct a training and technical assistance program to assist other countries in policy design and program development to accelerate the adoption of energy efficiency technologies; and (5) present a program evaluation report to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Transportation - Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to present guidelines under which the Secretary of Transportation shall by regulation establish a program encouraging the removal from the marketplace of motor vehicles manufactured before model year 1980. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit employer deductions for parking expenses on behalf of employees unless the employer provides either a cash or a mass transit, car pool, or van subsidy alternative.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Operation Desert Storm Personnel Benefits Act of 1991 - Increases the rate of special pay authorized for military personnel performing duty subject to hostile fire or imminent danger, effective August 1, 1990. Repeals a Federal provision which limits the commencement and total amount of unemployment compensation payable to individuals involuntarily discharged or released from active duty under conditions other than dishonorable. Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 to require (currently authorizes) the Secretary of Defense to allow members of the armed forces serving under arduous conditions as part of Operation Desert Shield to participate in a savings program designed for military personnel assigned to permanent duty outside the United States. Exempts military personnel who are in a missing status in connection with the Persian Gulf conflict from the $10,000 annual cap on the amount that individuals may save under the savings program. Makes survivors eligible for payment of all accrued leave (without limitation) of members who die while on active duty in connection with the Persian Gulf conflict, effective August 2, 1990. Allows retired military personnel who are recalled to active duty to serve in the highest grade previously held while on active duty, effective August 2, 1990. (Currently, retired personnel who are recalled to active duty must be recalled in the grade in which they retired.) Increases from $50,000 to $100,000 the maximum amount of life insurance coverage available to servicemen and veterans under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance (SGLI) and Veterans' Group Life Insurance programs. Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that persons who under either program are notified of such increase and given an opportunity to increase their coverage. Directs the Secretary to pay a death gratuity to each SGLI beneficiary of each deceased member of the armed forces who died after August 1, 1990, and before the date of enactment of this Act. Makes the amount of such death gratuity an amount equal to the SGLI coverage at the time of death. Requires the appropriate SGLI recipient to make application to the Secretary for the payment of such death gratuity within one year after the enactment of this Act. Provides that, for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act), all direct and all discretionary spending contained in this Act are to be considered emergency expenditures related to Operation Desert Shield.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act Amendments of 1991 - Amends the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 to prohibit an eviction or distress from being made during a period of military service with respect to a premise for which the agreed rent does not exceed $1,200 (currently, $150) per month, when such premise is occupied chiefly by the dependents of the person in military service, except upon leave of the court granted upon application or in a proceeding affecting the rights of possession. Extends the power of attorney coverage under such Act to include a power of attorney that by its terms expires after July 31, 1990. Provides professional liability protection for persons ordered to active duty after July 31, 1990, who, prior to such date, were engaged in the furnishing of health care services or other services determined by the Secretary of Defense to be professional services and who had in effect a professional liability insurance policy that does not continue coverage during the period of active duty. Specifies that an insurance carrier shall have no liability with respect to any claim that is based on professional conduct of a person that occurs during a period of suspension of such person's professional liability insurance under this Act. Requires an insurance carrier to suspend and to reinstate coverage of such affected person upon receipt of a written request from such person. Requires such person to request reinstatement within 30 days after release from active duty. Provides a minimum period of required coverage by the carrier following reinstatement, without an increase in the insurance premiums charged. Provides for the stay of a civil or administrative action for damages on the basis of professional liability of a person whose insurance has been suspended under these provisions if: (1) the action is based on an act or omission that occurred before the suspension was effective; and (2) the suspended insurance would, on its face, cover the alleged professional misconduct. States that the period of such stay shall not be included in any statute-of-limitations period. Outlines provisions concerning the death of a person whose professional liability insurance has been suspended and the consequences with respect to the suspended insurance coverage on previous or suspended (stayed) claims. Provides that any person employed and covered under an employer-offered health insurance policy who enters into active military service or training and is reemployed upon returning may not be subject to a waiting period or exclusion of coverage imposed in connection with coverage of a qualifying health or physical condition if: (1) the condition arose before or during such person's period of training or service; (2) no exclusion or waiting period would have been imposed for the condition during a period of coverage resulting from participation by such person in the insurance; and (3) the condition of such person has not been determined by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to be service-connected. Provides that any person who, by reason of military service, is entitled to the rights and benefits of the Act shall be entitled upon release from such military duty to reinstatement of any health insurance which: (1) was in effect on the day before such service commenced; and (2) was terminated during the period of such service. Prohibits any exclusion or waiting period from being imposed in connection with reinstatement of health insurance coverage of a health or physical condition covered by the Act if: (1) the condition arose before or during such person's period of training or service; (2) no exclusion or waiting period would have been imposed for the condition during a period of coverage resulting from participation by such person in the insurance; and (3) the condition of such person has not been determined by the Secretary to be a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty. Requires a court, upon application, to stay a judicial action or proceeding involving any member of the armed forces serving on active duty outside the State in which the court is located until after June 30, 1991. Provides that an application by a person in military service for a stay, postponement, or suspension of the payment of any tax, fine, penalty, insurance premium, or other civil obligation shall not provide that basis for denial or revocation of, or a change in, credit by creditors, a presumption that such individual cannot pay his or her debts due and owing, or refusal of an insurer to insure such individual. Amends existing law which allows reservists ordered to active duty for not more than 90 days to reemployment rights by removing the 90-day limitation.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
National Teacher Act of 1991 - Title I: Recruitment - Part A: Loan Forgiveness for Teachers Demonstration Program - Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to assume the obligation to repay specified portions of a Stafford loan (a student loan made, insured, or guaranteed under specified provisions of the Higher Education Act of 1965) for any borrower employed as a full-time teacher: (1) in a school which qualifies for loan cancellation for Perkins loan recipients who teach in such schools; and (2) of mathematics, science, foreign languages, special education, bilingual education, or any other field of expertise where the State educational agency (SEA) determines there is a shortage of qualified teachers. Provides for cancellation of increasing portions of such student loans for a one- to five-year period of such teaching service. Provides also for forgiveness of portions of student loans for borrowers who return to higher education after graduation to obtain a teaching certificate. Provides for repayment of such specified portions of principal and interest by the Secretary to the eligible lender or holder. Part B: Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarships - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to extend through FY 1995 the authorization of appropriations for the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarships program. Part C: Teacher Corps - Authorizes a new Teacher Corps program. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make grants to SEAs to conduct teacher corps activities; and (2) award scholarships to teacher corps members. Bases the amounts of such grants to SEAs on school-age population. Directs the Secretary to: (1) disseminate information about availability of teacher corps scholarships; and (2) foster communication among teacher corps members. Specifies authorized uses of grant money by SEAs. Allows local educational agencies (LEAs) to use grant funds to: (1) carry out induction programs for new teacher corps members (and other new teachers); and (2) ensure that teacher corps members participate in one for at least one year, including work with a designated mentor teacher. Requires the SEA, in cooperation with the State higher education agency, to select teacher corps members according to its own criteria. Requires special consideration for those who intend to teach students with disabilities, limited English proficient students, or preschool age children. Requires priority consideration for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, including racial and ethnic minorities and individuals with disabilities, who are underrepresented in the teaching profession or in the curricular areas in which they are preparing to teach. Sets forth individual application requirements. Sets forth SEA and LEA grant application requirements. Requires descriptions of teacher shortages, corps members' employment placement, and induction programs for corps members and other new teachers. Makes individuals eligible to receive such scholarships for up to three years during enrollment in any of the following programs of study: (1) a baccalaureate or associate degree; (2) one or two post-baccalaureate years of a masters or specialist degree or teaching certificate; or (3) two years of an associate's degree in early childhood education or development, or one year of a child development associate credential program. Makes individuals pursuing the aforementioned kinds of post-baccalaureate study eligible to receive such a scholarship during any of the first three years they are employed as a teacher, in order to defray the costs of such study. Makes individuals with a bachelor's degree who wish to enter teaching from another profession eligible for such a scholarship for the instruction necessary to enter the teaching profession in the State where they wish to teach. Allows such instruction to be provided while the individual is employed as a provisional teacher, at the discretion of the SEA and LEA. Limits the amount of such a scholarship to an individual to the lesser of $5,000 per year or the cost of attendance for a maximum of three years. States that such scholarship shall be considered in determining eligibility for student assistance under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Requires scholarship agreements to include assurances of: (1) satisfactory academic progress and participation in teaching-related activities during a course of study which meets State requirements for teacher preparation; and (2) teaching for five years in a school which qualifies for Perkins loan cancellation for its teachers. Allows members to transfer to another such school in an LEA within the State or to another State with a program, upon approval of the sending or receiving LEA or State. Prescribes additional assurances such agreements must include. Provides for repayment of scholarships and for cancellation of such obligation under specified conditions. Provides for publication of, and recruitment for, the teacher corps scholarship program, particularly for minority students. Authorizes appropriations for such new Teacher Corps program for FY 1992 through 1996, but conditions such funding upon the attainment of a specified minimum funding level for the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarships program. Limits the portion of Teacher Corps program funds which may be used for LEA induction and mentor programs for new corps members and other new teachers. Part D: Foreign Language Competence for the Future - Foreign Language Competence for the Future Act of 1990 - Amends the Star Schools Program Assistance Act (title IX of the Education for Economic Security Act) to authorize appropriations in necessary amounts for FY 1993 to carry out Star Schools program assistance. Requires applications for such assistance for instructional programming to provide assurances that such programming will be designed in consultation with teachers of the applicable subject matter and grade level. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible consortia to: (1) operate critical languages and area studies programs; (2) develop and acquire educational equipment and materials; and (3) develop teacher training programs, texts, curricula, and other activities designed to improve and expand the instruction of foreign languages at elementary and secondary schools. Limits the maximum amount of such a demonstration grant to an eligible consortium in any single fiscal year. Requires that a consortium eligible for such demonstration grants consist of a cooperative effort between entities in one or more States that must include at least: (1) one institution of higher education; (2) one secondary school with experience in teaching critical foreign languages; and (3) one secondary school in which at least 25 percent of the students are eligible to be counted under certain provisions for education of disadvantaged students (under Chapter 1 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965). Allows such consortia to include a not-for-profit organization to provide services not otherwise available from the other entities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996. Part E: Miscellaneous Provision - Amends HEA provisions for Perkins loan cancellation to allow: (1) the Secretary to use the previous year's list of eligible schools if a new list is not available before May 1 of any year; and (2) any teacher to continue to receive loan forgiveness in subsequent years of service at a school that loses such eligibility. Title II: Teacher Enhancement - Part A: National Teacher Academies - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to institutions of higher education, private nonprofit education organizations, or combinations of such entities to establish and operate national teacher academies. Requires one such academy in each of the following subject areas commonly taught in elementary and secondary schools: (1) mathematics; (2) National Writing Project; (3) civics and government; (4) basic skills and literacy instruction; (5) the arts, including art, music, and the performing arts; (6) history, geography, and sociology; (7) economics; (8) life sciences; (9) physical sciences; and (10) foreign languages. Requires academy staff to be selected from the most accomplished and prominent scholars in the relevant fields and methodologies. Provides that such grants shall be for five years, and awarded under a competitive bidding process. Requires special consideration for eligible recipients that have demonstrated effectiveness in establishing and administrating a national network of individuals who assist in teacher training programs at State and local levels. Limits such awards to eligible applicants who have demonstrated expertise in both the subject area and in-service teacher training. Requires grant funds to be used for: (1) in-service training for teachers and administrators; (2) summer institutes; (3) leadership team training for professional development schools; and (4) support services for professional development schools, including national networks of individuals, counseling assistance, and information services. Requires that school administrators and teachers from each congressional district, including the leadership team, participate in summer institutes. Sets forth grant application requirements, with a special rule for the National Academy on Basic Skills and Literacy Instruction. Authorizes the Secretary to award a grant to the National Writing Project to establish and operate one such teaching academy. Sets forth requirements for such grant, the Federal share, teacher training programs, and classroom teacher grants. Requires the National Writing Project to establish and operate a National Advisory Board. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996. Part B: Professional Development Schools - Directs the Secretary to allot to each State educational agency an equal amount for each congressional district in the State to establish and operate professional development schools. Requires that one such school be established in each congressional district. Allows the State educational agency to combine several of the authorized schools into a single school in States where several congressional districts are served by a local educational agency, or in States receiving small allotments. Provides that such grants shall be for five years, and renewable, and awarded under a competitive bidding process. Provides that professional development schools for specified U.S. territories and possessions in the Pacific are to be combined into a single school and administered by the Center for the Advancement of Pacific Education, in Honolulu, Hawaii, or its successor. Requires that such grant funds shall be used to: (1) provide professional development programs for teachers; and (2) pay costs of release time, stipends, college or university credit, curricular materials, and other expenses. Requires such professional development programs under this part to include individuals who have participated in the parallel program under part A. Requires each professional development school funded under this part whose teachers are served by a national academy funded under part A to conduct an in-service training program each year in each of the course content areas for which teachers receive training at the national academy. Requires each eligible grant recipient under this part to establish a ten-member steering committee. Requires each such committee to establish a three-person leadership team for each national teacher academy assisted under part A. Requires that Christa McAuliffe Career Teacher Corps participants be encouraged, upon return from their award period, to assist in the development and operation of the appropriate professional development school. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996. Part C: Christa McAuliffe Career Teacher Corps - Amends HEA to rename and revise the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Program as the Christa McAuliffe Career Teacher Corps (Career Corps), which is to be a national fellowship program for experienced teachers and a complement to the Teacher Corps program for new teachers established under title I. Provides for: (1) grants to SEAs to conduct Career Corps activities and award fellowships to Career Corps members, with grant amounts based on school-age population of the State; (2) fellowship award distribution, amounts, and authorized uses; (3) selection of Career Corps members; (4) application evaluation by a statewide panel; (5) special consideration for individuals intending to use awards to improve or acquire skills in science or mathematics or to teach or provide related services to students with disabilities, limited English proficient students, or preschool age students; (6) fellowship agreements and repayments for noncompliance; (7) State applications; and (8) State use of program funds. Requires fellowship recipients to agree to spend up to a one-year period during which the Career Corps member is released from teaching responsibilities to participate in: (1) sabbaticals for study, research, or academic improvements; (2) consultation with or assistance to other school districts or private school systems, or development of special innovative programs for in-service teacher training or student achievement; or (3) expansion or replication of model programs of staff development. Requires that the Career Corps member be encouraged, during the two years following the award period through professional development school, if one exists, to: (1) participate in an induction program for new teachers by acting as a mentor to new Teacher Corps members or other new teachers, in their same substantive field of expertise where practicable, or make some other contribution to Teacher Corps programs; and (2) assist in developing in-service training programs through the professional development school, if it exists. Requires that Career Corps members be given the opportunity to participate in activities developed by the Secretary and SEA to foster communication among Career Corps members. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996. Title III: Demonstrations - Amends the Fund for the Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching Act to provide for the following demonstration programs: (1) class size research; (2) new careers for teachers; (3) minority teacher recruitment; and (4) restructuring of schools and school-based management. Directs the Secretary to make demonstration grants to LEAs having elementary and secondary schools with large classes in order to demonstrate the advantages of reducing the size of classes. Provides for the Federal share of such program payments. Gives priority to projects involving young students and at-risk students. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible recipients to pay the Federal share of costs of establishing and operating programs to attract minority candidates to teaching careers. Makes eligible for such grants consortia of institutions of higher education and LEAs working with the State educational agency and the appropriate State or local teacher credentialing body. Provides that such grants shall be for two years, with up to three years of renewals, and awarded under a competitive bidding process. Allows grant funds to be used to pay tuition, release time, and child care stipends for program participants. Gives priority to programs focusing on recruitment of minorities, and special consideration to programs recruiting speakers of non-English languages who have been trained as teachers in their home countries or individuals already employed in an LEA. Authorizes the Secretary to pay the Federal share of making grants to carry out programs and activities to: (1) improve recruitment and training opportunities for minority, including language minority, individuals in education; and (2) increase the number of minority, including language minority, teachers in elementary and secondary schools. Sets forth application requirements and authorized uses of such funds by LEAs, higher education institutions, SEAs, State higher education agencies, and community-based organizations. Establishes a program of grants for planning and implementing the restructuring of school organization, school management, or instructional programs in elementary and secondary schools. Authorizes the Secretary to make such grants, on a competitive basis and for a three-year period, to such schools, LEAs, and consortia of such schools or LEAs (with or without nonprofit organizations with relevant experience). Requires grant applications to include a plan for widespread consultation with parents, community members, school system employees, and the private sector in planning and implementing such school restructuring. Requires a school restructuring implementation plan prior to the second grant year. Requires broad geographic distribution in grant awards with special consideration for restructing plans which benefit: (1) students or a school with below-average academic performance; and (2) eligible entities serving a large number of minority or disadvantaged students. Sets the Federal share at 50 percent, and requires that at least 50 percent of the non-Federal share come from nongovernmental sources. Authorizes appropriations in increased amounts for FY 1992 through 1996 to carry out the Fund for the Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching Act. Sets a maximum limit on the reservation of a portion of such funds to carry out family-school partnership programs. Title IV: Studies and Evaluations - Part A: Teacher Job Bank Study and Demonstration - Directs the Secretary, through the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), to study the feasibility of establishing: (1) a clearinghouse to operate a national teacher job bank; and (2) regional clearinghouses composed of several SEAs to test the teacher job bank concept. Directs the Secretary, through OERI, to contract with one or more State entities, nonprofit organizations, or institutions of higher education to pay the Federal share of the costs of establishing a Teacher Job Bank Clearinghouse as a national demonstration on a regional basis. Part B: Study of Pension Portability - Directs the Secretary, through OERI, to conduct a pension portability study of the feasibility of permitting teachers and administrators to transport pension benefits among States and LEAs. Part C: Study of Alternative Ways to Increase Minority Participation in the Teaching Profession - Directs the Secretary to study, and report on, alternative ways to increase minority participation in the teaching profession, focusing on: (1) barriers to entry into the profession for qualified minority group members; (2) options for addressing such barriers; (3) alternative assessment mechanisms; and (4) possibilities for increasing the supply of minority teachers. Part D: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires evaluations of and reports on the following programs: (1) the student loan forgiveness for teachers demonstration; (2) Teacher Corps; (3) national teacher academies; (4) professional development schools; (5) the class size research and demonstration project; (6) the new careers for teachers demonstration; (7) the minority teacher recruitment demonstration; and (8) the restructuring of schools and school-based management demonstration. Part E: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 through 1996 to carry out this title.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Comprehensive Health Care Act of 1991 - Title I: Medicare Reimbursement for Rural Hospitals - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission to each submit to the Congress a report recommending a methodology for the elimination of the system of determining separate average standardized amounts for hospitals in large urban, other urban, or rural areas. Title II: Joint Use of High Technology Equipment and Services by Hospitals - Declares that, notwithstanding any provision of antitrust laws, it shall not be considered a violation of antitrust laws for hospitals to jointly undertake, in the provision of care, the purchasing, contracting for, or sharing of high technology equipment and services. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out demonstration projects to assist hospitals in acquiring and sharing high technology equipment and services. Directs the Secretary to make grants for up to three years to States for the Federal share of costs (50 percent). Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Health Care Claims Procedures and Minimum Benefits - Directs the Secretary to request the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to develop: (1) model regulations and laws to provide a uniform, low-cost, minimum health insurance benefit package for purchase by individuals, businesses, and governmental entities; and (2) a plan for standardizing public and private insurance forms, including simplification of terminology and claims procedures to facilitate comparison between policies and to enhance access to quality policies. Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to declare that health insurance issued under an employee welfare benefit plan is not excluded from provisions relating to supersedure of State laws. Title IV: Tax Incentives - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax deduction of 100 percent (currently, 25 percent) of the amount paid for health insurance for a self-employed individual and that individual's spouse and dependents. Removes a provision terminating this deduction after FY 1990. Amends provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to refundable credits to allow a credit for a portion of the qualified health insurance expenses paid by an individual who is not covered by a health plan maintained by an employer of the individual or the individual's spouse. Sets forth special rules regarding coordination with advance payments and minimum tax, Medicare-eligible individuals, and subsidized expenses. Requires every employer paying wages to an employee who has certified to the employer that the employee is eligible for the credit to make an additional payment equal to the employee's dependent care advance amount. Requires that the health insurance expenses advance amount be determined on the basis of the employee's wages, the employee's estimated health insurance expenses, and tables provided by the Secretary. Sets forth special rules regarding self-employed individuals. Excludes expenses paid as a credit from treatment as expenses paid for medical care under provisions relating to itemized deductions. Terminates the health insurance credit for years after 1991. Includes expenditures for disease prevention and health promotion in the definition of medical care. Title V: Malpractice Reform - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Assistant Secretary for Health, through the Administrator of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, to establish treatment practice guidelines specifying appropriate, inappropriate, and permissive methods of evaluation and treatment. Prohibits, except by a provider party to an action and notwithstanding any other provision of law, the standards from being introduced in evidence in any action in a Federal or State court. Adds to the duties of the Subcouncil on outcomes and guidelines of the National Advisory Council on Treatment Practice Guidelines the duty of studying and reporting on the relationship between different treatment patterns and patient outcome. Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Assistant Secretary of Health, through the Administrator of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, to establish a program of grants to assist States in establishing prelitigation panels to identify meritorious claims of professional negligence, encourage resolution prior to lawsuit, and encourage withdrawal or dismissal of nonmeritorious claims. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Physician Issues - Subtitle A: Tax Incentives for Rural Practice - Rural Primary Care Incentives Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a refundable income tax credit of up to $12,000 per year (lifetime total of $36,000) for any physician who provides primary health services to residents of a rural health manpower shortage area and who is not receiving assistance under specified national Health Service Corps programs. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study and report to the Congress concerning: (1) the need for non-physician primary care providers in targeted rural areas; (2) the effectiveness of the tax credit in increasing the supply of primary care physicians in the targeted areas; and (3) alternative methods of defining rural health manpower shortage areas. Excludes from gross income any payments made on behalf of a taxpayer by the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment program. Subtitle B: Student Loan Deferment - Resident Physician Student Loan Deferment Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to allow resident physicians to defer repayment of certain student loans while completing a resident training program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the Accrediting Committee of the American Osteopathic Association. Title VII: Long-Term Care Insurance - Amends provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to definitions and special rules involving life insurance companies to require that references to noncancellable accident or health insurance contracts be treated as including a reference to qualified long-term care insurance. Defines "qualified long-term care insurance" to mean insurance which provides coverage for at least 12 months and which meets other requirements. Requires that benefits received through long-term care insurance be treated as amounts received through accident or health insurance for personal injuries or sickness. Requires that expenses incurred to the extent of benefits paid under long-term care insurance be treated as incurred for medical care. Requires any reference to an accident or health plan to be treated as including a reference to a plan providing long-term care insurance. Provides for the deductibility of employer and taxpayer premiums for long-term care insurance. Excludes from gross income amounts withdrawn from individual retirement plans for long-term care insurance premiums. Requires that any amount paid to an individual under a life insurance contract on the life of an insured who is terminally ill, has a dread disease, or has been permanently confined to a nursing home be treated as an amount paid by reason of the death of the insured. Requires any reference to life insurance to be treated as including a reference to a rider providing for payment upon the insured becoming a terminally ill individual or incurring a dread disease. Includes such riders in the definition of "qualified additional benefits" as a part of the definition of "life insurance contract." Title VIII: State Uninsurable Pool Programs - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to allocate funds to States for the Federal share of establishing State uninsurable pool programs to provide health insurance for medically uninsurable individuals. Makes the amount of an allotment dependent on the population of a State. Sets the Federal share at 75 percent. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permanently extend the low-income housing credit.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Self-Employed Health Insurance Equity Act - Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to the income tax deduction for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals to: (1) increase the allowable deduction from 25 percent to 100 percent; and (2) make the deduction permanent (under current law it will expire after tax year 1991).
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act of 1991 - Title I: Punishing Domestic and International Terrorist Acts - Subtitle A: Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 1991 - Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal criminal code to: (1) make it a Federal offense, punishable by up to life imprisonment, to commit terrorist acts against U.S. nationals abroad; and (2) authorize the imposition of the death penalty where terrorist acts against U.S. nationals result in first degree murder. Sets forth procedures for the imposition of the death penalty, including provisions with respect to notice by the Government that it intends to seek the death penalty if the defendant is convicted, the conduct of the sentencing hearing, a list of mitigating and aggravating factors to be considered, proof of such factors, the return of findings, and procedures for appeal and review of a sentence of death. Prohibits sentencing to death individuals who were under age 18 at the time of the offense, or carrying out a death sentence upon: (1) a woman while she is pregnant; (2) a person who is mentally retarded; or (3) a person who, as a result of mental disability, cannot understand the nature of the pending proceedings, what such person was tried for, or the reason for or nature of the punishment or who lacks the capacity to recognize or understand facts which would make the punishment unjust or unlawful or the ability to convey such information to counsel or to the court. Sets forth provisions: (1) authorizing a U.S. marshal charged with supervising the implementation of a death sentence to use appropriate State or local facilities and employees to carry out such sentence and to pay costs in an amount approved by the Attorney General; and (2) prohibiting requiring any employee of a State department of corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, or an employee providing services to such department or bureau under contract, as a condition of such employment or contractual obligation, to be in attendance at, or to participate in, any execution carried out under this Act. Subtitle B: Terrorist Acts Committed in the United States - Authorizes the imposition of the death penalty for domestic terrorist acts that involve an individual acting as an agent of a foreign power and that result in first degree murder, and up to life imprisonment for acts that result in death that does not constitute first degree murder. Sets forth penalties for attempts or conspiracy to kill (up to life imprisonment) and for engaging in physical violence that results in serious bodily injury (up to ten years imprisonment, a fine, or both.) Specifies that, for purposes of this Act, a person possesses an intent to commit a terrorist act if such person intends to: (1) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (2) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (3) affect the conduct of a government by assassination, kidnapping, or other violent act. Subtitle C: Increasing Penalties for International Terrorist Acts - Increases the penalties for terrorist acts committed against U.S. nationals abroad. Title II: Preventing Domestic and International Terrorist Acts - Subtitle A: Attacking the Infrastructure of Terrorist Organizations - Makes it a Federal criminal offense for an individual, acting as an agent of a foreign power, to provide material support or resources (including currency, securities, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, personnel, and other physical assets), or to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, or ownership of such support or resources, knowing that such resources or support are intended to be used to commit a terrorist act. Provides for the civil and criminal seizure and forfeiture of any real or personal property used to commit, or facilitate the commission of, terrorist acts. Subtitle B: Electronic Communications - Expresses the sense of the Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment should ensure that communications systems permit the Government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law. Subtitle C: Cooperation of Witnesses in Terrorist Investigations - Alien Witness Cooperation Act of 1991 - Authorizes the Attorney General to waive immigration admission, and other legal requirements and grant permanent resident status for alien witnesses who cooperate with the Government in Federal or State prosecutions. Bars the granting of such status to an alien who would be excluded because of felony convictions unless the Attorney General determines that the granting of such status to such alien is necessary in the interests of justice and comports with the safety of the community. Limits the number of aliens and members of their immediate families entering the United States under such authority to 100 persons in any single fiscal year. Provides that the decision to grant or deny permanent resident status under this Act shall be at the discretion of the Attorney General and shall not be subject to judicial review. Title III: Preventing Aviation Terrorism - Makes the willful violation of certain Federal Aviation Administration regulations relating to airport and airline security punishable by a fine, imprisonment for up to one year, or both. Title IV: Preventing Economic Terrorism - Makes it a Federal criminal offense to counterfeit, or to make, deal, or possess any plate or other item used in the counterfeiting of, U.S. securities abroad. Establishes an Economic Terrorism Task Force to: (1) assess the threat of terrorist actions directed against the U.S. economy and the adequacy of existing policies and procedures designed to prevent such actions; and (2) recommend administrative and legislative responses to prevent such actions. Sets forth provisions: (1) regarding the makeup of such Task Force; (2) making provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act inapplicable to such Task Force; and (3) establishing reporting requirements. Specifies that if the report of the Task Force is classified, an unclassified version shall be prepared for public distribution. Title V: Authorizations to Expand Counter-Terrorist Operations - Authorizes appropriations for counter-terrorist operations and programs.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Highway Trust Fund Improvement Act of 1991 - Directs that the receipts and disbursements of the Highway Trust Fund (the Fund) allocable to the transportation-related operations of such Fund not be counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, deficit, or surplus for purposes of: (1) the budget of the Government as submitted by the President; (2) the congressional budget; or (3) the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act). Defines "transportation-related operations" for such purposes as the disbursements, and the receipts allocable to such disbursements, under provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to expenditures from the Fund for the Federal-aid highway program and from the Mass Transit Account. Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to exclude from the congressional budget the outlays and revenue totals of the Fund allocable to transportation-related operations and the surplus or deficit totals required under such Act. Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to exempt the Fund from reduction under a sequestration order. Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to bar congressional consideration of specified changes with respect to transportation-related operations of the Fund. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to make supplemental allocations among the States of amounts sufficient to ensure that each State receive an amount equal to estimated tax payments attributable to highway users in the State paid into the Fund in the latest fiscal year for which data are available as a result of certain increases in motor fuel taxes. Makes such allocations available for purposes including interstate highway and transit substitute, bridge replacement and rehabilitation, hazard elimination, and rail-highway crossings and construction projects eligible for Federal assistance under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964. Specifies the Federal share (100 percent) of project costs. Authorizes States to use specified amounts allocated to them for transportation planning and research. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Right to Safe Drinking Water Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit regulated public utilities a corporate income tax exclusion of governmental contributions in aid of construction of water mains necessitated by the contamination of well water.
United States · United States Congress · 31 January 1991
Taxflation Protection Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the method of rounding used in adjusting tax rates and certain other amounts for inflation.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Armed Forces Immigration Adjustment Act of 1991 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide special immigrant status for certain aliens (and their dependents) who have served, or are serving, on active duty for a 12-year period in the U.S. armed forces. Places specified limits (with exceptions) on the number of individuals in any fiscal year who may be granted such special immigrant status.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require that payment under a life insurance contract on the life of an insured who is terminally ill be treated as a death benefit, making such payment eligible for tax exclusion from gross income. Provides that any reference to life insurance shall be treated as referring to a qualified terminal illness rider. Provides for the tax treatment of such riders. Describes such a rider as one which provides for payments to an individual upon the insured's becoming terminally ill. Provides that applicants for or recipients of assistance under the Social Security Act may not be required to elect to receive accelerated death benefits under life insurance policies.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
First-Time Homebuyer Opportunity Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of a first-time homebuyer up to $10,000 of individual retirement plan distributions used within 90 days to acquire a principal residence. Requires that amounts equal to the distributions in question be paid into the affected account at least 12 months prior to the purchase of the home.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish in the Treasury the Crime Victims Compensation Trust Fund. Appropriates to it amounts equivalent to receipts generated from the excise tax on pistols and revolvers.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Job Training Partnership Act Amendments of 1991 - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to authorize appropriations for FY 1991 and succeeding fiscal years for: (1) title II (Training Services for the Disadvantaged) part A (Adult and Older Worker Programs); (2) title II part B (Summer Youth Employment and Training Programs); (3) title II part C (Year-Round Youth Services); (4) title IV (Federally Administered Programs) parts C, D, E, F, G, and new H (Veterans' Employment Programs; National Activities; Labor Market Information; National Commission for Employment Policy; Training to Fulfill Affirmative Action Obligations; new Training Institutes); (5) title IV part A (Employment and Training Programs for Native Americans and Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers); and (6) title IV new part I (Youth Opportunities Unlimited Program). Reserves specified amounts for the Veterans' Employment Programs, National Commission for Employment Policy, and the new Training Institutes. Defines "basic skills deficient" as reading or computing skills at or below 8th grade level. Adds the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, the Center for Employment Training, and organizations serving older workers to the list of community-based organizations. Revises the definition of "economically disadvantaged" to: (1) refer to income guidelines promulgated each year by the Secretary of Health and Human Services; (2) include those determined eligible for, even if not receiving, food stamps; and (3) include migrant or seasonal farmworkers who meet income level requirements or whose income level during any consecutive 12-month period during the 24 months prior to application meets such requirements. Revises the definition of "supportive services" to include drug and alcohol abuse counseling and referral and individual and family counseling. Includes representatives of local welfare agencies and organizations representing older workers on private industry councils (PICs). Revises requirements for performance standards to: (1) promote delivery of services to the hard-to-serve; and (2) add measurement of increased basic education attainment and occupational skills (as well as the current measurement of increased employment and earnings and reduced welfare dependency). Provides for the following additional factors in performance standards for youth programs: (1) attainment of education and employability competencies; (2) secondary and postsecondary school completion or its equivalent; and (3) enrollment in other education, training, or employment programs or apprenticeships, or enlistment in the Armed Forces. Directs the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) to report biennially to the Congress on JTPA performance standards. Adds older workers to the special populations for which variations in performance standards must be prescribed. Allows modifications of such special population standards not more than once every two years, with reported reasons. Changes from discretionary to mandatory the authority of State Governors to prescribe variations in performance standards within certain parameters. Requires State Governors to: (1) provide technical assistance to any service delivery area (SDA) which fails two consecutive years; and (3) incorporate the SDA into another contiguous SDA if such alternative arrangements do not result in improved performance within 12 months. Directs the Secretary to enforce such incorporation if the Governor fails to take such corrective actions. Directs the Secretary to establish a universal definition of placement for use in development of performance standards. Requires SDAs, in selecting service providers, to consider provision of support services, including child care. Revises limitations on certain costs for specified programs, including general administrative costs, combined administration and support services costs, and training-related services costs. Prohibits duplication of supportive services which are available free to participants through other services. Prohibits Governors from disapproving any local job training plan or modification on the basis of costs if these are in compliance with these specified limitations. Revises provisions for additional State responsibilities under title I (Job Training Partnership) of the JTPA. Allows the Governor's coordination and special services plan to describe the State's criteria for acceptable verification and documentation of participant eligibility, which, if approved by the Secretary, shall be deemed to meet specified requirements. Requires Governors, in providing certain staff training, to take into account training available through the National Training Institute. Authorizes Governors to adopt certain professional training curricula and administrative competency standards. Includes State agencies primarily responsible for administration of programs for older workers among those which may be represented on the State Job Coordinating Council. Requires State labor market information programs to include training and technical assistance to support comprehensive career guidance and participant outcome activities for local programs assisted under JTPA. Requires identification of any State-imposed or interpreted rule, regulation, policy, or performance standard relating to administration and operation of programs funded by JTPA. Revises program requirements for service delivery systems. Exempts normal tuition charges for training or education from certain requirements for a breakdown of cost components. Allows an SDA which is a city or a county to serve residents of either the city or the county if the city is located within the county and is a separate SDA. Limits the duration of on-the-job training to a period not in excess of that generally required for acquisition of skills needed for that position, but never exceeding six months. Requires on-the-job contracts to: (1) specify types and duration of training and other services; and (2) if an intermediary brokering contractor is used for placements, specify certain additional services and factors. Extends specified minimum wage exemptions to certain SDAs. Revises certain Federal and fiscal administrative provisions. Allows the use of certain advance payment methods when contracting with nonprofit organizations of demonstrated effectiveness. Directs the administrative law judge to reduce or cancel a determination of unallowable expenditures to the extent that specified mitigating circumstances warrant. Requires all entities receiving JTPA funds to follow directives of the applicable Office of Management and Budget Circulars and/or the Common Rules for administrative and cost principles. Requires SDAs to retain and use interest income in a specified manner. Prohibits use of JTPA funds for fees or profits to governmental units, grantees, or subgrantees, but allows such use for reasonable fees or profits to private for profit entities and cost-type administrative service contractors. Requires Governors to report semiannually to the Secretary on the amount of expenditures by each SDA for each fiscal year under title II of JTPA. Directs the Secretary to establish procedures to permit grantees to use current funds for costs of audit resolutions of prior grants. Revises conditions under which the Governor may take corrective action against an SDA for noncompliance with fiscal requirements. Directs the Secretary to take such corrective action if the Governor fails to do so. Revises reporting and recordkeeping requirements. Requires recipients to maintain and provide to the Secretary standardized records of a sufficient number of individual participants to provide an adequate sample size to allow for preparation of national estimates to meet specified requirements. Requires State, administrative entity, and grant recipient reports prescribed by the Secretary to be made annually. Requires such reports to include specified types of information. Requires each recipient, subrecipient, and service provider to maintain records of revenues and expenditures for at least three years following grant period expiration. Revises title II of JTPA (Training Services for the Disadvantaged). Separates the current title II part A (Adult and Youth Programs) into part A (Adult and Older Worker Programs) and part C (Year-Round Youth Services), while retaining the same name for part B (Summer Youth Employment and Training Programs). Sets forth part A (Adult and Older Worker Programs). Revises allotment provisions to establish State set-asides for education, performance incentives, and auditing and administration. Allows individuals, whether employed or unemployed, to be eligible for part A services as long as they are adults (age 22 or older) who are economically disadvantaged. Requires that at least 50 percent of part A program participants in each SDA be individuals who, in addition to being economically disadvantaged adults, are in one or more of the following categories: (1) basic skills deficient; (2) school dropouts; (3) recipients of aid to families with dependent children (AFDC) who either meet specified requirements or have an employability plan under the Social Security Act; or (4) unemployed for the previous six months or longer. (Retains the current provision that allows up to ten percent of program participants in an SDA not to be economically disadvantaged if they have encountered barriers to employment.) Requires SDAs to: (1) make special efforts and expenditures to serve older workers; (2) coordinate delivery of such services with those under the Older Americans Act; and (3) give priority to service providers with demonstrated effectiveness in providing such services. Requires SDAs and State job training coordinating councils to encourage job training service providers to provide child care services at minimal cost to participants. Establishes part A program design requirements, including: (1) assessment of participants' skill levels and service needs; (2) development of service strategies to identify employment goals, appropriate achievement objectives, and appropriate services; (3) review of participant progress; and (4) if appropriate, basic (including language) and occupational skills training. Requires that job search, job search skills training, job club, and work experience be accompanied by other services designed to increase a participant's basic education or occupational skills. Allows an exception from such combination requirement only if: (1) the participant's assessment and service strategy indicate that the additional services are not appropriate; and (2) the activities are not available to the participant through the Employment Service or other public agencies. Allows continued provision of counseling and supportive services to a participant for up to one year after termination from the program. Revises authorized services for which part A program funds may be used. Eliminates employment-generating activities from the list of such authorized services. Divides the lists of such services into direct training, training-related, and participant support services. Revises title II part B (Summer Youth Employment and Training Programs) to limit administrative costs to 15 percent (or 20 percent for grant recipients of $200,000 or less). Requires SDAs to: (1) expend funds for basic and remedial education as described in the State job training plan; (2) assess participant skill levels and service needs and develop a service strategy for participants; and (3) provide follow-up services for participants for whom a service strategy has been developed. Redefines youth as individuals aged 14 through 21, for purposes of part B programs (while retaining the economically disadvantaged condition for eligibility). Sets forth provisions for title II part C (Year-Round Youth Services). Revises allotment provisions to establish State set-asides for education, performance incentives, and auditing and administrative activities. Makes eligible for part C program participation individuals who are economically disadvantaged youth (age 14 through 21) or who are receiving (or are eligible to receive) a free lunch under the National School Lunch Act. Requires that at least 50 percent of participants in an SDA be out-of-school youth, with priority given to school dropouts. Requires that at least 50 percent of such out-of-school youth be in one or more of the following categories: (1) basic skills deficient; (2) school dropout; or (3) pregnant or parenting. Requires that at least 50 percent of the remaining percentage of participants (i.e. in-school youth) be youth who: (1) are basic skills deficient; (2) have poor academic records (at least one year below appropriate grade level for their age); (3) are pregnant or parenting; or (4) have limited English-language proficiency. Provides (in addition to the current exception to the economic disadvantage requirement which allows up to ten percent of part C youth program participants in an SDA to be individuals who are not economically disadvantaged, if they have a barrier to their employment) that an additional 15 percent of such participants may be individuals who are not economically disadvantaged, if they are high school dropouts who have an additional barrier to their employment. Establishes part C year-round youth services program design requirements, including: (1) assessment of participants' skill levels and service needs; (2) development of service strategies to identify achievement objectives, appropriate employment goals, and appropriate services; (3) review of participant progress; and (4) if appropriate, basic (including language) skills training, occupational skills training, pre-employment and work maturity skills training, work experience combined with skills training, and supportive services. Requires that work experience, job search, job search skills training, and job club activities be accompanied by additional services which: (1) are designed to increase a participant's basic education or occupational skills; and (2) may be provided, sequentially or concurrently, under other education and training programs. Allows continued provision of counseling and supportive services to a participant for up to one year after termination from the program. Requires SDAs to establish linkages with the appropriate educational agencies responsible for service to participants. Provides that part C funded authorized youth services may include, but need not be limited to, the services described under the headings of direct training, training related services, and participant support services under part A adult program provisions. Provides that additional authorized youth services under part C may include training or education that is combined with meaningful and constructive community and youth service opportunities in public, nonprofit, and other appropriate agencies, institutions, and organizations. Requires the job training plan to provide for referrals of youth between programs funded under parts B and C. Requires the job training plan to include a description of plans for: (1) training in nontraditional employment; and (2) training-related placement in nontraditional employment and apprenticeships. Revises JTPA title IV part A employment and training programs for Native American and migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Establishes in the Department of Labor a Division of Indian and Native American Programs with administrative responsibility for Native American employment and training programs. Establishes a Native American Human Investment Council. Authorizes the Secretary to waive, under the migrant and seasonal farmworker programs, the requirement of biennial competition for grants for those grantees that: (1) have performed satisfactorily on their existing grant; and (2) submit a satisfactory two-year plan for the succeeding period. Amends JTPA title IV part B provisions for the Job Corps. Revises the age limits for participation in the Job Corps to ages 14 through 24 for all participants. (Current law sets it at ages 14 through 21 for participants in general, with an exception allowing participation through age 24 only for handicapped individuals). Declares that JTPA allows participants to participate concurrently or sequentially in both the Job Corps and title II programs. Increases from ten to 20 percent the allowable number of nonresidential participants enrolled in the Job Corps in any year. Requires that, in enrolling nonresident participants, priority be given to those eligible individuals who are single parents with dependent children. Prohibits use of Department of Labor funds to contract with a nongovernmental agency to administer or manage a Civilian Conservation Center of the Job Corps on public land. Directs the Secretary, as practicable, to provide child care at or near Job Corps centers for individuals who require such care for their children in order to participate in the Job Corps. Requires each Job Corps center to provide alcohol and drug abuse counseling and referral to participants who need such services. Directs the Secretary to provide all nonprofit Job Corps contractors with an equitable and negotiated management fee of not less than one percent of the contract amount. Revises JTPA title IV part D provisions for national activities, including research, demonstration, training and technical assistance. Directs the Secretary to award up to ten grants for juvenile offender demonstration projects, giving priority to SDAs serving demonstration target areas with high proportions of juvenile offenders. Requires such programs to provide: (1) alcohol and drug abuse counseling; (2) close supervision, counseling, and followup of each participant from time of enrollment to six months after enrollment has ended; and (3) at least six months of service to participants. Requires enrollment to be made available to youth referred by schools, youth commissions, courts, and after-care programs. Authorizes appropriations for such programs for FY 1991 and 1992. Directs the Secretary to provide guidance and technical assistance to States and SDAs relating to documentation of participants' eligibility under JTPA title II programs. Revises JTPA title IV part E provisions for labor market information. Directs the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with the States, to engage in research and demonstration on organizing and making accessible nationwide information on quarterly earnings, establishment and industry affiliation, and geographic location of employment, for feasibility determination and/or policy research and program evaluation purposes, while ensuring confidentiality and privacy. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress within 12 months on the costs and benefits of such a database under the cooperative labor information program. Includes the Secretary of Health and Human Services among those with whom the Secretary is to cooperate in reviewing and coordinating labor market information systems. Directs the Secretary, through the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (NOICC), to report biennially to the Congress on development and maintenance of a common core of labor market information. Increases the authorization of funding for NOICC. Directs NOICC to: (1) give special attention to career development; and (2) conduct research and demonstrations to improve coordination and compatibility of Federal or State human resources data systems, including economic development assistance systems, and to provide support to States in implementing system enhancements. Establishes a new part H, Training Institutes, under title IV of JTPA. Directs the Secretary, before July 1, 1991, to establish a national training institute which develops a network of at least two regional training institutes to improve the services provided by and the management of Federal, State, and local employment and training programs. Authorizes competitive grants or contracts to initiate and maintain such network. Sets forth national and regional institutes' responsibilities for: (1) developing curricula and providing training, technical assistance, and staff development at the institutes and elsewhere; (2) preparing and disseminating training curricula and materials; (3) disseminating innovative and successful models for programs and training; and (4) establishing an institute board of directors. Permits training institutes to charge tuition or fees to offset costs. Directs the Secretary to provide guidance and technical assistance to the network. Authorizes the Secretary to designate the national training institute as the clearinghouse for: (1) innovative materials to enhance knowledge and performance of employment and training personnel; (2) facilitation of communications and coordination; (3) a computer network among themselves and institutions; and (4) linkages with existing human resources clearinghouses. Establishes a new part I, the Youth Opportunities Unlimited Program, of title IV of JTPA. Authorizes the Secretary to establish such national program of Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) grants to pay 50 percent of the cost of comprehensive education, training, and employment services for youth in high poverty areas in urban and rural areas. Requires such grants to be awarded to the local service delivery area (on behalf of the participating community) in which the target area is located (or to designated grantees if the target area is in a farmworker community, Indian reservation, or Alaskan native village). Authorizes the Secretary to select as grant recipients up to 25 communities in the first year after the program is in effect. Requires that at least one, but not more than three, of such grants be awarded to: (1) designated representatives of Indian reservations and Alaskan native villages; and (2) designated representatives of farmworkers. Makes such grants cover a three-year period, with each year conditional upon compliance. Authorizes participating communities to apply for grants for use on behalf of target areas. Requires that a designated target area have not more than 25,000 population, except in the case of single school districts. Makes all youth aged 14 to 22 in the target area eligible to participate in assisted programs and activities. Requires each participating community to develop an integrated service delivery system in each target area which meets specified minimum criteria for services. Requires such programs to also have an education component, outreach and recruitment efforts, youth program models, and measurable goals and outcomes. Sets forth requirements for maintenance of State and local funding levels, limitations on use of program funds, applications, and Federal and local shares. Directs the Secretary to provide for technical assistance, independent evaluations, and a report to the President and the Congress by March 31, 1995. Establishes a new part J, Disaster Relief Employment Assistance, of title IV of JTPA. Provides emergency disaster relief employment assistance for the reconstruction of areas affected by natural disasters. Directs the Secretary to allocate funds for such program in a timely manner to the Governor of any State within which there is an area which has suffered a major disaster ("disaster area" as declared by the President and defined under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974). Requires the Governor to allocate at least 80 percent of such funds to local governments within such disaster areas, and the remainder for State activities to alleviate the disaster. Requires coordination of State and local governments, disaster relief agencies, and the administrative entities and private industry councils in the SDA within which disaster employment programs are conducted under JTPA. Sets forth authorized uses of funds for employment on projects for victim assistance and repair of facilities and lands, restricting such employment projects to disaster areas. Makes individuals eligible for disaster employment if they: (1) are eligible under JTPA title III (except those actively engaged in a training program); and (2) unemployed as a consequence of the disaster. Limits individual employment to not more than six months for work related to recovery from a single natural disaster. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 and succeeding fiscal years. Provides for training and training-related placement of women in nontraditional employment and apprenticeships (i.e. in occupations or fields of work where women comprise less than 25 percent of those employed). Provides for such nontraditional employment to SDA job training plans, Governor's coordination and special services plans, State job training coordinating council reports and reviews, and State education coordination and grants. Adds nontraditional employment demonstration programs to part D of title IV of JTPA. Directs the Secretary to use a specified amount of part D funds in FY 1990 through 1993 for grants to States to develop demonstration and exemplary programs to train and place women in nontraditional employment. Limits such awards to not more than six grants in each fiscal year. Sets forth: (1) considerations for the Secretary in the grant award process; and (2) limitations on entities to which the States may award grants, and on State use of funds. Sets forth evaluation and reporting requirements. Sets forth nondiscrimination provisions, and declares that nothing in JTPA shall be construed to mean that the Congress is taking a position on the issue of comparable worth. Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) lead the Secretaries of Education, Health and Human Services, and other appropriate departments to identify a core set of consistently defined data elements for employment and training programs; and (2) report to the Congress by January 1, 1992, listing recommended data elements and definitions. Sets forth effective date and transition provisions. Declares the sense of the Congress that a recipient (including a nation, individual, group, or organization) of any Federal assistance under this Act should purchase American-made equipment and products in expending such assistance. Directs the Secretary to notify recipients of this declaration.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Nonprofit Tax-Exempt Organization Insured Deposits Act - Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to declare that the deposits of nonprofit tax-exempt organizations shall be insured.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Emergency Oil Market Stability Act of 1991 - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to direct the President to promulgate and transmit to the Congress a standby regulation providing for mandatory allocation of petroleum products. Specifies emergency circumstances in which the President may implement such regulation. Mandates that the regulation include an optional standby program for crude oil sharing among refiners. Declares that the President shall have no authority to: (1) impose any tax, tariff, or user fee; (2) prescribe minimum petroleum prices; (3) establish a program for the assignment of rights for end-user purchases gasoline or diesel fuel; or (4) restrict or allocate consumer petroleum inventories. Preempts State and local law about petroleum product pricing or allocation, except where exempted by the President. Permits a Governor to implement a State set aside program for residual fuel oil or any refined petroleum and, if the President approves it, also win exemption. Establishes a civil penalty for violation of the standby regulation. Directs the President to collect information on a State-by-State basis regarding petroleum products pricing, supply, and distribution. Terminates all authority under this Act on a specified date.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on certain indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. (Under current law, such a loan must be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an income tax deduction for interest on any indebtedness incurred to pay the educational expenses of the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent. (Under current law, such a loan must be secured by an interest in real property.)
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit a $600 nonrefundable income tax credit to any active member of a qualified volunteer fire department.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Requires interest income from certain qualified leased property transactions of rural electric cooperatives to be offset by rental expenses of such transactions before allocating income or expense to members and nonmembers of such cooperatives for purposes of the accelerated cost recovery system of the Internal Revenue Code.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 1991
Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the valuation of farm land for estate tax purposes, permitting a qualified heir to enter into a cash lease of farm or other real property with a family member and still have the property valued under use value principles rather than according to its highest and best use.
United States · United States Congress · 29 January 1991
Health Care Savings Account Act of 1991 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employees and employers, including self-employed individuals, a 60 percent tax credit for contributions to a health care savings account for the benefit of the employee or self-employed individual. Limits total contributions to an account to the aggregate amount of hospital insurance tax paid with respect to the account beneficiary. Describes conditions that must be met by the account. Excludes from the gross income of the beneficiary any account contributions made by an employer. Exempts an account from taxation (except for the tax on unrelated business income of a charitable organization) unless the distributee engages in specified transactions in connection with it. Excludes from gross income any account distributions used to pay the eligible medical expenses of the beneficiary or qualifying spouse. Imposes a ten percent surtax on account distributions used for other than health care purposes or made before the distributee is aged 65 or older. Imposes penalty taxes in connection with: (1) excess contributions or prohibited transactions associated with an account; (2) distributions from an account that reduce a distributee's account level below a specified amount; and (3) failure to effect spousal rollover of an account upon the spouse's death. Imposes penalties for failure to make required reports concerning an account. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to reduce the Medicare benefits of a health care savings account beneficiary by 60 percent of the maximum amount of Medicare-related expenditures that could be reasonably underwritten (by an insurance company) for the average Medicare beneficiary, given certain assumptions. Establishes special rules for individuals who cannot obtain insurance to cover their added deductible at the standard premium rates. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish rules in connection with recalculations of deductibles when a qualifying spouse becomes eligible for Medicare. Establishes catastrophic health care expense protection for certain individuals who qualify for Medicare and have met specified contribution requirements with respect to one or more health care savings accounts. Describes conditions under which a qualifying spouse becomes eligible for this protection.