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1,251 records in US in 1999
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Taxpayers' Cancer Research Funding Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain individuals to designate that five dollars (ten dollars in the case of joint returns) be paid over to the Breast and Prostate Cancer Research Fund established by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Community Safety Act of 1999 - Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to exempt from certain (anti-kickback) criminal penalties any hospital remunerations to an ambulance provider owned or operated by a State or local government or a tax-exempt charitable organization that are in kind replenishments of certain ambulance drugs and supplies used during the transport of a patient to the hospital. Prohibits the determination of such remuneration in a manner that takes into account the volume or value of any referrals or business otherwise generated between the parties for which payment may be made in whole or in part under a Federal health care program.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Better Bracket Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the tax imposed and increase the amount of income subject to the 15 percent tax bracket for joint returns and surviving spouses, heads of households, other unmarried individuals, married individuals filing separately, and estates and trusts.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Hope for Children Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) increase the amount allowable for qualified adoption expenses; (2) permanently extend the credit for adoption expenses; and (3) adjust the limitations on such credit for inflation.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow: (1) a rollover contribution to an individual retirement account from a State or local government deferred compensation plan (section 457 plan); and (2) such an entity to maintain a 401k plan.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the estate tax, gift tax, and the tax on generation-skipping transfers.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the small issuer exemption from pro rata allocation of interest expense of financial institutions to tax-exempt interest.
United States · United States Congress · 3 February 1999
10 Percent Tax Cut Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce individual income tax rates by ten percent.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act - Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) to revise the Federal and congressional budget processes by establishing a two-year budgeting and appropriations cycle and timetable. Defines the budget biennium as the two consecutive fiscal years beginning on October 1 of any odd-numbered year. Sets forth a special timetable for any first session that begins in any year immediately following a leap year and during which the term of a President begins (except one who starts a second successive term). (Sec. 2) Devotes the first session of any Congress to the budget resolution and to appropriations decisions, retaining current deadlines in most cases. Changes certain deadlines to conform to the biennial scheme. Devotes each second session to authorization activity, subject to specified deadlines. (Sec. 4) Makes conforming amendments regarding the biennial budget cycle to the Rules of the House of Representatives. (Sec. 5) Conforms provisions governing the President's budget to the biennial framework. (Sec. 6) Requires all Acts making regular appropriations for the support of the Government to be enacted for a biennium and to specify the amount of appropriations provided for each fiscal year in that period. (Sec. 7) Amends CBA to provide that it shall not be in order in the House or the Senate to consider: (1) any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that authorizes appropriations for a period of less than two fiscal years, unless the program, project, or activity for which the appropriations are authorized will require no further appropriations and will be completed or terminated after the appropriations have been expended; and (2) in any odd-numbered year, any authorization or revenue bill or joint resolution until Congress completes action on the biennial budget resolution, all regular biennial appropriations bills, and all reconciliation bills. Provides that, in the Senate, such point of order shall not apply to: (1) any measure that is privileged for consideration pursuant to a rule or statute; (2) any matter considered in Executive Session; or (3) an appropriations measure or reconciliation bill. (Sec. 8) Changes to a biennial basis specified requirements for certain Government strategic and performance plans, performance reports in budget submissions, and program performance reports. Requires congressional committee reviews of such plans and reports. (Sec. 9) Provides that it shall not be in order in the House or the Senate in any odd-numbered year to consider any regular bill providing new budget authority or a limitation on obligations under the jurisdiction of any Appropriations subcommittee for only the first fiscal year of a biennium unless the program, project, or activity for which such authority or limitation is provided will require no additional authority beyond one year and will be completed or terminated after the amount provided has been expended. (Sec. 10) Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to report to the Budget Committees on the impact and feasibility of changing the definition of a fiscal year and the budget process based on that definition to a two-year fiscal period with a biennial budget process based on the two-year period.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to designate the Youngstown-Warren area of Ohio as an empowerment zone.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from an individual's gross income amounts received as reimbursement regarding the use of a passenger automobile for the benefit of a charitable organization. Relieves the organization of certain reporting requirements regarding the reimbursements.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Emergency Oil and Gas Recovery Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income (if so elected by the taxpayer) income attributable to independent producer oil from a recovered inactive well. Includes both oil and natural gas in the definition of "independent producer oil." Prohibits deductions directly connected with amounts so excluded.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Saint Helena Island National Scenic Area Act - Establishes the Saint Helena Island National Scenic Area, upon conveyance of such Island to the United States, to preserve and protect its outstanding resources and values and to provide for the conservation, protection, and enhancement of primitive recreation opportunities, fish and wildlife habitat, vegetation, and historical and cultural resources of such Island. Requires the boundaries of the Hiawatha National Forest to be extended to include such Area. Requires lands acquired by the United States under this Act to be treated as entitlement lands solely for purposes of payments in lieu of taxes to local governments. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a management plan for the Area as an amendment to the Land and Resources Management Plan for the Hiawatha National Forest. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the jurisdiction or responsibilities of Michigan with respect to fish and wildlife in the Area. Withdraws the lands within the Area from U.S. mining laws and from disposition under mineral and geothermal leasing laws. Prohibits the Secretary from allowing any mineral development on federally-owned land within the Area, except for construction and maintenance of roads and facilities within the Area. Allows the Secretary to acquire land and structures: (1) within the Area to further the purposes of this Act; and (2) on the mainland to the extent necessary for access to, and administrative facilities for, the Area. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
African Growth and Opportunity Act - Declares the support of the Congress for the economic self-reliance of sub-Saharan African countries committed to economic and political reform, market incentives and private sector growth, eradication of poverty, and the importance of women to economic growth and development. (Sec. 4) Makes a sub-Saharan African country eligible to participate in programs, projects, or activities, or receive assistance or other benefits under this Act if the President determines, according to specified evidence, that it does not engage in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, and has established, or is making continual progress toward establishing, a market-based economy. Directs the President to monitor and review the progress of sub-Saharan African countries to determine their current or potential eligibility under the requirements of this Act. Makes ineligible to participate in programs or receive assistance or other benefits under this Act any countries that have not made progress in meeting such requirements. (Sec. 5) Directs the President to convene annual high-level meetings between U.S. Government officials and officials of the governments of sub-Saharan African countries to foster close economic ties between them. Directs the President to establish a United States-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, which shall, among other things, encourage joint ventures between small and large businesses. Directs the United States Information Agency (USIA), in order to assist the Forum, to disseminate economic information in support of the free market economic reforms contained in this Act. Authorizes appropriations (but with a bar on the use of funds to create or support any nongovernmental organization whose aim is to facilitate trade between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa). (Sec. 6) Directs the President to develop a plan meeting certain requirements to enter into one or more trade agreements with certain eligible sub-Saharan African countries to establish a United States-Sub-Saharan Africa Free Trade Area. (Sec. 7) Expresses the sense of the Congress that reform of trade policies in sub-Saharan Africa that removes structural impediments to trade, consistent with the World Trade Organization (WTO), can lay the groundwork for sustained growth there in both textile and apparel exports. Directs the United States, pursuant to the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, to eliminate the existing quotas on textile and apparel exports to the United States from Kenya and Mauritius, provided they adopt a visa system to guard against the unlawful transshipment of such goods and the use of counterfeit documents. Directs the President to: (1) continue the existing no quota policy for sub-Saharan African countries; and (2) report to the Congress on the growth in textiles and apparel exports to the United States from such countries in order to protect U.S. consumers, workers, and textile manufacturers from economic injury on account of the no quota policy. Sets forth enforcement procedures (including penalties) for violations of the requirements contained in this Act. (Sec. 8) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize the President to provide duty-free treatment of any non-import-sensitive article that is the growth, product, or manufacture of an eligible sub-Saharan African beneficiary developing country. Waives the competitive need limitation with respect to eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Extends duty-free treatment to sub-Saharan African beneficiary developing countries through June 30, 2009. (Sec. 9) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Secretary of the Treasury should instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of specified international financial institutions to use their votes to encourage their institutions to develop enhanced mechanisms which further economic and trade reforms and deep debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt initiative in eligible sub-Saharan African countries; and (2) relief provided to such countries under the HIPC debt initiative should primarily be made through grants rather than through extended-term debt, with interim financing for eligible countries that establish a strong record of macroeconomic reform. (Sec. 10) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the stated policy of the executive branch in the 1997 Partnership for Growth and Opportunity in Africa initiative is a step toward the establishment of a comprehensive trade and development policy for sub-Saharan Africa and is a companion to the policy goals set forth in this Act. Directs the President, in addition to continuing bilateral and multilateral economic and development assistance, to target technical assistance toward: (1) developing relationships between U.S. firms and firms in sub-Saharan Africa; (2) providing assistance to sub-Saharan African countries to liberalize trade and promote exports, bring their regimes into compliance with WTO standards, make financial and fiscal reforms, and promote greater agribusiness linkages; (3) addressing critical agricultural policy issues as market liberalization, agricultural export development, and agribusiness investment in processing and transporting agricultural commodities; (4) increasing the number of reverse trade missions to growth-oriented sub-Saharan African countries; (5) increasing trade in services; and (6) encouraging greater sub-Saharan participation in future WTO negotiations on services and making further commitments in their schedules to the General Agreement on Trade in Services in order to encourage the removal of tariff and nontariff barriers. (Sec. 11) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) should exercise its authorities to initiate, in addition to any existing fund, an equity fund or funds in support of projects in sub-Saharan African countries, particularly projects that expand opportunities for women entrepreneurs and employment for the poor. (Sec. 12) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct the Board of Directors of OPIC to increase financial assistance in sub-Saharan Africa. Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to make similar changes with respect to the Export-Import Bank of the United States. (Sec. 13) Directs the President to establish the position of Assistant United States Trade Representative for African Affairs within the Office of the United States Trade Representative to direct and coordinate interagency activities on U.S.-Africa trade policy and investment matters. (Sec. 14) Directs the Secretary of Commerce, subject to the availability of appropriations, to take steps to ensure that at least 20 full-time U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service employees are stationed in sub-Saharan Africa, including that full-time Service employees are stationed in not less than ten different sub-Saharan African countries. Directs the Service to take specified action to encourage the export of U.S. goods and services to sub-Saharan African countries. (Sec. 16) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, to the extent appropriate, the U.S. Government should make every effort to donate to governments of eligible sub-Saharan African countries air traffic control equipment that is no longer in use, including appropriate related reimbursable technical assistance for such equipment.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a four-year nonimmigrant (H-1C visa) classification for nonimmigrant registered nurses in health professional shortage areas. Requires that an alien: (1) have a full foreign nursing license or has received U.S. nursing education; (2) have passed an appropriate examination or is a licensed nurse in the State of intended employment; and (3) be fully eligible to begin work in the petitioning facility. Requires the facility to file an employment attestation with the Department of Labor with respect to such alien (or aliens) evidencing that: (1) similarly employed nurse's wages and conditions will not be adversely affected; (2) the alien's wages will be the same as other similarly employed nurses; (3) steps are being taken to recruit U.S. nurses (as set forth by this Act); (4) no labor dispute is involved; (5) no more than one-third of the facility's registered nurses will be H-1C aliens; and (6) employment will not be performed at a facility other than the petitioning facility. Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) compile a public list of petitioning facilities; (2) establish a process for complaint receipt, investigation, and disposition (including civil monetary penalties) against a noncomplying facility; and (3) impose an attestation filing fee of up to $250. Limits: (1) aggregate fiscal year H-1C entrants to 500; and (2) fiscal year entrants in any one State to 25 and 50 in States with less or more than nine million inhabitants, respectively. Defines "facility" as a hospital: (1) in a health shortage area; (2) with at least 190 acute care beds; and (3) with at least 35 percent and 28 percent of its patients being Medicare and Medicaid patients, respectively. Repeals the nonimmigrant nursing program (H-1A visa). (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to recommend: (1) an alternative to the H-1C program as a permanent remedy to the registered nurse shortage; and (2) a more effective program enforcement system. (Sec. 4) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to exempt certain nurses and physical therapists from foreign health care worker certification requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends Federal law to require governmental pension plans of the U.S. possessions to be treated in the same manner as State pension plans for purposes of a specified limitation on the State income taxation of pension income.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Miscellaneous Trade Corrections Title II: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions; Other Trade Provisions Subtitle A: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions Subtitle B: Trade Provisions Title III: Amendments to Internal Revenue Code of 1986 Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 1999 - Title I: Miscellaneous Trade Corrections - Makes various specified miscellaneous technical corrections to the Trade Act of 1974 and other specified Federal law involving: (1) abolishment of the East-West Foreign Trade Board; (2) repeal of the requirement that certain small vessels departing from a foreign port, or which visited a hovering vessel, carry a certificate for the importation into the United States of alcoholic spirits; (3) repeal of the exemption of documented tugs with a Great Lakes endorsement from certain entry and clearance requirements; (4) change of general most-favored-nation (MFN) status to general or normal trade relations (NTR) status under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States; and (5) conforming amendments to obsolete references to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). (Sec. 1003) Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to allow certain entries of television receivers, monitors, and picture tubes, and combination TV-VCRs with a diagonal measurement of up to 34.29cm (currently, 33.02 cm), or 13.5 inches, to be classified as 13 inches for purposes of tariff treatment under the Schedule. Directs the Customs Service, upon proper request, to liquidate or reliquidate certain entries made on or after January 1, 1995, and before 15 days after enactment of this Act, as if such amendment applied to such entries. Title II: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions; Other Trade Provisions - Subtitle A: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide for temporary duty suspensions for: (1) specified chemicals and dyes through December 31, 2001; (2) snowboard boots with uppers of textile materials through December 31, 2001; (3) ink-jet textile printing machinery through December 31, 2001; (4) textile printing machinery through December 31, 2001; (5) substrates of synthetic quartz or synthetic fused silica imported into the United States in bulk or in forms or packages for retail sale through December 31, 2001; (6) power weaving machines (looms), shuttle type, for weaving fabrics between 30 cm and 4.9m in width, if entered without off-loom or large loom take-ups, drop wires, heddles, reeds, harness frames or beams, through December 31, 2001; (7) skating boots for use in the manufacture of in-line roller skates through December 31, 2001; (8) dual thrust chamber rocket engines, each having a maximum static sea level thrust exceeding 3,550 kN and nozzle exit diameter exceeding 127cm, through December 31, 2001; (9) certain manufacturing equipment through December 31, 2001; (10) textured rolled glass sheets through December 31, 2001; (11) certain anti-HIV drug substances through June 30, 1999; (12) certain high-performance loudspeakers not mounted in their enclosures, through December 31, 2001; (13) parts for use in the manufacture of certain high-performance loudspeakers through December 31, 2001; and (14) certain polymers through December 31, 2001. (Sec. 2129) Reduces the duty on a certain dye and on certain chemicals variously through December 31, 1999, December 31, 2000, and December 31, 2001. (Sec. 2161) Reduces the duty, through December 31, 2001, on weaving machines (looms), shuttleless type, for weaving fabrics between 30cm and 4.9m in width, entered without off-loom or large loom takeups, drop wires, heddles, reeds, harness frames, or beams. Subtitle B: Other Trade Provisions - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to extend to certain fine jewelry certain trade benefits of insular possessions of the United States. (Sec. 2401) Mandates treatment as a product of the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa, during 1999 and 2000, of any article of jewelry assembled in such territory or possession. (Sec. 2402) Provides for the tariff treatment of certain components of scientific instruments and apparatus, as well as the application of the domestic equivalency test to such components. (Sec. 2403) Directs the U.S. Customs Service to liquidate or reliquidate (refund duty on) certain entries made at Los Angeles, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana, in accordance with the final decision of the International Trade Administration for shipments entered between October 1, 1984, and December 14, 1987 (case number A- 274-001). (Sec. 2404) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide that packaging material produced in the United States (currently, any packaging material), which is used by the manufacturer or any other person on or for articles which are exported or destroyed, shall also be eligible for a refund (drawback) of 99 percent of any duty, tax, or fee imposed on the importation of such material used to manufacture or produce the packaging material. (Sec. 2405) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, by January 1, 2000, to provide for the inclusion of commercial importation data from foreign-trade zones in the National Customs Automation Program (an automated and electronic system for processing commercial importations). (Sec. 2406) Permits the deferral (until sale) of duty payment on any large yacht (a vessel exceeding 79 feet in length and used primarily for recreation or pleasure) that is imported for sale at a boat show, if the importer of record: (1) certifies to the Customs Service that it is imported for sale at a boat show in the United States; and (2) posts a bond in an amount equal to twice the amount of the duty ordinarily owed on such yacht. (Sec. 2407) Directs the appropriate customs officer to allow or deny within 30 days after the filing date any application for further review with respect to a protest to a decision of the Customs Service. Requires that any allowed protest be forwarded to the customs officer who will conduct the further review. (Sec. 2408) Authorizes the Customs Service, notwithstanding the fact that a valid protest was not filed, to reliquidate an entry to refund merchandise processing fees paid on goods qualifying under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules of origin for which no claim for preferential tariff treatment was made at the time of importation, provided that the importer meets certain conditions. (Sec. 2409) Authorizes the entry or withdrawal from a warehouse of international travel merchandise subject to a duty. (Sec. 2410) Revises requirements with respect to the five-year review by the administering authority and the International Trade Commission of countervailing duty or antidumping duty orders, notices of injury determination, or determinations to continue an order or suspension agreement. Excludes from the computation of the five-year period preceding such a review any period during which the importation of the subject merchandise is prohibited on account of U.S. imposition of certain sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or other Federal law against the country in which such merchandise originates, if that country is not a member of the World Trade Organization. (Sec. 2411) Applies the rates of duty effective after December 31, 1994, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, if lower, to certain water resistant wool trousers that were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, after December 31, 1988, and before January 1, 1995. (Sec. 2412) Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide duty-free treatment of previously imported goods for which a duty was paid if they are: (1) exported within three years after the date of such previous importation; (2) sold for exportation and exported to individuals for personal use; (3) reimported without having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means while abroad; (4) reimported as personal returns from those individuals, whether or not consolidated with other personal returns prior to reimportation; and (5) reimported by or for the account of the person who exported them from the United States within one year of such exportation. (Sec. 2413) Grants duty-free treatment, through December 31, 2002, to the personal effects of, and other equipment imported and used by, participants, their families and associated members, and officials involved in the 1999 International Special Olympics, the 1999 Women's World Cup Soccer, the 2001 International Special Olympics, the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and the 2002 Winter Paralympic Games. Declares that such articles shall be: (1) free of applicable taxes and fees; but (2) not exempt from routine customs inspections. (Sec. 2414) Directs the U.S. Customs Service, upon request, to liquidate or reliquidate (refund duty on) certain entries (filed at the port of Los Angeles) of indirect electrostatic copiers at the rate of duty that would have been applicable to such merchandise if they had been liquidated or reliquidated at a duty rate applicable to other automated data processing (ADP) thermal transfer printer units on the date of entry. (Sec. 2415) Directs the U.S. Customs Service to provide for the liquidation or reliquidation (refund) of certain entries in accordance with the provisions of Treasury Decision 86-126(M) and Customs Ruling No. 224697, dated November 17, 1994. (Sec. 2417) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize duty-free sales enterprises to be located, among other places, within a port of entry, or within 25 statute miles of a staffed port of entry, if reasonable assurance can be provided that the duty-free merchandise sold by the enterprise will be exported by individuals departing from the customs territory through an international airport located within the territory. (Sec. 2418) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to continue, indefinitely, the use of customs user fees (to the extent funds remain available after making certain reimbursements) for salaries for up to 50 full-time equivalent inspectional positions to provide preclearance customs services. Decreases from $6.50 to $5 the customs user fee charged to each passenger that arrives aboard a commercial vessel or commercial aircraft from a place outside the U.S. customs (except $1.75 shall be charged to each passenger aboard a commercial vessel that arrives from Canada, Mexico, a U.S. territory or possession, or an adjacent island). Earmarks a specified amount of certain customs user fees to the Customs Service for automated commercial systems. Directs the Commissioner of Customs to establish an advisory committee, consisting of representatives from the airline, cruise ship, and other transportation industries, to advise the Commissioner on issues related to the performance of the inspectional services of the Customs Service. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary, for a specified period, to prescribe an alternative mid-point interest accounting methodology, which may be employed by the importer, based upon aggregate data in lieu of accounting for such interest from each deposit data provided. (Sec. 2419) Allows a duty drawback (refund of duty) for methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), a finished petroleum derivative, provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 2420) Revises the methodology used to calculate the drawback (refund of duties) on the export of finished petroleum derivatives that have been manufactured with (substituted for) a qualified article which is of the same kind and quality (whether imported duty-paid or domestic). Redefines the term "qualified article" to include certain manufactured articles (primary forms), including articles of the same kind and quality, or any combination thereof, that are transferred as certified in a certificate of delivery or certificate of manufacture and delivery to an exporter in a quantity not greater than the quantity of articles purchased or exchanged for use in the manufactured article. (Sec. 2421) Directs the U.S. Customs Service, upon proper request, to: (1) liquidate or reliquidate as if the special column one duty rate applicable for Canada applied to certain entries of mueslix cereal; and (2) refund to the importer any excess duties paid with respect to such entries. (Sec. 2422) Directs the Foreign Trade Zones Board to expand Foreign Trade Zone No. 143 to include areas in the vicinity of the Chico Municipal Airport in accordance with the application submitted to the Board by the Sacramento-Yolo Port District of Sacramento, California, on March 11, 1997. (Sec. 2423) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to exempt certain woven fabrics containing silk or silk waste from the country of origin marking requirements. (Sec. 2424) Authorizes the President to: (1) determine that title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (denying nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of certain countries) should no longer apply to Mongolia; and (2) based upon such determination, extend nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to Mongolian products. (Sec. 2425) Authorizes the Commissioner of the Customs Service to establish a pilot program for FY 1999 to provide 24-hour cargo inspection service on a fee-for-service basis at a certain international airport. (Sec. 2426) Directs the Department of Defense to permit the dependent children of deceased U.S. Customs Aviation Group Supervisor Pedro J. Rodriquez attending the Antilles Consolidated School System at Ford Buchanan, Puerto Rico, to complete their primary and secondary education without cost to them or any parent or relative. End of downloaded material Title III: Amendments To Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise provisions concerning a corporation, its shareholders, and the transferring of certain assets and liabilities.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 to: (1) redesignate the North-South Center as the Dante B. Fascell North-South Center; and (2) rename the North-South Center Act of 1991 as the Dante B. Fascell North-South Center Act of 1991.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Microloan Program Technical Corrections Act of 1999 - Amends provisions of the Small Business Act relating to the Microloan Program (a program making loans to small businesses for startup or materials and equipment costs) to: (1) delete provisions restricting the amount of loan funds made available to any single State and require the Small Business Administration (SBA) to ensure that at least $800,000 of new loan funds are available to each State in any fiscal year; (2) revise the loan loss reserve fund levels required of loan intermediaries; (3) direct the SBA Administrator, after the first five years of an intermediary's participation in the Program, to review the annual loss rate of such intermediary; and (4) authorize the Administrator, under certain circumstances, to reduce the annual loan loss reserve requirement to reflect the average annual loan loss rate of an intermediary, except that no loan loss reserve shall be reduced to less than ten percent of the outstanding balance of the notes receivable owed to the intermediary.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends Federal defense procurement law to require a bidder or offeror, to be considered a responsible bidder or offeror for the construction of a public building, facility, or work, to submit a tax clearance (a document stating that such entity is in compliance with all State tax laws) from the State in which the contract is to be performed. Requires the head of a Federal agency to withhold the final payment under such a contract until the contractor submits both a tax clearance and a certification of compliance with all State laws concerning payments to employees under such contract. Authorizes an agency head to: (1) withhold from any contractor payments amounts necessary to pay any State tax liability due under such contract; and (2) pay such amount directly to such State. Directs the Secretary of Defense to require a contractor to be licensed if the State in which a construction contract is to be performed requires such a license. Requires revision of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to explain the general excise tax law of Hawaii.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Patient Protection Act of 1999 - Title I: Amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - Subtitle A: Patient Protections - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to prohibit a group health plan, or a health insurance issuer offering group coverage, from imposing on a health professional any restriction on advice provided to a participant or beneficiary. (Sec. 1001) Requires a plan or issuer, if it provides benefits for: (1) emergencies, to provide benefits (without preauthorization and without regard to network limitations) for emergency medical screening examinations if a prudent layperson would determine them necessary; (2) routine gynecological or obstetric specialist care benefits, to provide those benefits without authorization or referral by a primary care provider; or (3) routine pediatric specialist care benefits, to allow designation of a pediatric specialist as the primary provider. Subtitle B: Patient Access to Information - Requires plans to include specified information in summary plan descriptions. Mandates advance notice of exclusion from a drug formulary of a drug or biological that is used in the treatment of a chronic illness or disease. Subtitle C: New Procedures and Access to Courts for Grievance Arising Under Group Health Plans - Requires group health plans to: (1) provide written notice to participants or beneficiaries and providers of adverse coverage decisions; and (2) meet specified time limits for responding to routine, urgent, and emergency benefit payment requests, coverage advance determinations, and medical necessity determinations. Provides for initial coverage decision internal and, in certain circumstances, external review. (Sec. 1201) Makes a plan's fiduciary who, after an external review recommends coverage, causes a failure to provide a benefit, liable to the participant or beneficiary for a civil penalty and attorney's fees and costs. Allows assessment of a civil penalty against a fiduciary for any pattern or practice of repeated adverse coverage decisions in violation of the terms of the plan or ERISA. Allows an action before exhaustion of administrative remedies. Provides for concurrent Federal-State court jurisdiction for actions relating to certain amendments made by this Act. Subtitle D: Affordable Health Coverage for Employees of Small Businesses - Small Business Affordable Health Coverage Act of 1999 - Defines "association health plan" to mean a group health plan meeting specified requirements, including being sponsored by a trade, industry, or professional association, a chamber of commerce (or a similar business association) organized and maintained for substantial purposes other than obtaining or providing medical care. Provides for association plan certification and mandates a class certification procedure. (Sec. 1302) Regulates association plans' boards of trustees and sponsors. Prohibits, for plans in existence on the date of enactment of this Act, a sponsor's affiliated members from being offered coverage unless the member: (1) was affiliated on the certification date; or (2) did not maintain or contribute to a group health plan during the 12 months before the offering of coverage. Prohibits a participating employer from providing health coverage in the individual market for any employee who is eligible for plan coverage if the exclusion from plan coverage is based on health status. Prohibits excluding an employer from an association plan if the employer and plan each meet specified requirements. Prohibits contribution rates for any participating small employers from varying on the basis of claims experience or type of business. Requires, if any plan benefit option does not consist of health coverage, that the plan have at least 1,000 participants and beneficiaries. Requires, if a benefit option consisting of health coverage is offered under the plan, that State-licensed insurance agents be used to distribute to small employers coverage that is not health coverage in a manner comparable to the manner in which those agents are used to distribute health coverage. Requires that a plan consist only of health coverage or, if the plan provides any additional benefit options, that the plan meet certain reserve and excess stop loss insurance and solvency indemnification requirements regarding the additional benefit options for which risk has not yet been transferred. Requires that all plans maintain a specified surplus. Requires association plans providing additional options to make annual payments to the Association Health Plan Fund. Requires that, when there is or will be a failure to maintain such reserves, excess stop loss insurance, and indemnification, the Secretary of Labor pay amounts as necessary to maintain the excess stop loss insurance or indemnification. Establishes the Fund. Mandates advance notice to participants and beneficiaries of certified plan termination. Requires, when a plan has failed or will fail to maintain required reserves, excess stop loss insurance, and indemnification, either corrective action or plan termination. Provides for court appointment of the Secretary as trustee to administer a plan during insolvency. Allows a State to impose a contribution tax on an association plan providing additional options if the plan began operations in the State after enactment of this Act. Sets forth special rules for church plans. Declares that the provisions of this subtitle supersede certain related State laws. (Sec. 1303) Modifies the circumstances in which two or more trades or businesses must be deemed a single employer. (Sec. 1304) Excludes from the definition of "multiple employer welfare arrangement" any arrangement: (1) established or maintained under specified Federal (or similar State) labor relations provisions; or (2) meeting certain collective bargaining and other requirements. (Sec. 1305) Imposes criminal penalties for falsely representing any benefit as: (1) being a certified association plan; or (2) having been established or maintained under certain collective bargaining agreements. (Sec. 1306) Allows a State to enter into an agreement with the Secretary for delegation to the State of some or all of the Secretary's enforcement or certification authority. Title II: Amendments to Public Health Service Act - Subtitle A: Patient Protections and Point of Service Coverage Requirements - Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a group health plan, or a health insurance issuer offering group coverage, from imposing on a health professional any restriction on advice provided to a participant or beneficiary. (Sec. 2001) Requires a plan or issuer, if it provides benefits for: (1) emergencies, to provide benefits (without preauthorization and without regard to network limitations) for emergency medical screening examinations if a prudent layperson would determine them necessary; (2) routine gynecological or obstetric specialist care benefits, to provide those benefits without an authorization or referral by a primary provider; or (3) routine pediatric specialist benefits, to allow designation of a pediatric specialist as the primary provider. (Sec. 2002) Requires health maintenance organizations (HMOs) that provide coverage under a group health plan only if services are furnished exclusively through members of a closed panel to make available to the plan sponsor an option covering services without regard to whether the providers are panel members. Requires HMOs, when a plan sponsor declines that option, to make optional supplemental coverage available in the individual market to each plan participant. Subtitle B: Patient Access to Information - Requires plans to include specified information in summary plan descriptions. Mandates advance notice of exclusion from a drug formulary of a drug or biological that is used in the treatment of a chronic illness or disease. Subtitle C: HealthMarts - Health Care Consumer Empowerment Act of 1999 - Requires that HealthMarts: (1) be nonprofit legal entities composed of small employers, employees of small employers, health care providers, and entities that underwrite or administer health benefits coverage; and (2) make available health coverage to all small employers and eligible employees at rates established by the insurance issuer on a policy or product specific basis. Deems HealthMarts group health plans for purposes of specified provisions of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. Requires that coverage made available to an eligible employee in a geographic area be offered to all eligible employees in the same area. (Sec. 2202) Declares that the HealthMart: (1) provides coverage only through contracts with issuers and does not assume insurance risk; (2) provides administrative services for purchasers; and (3) collects and disseminates consumer information on all coverage options offered through the HealthMart. Requires that HealthMart coverage provide full portability of creditable coverage for individuals who remain members of the same HealthMart notwithstanding that they change employers. Allows HealthMart coverage to include coverage: (1) through an HMO, a preferred provider or licensed provider-sponsored organization, an insurance company, a medical savings or flexible spending account, or a community health organization; (2) that includes a point-of-service option; or (3) any combination of those coverages. Requires a HealthMart to permit any small employer to contract for coverage and prohibits varying eligibility conditions. Prohibits the purchaser from obtaining or sponsoring coverage other than through the HealthMart. Prohibits enrollment discrimination based on health. Supersedes certain related State laws. Provides for the application of: (1) certain existing ERISA and Public Health Service Act requirements; and (2) renewability requirements when the contract between a HealthMart and an issuer is terminated. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to administer this subtitle through a separate Health Care Marketplace Division. Subtitle D: Community Health Organizations - Allows a community health organization to offer health coverage in a State in spite of not being licensed in that State if the organization has received a licensure waiver from the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other requirements are met. (Sec. 2301) Mandates the establishment of Federal financial solvency and capital adequacy standards. Title III: Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Subtitle A: Patient Protections - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit a group health plan from imposing on a health professional any restriction on advice provided to a participant or beneficiary. (Sec. 3001) Requires a plan, if it provides benefits for: (1) emergencies, to provide benefits (without preauthorization and without regard to network limitations) for emergency medical screening examinations if a prudent layperson would determine the examinations necessary; or (2) routine gynecological or obstetric specialist care benefits, to provide those benefits without an authorization or referral by a primary provider. Requires a plan or issuer, if it provides benefits for routine pediatric specialist benefits, to allow designation of a pediatric specialist as the primary provider. Subtitle B: Patient Access to Information - Requires plans to include specified information in summary plan descriptions. Mandates advance notice of exclusion from a drug formulary of a drug or biological that is used in the treatment of a chronic illness or disease. Subtitle C: Medical Savings Accounts - Repeals provisions limiting the number of individuals having medical savings accounts. Allows all employers to offer the accounts. Modifies requirements regarding: (1) the monthly limitation on related deductions; (2) coordination with the exclusion for employer contributions; and (3) the deductible amounts that will qualify as a high deductible plan. Allows the accounts to be included in cafeteria plans. Sets forth special rules for individuals receiving immediate Federal annuities. (Sec. 3202) Allows medical savings accounts to be used by persons with incomes under a certain amount to pay for insurance offered by a community health center. (Sec. 3203) Declares that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) patients are best served when they are empowered to make informed choices about their health care and their health insurance; and (2) a system that gives people the power to choose coverage, combined with insurance market reforms, offers great promise of increased choices and greater access to health insurance for Americans. Title IV: Health Care Lawsuit Reform - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Declares that this title applies to any health care liability action in any State or Federal court, except actions: (1) relating to vaccine-related injury to which title XXI (Vaccines) of the Public Health Service Act applies; or (2) under ERISA. Preempts State laws inconsistent with this title, unless they impose greater restrictions than those in this title. Excludes economic or punitive damages and attorneys' fees or costs from the determination of the amount in controversy. Subtitle B: Uniform Standards for Health Care Liability Actions - Establishes a statute of limitations for bringing a health care liability action. (Sec. 4012) Limits non-economic damages. Substitutes any different level set by a State after enactment of this Act. Makes defendants liable only for the proportion of the damages due to the defendant's fault. Allows punitive damages, to the extent permitted by State law, if the claimant establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant's conduct intended to cause harm or manifested a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of others. Prohibits punitive damages against a manufacturer or product seller of a drug or medical device where the drug or device was subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) premarket approval or the drug is generally recognized as safe and effective by the FDA. Prohibits punitive damages relating to packaging or labeling of a drug that is required to have tamper-resistant packaging unless the packaging or labeling is found by clear and convincing evidence to be substantially out of compliance. Prohibits requiring lump-sum payment of future economic and non- economic damages over $50,000. Allows any defendant to introduce evidence of collateral source payments. Prohibits any collateral source payments provider from recovering any amount against the claimant, receiving any lien or credit against the recovery, or being subrogated to the claimant's rights. (Sec. 4013) Requires any alternative dispute resolution used to resolve a health care liability action or claim to contain provisions consistent with this title. (Sec. 4014) Requires the General Accounting Office to report to specified congressional committees on the compliance of: (1) the Department of Justice and all United States Attorneys with a specified guideline relating to false claims and civil health care; and (2) the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services with specified protocols and best practice guidelines. Title V: Confidentiality of Health Information - Amends title XI of the Social Security Act to add a new part D (Confidentiality of Protected Health Information) that requires health care providers, health plans, employers, health or life insurers, or educational institutions to permit an individual who is the subject of protected health information to inspect and copy the information. Requires, if the individual requests addition of a supplemental statement to the information, that those parties: (1) add the statement and make reasonable efforts to inform any person to whom the information was disclosed during the preceding year; or (2) if addition of the statement is refused, allow the individual to file a statement of disagreement. (Sec. 5001) Requires health care providers, health plans, health oversight agencies, public health authorities, employers, health or life insurers, health researchers, or educational institutions to maintain safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, security, accuracy, and integrity of protected health information. Requires any person who maintains protected health information to disclose the information to a health care provider or health plan to permit the provider or plan to conduct health care operations, but prohibits providers and plans from selling or bartering protected health information. Preempts State law provisions that: (1) are inconsistent with certain provisions of this title under Article VI (dealing with national supremacy, among other matters) of the United States Constitution; or (2) relate to specified matters dealt with in this title. Imposes civil fines for substantially and materially failing to comply with this title. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to refuse to enter into, terminate, or refuse to renew an agreement with a physician or supplier that has violated this title. Requires compliance with certain provisions of this title by Medicare+Choice organizations under Medicare part C (Medicare+Choice), Medicare providers, and HMOs with risk-sharing contracts. (Sec. 5002) Requires the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on the effect of State laws on health-related research subject to review by an institutional review board or institutional review committee with regard to the protection of human subjects. (Sec. 5003) Requires the Comptroller General to submit to the Congress a compilation of State laws on the confidentiality of protected health information and an analysis of the effect of those laws on the provision of, and the securing of payment for, health care. (Sec. 5004) Exempts information developed by a health care provider in response to a serious, adverse, patient-related event and for specified purposes (health care response information) from any disclosure requirement, in connection with a civil or administrative proceeding under Federal or State law, to the same extent as information developed by the provider regarding peer review, utilization review, quality management or improvement, quality control, risk management, or internal review to reduce mortality, morbidity, or patient care or safety. Prohibits deeming the protection of health care response information from disclosure modified by the development of such information in connection with a request or requirement of an accrediting body or the transfer of that information to an accrediting body.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: General Management Improvements Title II: Improving Federal Debt Collection Practices Title III: Sale of Nontax Debts Owed to United States Title IV: Treatment of High Value Nontax Debts Title V: Federal Payments Government Waste, Fraud, and Error Reduction Act of 1999 - Title I: General Management Improvements - Amends requirements regarding certain Federal agencies' (executive departments as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) audited financial statements, including to: (1) extend the deadline for the preparation and submission of the first of such statements; and (2) provide for submission of such statements to the Congress and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Director). (Currently, such statements are to be submitted to the Director.) (Sec. 102) Excludes lodging provided under Federal travel and subsistence expense provisions from an exception which prohibits agency heads from requiring employees or members of the uniformed services to occupy quarters on a rental basis. Directs each head of an executive agency to require, with respect to travel by agency employees in the performance of their duties, the use by such employees of travel management centers, authorized travel agents, and electronic reservation and payment systems for the purpose of improving efficiency and economy regarding travel by agency employees. Requires the Administrator of General Services to develop a plan regarding implementation of this requirement and to report to the Congress on such plan and the means by which such agency heads plan to ensure that employees use travel management centers, travel agents, and electronic reservation and payment systems. Directs the Administrator to develop a mechanism to ensure that employees of executive agencies are not inappropriately charged State and local taxes on travel expenses. Requires the Administrator to report to the Congress on the steps taken and proposed to be taken to carry out such requirement. Title II: Improving Federal Debt Collection Practices - Makes technical amendments to financial management provisions relating to claims of the U.S. Government, including those that permit a State to collect by administrative offset certain payments under the Social Security Act, Black Lung Benefits Act, or railroad retirement laws for past due child support being enforced by a State. Sets forth provisions relating to the collection by private collection contractors through the use of garnishment of any debt owed to the United States, including to prohibit a private collection contractor, in attempting to collect through the use of garnishment any such debt, from being precluded from verifying the debtor's current employer, the location of the payroll office of the debtor's current employer, the period the debtor has been employed by the current employer, and the compensation received by the debtor from such employer. Requires collection contracts to include conditions under which contractors are: (1) subject to penalties for failures to comply with applicable law or for unreasonable or abusive collection practices; or (2) absolved from liability or contract penalties in connection with collecting a debt by actions required by such contracts. Amends provisions relating to contracts for collection services to authorize the Attorney General to make contracts retaining private counsel to furnish legal services in the case of any monetary claim, including claims for civil fines or penalties. (Under current law, such contracts are made only in the case of any claim of indebtedness owed the United States.) (Sec. 202) Bars certain delinquent Federal debtors from being eligible for the award or renewal of any: (1) Federal financial assistance in the form of a loan (other than a disaster loan), loan insurance, or guarantee; or (2) Federal permit or license. (Sec. 203) Prohibits an executive, judicial, or legislative agency head from discharging a nontax debt or terminating collection action on such a debt unless: (1) it has been referred to a private collection contractor, a debt collection center, or to the Attorney General for litigation; (2) it has been sold without recourse; (3) administrative wage garnishment has been undertaken; or (4) there is bankruptcy, death, or disability. Permits the agency head to waive the application of such requirement with respect to any nontax debt, or class of nontax debts, if the waiver is in the best interest of the United States. Title III: Sale of Nontax Debts Owed to United States - Allows an executive, judicial, or legislative agency head to sell, using competitive procedures, any nontax debt owed to the United States that is administered by the agency. Specifies that such sales shall: (1) be for cash or cash and a residuary equity, joint venture, or profit participation, if the proceeds will be greater than the proceeds from a sale solely for cash; (2) be without recourse against the United States, but may include the use of guarantees if authorized by law; and (3) transfer to the purchaser all U.S. rights to demand payment of the debt, other than with respect to a residuary equity, joint venture, or profit participation. (Sec. 302) Sets forth requirements for the sale of certain: (1) delinquent nontax loans; (2) loans; and (3) nontax debts or class of debts. Title IV: Treatment of High Value Nontax Debts - Requires each agency head that administers a program that gives rise to a delinquent high value nontax debt (a nontax debt having an outstanding value that exceeds $1 million) to submit an annual report to the Congress that lists each such debt. (Sec. 402) Requires the Inspector General of each agency to: (1) review such applicable annual report to the Congress and make such recommendations as necessary to improve the agency's performance; (2) periodically review and report to the Congress on the agency's nontax debt collection management practices; and (3) as part of such reviews, examine agency efforts to reduce the aggregate amount of high value nontax debts that are resolved in whole or in part by compromise, default, or bankruptcy. (Sec. 403) Requires an agency head authorized to collect a delinquent high value nontax debt to promptly seek seizure and forfeiture of assets pledged to the United States in any transaction giving rise to such a debt. Directs an agency, upon determining that seizure or forfeiture is not appropriate, to include a justification for such determination in the annual report. Title V: Federal Payments - Includes within requirements of the Director's regulations regarding Federal payments that a required payment date may be waived to provide for early payment in cases where an agency will implement an electronic payment technology which improves agency cash management and business practice. Permits an executive agency head, subject to an agreement between the agency head and the applicable financial institution, to accept an electronic payment, including debit and credit cards, to satisfy a nontax debt owed to the agency.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Children's Health Equity Act of 1999 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to provide for an increased Federal medical assistance percentage for expanded coverage of certain waivered low-income children in States which: (1) have established a Medicaid applicable income level for children under age 19 that is at or above 200 percent of the poverty line; and (2) demonstrate a commitment to reach and enroll such children. Defines "waivered low-income children" as those whose family income: (1) exceeds certain minimum Medicaid-eligible levels required to be established for the age of the child; but (2) does not exceed the Medicaid applicable income level for that child. Provides for expansion of the individuals and entities which may serve as qualified entities with regard to the Medicaid presumptive eligibility option for low-income children. Limits the number of waivered low-income children for a State for FY 1998 and each succeeding fiscal year.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude certain domestic services providing personal attendance, companionship, or household care from the unemployment tax.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Requires off-budget treatment of the receipts and disbursements of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to prohibit the amount appropriated from such fund for a fiscal year for Federal purposes under any Federal law from exceeding the amount appropriated for that fiscal year for financial assistance to the States for State outdoor recreation programs.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require, in weighing the factors taken into account in the evaluation of applications for the designation of empowerment zones in urban areas, that the unemployment rate and poverty rate of an applicant together be given half the weight.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to require: (1) a sequestration of FY 2000 appropriations (including any under a continuing resolution) equivalent to five percent of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) FY 2000 baseline; and (2) the President to issue an order, by a specified date, to fully implement the sequestration. Prohibits any reduction in benefits under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act, Federal retirement benefits for members of the uniformed services or Federal officers or employees, and payments for net interest on the national debt.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Requires any amounts appropriated for a representational allowance for a Member of the House of Representatives which remain after all payments are made under such allowance to be deposited in the Treasury and used for deficit reduction or, in fiscal years for which there is no Federal budget deficit, to reduce the Federal debt. Requires publication in the Congressional Record of the amount deposited with respect to each Member and the total for all Members after each congressional session or period for which the allowance is made available.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Higher Education Affordability and Availability Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from income distributions from qualified tuition programs used for qualifying higher education expenses. Includes within the definition of "qualified State tuition program" programs maintained by eligible educational institutions.
United States · United States Congress · 2 February 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) repeal the credit for alcohol used as fuel; (2) tax fuel alcohol to the same extent as gasoline and diesel fuel; and (3) repeal specified incentives for alcohol fuels.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Expanded Availability of Health Care Services Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency and Related Provisions Subtitle A: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Subtitle B: Elimination of Work Disincentives Subtitle C: Work Incentives Planning, Assistance, and Outreach Title III: Demonstration Projects and Studies Title IV: Technical Amendments Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 - Title I: Expanded Availability of Health Care Services - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for expanding State options under Medicaid for workers with disabilities, namely by creating State options to eliminate income, assets, and resource limitations for workers with disabilities who buy into Medicaid and to expand opportunities for such workers to make such a buy. Provides that Federal funds paid to a State for medical assistance provided to certain working disabled individuals must be used to supplement but not supplant the level of State funds expended as of FY 1999 for programs to enable working disabled individuals to work. (Sec. 102) Provides for certain continuation of Medicare coverage for working individuals with disabilities. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) award grants to eligible States to support establishment of State infrastructures to support the working disabled as well as to enable State outreach campaigns on infrastructure existence; and (2) submit a recommendation to specified congressional committees on whether such grant program should be continued after FY 2010. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 104) Authorizes State demonstration projects for certain Medicaid coverage of up to a specified maximum number of workers with a potentially severe disability, coverage equal to that afforded under the State option provided for above for eliminating income, assets, and resource limitations for disabled workers buying into Medicaid. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency and Related Provisions - Subtitle A: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency - Amends part A (General Provisions) of SSA title XI to direct the Commissioner to establish a Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program (TWSSP) under which a disabled beneficiary may use a TWSSP ticket issued by the Commissioner under a described system, designed to ensure quality assurance, to obtain employment, vocational rehabilitation services, or other support services, pursuant to an appropriate individual beneficiary work plan that meets specified requirements, at the Commission's expense, from a participating employment network, public or private, which: (1) meets specified qualifications and is under an agreement with the Commissioner who must select a program manager to assist in administering TWSSP; (2) is chosen by the beneficiary, and (3) is willing to accept assignment of the beneficiary's TWSSP ticket. Allows State agencies administering or supervising the administration of the State plan under title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to elect to participate as an employment network. Sets forth special requirements applicable to cross-referral to certain State agencies and requirements relating to provision of services. Describes employment network payment systems. Provides that during any period for which an individual is using a TWSSP ticket, the Commissioner and any applicable State agency may not initiate a continuing disability or similar review with regards to whether the individual is or is not disabled. Requires payments to employment networks to be made out of the social security trust funds in the case of ticketed SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) disability beneficiaries who return to work, or from the appropriation made available for making Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments under SSA title XVI, in the case of SSI disability beneficiaries who return to work. Provides for allocation of other costs. (Sec. 202) Establishes within the Social Security Administration the Work Incentives Advisory Panel to advise the Commissioner with respect to TWSSP, and other Federal officials on related issues. Provides that the costs for carrying out this paragraph shall be paid from amounts available for the administration of SSA titles II and XVI, and shall be allocated among those amounts as appropriate. Subtitle B: Elimination of Work Disincentives - Amends SSA title II to set forth a number of measures designed to eliminate work disincentives, namely prohibiting work activity as a basis for review of an individual's disability status and providing for expedited eligibility determinations for applications for disability benefits of former certain long-term disability beneficiaries that engaged in substantial gainful activity during a certain extended period following the end of a rehabilitation services trial work period. Subtitle C: Work Incentives Planning, Assistance, and Outreach - Amends SSA title XI part A (General Provisions) to direct the Commissioner to establish a community-based work incentives outreach program for disabled beneficiaries that includes the provision of technical assistance to organizations and entities that are designed to encourage disabled beneficiaries to return to work. Provides that the costs of carrying out this subtitle shall be paid from amounts made available for administration of SSA titles II and XVI, and shall be allocated among such amounts as appropriate. (Sec. 222) Amends SSA title XI to authorize the Commissioner to make certain minimum payments in each State to the protection and advocacy system established under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act for the purpose of providing services to disabled beneficiaries, services which may include advocacy or other services that such a beneficiary may need to secure or regain gainful employment. Provides for funding similar to that in he paragraph above. Title III: Demonstration Projects and Studies - Amends the Social Security Disability Amendments of 1980 to provide for an extension of disability insurance program demonstration project authority to include any group of applicants for benefits under such program with impairments that may reasonably be presumed to be disabling for purposes of such demonstration project. (Sec. 302) Directs the Commissioner to conduct certain demonstration projects designed to provide for specified reductions in disability insurance benefits based on earnings. Requires expenditures for such demonstration projects to come out of the social security and Medicare trust funds to the extent provided in advance in appropriation acts. (Sec. 303) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of Health and Human Services should establish additional demonstration projects to assist individuals with disabilities to engage in work. (Sec. 304) Directs the Comptroller General to conduct and report to the Congress on various described studies concerning existing disability-related employment incentives and coordination of the OASDI disability insurance program and the SSI program as they relate to individuals entering or leaving concurrent entitlement under such programs, as well as on a study concerning the impact of the substantial gainful activity limit on return to work. Title IV: Technical Amendments - Amends the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 with respect to: (1) final adjudication of denied claims by drug addicts and alcoholics for SSA title II disability benefits; and (2) the effective dates of certain requirements concerning representative payees and treatment referrals for such individuals. (Sec. 402) Amends SSA title II to: (1) provide for payments to State and local prisons for monthly reports on the identities of inmates whose OASDI benefits are determined by the Commissioner not to be payable as a result of such reports; (2) provide for a 50 percent reduction in such payments under SSA titles II and XVI in cases involving a comparable payment under the other title with respect to the same prisoner; (3) exempt from the Privacy Act of 1974 any agreements with State and local prisons to supply such information; (4) transfer from the OASDI trust funds any sums necessary to enable the Commissioner to make such payments; (5) eliminate the requirement that confinement stem only from a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year (thus denying OASDI benefits to individuals confined for any criminal offense); and (6) provide for continued denial of benefits to sex offenders remaining confined to public institutions upon completion of prison term. (Sec. 403) Provides for a two-year open season for members of the clergy who wish to revoke their exemption from social security coverage. (Sec. 404) Amends SSA title XI to make a miscellaneous technical amendment relating to cooperative research or development projects under SSA titles II and XVI. (Sec. 405) Amends SSA title XI to make miscellaneous technical amendments to provisions concerning the requirements of State income and eligibility verification systems, among other changes allowing a State to permit certain employers that make returns with respect to domestic service employment taxes on a calendar year basis to instead make such reports on an annual basis.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1999
Irrigation Subsidy Reduction Act of 1999 - Amends the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 to define the terms "legal entity," "operator," and "single farm operation." Directs the Secretary of the Interior, for each parcel of land to which irrigation water is delivered or proposed to be delivered, to identify a single individual or legal entity as the owner, lessee, or operator. Allows irrigation water to be delivered at less than the normal per-acre cost to either: (1) a qualified recipient that reports gross farm income from a single farm operation in excess of $500,000 per taxable year; or (2) a limited recipient that received such water on or before October 1, 1981, and that reports gross farm income in excess of such amount. Provides an inflation adjustment for calendar years after 1998. Requires lessees (currently, only owners and operators) of an irrigation district to furnish such district a certification of compliance with the Act. Allows the Secretary to require a lessee or operator to submit for examination a copy of a tax return for any taxable year in which the single farm operation of the lessee or operator received irrigation water at less than full cost. Repeals a provision exempting district lands held in trust from Federal reclamation ownership and cost pricing limitations. Directs the Secretary to establish penalties for failure to comply with provisions of the Act. Directs the Secretaries of the Interior, the Treasury, and Agriculture to enter into a memorandum of understanding to permit the Secretary of the Interior to have access to and use available information collected or maintained by either the Department of the Treasury or Agriculture that would aid in enforcement of the ownership and pricing limitations of Federal reclamation law.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Production From Marginal and Inactive Wells Title II: Other Incentives United States Energy Economic Growth Act - Title I: Production From Marginal and Inactive Wells - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for marginal domestic oil and natural gas well production during any taxable year in the amount of $3 per barrel of qualified crude oil production and 50 cents per 1,000 cubic feet of qualified natural gas production, reduced, but not below zero, as oil and gas prices increase. States that the limitation to the general business credit, based on the amount of tax, shall not be reduced by the amount of the marginal oil and gas well credit. Excludes from gross income, at the taxpayer's election, any income attributable to independent producer oil from a recovered inactive well, under certain conditions, while disallowing any deductions directly connected with such excluded amounts. Provides that, with respect to the alternative minimum tax, the inclusion of certain items in the computation of earnings and profits shall not apply to any income attributable to independent producer oil from a recovered inactive well that is excluded from gross income. Title II: Other Incentives - Allows both geological and geophysical expenditures on domestic oil and gas exploration and development and delay rental payments, at the taxpayer's election, to be deducted from gross income at the time incurred. Extends the special rule for the spudding of oil and gas wells. Extends the enhanced oil recovery credit to certain nontertiary recovery methods.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a limited exclusion from gross income of gain from the sale or exchange of qualified farm property.
United States · United States Congress · 28 January 1999
Amends the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 to make permanent (currently ends on October 1, 2001) a moratorium on the imposition of taxes on the Internet.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that a member of a uniformed service shall be treated as using property as a principal residence, for purposes of the exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence, while serving on qualified official extended duty.
United States · United States Congress · 26 January 1999
Uniformed Services Filing Fairness Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a two-month tax return filing date extension for any uniformed services member stationed outside of the United States on the date returns would otherwise be due.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1999
Federal Research Investment Act - Calls for Federal funding levels for fundamental, scientific, and pre-competitive engineering research to be increased to equal approximately 2.6 percent of the total annual Federal budget. Authorizes appropriations for civilian research and development (R&D) within specified agencies for FY 2000 through 2010. Directs the President to include with the annual budget request a report concerning Federal R&D program funding, future R&D strategies and targets, an analysis of funding levels across Federal agencies by funding methodology, and specific proposals for infrastructure development and R&D capacity building in States with less concentrated R&D resources. Requires the Director of the Office of Science Technology Policy to enter in an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study to develop methods for evaluating federally-funded R&D programs. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), based on study results, to promulgate one or more alternative forms for Federal R&D performance goals. Permits an agency head to apply such an alternative form without further authorization by OMB. Requires agency heads carrying out R&D activities, upon updating a strategic plan, to describe the current and future use of methods for determining an acceptable level of R&D success as recommended by the study. Authorizes appropriations for the study. Requires the OMB Director, based upon program performance reports, to identify the civilian R&D program activities or components which do not meet an acceptable level of success as defined under current law. Directs the head of an agency, for each program activity or component identified as being below the acceptable level of success for two consecutive fiscal years, to: (1) submit to the appropriate congressional committees a concise statement of the steps necessary to bring such program into compliance with performance goals; or (2) terminate such program should compliance efforts fail. Requires the inclusion of any legislative changes needed to effectuate the steps contained in such statement.
United States · United States Congress · 22 January 1999
Patients' Bill of Rights Act - Title I: Patients' Bill of Rights - Subtitle A: Right to Advice and Care - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require a group health plan covering emergency medical care to provide coverage, without requiring preauthorization, for appropriate emergency medical screening examinations to the extent that a prudent layperson, possessing an average knowledge of health and medicine, would determine such examinations to be necessary to determine whether emergency medical care is necessary. (Sec. 101) Requires a plan to cover additional emergency medical services to stabilize an emergency medical condition following such an examination to the extent that a prudent emergency medical professional would determine such services to be necessary to avoid specified serious consequences. Requires a plan (other than a fully insured group health plan) providing benefit coverage only through a defined set of participating health care professionals to offer the option of point-of-service coverage (of the same benefits provided by a nonparticipating health care professional), unless the plan offers multiple issuer or coverage options. Exempts from this requirement any group health plan (other than a fully insured plan) of a small employer. Requires any plan offering gynecological, obstetric, or pediatric care not to require prior authorization from a participant's primary care provider if such provider is not a gynecologist, obstetrician, or pediatrician. Requires a plan to permit a participant or beneficiary undergoing a course of treatment to continue such treatment for a period of time even though the contract between the plan (other than a fully insured plan) and a health care provider is terminated, or the schedule of benefits or coverage is terminated by a change in the terms of the provider's participation in the plan. Specifies a 90-day continuation of coverage generally, and other transitional periods for institutionalization (until discharge), pregnancy (through post-partum care), and terminal illness (remainder of life). Declares that a plan shall not prohibit a health care professional from advising a patient about the patient's health status, medical care, or treatment for the patient's condition or disease, regardless of whether coverage for such care or treatment is provided under the contract, if the professional is acting within the lawful scope of the practice. Defines "fully insured group health plan" as a plan where benefits are provided pursuant to the terms of an arrangement between a group health plan and a health insurance issuer and are guaranteed by the health insurance issuer under a contract or policy of insurance. Subtitle B: Right to Information about Plans and Providers - Amends ERISA, as amended by the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, to require plans and group health insurance issuers to disclose specified plan information to enrollees and (upon request) potential enrollees. (Sec. 112) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to contract with the Institute of Medicine for a study and report to the appropriate congressional committees on: (1) health care professionals information currently available to patients, consumers, States, and professional societies, nationally and on a State-by-State basis; (2) the legal and other barriers to the sharing of information about health care professionals; and (3) recommendations for disclosure of such information on health care professionals, including their competencies and professional qualifications, to better facilitate patient choice, quality improvement, and market competition. Subtitle C: Right to Hold Health Plans Accountable - Revises requirements for plan provision of a procedure for appealing denied claims. (Sec. 121) Requires a plan or health insurance issuer conducting utilization review to have: (1) specified procedures in place for coverage determinations, including expedited determinations; (2) written procedures for addressing grievances between a plan and enrollees; (3) an internal procedure for coverage determination appeals; and (4) an external review procedure for enrollee appeals, involving specified entities and independent medical experts, whose determination shall be binding. Prescribes external review standards. Directs the General Accounting Office to study and report to the appropriate congressional committees on a statistically appropriate sample of completed external reviews. Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deem the requirements of subtitle B of this Act to be incorporated into the Code. Title II: Individual Rights with Respect to Personal Medical Information - Personal Medical Information Access Act - Subtitle A: Access to Medical Records - Requires any health care provider, health plan, employer, health or life insurer, school, or university, except in specified circumstances, to: (1) permit an individual who is the subject of protected health information (or the individual's designee) to inspect and copy protected health information concerning the individual; (2) amend such information upon the individual's request; and (3) make reasonable efforts to inform any person to whom the unamended portion of the information was previously disclosed of any nontechnical amendment that has been made. (Sec. 212) Prescribes procedures for: (1) an entity's denial of a request to amend such information; and (2) an individual's filing of a statement of disagreement with such denial, which shall accompany any subsequent disclosure of the disputed portion of the information. (Sec. 213) Requires any health care provider, health plan, employer, health or life insurer, school, or university to post notice of the entity's confidentiality practices, including specified information. Requires the Secretary to develop and disseminate model notices of confidentiality practices. Subtitle B: Establishment of Safeguards - Requires any health care provider, health plan, employer, health or life insurer, school, or university to establish and maintain appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the confidentiality, security, accuracy, and integrity of protected health information the entity creates, receives, obtains, maintains, uses, transmits, or disposes of. Subtitle C: Enforcement; Definitions - Prescribes civil money penalties for substantial and material failure to comply with this Act. (Sec. 232) Sets forth definitions. Title III: Genetic Information and Services - Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance Act of 1999 - Amends ERISA, the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) (as amended by the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999), and the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit a health care plan or health insurance issuer from restricting enrollment or adjusting premium or contribution amounts for a group on the basis of predictive genetic information concerning an individual in the group or a family member of the individual (including information about a request for or receipt of genetic services). (Sec. 302) Prohibits a plan or issuer from requesting or requiring predictive genetic information concerning an individual or a family member of the individual (including information about a request for or receipt of genetic services). Permits a plan or issuer to request, but not require, such information for diagnosis, treatment, or payment purposes only. Title IV: Healthcare Research and Quality - Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999 - Amends PHSA to establish within the Public Health Service (PHS) an Agency for Healthcare Quality Research to replace the current Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. (Sec. 402) Directs the Agency to identify and disseminate methods or systems used to assess healthcare research results, particularly to rate the strength of the scientific evidence behind healthcare practice and technology recommendations in the research. Requires the Agency to employ research strategies and mechanisms that will link research directly with clinical practice in geographically diverse locations throughout the United States, including: (1) Healthcare Improvement Research Centers that combine demonstrated multidisciplinary expertise in outcomes or quality improvement research with linkages to relevant sites of care; (2) Provider-based Research Networks, including plan, facility, or delivery system sites of care (especially primary care), that can evaluate and promote quality improvement; and (3) other innovative mechanisms or strategies. Directs the Agency to: (1) award grants to enable eligible entities at geographically diverse locations throughout the United States to carry out research training programs dedicated to health services research training at the doctoral, post-doctoral, and junior faculty levels; and (2) provide specified scientific and technical support for private and public efforts to improve healthcare quality, including accrediting organizations. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Agency Director, to establish a program of grants for one or more centers to conduct: (1) state-of-the-art clinical research on drugs, biological products, and devices; (2) research on the comparative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and safety of drugs, biological products, and devices; and (3) other appropriate activities (excluding the review of new drugs). Requires the Agency Director to: (1) collect certain data on the cost and quality of healthcare; (2) support research on and initiatives to advance the use of information systems for the study of healthcare quality; and (3) provide ongoing administrative, research, and technical support for the Preventive Services Task Force, which shall review scientific evidence on the effectiveness, appropriateness, and cost-effectiveness of clinical preventive services regarding their usefulness in daily clinical practice. Establishes within the Agency a Center for Primary Care Delivery Research to serve as the principal funding source for HHS primary care delivery research and demonstrations with respect to the first contact when illness or health concerns arise, the diagnosis, treatment or referral to specialty care, preventive care, and the relationship between the clinician and the patient in the context of the family and community. Requires the Agency Director by specified activities to promote innovation in evidence-based clinical practice and healthcare technologies. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director, to coordinate all research, evaluations, and demonstrations related to health services research and quality measurement and improvement activities undertaken and supported by the Federal Government. Requires the Secretary to contract with the Institute of Medicine to: (1) describe and evaluate current quality improvement research and monitoring processes; and (2) recommend options to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of such processes, and optimize public-private sector accreditation bodies. Establishes an Advisory Council for Healthcare Quality Research to replace the current Advisory Council for Health Care Policy, Research, and Evaluation. Requires the Agency Director to establish technical and scientific peer review groups to review each application for a grant, cooperative agreement, or contract under this title. Repeals the mandates for: (1) a demonstration program regarding centers for education and research on therapeutics; and (2) the Office of the Forum for Quality and Effectiveness in Health Care. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 404) Requires the Secretary, within 30 days after enactment of any Act providing for a qualifying health care benefit, to evaluate scientifically and report to the appropriate congressional committees on: (1) the safety, efficacy, cost, benefits and value of such benefit; (2) alternative approaches in improving care compared with such benefit; and (3) the benefit's overall impact on health care as measured through research. Title V: Enhanced Access to Health Insurance Coverage - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a full deduction from gross income of the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals. (Sec. 502) Repeals the limitation of the availability of medical savings accounts (MSAs) to employees of small employers and the self-employed. Reduces from $1,500 to $1,000 (self-only coverage) and from $3,000 to $2,000 (family coverage) the minimum annual deductible of a high deductible health plan. Revises the formula for the monthly limitation on the allowable deduction for MSAs to increase the contribution limit to 100 percent of the annual deductible under a high deductible health plan. Waives the additional tax on MSA distributions not used for qualified medical expenses to the extent any payment or distribution does not reduce the fair market value of the MSA assets to an amount less than the annual deductible for the account holder's high deductible health plan. (Sec. 503) Allows the annual carryover of up to $500 of unused benefits from cafeteria plans, flexible spending arrangements, and health flexible spending accounts. (Sec. 504) Authorizes the Office of Personnel Management to contract for or approve catastrophic FEHBP plans, whose covered expenses exceed $500. Amends Federal civil service law, with respect to Government contributions under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), to require an additional Government contribution, according to a certain formula, to an individual's MSA with respect to a catastrophic plan. Deems subscription charges for MSAs to be the amount of Government contributions.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Pay and Allowances Title II: Retirement Benefits Soldiers', Sailors', Airmen's, and Marines' Bill of Rights Act of 1999 - Title I: Pay and Allowances - Waives during FY 2000 any required adjustment in the rates of monthly military basic pay in conformance with the General Schedule of the Federal Government. Increases such pay by 4.8 percent, effective on January 1, 2000. Provides: (1) an increase in such pay as of July 1, 2000, for officer and enlisted personnel within specified pay grades; and (2) a pay increase for fiscal years after 2000 of one percent over the percentage increase as calculated under the Employment Cost Index. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of the military department concerned to pay a special subsistence allowance of $180 for each month in which a member is eligible to receive food stamp assistance. Terminates or reestablishes such entitlement under certain conditions. Title II: Retirement Benefits - Authorizes the payment of a lump-sum bonus of $30,000 to a member who: (1) first became a member on or after August 1, 1986; (2) has completed 15 years of active duty; and (3) executes a written agreement to remain on active duty until the completion of 20 years of such service. Requires notification of those eligible for such bonus. Requires a pro rata repayment of such bonus when the full additional period is not completed. Authorizes a waiver of the repayment requirement when against equity or good conscience or contrary to the best interests of the United States. (Sec. 202) Authorizes a member serving on active duty for more than 30 days to participate in the Federal Thrift Savings Plan, with a maximum annual contribution of five percent of basic pay and any special or incentive pay. Prohibits matching Federal agency contributions. Adds a representative of such members to the Employee Thrift Advisory Council. (Sec. 203) Authorizes the Secretary concerned to enter into an agreement to make contributions to the Thrift Savings Fund for the benefit of a member who: (1) is in a specialty designated as critical; and (2) agrees to continue to serve on active duty in such specialty for a period of six years.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Education Savings Accounts Title II: Dollars to the Classroom Title III: Measures to Enhance Results in Teaching Title IV: Funding for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Title V: Tax Credits for Support of Elementary and Secondary School Students Title VI: Collegiate Learning and Student Savings Educational Opportunities and Excellence Act of 1999 - Title I: Education Savings Accounts - Education Savings Accounts Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit tax-free expenditures from education individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for elementary and secondary education expenses (including tuition, special needs services, home schooling expenses, and transportation expenses) required for attendance at a public, private, or religious school, or for home schooling that meets State or local requirements. Increases from $500 to $2,000, through December 31, 2002, the maximum annual contribution to such an account. Waives the age limitation for special needs beneficiaries. Permits corporations to contribute to education IRAs. Title II: Dollars to the Classroom - Dollars to the Classroom Act - Requires the Secretary of Education to award the total amount of certain applicable education funding directly to the States. (Sec. 202) Requires such direct awarding of all the funds (except those used for specified multiyear awards) that are appropriated for the Department of Education for the fiscal year for programs or activities under specified provisions of: (1) the Goals 2000: Educate America Act; (2) the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994; (3) the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994; (4) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA); and (5) the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. Sets deadlines for: (1) each State to conduct a census to determine, and report to the Secretary, the number of kindergarten through grade 12 students in the State for the academic year; and (2) the Secretary to publish and disburse the amount each State will receive under this Act for the succeeding fiscal year. Sets forth: (1) a formula for determination of such award amounts, based on relative numbers of such students in each State; and (2) penalties for false information. Provides for continuation of certain multiyear awards made prior to enactment of this Act. Requires award amounts under this Act to be paid to the State Governor, who shall make them available to the individual or entity in the State responsible for the State administration of Federal education funds. Prescribes requirements for the use of such funds, earmarking not less than 95 percent for distribution to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the costs of activities or services provided in the classroom that LEAs determine appropriate, excluding associated administrative expenses, but including non-administrative expenses associated with statewide or districtwide initiatives directly affecting classroom learning. Prohibits: (1) any head of a Federal department or agency other than the Secretary from promulgating regulations under this Act; and (2) the Secretary from issuing any regulation regarding the type of classroom activities or services that may be assisted under this Act. (Sec. 203) Amends ESEA title I (Helping Disadvantaged Children Meet High Standards) to require the use of at least 95 percent of title I funds for an LEA for a fiscal year according to the requirements of this Act. Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and implement a plan for streamlining regulations and eliminating bureaucracy so that 95 percent of such ESEA title I funds for LEAs are used for the costs of activities and services provided in the classroom; and (2) recommend to Congress legislation containing changes to Federal law needed for the use of such funds. (Sec. 204) Requires each LEA that receives funds under this Act to provide for the participation of children enrolled in private and home schools. Title III: Measures to Enhance Results in Teaching - Merit Act of 1999 - Amends title II (Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program) of ESEA to establish a new part D (State Incentives for Teacher Testing and Merit Pay). (Sec. 302) Directs the Secretary of Education to make an award to each State that: (1) administers a test to each elementary school and secondary school teacher in the State, with respect to the subjects taught by the teacher, every three to five years; and (2) has an elementary school and secondary school teacher compensation system based on merit. (Sec. 303) Allows States to use Federal education funds for teacher testing and merit pay programs. Title IV: Funding for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - Amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to set forth specified minimum amounts for FY 2000 through 2006 under the authorization of appropriations to carry out IDEA part B (Assistance for Education of All Children with Disabilities). Title V: Tax Credits for Support of Elementary and Secondary School Students - K-12 Community Participation Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a limited tax credit for the expenses of attending elementary and secondary schools (including home schooling) and for contributions to charitable organizations which provide scholarships for children to attend such schools. Title VI: Collegiate Learning and Student Savings - CLASS Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) permit private higher educational institutions, in addition to currently permitted State institutions, to establish qualified prepaid tuition programs; and (2) exclude from gross income such program distributions used for qualified higher education expenses. (Sec. 603) Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to exempt from certain coverage securities issued by qualified prepaid tuition programs. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to exempt qualified prepaid tuition programs from the definition of an investment company.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1999
Middle-Income Savings and Investment Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from individual gross income up to $200 ($400 for joint filers) of the sum of dividends from domestic corporations or interest. Sets forth related provisions with respect to: (1) distributions from regulated investment companies and real estate investment trusts; and (2) nonresident aliens.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1999
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to qualify for the exclusion from gross income of certain scholarships any amounts received under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program or the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship and Financial Assistance Program.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1999
Marriage Penalty Elimination Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the standard deduction amount, in the case of joint returns or surviving spouses, by an amount equal to a specified percentage (increasing to 100 percent in taxable year 2003) of the excess of 200 percent of the basic standard deduction effective in the case of unmarried individuals over the amount in the case of joint returns or surviving spouses.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1999
Senior Citizens' Equity Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to phase out and terminate the tax increase (85 percent maximum rate) on social security benefits and tier 1 railroad retirement benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 21 January 1999
Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 1999 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe income tax rate tables that increase the maximum taxable income level for the 15 percent rate bracket and the minimum taxable income level for the 28 percent rate bracket by specified dollar amounts beginning with calendar year 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1999
Personal Retirement Accounts Act of 1999 - Establishes in the Treasury the Save Social Security First Trust Fund (Trust Fund). Appropriates specified amounts to it for FY 1999 and 2000 for investment in public debt securities, with investment income credited to the Trust Fund. Prohibits Trust Fund amounts from being appropriated or used for any purpose other than transfer to the Personal Retirement Savings Fund (PRSF) established by this Act under the Personal Retirement Accounts Program for the benefit of individuals eligible for personal retirement savings accounts (PRSAs) (eligible individuals). Slates the Trust Fund for dissolution upon the transfer of all its amounts to PRSF. (Sec. 4) Amends the Social Security Act (SSA) to create a new title I, Personal Retirement Accounts Program (PRAP), redesignating current SSA title I (Old Age Assistance) as SSA title VI. Establishes in the executive branch, to administer PRAP, a Personal Retirement Accounts Board (Board), which shall appoint an Executive Director to manage the PRSF. Appropriates specified amounts for FY 2001 through 2004 for the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer to the PRSF, along with amounts in the Trust Fund, where they are to be held in PRSF, along with all net investment earnings in PRSF, in trust for the benefit of eligible individuals. Establishes the PRSF in the Treasury for paying benefits, making distributions, and other uses as specified in connection with PRAP, including most notably for the investment of PRSA funds. Prohibits sums in PRSF that are credited to the individual's PRSA from being used for, or diverted to, purposes other than for the exclusive benefit of the PRSA holder or that holder's beneficiaries. Requires the Executive Director to establish a PRSA for any individual who has worked four qualifying quarters of coverage, as determined under SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI). Directs the Executive Director to allocate annually to each PRSA a minimum amount of $250, plus an additional amount, determined according to a specified formula, based on how much the individual paid in payroll taxes and the net earnings and net losses from the investment of the sums transferred above to PRSF. Directs the Board to establish a Government Securities Investment Fund, a Fixed Income Investment Fund, and a Common Stock Index Investment Fund (modeled after the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for Federal employees) for the investment of PRSF sums credited to an individual's PRSA, according to an election the individual may make at least twice each year. Prescribes requirements similar to those for the TSP with respect to: (1) accounting and information; (2) annuities and their methods of payment, election, and purchase; (3) protections for spouses and former spouses; and (4) tax treatment of PRSF. Authorizes distributions from an individual's PRSA only on or after the earlier of the date on which the individual begins receiving OASDI benefits or the date of the individual's death. Allows a PRSA holder to designate one or more beneficiaries under regulations prescribed by the Board. Outlines fiduciary responsibilities with respect to the PRSF, as well as personal liability and civil penalties for breach of duties, and bonding requirements. (Sec. 5) Directs the Board to report to appropriate congressional committees its recommendations for additional investment options for individuals with PRSAs, including specific recommendations regarding whether the Board should: (1) make available to such account holders investment funds managed by qualified professional asset managers; and (2) offer diversified investment selections for such account holders that take the individual's age into consideration.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Miscellaneous Trade Corrections Title II: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions; Other Trade Provisions Subtitle A: Temporary Duty suspensions and Reductions Subtitle B: Trade Provisions Title III: Miscellaneous Trade Corrections Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 1999 - Title I: Miscellaneous Trade Corrections - Makes various specified miscellaneous technical corrections to the Trade Act of 1974 and other specified Federal law involving: (1) abolishment of the East-West Foreign Trade Board; (2) repeal of the requirement that certain small vessels departing from a foreign port, or which visited a hovering vessel, carry a certificate for the importation into the United States of alcoholic spirits; (3) repeal of the exemption of documented tugs with a Great Lakes endorsement from certain entry and clearance requirements; (4) change of general most-favored-nation (MFN) status to general or normal trade relations (NTR) status under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States; and (5) conforming amendments to obsolete references to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). (Sec. 1003) Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to allow certain entries of television receivers, monitors, and picture tubes, and combination TV-VCRs with a diagonal measurement of up to 34.29cm (currently, 33.02 cm), or 13.5 inches, to be classified as 13 inches for purposes of tariff treatment under the Schedule. Directs the Customs Service, upon proper request, to liquidate or reliquidate certain entries made on or after January 1, 1995, and before 15 days after enactment of this Act, as if such amendment applied to such entries. Title II: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions; Other Trade Provisions - Subtitle A: Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide for temporary duty suspensions for: (1) specified chemicals and dyes through December 31, 2001; (2) snowboard boots with uppers of textile materials through December 31, 2001; (3) ink-jet textile printing machinery through December 31, 2001; (4) textile printing machinery through December 31, 2001; (5) substrates of synthetic quartz or synthetic fused silica imported into the United States in bulk or in forms or packages for retail sale through December 31, 2001; (6) power weaving machines (looms), shuttle type, for weaving fabrics between 30 cm and 4.9m in width, if entered without off-loom or large loom take-ups, drop wires, heddles, reeds, harness frames or beams, through December 31, 2001; (7) skating boots for use in the manufacture of in-line roller skates through December 31, 2001; (8) dual thrust chamber rocket engines, each having a maximum static sea level thrust exceeding 3,550 kN and nozzle exit diameter exceeding 127cm, through December 31, 2001; (9) certain manufacturing equipment through December 31, 2001; (10) textured rolled glass sheets through December 31, 2001; (11) certain anti-HIV drug substances through June 30, 1999; (12) certain high-performance loudspeakers not mounted in their enclosures, through December 31, 2001; (13) parts for use in the manufacture of certain high-performance loudspeakers through December 31, 2001; and (14) certain polymers through December 31, 2001. (Sec. 2129) Reduces the duty on a certain dye and on certain chemicals variously through December 31, 1999, December 31, 2000, and December 31, 2001. (Sec. 2161) Reduces the duty, through December 31, 2001, on weaving machines (looms), shuttleless type, for weaving fabrics between 30cm and 4.9m in width, entered without off-loom or large loom takeups, drop wires, heddles, reeds, harness frames, or beams. Subtitle B: Other Trade Provisions - Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to extend to certain fine jewelry certain trade benefits of insular possessions of the United States. (Sec. 2401) Mandates treatment as a product of the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa, during 1999 and 2000, of any article of jewelry assembled in such territory or possession. (Sec. 2402) Provides for the tariff treatment of certain components of scientific instruments and apparatus, as well as the application of the domestic equivalency test to such components. (Sec. 2403) Directs the U.S. Customs Service to liquidate or reliquidate (refund duty on) certain entries made at Los Angeles, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana, in accordance with the final decision of the International Trade Administration for shipments entered between October 1, 1984, and December 14, 1987 (case number A- 274-001). (Sec. 2404) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide that packaging material produced in the United States (currently, any packaging material), which is used by the manufacturer or any other person on or for articles which are exported or destroyed, shall also be eligible for a refund (drawback) of 99 percent of any duty, tax, or fee imposed on the importation of such material used to manufacture or produce the packaging material. (Sec. 2405) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, by January 1, 2000, to provide for the inclusion of commercial importation data from foreign-trade zones in the National Customs Automation Program (an automated and electronic system for processing commercial importations). (Sec. 2406) Permits the deferral (until sale) of duty payment on any large yacht (a vessel exceeding 79 feet in length and used primarily for recreation or pleasure) that is imported for sale at a boat show, if the importer of record: (1) certifies to the Customs Service that it is imported for sale at a boat show in the United States; and (2) posts a bond in an amount equal to twice the amount of the duty ordinarily owed on such yacht. (Sec. 2407) Directs the appropriate customs officer to allow or deny within 30 days after the filing date any application for further review with respect to a protest to a decision of the Customs Service. Requires that any allowed protest be forwarded to the customs officer who will conduct the further review. (Sec. 2408) Authorizes the Customs Service, notwithstanding the fact that a valid protest was not filed, to reliquidate an entry to refund merchandise processing fees paid on goods qualifying under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules of origin for which no claim for preferential tariff treatment was made at the time of importation, provided that the importer meets certain conditions. (Sec. 2409) Authorizes the entry or withdrawal from a warehouse of international travel merchandise subject to a duty. (Sec. 2410) Revises requirements with respect to the five-year review by the administering authority and the International Trade Commission of countervailing duty or antidumping duty orders, notices of injury determination, or determinations to continue an order or suspension agreement. Excludes from the computation of the five-year period preceding such a review any period during which the importation of the subject merchandise is prohibited on account of U.S. imposition of certain sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or other Federal law against the country in which such merchandise originates, if that country is not a member of the World Trade Organization. (Sec. 2411) Applies the rates of duty effective after December 31, 1994, under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, if lower, to certain water resistant wool trousers that were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, after December 31, 1988, and before January 1, 1995. (Sec. 2412) Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to provide duty-free treatment of previously imported goods for which a duty was paid if they are: (1) exported within three years after the date of such previous importation; (2) sold for exportation and exported to individuals for personal use; (3) reimported without having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means while abroad; (4) reimported as personal returns from those individuals, whether or not consolidated with other personal returns prior to reimportation; and (5) reimported by or for the account of the person who exported them from the United States within one year of such exportation. (Sec. 2413) Grants duty-free treatment, through December 31, 2002, to the personal effects of, and other equipment imported and used by, participants, their families and associated members, and officials involved in the 1999 International Special Olympics, the 1999 Women's World Cup Soccer, the 2001 International Special Olympics, the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and the 2002 Winter Paralympic Games. Declares that such articles shall be: (1) free of applicable taxes and fees; but (2) not exempt from routine customs inspections. (Sec. 2414) Directs the U.S. Customs Service, upon request, to liquidate or reliquidate (refund duty on) certain entries (filed at the port of Los Angeles) of indirect electrostatic copiers at the rate of duty that would have been applicable to such merchandise if they had been liquidated or reliquidated at a duty rate applicable to other automated data processing (ADP) thermal transfer printer units on the date of entry. (Sec. 2415) Directs the U.S. Customs Service to provide for the liquidation or reliquidation (refund) of certain entries in accordance with the provisions of Treasury Decision 86-126(M) and Customs Ruling No. 224697, dated November 17, 1994. (Sec. 2417) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize duty-free sales enterprises to be located, among other places, within a port of entry, or within 25 statute miles of a staffed port of entry, if reasonable assurance can be provided that the duty-free merchandise sold by the enterprise will be exported by individuals departing from the customs territory through an international airport located within the territory. (Sec. 2418) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to continue, indefinitely, the use of customs user fees (to the extent funds remain available after making certain reimbursements) for salaries for up to 50 full-time equivalent inspectional positions to provide preclearance customs services. Decreases from $6.50 to $5 the customs user fee charged to each passenger that arrives aboard a commercial vessel or commercial aircraft from a place outside the U.S. customs (except $1.75 shall be charged to each passenger aboard a commercial vessel that arrives from Canada, Mexico, a U.S. territory or possession, or an adjacent island). Earmarks a specified amount of certain customs user fees to the Customs Service for automated commercial systems. Directs the Commissioner of Customs to establish an advisory committee, consisting of representatives from the airline, cruise ship, and other transportation industries, to advise the Commissioner on issues related to the performance of the inspectional services of the Customs Service. Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary, for a specified period, to prescribe an alternative mid-point interest accounting methodology, which may be employed by the importer, based upon aggregate data in lieu of accounting for such interest from each deposit data provided. (Sec. 2419) Allows a duty drawback (refund of duty) for methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), a finished petroleum derivative, provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 2420) Revises the methodology used to calculate the drawback (refund of duties) on the export of finished petroleum derivatives that have been manufactured with (substituted for) a qualified article which is of the same kind and quality (whether imported duty-paid or domestic). Redefines the term "qualified article" to include certain manufactured articles (primary forms), including articles of the same kind and quality, or any combination thereof, that are transferred as certified in a certificate of delivery or certificate of manufacture and delivery to an exporter in a quantity not greater than the quantity of articles purchased or exchanged for use in the manufactured article. (Sec. 2421) Directs the U.S. Customs Service, upon proper request, to: (1) liquidate or reliquidate as if the special column one duty rate applicable for Canada applied to certain entries of mueslix cereal; and (2) refund to the importer any excess duties paid with respect to such entries. (Sec. 2422) Directs the Foreign Trade Zones Board to expand Foreign Trade Zone No. 143 to include areas in the vicinity of the Chico Municipal Airport in accordance with the application submitted to the Board by the Sacramento-Yolo Port District of Sacramento, California, on March 11, 1997. (Sec. 2423) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to exempt certain woven fabrics containing silk or silk waste from the country of origin marking requirements. (Sec. 2424) Authorizes the President to: (1) determine that title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (denying nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of certain countries) should no longer apply to Mongolia; and (2) based upon such determination, extend nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to Mongolian products. (Sec. 2425) Authorizes the Commissioner of the Customs Service to establish a pilot program for FY 1999 to provide 24-hour cargo inspection service on a fee-for-service basis at a certain international airport. (Sec. 2426) Directs the Department of Defense to permit the dependent children of deceased U.S. Customs Aviation Group Supervisor Pedro J. Rodriquez attending the Antilles Consolidated School System at Ford Buchanan, Puerto Rico, to complete their primary and secondary education without cost to them or any parent or relative. Title III: Amendments to Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise provisions concerning a corporation, its shareholders, and the transferring of certain assets and liabilities.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1999
Amends the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 to grant to the Secretary of Transportation the sole responsibility for determining and designating those programs which are subject to the requirement that at least 50 percent of Government-generated cargoes be shipped on privately owned U.S.-flag commercial vessels to the extent such vessels are available at fair and reasonable rates. Declares that requirements calling for specified percentums of gross tonnage of equipment, materials, or agricultural commodities furnished or financed by the United States be transported on U.S.-flag commercial vessels shall be applicable for the 18-month period commencing April 1, 1999, and the 12-month period beginning on the first day of October (fiscal year) in the year 2000 thereafter.
United States · United States Congress · 20 January 1999
Home Health Integrity Preservation Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with regard to home health agencies. (Sec. 2) Revises a home health agency's conditions of participation to require that it have: (1) sufficient knowledge of reimbursement requirements, coverage criteria and claims procedures, and the civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance; (2) managing employees with sufficient prior education or work experience in health care delivery; (3) a fraud and abuse compliance program; and (4) a practice of making the most recent compliance survey available to beneficiaries or their representatives. Requires a home health agency to notify its fiscal intermediary and the State licensing or certifying entity that the agency: (1) is providing a category of skilled service that it was not providing at the time of its most recent standard survey; (2) is operating a new branch office that was not in operation at the time of its most recent survey; and (3) is involved in a new joint venture with other health care providers or other business entities. (Sec. 3) Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide for the comprehensive training of State and Federal surveyors in matters relating to requirements for reimbursement and coverage of services. (Sec. 4) Requires home visits conducted as part of a home health agency's standard survey to evaluate whether individuals are homebound for purposes of qualifying for home health benefits. Requires a standard survey to include: (1) an assessment of whether the agency is in compliance with all conditions of participation and other specified requirements; (2) an assessment that the agency's managing employees have attested in writing to having sufficient knowledge of the requirements for reimbursement, coverage criteria and claims procedures, and the civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance; and (3) a review of the services provided by agency subcontractors to ensure that they are being provided in a manner consistent with requirements. Requires a survey, after the first two annual surveys, at any time the agency notifies the Secretary of a new category of skilled service it is providing, or of a new branch office. Requires occasional surveys of randomly selected agencies. Requires any agreement with a fiscal intermediary to require that it review the overall business structure of a home health agency submitting a reimbursement claim, including any related organizations of the agency. (Sec. 5) Prohibits the Secretary from entering into an agreement for the first time with a home health agency unless the agency has: (1) been in operation for at least 60 calendar days; and (2) had at least ten patients during that period of prior operation. (Sec. 6) Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) various specified standards and procedures to improve the quality of home health services; and (2) within HHS' Office of Inspector General a home health integrity task force charged with investigating fraud in home health service provision. (Sec. 9) Amends SSA title XI to provide that certain Medicare actions against debtors shall not be subject to a stay of bankruptcy proceedings. Makes certain Medicare debt nondischargeable in bankruptcy. Declares that the repayment of certain Medicare debts shall be considered final and not avoidable transfers under the Federal bankruptcy code. Amends SSA title XVIII to make Medicare rules applicable to bankruptcy proceedings of a Medicare service provider. (Sec. 10) Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on all matters relating to the appropriate home health services to be provided under the Medicare program to individuals with chronic conditions.