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301 records in US in 1999
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Designates the bridge on U.S. Route 231 that crosses the Ohio River between Maceo, Kentucky, and Rockport, Indiana, as the William H. Natcher Bridge.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize specified assistance, including humanitarian, economic, migration and refugee, development, border control, and democracy building assistance, to the South Caucasus and Central Asia countries to: (1) promote sovereignty, independence with democratic government, and respect for human rights; (2) assist in the resolution of regional conflicts and facilitate the removal of impediments to cross-border commerce; (3) promote economic cooperation and market-oriented principles; (4) assist in the development of infrastructure necessary for communications, transportation, education, health, and energy and trade on an East-West axis in order to build strong relations and commerce between those countries and the democratic, market-oriented countries of the Euro-Atlantic community; and (5) support U.S. business interests and investments in the region. Prohibits, with specified exceptions, assistance to the governments of such countries if the President determines and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that such governments: (1) are engaged in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights; (2) have knowingly transferred controlled missiles or missile technology to another country, or any equipment or technology that would contribute to the ability of such country to manufacture weapons of mass destruction (including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons); (3) have repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism; or (4) are prohibited from receiving such assistance by specified Federal laws. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the President should use all diplomatic means to press for an equitable, fair, and permanent resolution to the conflicts in the South Caucasus and Central Asia; and (2) the United States should, where appropriate, support the establishment of neutral, multinational peacekeeping forces to implement peace agreements reached between belligerents in the countries of those regions.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Title II: Supplemental Appropriations and Rescissions Title III: Technical Corrections 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act - Title I: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations - Chapter 1 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for: (1) salaries and expenses of the Farm Service Agency; and (2) direct and guaranteed farm ownership loans, direct and guaranteed subsidized farm operating loans, and emergency farm loans. Chapter 2 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations for the Department of Justice for the Immigration and Naturalization Service for salaries and expenses, enforcement and border affairs. Chapter 3 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations for the Department of Defense for: (1) Army reserve personnel and Army and Air Force National Guard personnel; (2) Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force as well as defense-wide O&M; and (3) overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid. Chapter 4 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations for: (1) international disaster relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction assistance pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; (2) the Economic Support Fund for assistance to Jordan; (3) expenses to address the effects of hurricanes in Central America and the Caribbean and the earthquake in Columbia; (4) the Treasury Department for debt restructuring; and (5) the Foreign Military Financing Program for grants to Jordan pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act. Prohibits the value of articles, services, and military education and training authorized to be drawn down by the President under a specified provision of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 from being counted against the ceiling limitation of that section. Chapter 5 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the U.S. Forest Service for reconstruction and construction in connection with damages from Hurricane Georges and other natural disasters in Puerto Rico. Chapter 6 - Rescinds specified amounts of funds for: (1) the Department of Agriculture for the cost of foreign assistance direct credit agreements; (2) the Department of Energy for atomic energy defense activities; (3) the Trade and Development Agency for export and investment assistance; (4) the Agency for International Development for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs; (5) the Economic Support Fund for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs; (6) assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States; (7) assistance for the new independent States of the former Soviet Union; (8) peacekeeping operations; (9) reconstruction and development of international financial institutions; (10) callable capital stock in certain international financial institutions; (11) international organizations and programs; (12) the Department of Transportation for contract authorization for small community air service; (13) the Federal Highway Administration for State infrastructure banks; and (14) the Federal Transit Administration for contract authorization for transit programs and interstate transfer grants. Amends the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 to reduce the amount of emergency supplemental appropriations for defense-wide O&M under such Act. Title II: Supplemental Appropriations and Rescissions - Chapter 1 - Makes supplemental appropriations for the U.S. Supreme Court for salaries and expenses. Rescinds a specified amount of funds for the United States Information Agency for buying power maintenance. Chapter 2 - Makes supplemental appropriations for expenses for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Rescinds a specified amount of funds for the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Chapter 3 - Rescinds a specified amount of funds for the Bureau of Land Management for the management of land and resources. Makes supplemental appropriations for the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians for Indian trust programs, including litigation support. Chapter 4 - Reduces the amount of funds available for the Employment and Training Administration for State unemployment insurance and employment service operations. Rescinds a specified amount of funds for: (1) the Department of Health and Human Services for a Federal capital loan program for nursing; and (2) the Department of Education for education research, statistics, and improvement. Makes supplemental appropriations for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for National Public Radio. Chapter 5 - Makes supplemental appropriations for the Architect of the Capitol for: (1) renovation of the House Page dormitory; and (2) life safety renovations to the O'Neill House Office Building. Increases for FY 2000 and thereafter the amount authorized to be appropriated for the Office of the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and the lump-sum allowance for the Office of the Majority Whip of the House. Authorizes the transfer of funds between various accounts under the heading "House Leadership Offices," beginning with FY 1999. Chapter 6 - Makes supplemental appropriations to the Postal Service Fund for revenue forgone reimbursement. Rescinds a specified amount of funds for the Executive Office of the President for unanticipated needs of natural disasters of national significance. Chapter 7 - Earmarks a specified amount of funds made available for the Economic Development Initiative for projects to revitalize and redevelop the Los Angeles Civic Center neighborhood and for development of a child care center in Huntington Park, California. (Sec. 2001) Prohibits the Secretary of Agriculture, in making loan deficiency payments under the Agricultural Market Transition Act to producers of club wheat, from assessing a premium adjustment on the amount that would otherwise be computed for club wheat to reflect a premium paid to ensure its availability in creating a specialty product known as western white wheat. Requires a retroactive payment to each such producer that received a discounted loan deficiency payment as a result of a premium adjustment against club wheat. Title III: Technical Corrections - Makes technical, clarifying, and conforming amendments to the: (1) Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999; (2) Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999; and (3) Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1999. (Sec. 3006) Revises fiscal year requirements and funding amounts under specified provisions of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999. Earmarks certain funds appropriated under such Act. (Sec. 3008) Makes certain funds appropriated under the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 for highway traffic safety operations and research available through FY 1999. Amends the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 to authorize a specified transfer and allocation of funds by the Capitol Police Board. (Sec. 3011) Amends the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 to make certain funds transferred under such Act to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States available through FY 2000.
United States · United States Congress · 17 March 1999
Amends Federal aviation law to set a minimum $2,500 per passenger liability limit on certain air carriers for damages resulting from the disappearance of, damage to, or delay in delivery of a passenger's personal property, including baggage, that was in the custody or control of the air carrier immediately prior to such disappearance, damage, or delay. Requires air carriers to include on or with any flight ticket notice of its monetary limitation on baggage liability to passengers.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1999
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1999 - Amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to revise and rename it the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1999. Instructs the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to: (1) develop and operate a repository for the permanent geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste; (2) accept spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste by no later than June 30, 2003; (3) provide for the transportation of such wastes; (4) pursue expeditiously the development of each component of the integrated management system; and (5) engage private sector participation to the greatest extent possible in the implementation of this Act. Shields the United States from any financial liability for the Secretary's failure to meet acceptance or emplacement deadlines under this Act. Instructs the Secretary to utilize truck transport to move spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from the mainline rail line at Caliente, Nevada, to the interim storage facility site. Authorizes the Secretary to use rail transportation to meet the requirements of this Act if direct rail access becomes available to the interim storage facility site. Sets a deadline for the Secretary to develop the capability to commence rail to truck intermodal transfer at Caliente, Nevada. Provides for heavy-haul transportation route and truck transportation. Requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Caliente and Lincoln County, Nevada, to provide advice to the Commission regarding intermodal transfer and to facilitate on-site representation. Provides that reasonable expenses of such representation shall be paid by the Secretary. Prescribes procedural guidelines for the availability of safe transportation for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from Department of Energy sites and sites designated by the contract holders to mainline transportation facilities and from mainline transportation facilities to the interim storage facility or repository, using routes that minimize transportation through populated areas. Mandates development of a comprehensive management plan that ensures safe transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from Department of Energy sites and sites designated by the contract holders to the interim storage facility site. Prescribes guidelines under which the Secretary shall: (1) develop a transportation plan for the implementation of each shipping campaign from each site at which high-level nuclear waste is stored; and (2) evaluate the relative safety of proposed shipping routes and modes from each shipping origin to the interim storage facility or repository compared with the safety of alternative modes and routes. Prescribes general transportation requirements, including technical assistance and funds for: (1) States, Indian tribes, and nonprofit employee and joint labor-management organizations for worker health and safety training and education programs; and (2) emergency response situations. Prohibits shipments of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste through any grant-eligible jurisdiction: (1) until the Secretary has determined that personnel in all State, local, and tribal jurisdictions on primary and alternative shipping routes have met acceptable standards of training for emergency responses to accidents involving spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste; and (2) unless technical assistance and funds to implement safe transportation procedures and emergency response situations have been available for at least three years prior to shipment. Directs the Secretary to award grants to States and Indian tribes for development and implementation of plans to prepare for such shipments. Requires a transporter of nuclear waste under contract with the Secretary to comply with all governmental and Indian tribal transportation regulations. Instructs the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate employee protection training standards for workers directly involved in nuclear waste transportation, storage, and disposal. Prescribes guidelines under which the Secretary of Energy is instructed to design, construct, and operate an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in accordance with Federal licensing regulations governing independent spent fuel storage installations. Prescribes guidelines under which the Secretary is instructed to implement site characterization activities at the Yucca Mountain site in accordance with the Secretary's program approach to site characterization (Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program Plan). Prescribes authorization guidelines for an interim storage facility, and for a permanent repository, including: (1) licensing standards; (2) compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act; and (3) land withdrawal. Instructs the Secretary to offer Nye County, Nevada, an opportunity to designate an on-site oversight representative to conduct on-site oversight activities at the Yucca Mountain site. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make grants to enable affected Indian tribes or local governmental units to monitor and review the impact of the integrated management system upon residents at the Yucca Mountain site; and (2) offer financial and technical assistance, as well as payments in lieu of taxes, to help a tribe or local governmental unit to mitigate such impact. Instructs the Secretary to offer to enter into separate benefits agreements with Lincoln and Nye Counties concerning the integrated management system. Provides that acceptance of benefits under this Act by any affected Indian tribe or local government shall not be deemed an expression of consent to the siting of an interim storage facility or repository in Nevada. Sets a deadline by which the Secretary of the Interior shall convey all Federal interest in specified property to Nye County, Lincoln County, or to the city of Caliente, Nevada. Authorizes the Secretary to grant payments in lieu of taxes to any affected Indian or local jurisdiction until the termination of the integrated management system activities. Prescribes contract guidelines for the Secretary to accept title to, and transport, store, and dispose of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste. Prescribes a schedule of annual fees payable to the Secretary of Energy for electricity generated and sold by civilian nuclear power reactors, and of a one-time fee for spent nuclear fuel used in such generation. Requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend the license of any licensee who fails or refuses to pay such fee. States that payment of the fee relieves the payer of further financial obligation to the Federal Government for its long-term storage or permanent disposal of spent fuel or waste derived from spent nuclear fuel used to generate electricity in a civilian power reactor before January 7, 1983. Continues the Nuclear Waste Fund. Prohibits the Secretary from expending certain funds to design or construct packages for the transportation, storage, or disposal of spent nuclear fuel from civilian nuclear power reactors. Establishes the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management within the Department of Energy, whose Director shall be directly responsible to the Secretary for executing the Secretary's functions under this Act. Mandates audits of Office operations, including its contractors and subcontractors at all tiers, and audits of management practices and performances every five years. Directs the Secretary to issue a final rule establishing the appropriate portion of the costs of managing high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel allocable to the interim storage or permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste from atomic energy defense activities and spent nuclear fuel from foreign research reactors. Authorizes appropriations. Preempts State and local law in favor of this Act. Precludes this Act from being construed as: (1) constituting either an express or implied Federal reservation of water rights for any purpose arising under it; (2) authorizing the Federal use of eminent domain to acquire water rights; or (3) limiting the exercise of water rights as provided under Nevada State laws. Grants U.S. courts of appeals original and exclusive jurisdiction over civil actions under this Act. Prescribes guidelines for NRC licensing hearings regarding facility expansions and transshipments. Prohibits the Secretary from conducting site-specific activities for a second repository unless the Congress has specifically authorized and appropriated funds for them. Requires the NRC to promulgate regulatory guidelines for: (1) financial arrangements for low-level radioactive waste site closures; and (2) training and qualification of civilian nuclear powerplant personnel. Delineates an emplacement schedule for contract holders' spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Prohibits: (1) subseabed or ocean water disposal of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste; and (2) any obligation of funds for any such related activity. States that the Secretary's acceptance of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste constitutes a transfer of title to the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) accept all spent nuclear fuel withdrawn from Dairyland Power Cooperative's La Crosse Reactor; and (2) pay for the on-site storage of such fuel until DOE removes it from the site. Expresses the sense of the Congress that to the greatest extent practicable all equipment and products purchased with funds made available under this Act should be American-made. Requires each Federal agency to give notice of this policy to any entity to which it provides financial assistance or contracts. Prohibits contracts with persons falsely labeling products as "Made in America." Continues the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to take necessary action to improve the management of the civilian radioactive waste management program to ensure to the maximum extent its operation like a private business. Directs the Secretary to employ, on an on-going basis, integrated performance modeling regarding site characterization. Instructs the Secretary to report to the Congress on actions planned to implement this Act, (including the development of the Integrated Waste Management System) and to provide annual status updates. Provides for continuation of specified contracts executed under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
United States · United States Congress · 15 March 1999
Railroad Competition and Service Improvement Act of 1999 - Amends Federal transportation law to declare as primary objectives for U.S. rail transportation policy: (1) ensuring effective competition among rail carriers at origin and destination; (2) maintaining reasonable rates in the absence of such competition; (3) maintaining consistent and efficient rail transportation service to shippers, including the timely provision of railcars requested by them; and (4) ensuring that smaller carload and intermodal shippers are not precluded from accessing rail systems due to volume requirements. (Sec. 5) Requires a rail carrier, upon a shipper's request, to establish a rail transportation rate and provide service requested by the shipper between any two points on the carrier's system where traffic originates, terminates, or may reasonably be interchanged. Authorizes the shipper to challenge the reasonableness of the rate established. Requires the Surface Transportation Board to then determine the reasonableness of the rate so challenged without regard to whether: (1) the rate established is for only part of a movement between an origin and a destination; (2) the shipper has made arrangements for transportation for any other part of such movement; or (3) the shipper currently has a contract with a rail carrier for any part of the rail traffic at issue, provided that the rate prescribed by the Board shall not apply to transportation covered by such contract. (Sec. 6) Prohibits the Board from imposing fees in excess of $1,000 for certain administrative services collected from an eligible facility in connection with rail maximum rate complaints. Prohibits a rail carrier from charging a rate for shipments from or to an eligible facility which results in a revenue-to-variable cost percentage (using system average costs) for transportation service to which the rate applies that is greater than 180 percent. Requires a rail carrier to accept all requests for grain service from an eligible facility up to a maximum of 110 percent of the grain carloads shipped from or to the facility in the preceding calendar year. Authorizes an eligible facility to request that an alternative rail carrier provide such service using the tracks of the original carrier if such carrier does not initiate service within a specified time. Requires the alternative carrier to compensate the other carrier for use of its tracks. (Sec. 7) Changes from discretionary to mandatory the authority of the Board to require terminal facilities (including main-line tracks for a reasonable distance outside of a terminal) owned by a rail carrier providing rail transportation to be used by another rail carrier if the Board finds that use to be practicable and in the public interest without substantially impairing the carrier's ability to handle its own business. Declares that the Board, in making such determination, shall not require evidence of anticompetitive conduct by the rail carrier from which access is being sought. Makes similar changes to require rail carriers to enter into reciprocal switching agreements where such agreements are necessary to provide competitive rail service. (Sec. 8) Prohibits the Board from considering evidence of product or geographic competition when making market dominance determinations in rail rate proceedings. (Sec. 9) Amends U.S. rail transportation policy to repeal the mandate that the Board determine adequate revenues for rail carriers. (Sec. 10) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to require, by regulation, each rail carrier to submit a monthly report containing certain information, including its on-time performance, car availability deadline performance, average train speed, average terminal dwell time, the number of its cars loaded (by major commodity group), and other aspects of its performance as a rail carrier. Requires the Secretary to make such report available to the Board, Congress, and to the public.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
Airline Deregulation and Disclosure Act of 1999 - Amends Federal aviation law to require any announcement by an air carrier of a delay or cancellation of a flight, or a diversion to an airport other than the airport at which the flight is scheduled to land, to include an explanation of each reason for such delay, cancellation, or diversion. Prohibits an air carrier from providing an explanation that it knows or has reason to know is false or misleading. Prohibits an air carrier from requiring a passenger on a flight to remain onboard an aircraft for more than two hours after: (1) the passenger enplaned, in any case in which the aircraft has not taken flight from the airport during that period; or (2) the aircraft has landed at an airport, if the aircraft remains in that airport without taking flight. Requires an air carrier to provide a refund to each passenger whenever, on the date a flight is scheduled, the air carrier cancels the flight for any reason other than safety (economic cancellation). Allows a passenger to remain onboard an aircraft more than two hours if the airline offers an opportunity to deplane with a full refund of air fare, and the passenger declines. Authorizes an air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent to sell air transportation in the United States for a flight that bears a designator code of a carrier other than the carrier that will provide the air transportation, only if the air carrier or ticket agent first informs the person purchasing the air transportation that another air carrier will provide the air transportation. Requires any air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent that requires taking flights on more than one aircraft to provide notification on a ticket, receipt, or itinerary provided to the air passenger that the passenger shall be required to change aircraft. Prohibits an air carrier from: (1) prohibiting any person (including governmental entity) that purchases air transportation from only using a portion of the air transportation purchased (including using the air transportation purchased only for one-way travel instead of round-trip travel); or (2) assessing an additional fee on or charge to such person or any ticket agent that sold the air transportation to such person. Requires an air carrier that makes seats available on a specific date at a reduced fare to make available air transportation at that reduced fare for any passenger that requests a seat at that reduced fare during a 24-hour period beginning with the initial offering of that reduced fare. Specifies a limitation to such requirement. Requires an air carrier to permit an individual to use a ticket (or equivalent electronic record) issued by such carrier on a standby basis for any flight that has the same origin and destination as are indicated on the ticket (or record). Requires, with certain limitations, an air carrier that makes a seat available on a specific date for use by a person redeeming an award under a frequent flyer program to the extent practicable during the 24-hour period beginning with the redemption of the award to: (1) redeem any other award under the frequent flyer program; and (2) make a seat available for the person who redeems the other award. Specifies the same limitation to such requirement as applies to the reduced fare requirements of this Act. Requires an air carrier to permit an individual to redeem a ticket (or equivalent electronic record) acquired through a frequent flyer award on a standby basis for any flight that has the same origin and destination as are indicated on the ticket (or record). Requires each air carrier operating in the United States to make fare information available to the public through computer-based technology and other means.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
International Trafficking of Women and Children Victim Protection Act of 1999 - Establishes within the Department of State in the Office of the Secretary of State an Inter-Agency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking. (Defines "trafficking" as the use of deception, coercion, debt bondage, the threat of force, or the abuse of authority to recruit, transport within or across borders, purchase, sell, transfer, receive, or harbor a person for the purpose of placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in involuntary servitude, slavery, or slavery-like conditions or in forced, bonded, or coerced labor.) Directs the Secretary of State to: (1) report annually, with the assistance of the Task Force, to Congress describing the status of international trafficking; and (2) ensure that U.S. missions abroad maintain a consistent reporting standard and thoroughly investigate reports of trafficking. Requires U.S. mission personnel to seek out and maintain contacts with human rights and other nongovernmental organizations, including receiving reports and updates from such organizations and, when appropriate, investigating such reports. Makes any government of a foreign country identified in the latest report as one that has failed to take effective action towards ending the participation of its officials in trafficking and that has failed to investigate and meaningfully prosecute those officials found to be involved, ineligible for police assistance, subject to a presidential waiver if in the U.S. national interest. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for a nonimmigrant classification for trafficking victims. Provides for a waiver of grounds for ineligibility for admission with respect to such an individual if the Attorney General considers it to be in the national interest to do so. Directs the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to jointly promulgate trafficking regulations for law enforcement personnel, immigration officials, and Foreign Service officers concerning response training and victim treatment and protection. Authorizes: (1) the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide, through the Office of Refugee Resettlement, assistance to trafficking victims and their children in the United States; and (2) the President to provide programs and activities to assist trafficking victims and their children abroad. Authorizes appropriations for the Task Force, the Secretary of HHS, and the President. Bars the use of funds made available to carry out this Act for the procurement of weapons or ammunition.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
Alternative Water Sources Act of 1999 - Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to make grants for alternative water source projects to State, interstate, and intrastate water resource development agencies, local government agencies, private utilities, and nonprofit entities that have authority under State law to develop or provide water for municipal, industrial, or agricultural uses in areas experiencing critical water supply needs. Permits grants only if the purpose of the project is to meet critical water supply needs. Requires, for projects for which the Federal share of costs exceeds $3 million, approval by a resolution of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure or the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Makes projects located within the boundaries of a State or area referred to in the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902, and within the geographic scope of the reclamation and reuse program under the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992 ineligible for grants under this Act. Requires the Administrator to report to Congress on progress made toward meeting the critical water supply needs of grant recipients. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 11 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Expanded Availability of Health Care Services Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program Title III: Technical Amendments Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency 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) Extends Medicare (SSA title XVIII) coverage for OASDI (SSA title II) disability benefit recipients who are using tickets to work and self-sufficiency (TWSS). (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 and makes appropriations. (Sec. 104) Authorizes State demonstration projects under which Medicaid 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 is provided for up to a specified maximum number of workers with a potentially severe disability. Authorizes and makes appropriations. Title II: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program - Amends part A (General Provisions) of SSA title XI to direct the Commissioner of Social Security to establish a Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program (TWSSP) under which a disabled beneficiary may use a TWSS issued by the Commissioner under a described system, designed to ensure quality assurance, to obtain employment, vocational rehabilitation, or other support services, pursuant to an appropriate individual work plan meeting specified requirements, at the Commissioner'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 TWSS. 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 TWSS, the Commissioner and any applicable State agency may not initiate a continuing disability or similar review with regard to whether the individual is or is not disabled. Authorizes to be transferred from the social security trust funds each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary to carry out this title with respect to SSA title II disability beneficiaries. Directs the Commissioner to establish a corps of trained, accessible, and responsive work incentive specialists to specialize in SSA title II and title XVI disability work incentives for the purpose of disseminating accurate information to disabled beneficiaries with respect to inquiries and issues relating to work incentives. (Sec. 204) Establishes within the executive branch the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Advisory Panel to advise the Commissioner with respect to TWSSP, and furnish progress on TWSSP to the President and Congress. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 205) 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. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct and report to 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. Title III: 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 drug addicts and alcoholics. (Sec. 302) 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 social security 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. 303) Provides for a two-year open season for members of the clergy who wish to revoke their exemption from social security coverage . (Sec. 304) Amends SSA title XI to make a miscellaneous technical amendment relating to cooperative research or demonstration projects under SSA titles II and XVI. (Sec. 305) Amends SSA title XI to make miscellaneous technical amendments to provisions concerning the requirements of State income and eligibility verification systems to, among other changes, allow 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 · 10 March 1999
Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize specified assistance, including humanitarian, economic, migration and refugee, development, border control, and democracy building assistance to the South Caucasus and Central Asia countries to: (1) promote sovereignty, independence with democratic government, and respect for human rights; (2) assist in the resolution of regional conflicts and facilitate the removal of impediments to cross-border commerce; (3) promote economic cooperation and market-oriented principles; (4) assist in the development of infrastructure necessary for communications, transportation, education, health, and energy and trade on an East-West axis in order to build strong relations and commerce between those countries and the democratic, market-oriented countries of the Euro-Atlantic community; and (5) support U.S. business interests and investments in the region. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should use all diplomatic means to press for an equitable, fair, and permanent resolution to the conflicts in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Prohibits, with specified exceptions, assistance to the governments of the South Caucasus and Central Asia if the President determines and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that they: (1) are engaged in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights; (2) have knowingly transferred controlled missiles or missile technology to another country, or any equipment or technology that would contribute to the ability of such country to manufacture weapons of mass destruction (including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons); (3) have repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism; or (4) are prohibited from receiving such assistance by specified Acts. Amends the Freedom Support Act to waive the restriction on assistance to Azerbaijan if the President certifies to Congress that such restriction would not be in the national interest of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Title II: Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Assistance Disaster Mitigation Act of 1999 - Title I: Predisaster Hazards Mitigation - Authorizes the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to establish a program of technical and financial assistance to States and local governments that implement predisaster mitigation measures to reduce injuries and loss of life and property damage and destruction, including damage to their critical public infrastructure and facilities. Requires the Director to provide financial assistance from the National Predisaster Mitigation Fund (established under this Act) to each State or local government that has identified all natural disaster hazards in its jurisdiction and has demonstrated its ability to form effective public-private disaster mitigation, to be used: (1) principally to implement the predisaster hazard mitigation measures contained in proposals approved by the Director; (2) to support effective public- private partnerships; (3) to ensure that new community growth and construction is disaster resistant; and (4) to improve the assessment of a community's natural hazards vulnerabilities or set a community's mitigation priorities. Requires the Director to take into account when establishing priorities for predisaster mitigation grants: (1) the level and nature of the risks to be mitigated; (2) grantee commitment to reduce damages from future disaster; and (3) commitment by the State or local government to support ongoing non-Federal support for the mitigation measures to be undertaken. Limits grant amounts to 75 percent of the total costs of the mitigation proposal(s) approved by the Director. (Sec. 103) Increases from 15 to 20 percent the maximum contribution for hazard mitigation costs with respect to a major disaster declared under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act after the enactment date of this Act. Title II: Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Assistance - Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to direct the President to publish rules to require States, communities, or other applicants to protect property through self- insurance or adequate mitigation measures if the appropriate State insurance commissioner makes a certification regarding a reasonable amount of insurance and the President determines that the property is not adequately protected against natural or other disasters. (Sec. 202) Directs the President to: (1) establish management cost rates for disaster preparedness and mitigation assistance grantees and subgrantees; (2) review such rates at least every three years; and (3) promulgate regulations to define costs to be included in management costs. (Sec. 203) Limits the Federal share of assistance provided to 75 percent of the eligible costs of the repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of damaged public and private facilities. Directs the President to publish rules to reduce the Federal share of assistance for such costs for eligible public or private facilities that have previously received significant disaster assistance on multiple occasions. Provides for the determination of eligible costs and the modification of such costs. Requires the President, through the Director of FEMA, to establish an expert panel for the determination of such costs. (Sec. 204) Rewrites temporary housing assistance provisions of such Act. Authorizes the President to provide financial assistance and, if necessary, direct services to disaster victims who, as a direct result of a major disaster, have necessary expenses and serious needs and are unable to meet such expenses or needs through other means, including insurance proceeds or loan or other financial assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) or another Federal agency. (Provides that the inability to meet such expenses and needs through loan or other financial assistance from the SBA shall not apply to provisions governing temporary housing rental assistance, or permanent housing construction.) Authorizes the President to provide financial or other appropriate assistance (for up to 18 months) to households that are displaced or whose primary residences are rendered uninhabitable as a result of such a disaster. Authorizes the President to provide the following types of housing assistance: (1) financial assistance to households to rent alternate housing accommodations, existing rental units, manufactured housing, recreational vehicles, or other readily fabricated dwellings; (2) housing units, acquired by purchase or lease, directly to households who would be unable to use such financial assistance; (3) up to $5,000 in financial assistance to households for emergency repairs to return owner-occupied primary residences, utilities, and residential infrastructure damaged by a major disaster to a habitable or functioning condition; and (4) financial or direct assistance to construct permanent housing in insular areas outside the continental United States and in other remote locations if no alternative housing resources are available. Sets forth terms and conditions governing the location and disposal of fabricated dwellings provided under this section. Authorizes the President to provide financial assistance to a household adversely affected by a major disaster: (1) to meet disaster-related medical, dental, or funeral expenses; and (2) to address personal property, transportation, and other expenses or needs. Directs the President to provide for substantial involvement of the affected State in administering assistance under this section. Limits to $25,000 the maximum amount of financial assistance that a household may receive under this section for a single major disaster.
United States · United States Congress · 10 March 1999
Amends Federal aviation law to subject to a civil penalty of up to $25,000 any individual who interferes with the duties or responsibilities of the flight crew or cabin crew of a civil aircraft, or who poses an imminent threat to the safety of the aircraft or other individuals on the aircraft. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation, in addition or as an alternative, to prohibit for not more than one year the individual from flying as a passenger on a civil aircraft. Requires the Secretary to notify all air carriers of the prohibition, including its term. Subjects to a civil penalty of up to $25,000 any air carrier which provides air transportation to an individual who has been prohibited from flying on a civil aircraft.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1999
Declares the portion of the James River and Kanawha Canal in Richmond, Virginia, between the Great Ship Lock on the east and the border of the city of Richmond on the west, to be nonnavigable waters of the United States for purposes of U.S. maritime laws.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1999
Radiation Exposure Compensation Improvement Act of 1999 - Amends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to add to the definition of "affected area" the parts of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico comprising the Navajo Nation Reservation that were subjected to fallout from nuclear weapons testing in Nevada. Modifies the definition of "specified disease." Amends provisions regarding claims relating to uranium mining to expand their applicability to include any individual employed to transport or handle uranium ore. Includes as eligible such individuals in currently-specified States and in any other State in which uranium was mined, milled, or transported. Includes as a uranium mine above-ground mines, open pit mines, and uranium mills. Expands the dates between which exposure must have taken place. Increases the amount of compensation provided, decreases the required period of exposure, eliminates the distinction between smokers and nonsmokers, and expands the compensable conditions to include any condition associated with uranium mining, milling, or transport. Mandates compensation for individuals employed in uranium mining, milling, or transport and who: (1) were, without the individual's knowledge or informed consent, intentionally exposed to radiation for research by the Federal Government; or (2) in the course of the individual's employment suffered death, injury, or disability but were barred from the worker's compensation system or civil actions available to similarly situated employees in nonuranium mines or mills. Modifies and establishes various definitions. Changes procedures and requirements regarding the determination and payment of claims, including setting forth certain requirements relating to Native Americans. Declares that payment of an award under any provision of the Act does not preclude an award under any other provision of the Act, but that no individual may receive more than one award for any compensable cancer or other disease. Allows claims to be filed for 20 years after the enactment of this Act and applies the amendments made by this Act to any claim pending or commenced after a specified date. Mandates a report to the Congress that: (1) summarizes medical knowledge on adverse health effects on residents of communities adjacent to uranium mills or mill tailings, above ground uranium mines, or open pit mines; (2) summarizes information on the availability and accessibility of medical care for individuals with malignancies and other compensable diseases relating to exposure to uranium as a result of mining and milling; (3) summarizes reclamation efforts regarding uranium mines, mills, and mill tailings in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, and Utah; and (4) makes recommendations for further actions to ensure health and safety regarding such efforts.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1999
Regional Investments for National Growth Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a regional investments for national growth program (RING program) in order to identify and fund large multi-State and regional transportation projects that are essential to global U.S. competitiveness. Makes eligible for funding under the RING program any regional transportation infrastructure investments that include participation by two or more States or public authorities representing two or more States, or that improve access to international commerce centers such as ports, commercial aviation facilities, and major rail terminals, and meet specified requirements. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1999
Improved Consumer Access to Travel Information Act - Establishes the National Commission to Ensure Consumer Information and Choice in the Airline Industry. Sets forth the Commission's duties, including to: (1) study consumer access to airline industry information on products and services, the effect on consumers of the declining financial condition of travel agents in the United States, and the impediments imposed by the airline industry on distributors of the industry's products and services, including travel agents and Internet-based distributors; and (2) recommend, based on the study results, to the President and Congress policies necessary to ensure full consumer access to complete information concerning airline fares, routes, and other services, that the means of distributing the products and services of the airline industry (including information on such items) is adequate to ensure that competitive information is available in the marketplace, and that distributors of such products and services have adequate relief from illegal, anticompetitive practices that occur in the marketplace. Requires the Commission to report to the President and Congress on the Commission's activities, including any recommendations made by it.
United States · United States Congress · 9 March 1999
Makes amounts available for expenses, including expenses of staff salaries, of the following committees of the House of Representatives in the 106th Congress: (1) Agriculture; (2) Armed Services; (3) Banking and Financial Services; (4) Budget; (5) Commerce; (6) Education and the Workforce; (7) Government Reform; (8) House Administration; (9) Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; (10) International Relations; (11) Judiciary; (12) Resources; (13) Rules; (14) Science; (15) Small Business; (16) Standards of Official Conduct; (17) Transportation and Infrastructure; (18) Veterans' Affairs; and (19) Ways and Means. Sets forth first and second session limitations on such amounts. Grants the Committee on House Administration the authority to make adjustments in such amounts if necessary to comply with a presidential sequestration order issued under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) or to conform to any reduction in appropriations. Establishes a reserve fund for unanticipated expenses of committees for the 106th Congress to be paid to them pursuant to allocations approved by such Committee.
United States · United States Congress · 8 March 1999
Amends the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1997 (the Act) to repeal, if issued prior to enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation's issuance of a certificate of documentation (waiver) with endorsement for the employment in the coastwise trade for the vessel COLUMBUS (U.S. official number 590658). Directs the Secretary to issue a revised certificate of documentation for such vessel that is consistent with the limitations on the operation of that vessel that applied to it on the day before the enactment the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Chapter 1: Department of Agriculture Chapter 2: Funds Appropriated to the President Chapter 3: Department of the Interior Chapter 4: Independent Agency Title II: Supplemental Appropriations Chapter 1: Department of Justice Chapter 2: Department of Defense--Military Chapter 3: Department of the Interior Chapter 4: Related Agency Chapter 5: Department of Defense Chapter 6: Department Of Housing and Urban Development Title III: Rescissions and Offsets Chapter 1: Department of Agriculture Chapter 2: Department of Justice Chapter 3: Department of Defense--Military Chapter 4: Bilateral Economic Assistance Chapter 5: Department of the Interior Chapter 6: Department of Labor Chapter 7: Department of Defense Chapter 8: Department of Housing and Urban Development Title IV: Technical Corrections Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1999 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations and rescissions for recovery from natural disasters and foreign assistance, for FY 1999. Title I: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations - Chapter 1 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the Department of Agriculture for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, for emergency grants to assist low-income migrant and seasonal farm workers; (2) the Farm Service Agency, for salaries and expenses, the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund program account, and the Emergency Conservation Program; (3) the Commodity Credit Corporation Fund, for a livestock indemnity program; (4) the Natural Resources Conservation Service, for Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations; and (5) the Rural Housing Service, for the Rural Housing Insurance Fund program account and for rural housing assistance grants. Chapter 2 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the President for : (1) the Agency for International Development, for the Central America and the Caribbean Emergency Disaster Recovery Fund to provide relief from the effects of the hurricanes in Central America and the Caribbean and the earthquake in Colombia, international disaster assistance, and other bilateral economic assistance; and (2) the Foreign Military Financing Program. Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the Department of the Treasury for debt restructuring, allowing a specified amount to be used for a contribution to the Central America Emergency Trust Fund, administered by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Provides that the value of articles, services, and military education and training authorized as of a specified date to be drawn down by the President under certain provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 shall not be counted against the ceiling limitation. Chapter 3 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to: (1) the Department of the Interior, for construction by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and (2) the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Chapter 4 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster assistance for unmet needs. Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999 - Establishes the Emergency Steel Guaranteed Loan Program, to be administered by a Loan Guarantee Board, to provide loan guarantees to qualified steel companies. Sets limits on loan duration and on the aggregate amounts of loans and guarantees outstanding at any one time under the program or with respect to a single qualified company. Designates the entire amount made available for the program as an emergency requirement. Title II: Supplemental Appropriations - Chapter 1 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to: (1) the Department of Justice, for the Immigration and Naturalization Service's salaries and expenses for enforcement and border affairs; (2) Department of Commerce, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's operations, research, and facilities; and (3) the U.S. Supreme Court. Chapter 2 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the Department of Defense: (1) for military personnel of the Army Reserve, Army National Guard, and Air Force National Guard; (2) operation and maintenance, defense-wide and for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Army National Guard; (3) overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid; and (4) the New Horizons Exercise transfer fund. (Sec. 201) Allows a specified portion of appropriations for defense-wide operation and maintenance, under the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1999 (Public Law 105-262), to be made available for a grant to a consortium of non-profit, higher education institutions to create a computer network to enhance teaching and learning opportunities in science, technology and communications. (Sec. 202) Revises specified Federal law to raise the ceiling on the number of persons from a foreign country who may enter the U.S. Military Academy, Naval Academy, or Air Force Academy. Chapter 3 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the Department of the Interior for: (1) the Bureau of Indian Affairs operation of Indian programs, for suppression of western spruce budworm (transferring funds from previous appropriations for Forest Service wildland fire management); (2) the Bureau of Land Management, for its management of lands and resources through the Automated Land and Mineral Record System; and (3) the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, Federal Trust programs activities under the Trust Management Improvement Project High Level Implementation Plan. Requires transfer to the Knudson-Vandenberg fund of specified funds made available for the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service wildland fire management. Chapter 4 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's National Public Radio, for acquisition of satellite capacity for the Public Radio Satellite System. Chapter 5 - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations to the Department of Defense, for military construction, Army National Guard, for incremental costs due to Hurricane Georges. Chapter 6 - Extends the period of availability for specified funds for management and administration of the Office of Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Sec. 2001) Amends the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, which is a specified part of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 (OCESAA), to provide for direct payment to Auburn University, Alabama, of funds appropriated for Forest Service construction of a new forestry research facility there, in a limited amount prior to October 1, 1999. Requires Auburn University to provide rent-free any additional space within such new facility that the Forest Service may need for collaborative laboratory activities. (Sec. 2002) Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior from using funds under this or any other Act to issue and finalize a rule to revise a specified regulation or the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Surface Management Regulations for Locatable Mineral Operations, unless a minimum 120-day period has been provided for accepting public comment on such proposed rule after a required report of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Hardrock Mining on Federal Lands is submitted to the appropriate Federal agencies, the Congress, and the Governors of the affected States. (Sec. 2003) Authorizes the Attorney General to transfer, from any funds available to the Department of Justice, a limited amount of additional funds to the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund to pay restitution to individuals who are : (1) eligible under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and have filed timely claims for the restitution; or (2) found eligible under the settlement agreement in the case of Carmen Mochizuki et al. vs.United States and filed timely claims covered by the agreement. (Sec. 2004) Revises a specified part of OCESAA to prohibit charging against a program of honey recourse loans any administrative costs other than those necessary for such program's operation. (Sec. 2005) Prohibits use of funds in this or any other Act to issue a notice of final rulemaking with respect to the valuation of crude oil for royalty purposes, including a rulemaking derived from specified proposed rules, until October 1, 1999, or until there is a negotiated agreement on the rule. (Sec. 2006) Requires a certain amount of funds for sewer infrastructure needs associated with the 2002 Winter Olympic Games to be awarded to Wasatch County, Utah, for both water and sewer. (Sec. 2007) Prohibits the Department of the Interior, for the remainder of FY 1999, from using any funds to implement a Secretarial Order regarding the Reorganization of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. Requires that FY 1999 appropriations for reforming trust funds management practices continue to be administered as if such Order had not been issued. (Sec. 2008) Revises specified Federal law, as amended by OCESAA, to extend the authorization of appropriations and the obligational authority for the Airport Improvement Program. Amends the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, under OCESAA, to provide that a specified maximum amount of funds, which are limited under provisions for liquidation of contract authorization, may be obligated before the enactment of a bill extending contract authorization for the Grants-in-Aid for airports program beyond May 31, 1999. (Sec. 2009) Extends through FY 1999 the period of reenactment, under OCESAA, of specified Federal bankruptcy law relating to family farmers. (Sec. 2010) Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to revise: (1) debt service margin requirements; and (2) a formula used in loan restructuring determinations. (Sec. 2011) Amends the Social Security Act to prohibit treatment of funds recovered or paid from tobacco companies to a State, in a comprehensive or individual State settlement or court judgement, as an overpayment under Medicaid. Allows States to use such funds for any expenditures they deem appropriate, but prohibits certain payments for administrative expenses incurred in pursuing such tobacco litigation. Title III: Rescissions and Offsets - Chapter 1 - Rescinds a specified amount of funds from the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service food stamp program. Chapter 2 - Rescinds specified amounts of funds from the Department of Justice's: (1) Office of Inspector General; and (2) Immigration and Naturalization Service, for salaries and expenses for enforcement and border affairs, and for citizenship and benefits, immigration support and program direction. Rescinds specified amounts of funds from the Department Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for operations, research and facilities procurement, acquisition, and construction. Rescinds specified amounts of funds from the Department of State and related agencies, for international organizations and conferences, including contributions to international organizations, contributions for international peacekeeping activities, and international broadcasting operations. Chapter 3 - Rescinds a specified amount of funds from the Department of Defense for military operation and maintenance defense-wide. Chapter 4 - Rescinds specified amounts, from bilateral economic assistance funds appropriated to the President, from: (1) Haiti; (2) Bosnia and Herzegovina; and (3) Russia. Rescinds specified amounts, from multilateral economic assistance funds appropriated to the President, from: (1) the contribution to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's global environment facility; and (2) international organizations and programs. Chapter 5 - Rescinds a specified amount of funds from the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management's management of lands and resources. Chapter 6 - Reduces the amount of specified funds for the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration's State unemployment insurance and employment service operations. Defers the availability for obligation of specified amounts of funds for the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families' Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Rescinds a specified amount of funds from the Department of Education for education research, statistics, and improvement. Chapter 7 - Rescinds a specified amount of funds from the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closure Account, Part IV. Chapter 8 - Rescinds a specified amount of funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for community development block grants. Rescinds a specified amount from the Environmental Protection Agency for research associated with the Climate Technology Initiative. (Sec. 3001) Repeals OCESAA provisions for FY 1999 emergency supplemental appropriations for the Agricultural Research Service of the Department of Agriculture for counterdrug research and development activities, (Sec. 3002) Rescinds a specified amount of funds appropriated with an emergency designation in OCESAA emergency supplemental provisions, other than those appropriated to the Department of Defense--Military. Requires such reductions to be applied proportionally to each appropriation account and budget activity being reduced. (Sec. 3003) Rescinds a specified amount of FY 1999 funds from the non-defense discretionary category, as a result of revised economic assumptions from inflation adjusted accounts. (Sec. 3004) Directs the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Comptroller General to audit, and report to the Congress on, HUD's compliance with the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989 over the last two years. Title IV: Technical Corrections - Revises and makes technical corrections to various Acts contained in OCESAA, including: (1) the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999; (2) the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1999 (and provisions of the International Financial Institutions Act added by such Act); (3) the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999; (4) the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999; (5) the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999; (6) the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 1999; and (7) the Denali Commission Act of 1998. Revises and makes other technical corrections to the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1999, the American Fisheries Act, and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Improvement Act - Amends Federal aviation law to remove the limitation that not more than two of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board members appointed by the President may be of the same political party.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Authorizations Title II: Amendments to Aviation Law Title III: Airport Improvement Program Amendments Title IV: Commercial Space Transportation Amendments Title V: Performance Based Organization for Air Traffic Services Title VI: Family Assistance Title VII: Passenger Service Availability; Mail Rates Title VIII: Transfer of Aeronautical Charting Activity Title IX: Whistleblower Protection Title X: National Parks Air Tour Management Title XI: Title 49 Technical Corrections Title XII: Prevention of Fraud Involving Aircraft or Space Vehicle Parts Title XIII: Internal Revenue Code Amendments Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1999 - Title I: Authorizations - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004 for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations. Earmarks amounts for a university consortium established to provide an air safety and security management certificate program. (Sec. 103) Amends Federal aviation law to authorize appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004 for: (1) the FAA Facilities and Equipment Program; and (2) FAA research, engineering, and development. (Sec. 104) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004 for airport planning and development and noise compatibility planning programs. (Sec. 105) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 for the Office of Inspector General for the conduct of annual audits of FAA financial statements. Title II: Amendments to Aviation Law - Amends Federal aviation law to authorize the FAA Administrator to contract for procurement of severable services for a period that begins in one fiscal year and ends in the next fiscal year if (without regard to any option to extend it) the contract period does not exceed one year. Declares that funds available for a fiscal year may be obligated for the total amount of the contract. (Sec. 202) Amends the Airport Noise and Capacity Act to make foreign air carriers eligible for a waiver from Stage three noise level requirements for certain aircraft. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to provide a procedure under which a person may operate a Stage one or Stage two airplane in nonrevenue service to or from a U.S. airport in order to: (1) sell the aircraft outside the United States; (2) sell such aircraft for scrapping; or (3) obtain modifications to the aircraft to meet Stage three noise levels. (Sec. 203) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to establish consortia of government and aviation industry representatives at airports to provide advice on matters related to aviation security and safety. (Sec. 204) Provides for an eligible agency to impose a passenger facility fee of more than $3 (currently, $1, $2, or $3) on each airline passenger of a domestic or foreign air carrier boarding an aircraft at an airport the agency controls to finance an eligible airport-related project. Requires an eligible agency when submitting an application for a passenger facility fee of more than $4 to submit separately a competition plan to the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to approve an application of an eligible agency for a surface transportation project to improve access to an airport having at least .25 percent of the total number of passenger boardings each year at all commercial service airports only if such agency has made adequate provision for financing safety, security, and capacity needs of the airport. Authorizes the Secretary, in order to encourage the development of transportation systems that use various modes of transportation to serve effectively the State and local communities, to approve an application by an eligible agency to participate in a cost-sharing agreement with one or more eligible surface transportation agencies for a surface transportation project, provided certain conditions are met. Revises the methodology for reducing, through the imposition of passenger facility fees, the apportionment of airport planning and development and noise compatibility planning funds to sponsors of airports. (Sec. 205) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to enter into bilateral agreements with the aeronautical authorities of another country to exchange with that country all or part of their respective safety oversight functions and duties with respect to certain domestic and foreign aircraft. (Sec. 206) Authorizes the appropriation of the balance of funds available in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund for, among other things, any cost incurred by the FAA after September 30, 1999, that is authorized by law. (Sec. 207) Directs the FAA Administrator to establish a schedule of new fees for services (other than air traffic control services) provided to any entity obtaining services outside the United States. (Sec. 208) Amends the Pilot Records Improvement Act to eliminate the need for criminal history checks in the employment investigation of individuals applying for certain airport security positions in cases where there are unaccounted gaps in the employment of such individuals of more than 12 months, or inconsistent or unsupported information provided on their applications. Declares that an air carrier does not need to obtain the employment records of an applicant pilot who has been employed by a branch of the U.S. armed forces, the National Guard (or reserve), or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) before allowing such individual to begin service as a pilot. Provides for electronic access to the employment records of FAA air pilots. (Sec. 209) Extends Federal aviation insurance and reinsurance programs through December 31, 2004. (Sec. 210) Authorizes the judicial review of FAA Administrator orders imposing a civil penalty. (Sec. 211) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to improve real property leased for air navigation facilities when such improvements primarily benefit the government, are essential for mission accomplishment, and the government's interest in the improvements is protected. (Sec. 212) Provides for the enforcement of whistleblower laws and the Hatch Act (prohibiting State or local employees from influencing elections or taking part in political campaigns) for FAA employees. (Sec. 213) Provides that a proposed change to the FAA personnel management system that has not led to an agreement between the FAA employee bargaining unit and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service shall not become effective until 60-days after the FAA Administrator has submitted the change to Congress. Provides that such period shall not include any period during which Congress has adjourned sine die. Authorizes FAA employees who have been the subject of a major adverse personnel action to contest such action either through any contractual grievance procedure through the employee's collective bargaining unit or through the FAA's internal process relating to review of FAA major adverse personnel actions (under the Guaranteed Fair Treatment or a specified section of the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996). Requires such employees who can contest such personnel action through more than one forum to elect the appropriate forum (no more than one). Amends the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 to authorize FAA employees under the new FAA personnel management system to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board and seek judicial review of Board decisions. (Sec. 214) Requires the FAA Administrator to establish a schedule of new fees (until they are replaced by another schedule of fees adopted under specified law) for the provision of air traffic control services to an air carrier, a commercial air carrier (for compensation or hire), or a foreign air carrier. Provides for the reduction of aviation excise taxes to be credited to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund if such taxes and receipts from fees exceed for FY 2000 the FAA budgetary requirements for FY 2001. (Sec. 215) Amends the statute prohibiting the bringing of hazardous material aboard an aircraft to provide that knowledge of the existence of a regulation or requirement related to the transportation of hazardous material prescribed by the Secretary is not an element of the offense. (Sec. 216) Directs the Secretary, in order to improve security at public U.S. airports, to carry out one or more projects to test and evaluate innovative aviation security systems and related technology. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 218) Subjects to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 any individual who interferes with the duties or responsibilities of the flight crew or cabin crew of a civil aircraft, or who poses an imminent threat to the safety of the aircraft or other individuals on the aircraft. (Sec. 219) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to delegate authority for cargo inspection to a qualified private person. (Sec. 220) Amends the statute prohibiting piloting of an aircraft not used to provide air transportation without a valid airman's certificate. Excepts from the limitation of such prohibition only to aircraft not used to provide air transportation any person who knowingly and willfully serves or attempts to serve in any capacity as an airman without such certificate authorizing such individual to serve in that capacity. (Thus subjects such a person to the general criminal penalty for such a violation even if the aircraft is in fact used to provide air transportation.) Title III: Airport Improvement Program Amendments - Removes the maximum cap on airport improvement funds credited to the discretionary fund. (Sec. 302) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a demonstration program of not more than five new projects for grants to implement innovative financing techniques for airport development projects at airports that have less than .25 percent of the boardings at all commercial service airports. (Sec. 303) Sets forth the maximum Federal share of costs for: (1) airport improvement projects funded under the State block grant program; and (2) projects for the operation of turbine powered aircraft at nonprimary airports. (Sec. 304) Increases from 31 to 35 percent the minimum apportionment from the discretionary fund for airport improvement grant funds for airport noise compatibility programs and approved noise mitigation projects. (Sec. 305) Increases the State apportionment of airport development funds. (Sec. 306) Authorizes the Secretary to use certain unobligated funds to make discretionary grants for airport planning and development and noise compatibility planning programs. (Sec. 307) Repeals the pavement maintenance pilot program. Makes routine work to preserve and extend the useful life of runways, taxiways, and aprons at airports eligible for airport development project funds. (Sec. 308) Authorizes the Secretary to apportion airport improvement funds to an airport sponsor in a fiscal year in an amount equal to the amount apportioned to such sponsor in the previous fiscal year if the Secretary finds that: (1) passenger boardings at the airport fell below 10,000 in the calendar year used to calculate the apportionment; (2) the airport had at least 10,000 passenger boardings in the year prior to the year used to calculate apportionments to airport sponsors in a fiscal year; and (3) the cause of the shortfall in passenger boardings was a temporary but significant interruption in service by an air carrier to the airport due to an employment action, natural disaster, or other event unrelated to the demand for air transportation at the affected airport. (Sec. 309) Authorizes the Secretary to approve an airport development project at an airport having at least .25 percent of the total number of passenger boardings each year at all commercial service airports only for: (1) a development project to meet certain safety or security requirements or specified other Federal requirements; (2) airport noise compatibility planning projects; (3) a development project that will create new airfield capacity at an airport; and (4) airport planning. (Sec. 310) Prohibits the Secretary from waiving certain required assurances that property be used for aeronautical purposes with respect to the grant of airport development funds, unless the Secretary provides public notice at least 30 days before issuing such waiver. (Sec. 311) Makes it policy to encourage the development of transportation systems, including airport systems, in a manner that will serve the Nation, the States, and local communities efficiently and effectively. Includes within the integrated airport system planning process the developing of a plan for an airport system that includes a primary airport that enplanes at least 0.25 percent of the total number of passenger boardings each year at all commercial service airports, so that such planning includes fair consideration of surface transportation and land use plans relevant to airport access and development in the airport system under study. Revises requirements for the approval of an airport development project grant application, with respect to a project for the location of an airport or a project for a runway or a major runway extension at such primary airport, to require the sponsor to provide the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) authorized to conduct metropolitan planning in the area in which the airport is located with not less than 60 days to review the airport master plan and submit comments on such plans to the sponsor. (Sec. 312) Makes it policy that priority consideration should be given to encourage development identified by the Secretary to support operations of turbine powered aircraft at nonprimary airports to the extent possible with available funds, considering other airport needs. (Sec. 313) Increases from 12 to 15 the number of current or former military airports at any time that may receive airport improvement funds. (Sec. 314) Revises criteria for the issuance by the Secretary of letters of intent to sponsors to obligate funds for airport development projects. Limits to projects at an airport having at least 0.25 percent of the boardings each year of all commercial service airports the requirement that the Secretary decide the project will enhance system-wide airport capacity significantly. (Sec. 315) Authorizes the use of airport improvement funds apportioned to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico for any of their public airports. Authorizes the use of the supplemental apportionment of airport improvement funds for Alaska for any of its public airports. Repeals a certain limitation on the apportionment of airport improvement funds for commercial airports in Alaska. Revises the amount of certain funds apportioned to the discretionary and small airport funds. Authorizes the Secretary to distribute a certain percentage of funds from the small airport fund for grants for projects at small hub airports. Authorizes the use of State-apportioned airport improvement funds for: (1) integrated airport system planning that encompasses one or more primary airports; and (2) a project to survey or to upgrade a non-primary airport to obtain greater benefits from implementation of satellite-based air navigation systems. Declares that an airport development project shall remain eligible for funding from the discretionary fund (subject to the availability of funds) even though the status of the airport project changes from a primary airport to a non-primary airport. Revises the definition of "public-use airport," for purposes of grant eligibility for airport development funds, to include a privately-owned airport that, as a reliever airport, received Federal aid for airport development before October 9, 1996. Permits certain regulations promulgated by the Secretary to authorize a public agency to request waiver of a passenger facility fee for: (1) any class of domestic or foreign air carriers that enplane not more than a specified percent of the total number of passengers enplaned annually at a airport; or (2) passengers enplaned on a flight to an airport with scheduled passenger service but fewer than 2,500 passenger boardings each year, or in a community with a population of less than 10,000 and not connected by land to the National Highway System. Title IV: Commercial Space Transportation Amendments - Increases FY 2000 authorization of appropriations for activities of the Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. Authorizes appropriations for such activities for FY 2001 through 2004. (Sec. 402) Repeals the requirement for uniform guidelines for acquisition of surplus property and services. (Sec. 403) Extends, through December 31, 2005, the Secretary's authority to pay excess claims against the United States for death, bodily injury, or property damage occurring during a commercial space launch and reentry. Title V: Performance Based Organization for Air Traffic Services - Requires the FAA Administrator to establish within the FAA a performance-based organization (Air Traffic Services (ATS)) to manage and operate the air traffic control system on an efficient basis without Federal funding after May 15, 2001. Establishes an ATS subcommittee to be headed by the Chairman of the Management Advisory Council to offer advice and recommendations to the FAA Administrator with respect to ATS performance. Requires the ATS to establish a performance management system for all ATS employees. Authorizes the ATS to establish an awards program to provide incentives for such employees. (Sec. 504) Directs the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the ATS to prescribe a schedule of fees for air traffic and related services that are provided by the ATS to the air carrier, foreign air carrier, and other non-public-non-military aircraft. Authorizes the imposition of ATS fees on international commercial operations involving air traffic control services provided by the United States (and not subject to tax) as long as they are consistent with international agreements. Declares that payment of such fees shall be in lieu of any fees charged for such services for overflight operations. Provides for congressional review of ATS fees. (Sec. 505) Requires the deposit of ATS fees into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Authorizes appropriations (without fiscal-year limitation) from the Trust Fund equal to amounts collected for specified user fees to the ATS for the provision of air traffic services. (Sec. 506) Provides for the adjustment of certain aviation excise taxes credited to the Trust Fund. Title VI: Family Assistance - Amends Federal transportation law to revise the prohibition against unsolicited communications before a certain time concerning potential action for personal injury or wrongful death by an attorney to an individual injured in an accident involving a domestic air carrier. Extends the moratorium from 30 days following the accident to 45 days. Includes within the prohibition any accidents involving a foreign carrier in the United States. Authorizes the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to bring a civil action in a district court for violations. (Sec. 601) Prohibits a State or political subdivision from preventing nonprofit organization employees with experience in disasters and post-trauma communication with families from providing mental health and counseling services within the 30 day period after an accident. Includes within the definition of "passenger" with regard to assistance to families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents: (1) foreign air carrier employees aboard the aircraft; and (2) any other person aboard the aircraft without regard to whether the person paid for the transportation, occupied a seat, or held a reservation for the flight. (Sec. 602) Revises requirements for air carrier plans that provide assistance to the families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents to require them to include, at a minimum, an assurance that: (1) upon request of the family of a passenger, the air carrier will inform the family of the status of the review of the verification of the passenger manifest, including whether the passenger's name appeared on a preliminary passenger manifest for the flight involved in the accident; and (2) the air carrier will provide adequate training to air carrier employees and agents to meet the needs of survivors and family members following an accident. Prohibits the Secretary from approving an application for a permit to provide foreign air transportation unless the applicant has included, among other things, as part of the application or request for exemption an agreement that, in the event that such foreign air carrier volunteers assistance to U.S. citizens within the United States in the case of an aircraft accident outside the United States involving major loss of life, the foreign air carrier will consult with the NTSB and the Department of State on the provision of such assistance. Declares that an air carrier shall not be liable for damages in any action brought in a Federal or State court arising out of its performance in providing information concerning a flight reservation. (Sec. 603) Makes similar changes to foreign air carrier plan requirements. Title VII: Passenger Service Availability; Mail Rates - Amends Federal transportation law to prohibit: (1) a domestic or foreign air carrier in providing foreign air transportation (or a domestic air carrier in providing interstate air transportation) from subjecting an airline passenger to unreasonable discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex; and (2) a foreign air carrier from discriminating against a passenger that has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. (Sec. 701) Authorizes the Attorney General, or an interested person, to institute a civil action for damages, for past activity, and for preventive relief for persons injured as a result of such discrimination (including discrimination against the handicapped). Authorizes the court, in its discretion, to allow the prevailing party (other than the United States) reasonable attorney's fees. (Sec. 702) Directs the Secretary to establish a five-year pilot airline service restoration program to provide funds to up to 40 communities and States with inadequate access to the national transportation system to improve their access to such system. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 703) Waives the State or local contribution requirement with respect to the compensation of an air carrier providing air service to certain noneligible places. (Sec. 704) Authorizes the Secretary, if it is necessary to facilitate service to a small community, to require an air carrier that serves an essential airport facility to enter into a joint-fare or interline agreement with a qualifying air carrier that serves an underserved market to facilitate air transportation in the market. (Sec. 705) Directs the Secretary, in carrying out aviation policy, to consider as being in the public interest and consistent with public convenience and necessity ensuring that: (1) consumers in all regions of the United States, including those in small communities and rural and remote areas, have access to affordable, regularly scheduled air service; and (2) slots provided to air carriers to provide small community air service are withdrawn if the carrier fails to provide the service. (Sec. 706) Revises air carrier obligations, with respect to two air carriers who make an agreement to operate under or use a single carrier designator code to provide air transportation, to require the carrier whose code is being used to share responsibility with the other carriers for the level and quality of transportation provided the public under the code by the other carriers, including providing full service at Essential Air Service communities. (Sec. 707) Repeals mail rate-setting authority of the U.S. Postal with respect to the transportation of mail by aircraft in foreign air transportation. Authorizes the Postal Service to provide for the transportation of mail by aircraft in air transportation (currently, in interstate air transportation). (Sec. 708) Repeals requirements under the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) prohibiting the increase or decrease by the FAA Administrator in the number of takeoffs and landings (the High Density Rule) at airports (except Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport). Exempts certain aircraft with specified noise levels from the High Density Rule at airports (except Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport). Title VIII: Transfer of Aeronautical Charting Activity - Transfers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration all functions, personnel, and funds of the Office of Aeronautical Charting and Cartography to the Department of Transportation. Title IX: Whistleblower Protection - Amends Federal transportation law to establish a whistleblower protection program for airline employees providing air safety information. (Sec. 901) Prohibits a person from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee with respect to pay, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee: (1) notified his or her employer of an alleged violation of this title; (2) refused to operate aircraft or work when it would be in violation of a FAA regulation, or because of a reasonable apprehension of death or serious physical harm; (3) provided or is about to provide information relating to air safety; or (4) has filed or is about to file a proceeding, or testified, or otherwise participated in a proceeding relating to air carrier safety. Sets forth a Department of Labor complaint procedure for persons who believe they have been discharged or discriminated against in violation of this Act. Specifies civil penalties for violation of this Act. Title X: National Parks Air Tour Management - National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 1999 - Prohibits a commercial air tour operator from conducting commercial air tour operations over a national park or tribal lands, except in accordance with this Act, conditions prescribed for that operator by the FAA Administrator, and any commercial air tour management plan for the park or tribal lands. (Sec. 1003) Sets forth specified requirements with respect to: (1) the granting of authority to commercial air tour operators to conduct air tour operations over national parks or tribal lands, with specified exceptions; and (2) establishment of commercial air tour management plans. Exempts from the requirements of this Act: (1) the Grand Canyon National Park, or any Indian country within or abutting such park; and (2) any land or waters located in Alaska.. (Sec. 1004) Directs the FAA Administrator and the Director of the National Park Service (Director) to establish, jointly, an advisory group to provide continuing advice and counsel with respect to the operation of commercial air tours over and near national parks. (Sec. 1005) Directs the FAA Administrator to report to Congress on the effects proposed overflight fees are likely to have on the commercial air tour industry. Directs the FAA Administrator and the Director to report jointly to Congress on the effectiveness of this Act in providing incentives for the development and use of quiet aircraft technology. Title XI: Title 49 Technical Corrections - Sets forth certain technical corrections to specified sections of title 49 of the United States Code. Title XII: Prevention of Fraud Involving Aircraft or Spacecraft Parts - Aircraft Safety Act of 1999 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit and set penalties for fraud involving aircraft or space vehicle parts in interstate or foreign commerce. Provides for civil remedies and criminal forfeiture. Title XIII: Internal Revenue Code Amendments - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund through October 1, 2004.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Authorizations Title II: Airport Improvement Program Amendments Title III: Amendments to Aviation Law Title IV : Title 49 Technical Corrections Title V: Miscellaneous Title VI: Aviation Competition Promotion Title VII: National Park Overflights Title VIII: Centennial of Flight Commemoration Title IX: Extension of Airport and Airway Trust Fund Expenditure Authority Wendell H. Ford National Air Transportation System Improvement Act of 1999 - Title I: Authorizations - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize appropriations for FY 1999 and 2000 for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations. Earmarks amounts for: (1) wildlife hazard mitigation measures and management of the wildlife strike database of the FAA; and (2) a university consortium established to provide an air safety and security management certificate program. (Sec. 102) Amends Federal aviation law to authorize appropriations for FY 1999 and 2000 for: (1) the FAA Facilities and Equipment Program; and (2) continuation through FY 2000 of the instrument landing system inventory program. Directs the Administrator of the FAA to establish life-cycle cost estimates for any air traffic control modernization project whose costs equal or exceed $50 million. (Sec. 103) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 and 2000 for airport planning and development and noise compatibility planning programs. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary), in order to improve security at U.S. public airports, to carry out at least one project to test and evaluate innovative airport security systems and related technology. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 106) Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary to carry out the Federal Contract Tower Program. (Sec. 107) Prohibits the FAA Administrator from terminating human weather observers for Automated Surface Observation System stations until 60 days after the Secretary determines and reports to Congress that the System provides consistent reporting of changing meteorological conditions. Title II: Airport Improvement Program Amendments - Repeals the cap on the amounts to be credited annually to the Secretary's discretionary fund for aviation programs. (Sec. 202) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a demonstration program of up to 20 projects for grants to implement innovative financing techniques for airport development projects. (Sec. 203) Limits to no more than 90 percent the Federal share of costs for a project at a non-primary airport having at least .25 percent of the total number of passenger boardings each year at all commercial service airports. (Sec. 204) Increases from 31 percent to 35 percent the minimum apportionment from the discretionary fund for airport improvement grant funds for airport noise compatibility programs. (Sec. 205) Authorizes the use of airport improvement funds apportioned to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico for any of their public airports. Authorizes the use of the supplemental apportionment of airport improvement funds for Alaska for any of its public airports. Repeals a certain limitation on the apportionment of airport improvement funds for commercial airports in Alaska. Revises the amount of certain funds apportioned to the discretionary and small airport funds. Authorizes the Secretary to distribute a certain percentage of funds from the small airport fund for grants for projects at small hub airports. Declares that an airport development project shall remain eligible for funding from the discretionary fund (subject to the availability of funds) even though the airport's status changes from primary to non-primary. Revises the definition of "public-use airport," for purposes of grant eligibility for airport development funds, to include a privately-owned airport that, as a reliever airport, received Federal aid for airport development before October 9, 1996, but only if the FAA Administrator issues revised administrative guidance after July 1, 1998, for the designation of reliever airports. Repeals the eligibility of reliever airports for the issuance of a letter of intent to obligate airport development funds. Prohibits the collection of a passenger facility fee from a passenger in Alaska aboard an aircraft having a seating capacity of less than 20 passengers. Permits certain regulations to authorize a public agency to request waiver of a passenger facility fee for: (1) any class of domestic or foreign air carrier that enplanes not more than one percent of the total number of passengers enplaned annually at a airport; or (2) passengers enplaned on a flight to an airport with scheduled passenger service but fewer than 2,500 passenger boardings each year, or in a community with a population of less than 10,000 and not connected by land to the National Highway System. Requires any Federal agency to grant priority to a request by any non-Federal public agency for surplus property for use at a public airport. Increases the apportionment of airport improvement funds to sponsors of cargo-only airports. Declares that the Secretary may permit the use of State highway specifications for airfield pavement construction using airport development funds at non-primary airports with runways of 5,000 feet or shorter serving aircraft that do not exceed 60,000 pounds, if the Secretary determines that: (1) safety will not be negatively affected; and (2) the life of the pavement will not be shorter than it would be if constructed using FAA standards. Prohibits an airport from seeking airport development funds for runway rehabilitation or reconstruction of any such airfield pavement constructed using State highway specifications for a period of ten years after construction is completed. (Sec. 206) Amends the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 to repeal the termination of certain amendments regarding apportionments and their uses, the discretionary fund, and the designation of current and former military airports (thus making them permanent). (Sec. 207) Directs the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on FAA efforts to implement capacity improvements, such as precision runway monitoring systems and the time frame for implementation of such improvements. (Sec. 208) Directs the Administrator of the FAA to discourage airport sponsors and airports from using discretionary funds for lower priority projects by giving lower priority to discretionary projects they have submitted which have used entitlement funds for projects with a lower priority than the projects for which discretionary funds are being requested. (Sec. 209) Prohibits the Secretary from waiving certain required assurances that property be used for aeronautical purposes with respect to the grant of airport development funds, unless the Secretary provides public notice at least 30 days before issuing such waiver. (Sec. 210) Amends Federal aviation safety law to revise the term "public aircraft" to include non-government-owned passenger aircraft operated for prisoner transport. (Sec. 211) Authorizes the Secretary, in order to enable additional air service by an air carrier with less than 50 percent of the scheduled passenger traffic at an airport, to consider the shell of a terminal building (including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and aircraft fueling facilities adjacent to the building to be an eligible airport-related project. (Sec. 212) Directs the FAA Administrator to evaluate specified options for improving the quality of information available to the FAA on airfield pavement conditions for national air transportation system airports. (Sec. 213) Authorizes the Secretary to use certain unobligated funds to make discretionary grants for airport noise abatement activities. Title III: Amendments to Aviation Law - Amends Federal aviation law to authorize the FAA Administrator to contract for procurement of severable services for a period that begins in one fiscal year and ends in the next fiscal year if (without regard to any option to extend it) the contract period does not exceed one year. Declares that funds available for a fiscal year may be obligated for the total amount of the contract. (Sec. 302) Amends the Airport Noise and Capacity Act to make foreign air carriers eligible for a waiver from stage three noise level requirements for certain aircraft. (Sec. 303) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to establish consortia of government and aviation industry representatives at airports to provide advice on matters related to aviation security and safety. (Sec. 304) Authorizes the Administrator of the FAA to enter into bilateral agreements with the aeronautical authorities of another country to exchange with that country all or part of their respective safety oversight functions and duties with respect to certain domestic and foreign aircraft. (Sec. 305) Directs the FAA Administrator to establish a schedule of new fees for services (other than air traffic control services) provided to any entity obtaining services outside the United States. (Sec. 306) Amends the Pilot Records Improvement Act to require an employment investigation (including a criminal history check) in the case of passenger, baggage, or property screening at airports if the FAA Administrator decides it is necessary to ensure air transportation security. Permits an air carrier that has not obtained information about a pilot from a foreign government or entity that has employed the pilot to allow such pilot to begin service as a pilot of certain small aircraft if the carrier has made a documented good faith attempt to obtain it. (Sec. 307) Authorizes a person to bring a civil action in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (as well as in a U.S. district court) against the United States when: (1) the person is subrogated to the rights against the U.S. Government of a party insured under the aviation insurance program under a contract between the person and such insured party; and (2) the person has paid to the insured party an amount for a covered physical damage loss. Extends Federal aviation insurance and reinsurance programs through FY 2003. (Sec. 309) Establishes criminal penalties for any individual who: (1) knowingly and willfully serves or attempts to serve as an airman without an airman's certificate; (2) knowingly and willfully employs for service or uses as an airman an individual who does not have such certificate; or (3) without an airman's certificate provides for the air transportation of a controlled substance. (Sec. 310) Requires major air carriers providing air service to essential airport facilities that have interline agreements involving ticketing, baggage and ground handling, and terminal and gate access with other carriers, to provide on a nondiscriminatory basis the same services to any requesting air carrier that offers air service to a small community airport. Title IV: Title 49 Technical Corrections - Sets forth certain technical corrections to specified sections of Title 49 of the United States Code. Title V: Miscellaneous - Directs the FAA Administrator to report to specified congressional committees every three months on electronic data processing problems associated with the year 2000 (Y2K problem) within the FAA. (Sec. 502) Directs the FAA Administrator to require by regulation that collision avoidance equipment (TCAS II) be installed on each cargo aircraft with a payload capacity of 15,000 kilograms or more. (Sec. 503) Directs the FAA Administrator to solicit comments on the need for: (1) improvement of runway safety areas; and (2) the installation of precision approach path indicators. (Sec. 504) Makes applicable to other specified types of aircraft (currently exempted from them), including turbojet-powered aircraft and aircraft equipped to carry only one individual, certain requirements that commercial aircraft be outfitted with an emergency locator transmitter. (Continues to exempt from such requirements aircraft used in scheduled flights by scheduled air carriers holding certificates issued by the Secretary, training operations conducted entirely within a 50-mile radius of the airport from which the training operations begin, flight operations related to design and testing, the manufacture, preparation, and delivery of aircraft, showing compliance with regulations, exhibition, or air racing, or the aerial application of a substance on agricultural crops.) (Sec. 505) Prohibits the FAA Administrator, except for the facilitation of law enforcement, from issuing a certificate to any person: (1) convicted of a violation of any Federal or State law relating to the installation, production, repair, or sale of a counterfeit or falsely represented aviation part or material; or (2) subject to a controlling or ownership interest of an individual convicted of such violation. Directs the Administrator to revoke any such certificates issued to convicted persons or persons who knowingly facilitate such a violation. Prohibits the employment of an individual convicted of counterfeit parts dealing to perform a function related to the procurement, sale, production, or repair of a part or material, or the installation of a part into a civil aircraft. (Sec. 506) Subjects to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 any individual who interferes with the duties or responsibilities of the flight crew or cabin crew of a civil aircraft, or who poses an imminent threat to the safety of the aircraft or other individuals on the aircraft. (Sec. 507) Directs the Secretary to work with appropriate international organizations and aviation authorities of other nations to bring about their establishment of higher standards for accommodating handicapped passengers in air transportation, particularly with respect to foreign air carriers that code-share with domestic air carriers. Establishes a civil penalty for any air carrier that discriminates against handicapped persons while providing air transportation, unless such carrier provides such individual a credit or voucher in a certain amount for the purchase of a ticket on that carrier or any affiliated carrier. (Sec. 508) Authorizes the Secretary to request the head of any Federal department, agency, or instrumentality to convey land or airspace owned or controlled by it to a public agency for use that will complement, facilitate, or augment airport development, including the development of additional revenue from both aviation and nonaviation sources. Authorizes the Secretary, upon making certain determinations, to grant a release from any conditions contained in such conveyances in order to facilitate the development of additional revenue from aeronautical and nonaeronautical sources. Authorizes the Administrators of the FAA or the General Services Administration (GSA) to convey all right, title, and interest in 12 acres of property at Lake Minchumina, Alaska, to the Iditarod Area School District. (Sec. 509) Directs the FAA Administrator to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to develop procedures to protect air carriers and their employees from civil enforcement action under the Flight Operations Quality Assurance program. (Sec. 510) Directs the FAA Administrator to identify or develop a plan to implement the wide area augmentation system (WAAS) to provide navigation and landing approach capabilities for civilian use and make a determination as to whether a backup system is necessary. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 511) Directs the FAA Administrator to reissue, and provide for public comment on, the notice to operators published in the Federal Register on January 2, 1998, which advised Alaska guide pilots of the applicability of part 135 of CFR title 14 to guide pilot operations. (Sec. 513) Directs the FAA Administrator to establish an advanced qualification program oversight committee to give advice on the development and execution of Advanced Qualification Programs (alternative methods for qualifying, training, certifying, and ensuring the competency of flight crews and other commercial aviation operations personnel (human factors training program)) for air carriers, and to encourage their adoption and implementation. (Sec. 514) Directs the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation (DOT) to initiate an independent assessment that ensures that the method for capturing and distributing overall FAA costs is appropriate and reasonable. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 515) Provides for the enforcement of whistleblower laws for FAA employees. (Sec. 516) Directs the FAA Administrator to report to Congress on a plan to modernize the oceanic air traffic control system (including a budget for such program). (Sec. 517) Directs the FAA Administrator to report biannually to Congress on the air transportation oversight system program announced on May 13, 1998, in detail on the training of inspectors, the number of them using the system, air carriers subject to the system, and the budget for the system. (Sec. 518) Declares that the Secretary may authorize the use, in whole or in part, of a completed environmental assessment or environmental impact study for a new airport construction project that is substantially similar in nature to one previously constructed pursuant to a completed assessment or study in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of expense and effort. (Sec. 519) Prohibits air carriers, contractors, and subcontractors from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee as to pay, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee: (1) is about to provide or has provided to the Federal Government information relating to any violation of any FAA order, regulation, or standard or any other Federal law relating to air carrier safety; or (2) is about to file or has filed a proceeding, or testified, or otherwise participated in a proceeding relating to such violations. Sets forth a Department of Labor complaint procedure for persons who believe they have been discharged or discriminated against in violation of this Act. Provides for award of attorney's fees of up to $5,000 to a prevailing employer for any such complaint found frivolous or brought in bad faith. Specifies civil penalties for violation of this Act. (Sec. 520) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to improve real property leased for air navigation facilities without regard to the costs of such improvements in relation to the cost of the lease, if certain conditions are met. (Sec. 521) Declares that the denial to air carriers (that conduct operations as a public charter with aircraft that are designed to carry more than nine passengers per flight) of access to certain reliever airports shall not be considered to be unreasonable or unjust discrimination. (Sec. 522) Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish an Intergovernmental Task Force for International Visitor Assistance. Requires the Task Force to: (1) examine, and report to the President and the Congress its recommendation on, signage at U.S. facilities (including airports, seaports, land border crossings, highways, and bus, train, and other public transit stations); and (2) identify and suggest solutions to existing inadequacies, such as the adoption of uniform standards on international signage for use throughout the United States in order to facilitate international visitors' travel here. Requires the Task Force also to examine and report on: (1) the availability of multilingual travel and tourism information and means of disseminating it; and (2) establishment of a toll-free, private-sector operated telephone number, staffed by multilingual operators, to provide assistance to international tourists coping with an emergency. Directs the Secretary to complete, as soon as may be practicable, a satellite system of accounting for the travel and tourism industry. Authorizes appropriations for U.S. National Tourism Organization international promotional activities. Prohibits the use of such funds for any purpose other than marketing, research, outreach, or any other activity designed to promote the United States as the premiere travel and tourism destination in the world. States that the Organization's general and administrative expenses shall be borne by the private sector. (Sec. 523) Directs the FAA Administrator to determine whether its safety regulations are equivalent to the safety standards set forth in European Union Directive 89-336EEC. Directs the Administrator, if such standards are equivalent, to work with the Secretary of Commerce to gain acceptance of such determination pursuant to the Mutual Recognition Agreement between the United States and the European Union of May 18, 1998, in order to ensure that aviation products approved by the FAA are acceptable under the Directive. (Sec. 524) Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the property taxes on public-use airports should be assessed fairly, regardless of the location of the airport owner; and (2) the property tax recently assessed on the City of The Dalles, Oregon, as the owner and operator of the Columbia Gorge Regional-The Dalles Municipal Airport, State of Washington, should be repealed. (Sec. 525) Amends the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 to authorize FAA employees under the new FAA personnel management system to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board and seek judicial review of Board decisions. (Sec. 526) Establishes an Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Advisory Panel to review issues related to the use and oversight of aircraft and aviation component repair and maintenance facilities located within, or outside of, the United States. Authorizes the Administrator to seek the advice of the panel on issues related to methods to improve the safety of domestic or foreign contract aircraft and aviation component repair facilities. Directs the Administrator to request aircraft and aviation component repair stations located outside or inside the United States to submit information necessary to assess safety issues and enforcement actions with respect to the work performed at those stations on aircraft used by U.S. air carriers. Requires such information to include: (1) the existence and administration of employee drug and alcohol testing programs; and (2) the amount and type of aircraft and aviation component repair work performed on U.S. and foreign aircraft. (Sec. 527) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the desirability and implications of: (1) decreasing from 75 to 51 percent the portion of the voting interest owned or controlled by U.S. citizens necessary to qualify a corporation or association as a U.S. citizen under Federal transportation law; and (2) revising the definition of air carrier under such law to cover any company whose principal place of business is in the United States (currently, such an air carrier must be a U.S. citizen). (Sec. 528) Declares that a memorandum of agreement between the FAA Administrator and any person that directly obtains aircraft situational display data shall require that such person: (1) demonstrate the capability of selectively blocking the display of any aircraft-situation-display-to-industry derived data related to any identified aircraft registration number; and (2) agree to block selectively the aircraft registration numbers of any aircraft owner or operator upon FAA request. (Sec. 529) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary should: (1) act vigorously to ensure the enforcement of U.S. rights under the Bermuda II Agreement; (2) intensify efforts to obtain assurances from the United Kingdom to allow U.S. air carriers to operate commercially viable, competitive service for the Charlotte-London (Gatwick) and Cleveland-London (Gatwick) routes; and (3) ensure that the rights of the United States and U.S. citizens and air carriers are enforced under the Agreement before seeking to renegotiate a broader bilateral agreement to establish additional rights for U.S. air carriers and foreign air carriers of the United Kingdom, including the right to commercially viable competitive slots at Gatwick Airport and Heathrow Airport in London, England, for U.S. air carriers. (Sec. 531) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to the Secretary the amount of State taxes collected during the preceding fiscal year that were transferred to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the Congress for the preceding fiscal year: (1) the State dollar contribution to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund; and (2) the amount of airport development and noise compatibility funds made available to the State. (Sec. 532) Directs the FAA Administrator to work with the Taos Pueblo to study the feasibility of conducting a demonstration project to require all aircraft that fly over Taos Pueblo and the Blue Lake Wilderness Area of Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, to maintain a mandatory minimum altitude of at least 5,000 feet above ground level. (Sec. 533) Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations to provide for improved oral and written disclosure to each consumer of air transportation concerning the corporate name of the air carrier that provides such transportation. (Sec. 534) Directs the FAA to use necessary funds to contract for the operation of air traffic control towers in Salisbury, Maryland, Bozeman, Montana, and Boca Raton, Florida. (Sec. 535) Amends the Death on the High Seas Act to authorize, in addition to any pecuniary damages, the recovery of up to $750,000 (adjusted for inflation beginning FY 2000) of nonpecuniary damages for wrongful death caused during commercial aviation. Title VI: Aviation Competition Promotion - Directs the Secretary to establish a four-year pilot aviation development program to provide funds to up to 40 small communities or consortia of communities and States with inadequate access to the national transportation system to improve their access to such system. (Sec. 603) Directs the FAA Administrator, in order to facilitate the use of, and improve the safety at, small airports, to establish a pilot program (community-carrier air service program) to contract for Level I air traffic control services at 20 facilities not eligible for participation in the Federal Contract Tower Program. Waives the State or local contribution requirement with respect to such program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 604) Authorizes appropriations for FY 1999 through 2002 for the community-carrier air service program. (Sec. 605) Directs the Secretary to review the marketing practices of air carriers that may inhibit the availability of quality, affordable air transportation services to small and medium-sized communities. Requires the Secretary, if such practices are found to inhibit the availability of such service, to promulgate regulations to address the problem. (Sec. 606) Requires the Secretary, after receiving an application for an exemption to provide nonstop regional jet air service between an airport with fewer than two million annual enplanements and a high density airport, to grant or deny the exemption in accordance with established principles of safety and the promotion of competition. Authorizes the Secretary to permit: (1) an air carrier or an affiliated air carrier to upgrade its service under the exemption to a larger jet aircraft; and (2) an air carrier to change the nonhub airport or small hub airport for which the exemption was granted to provide the same service to a different airport that is smaller than a large hub airport, if certain conditions are met. Provides for the termination of an exemption if the air carrier uses the slot for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was granted or in violation of the conditions under which it was granted. (Sec. 607) Directs the Secretary, subject to specified conditions, to grant exemptions from the prohibitions against the operation of aircraft nonstop between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and another airport more than 1,250 miles away (perimeter rule), and against the increase or decrease by the Administrator in the number of takeoffs and landings (the High Density Rule), to any air carrier that operates limited frequencies and aircraft on select routes between National Airport and domestic hub airports. Mandates such an exemption if the Secretary finds that it will: (1) provide air transportation service with domestic network benefits in areas beyond the perimeter; (2) increase competition in multiple markets; (3) not reduce travel options for communities served by small hub airports and medium hub airports within the perimeter; and (4) not result in meaningfully increased travel delays. Sets forth specified requirements with respect to such exemptions. Directs the Secretary to: (1) grant exemptions from the High Density Rule to commuter air carriers (not including Stage 3 aircraft) for service to airports with fewer than two million annual enplanements within the perimeter established for aircraft at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; and (2) develop criteria for distributing slot exemptions for flights within the perimeter to such airports in a manner consistent with the promotion of air transportation. Directs the Secretary to assess the impact of granting slot exemptions, including the impacts of additional slots and flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on safety, noise levels, and the environment. Declares that certain provisions prohibiting the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority from increasing or decreasing instrument flight rule takeoffs and landings under the High Density Rule shall not apply to any increase in the number of such takeoffs or landings necessary to implement slot exemptions granted by the Secretary under this Act. Directs the Secretary to give priority in making grants to applications for airport noise compatibility planning and programs at and around airports where operations increase under this Act. (Sec. 608) Directs the Secretary to grant 30 slot exemptions over a three-year period at Chicago O'Hare International Airport provided certain conditions are met. Directs the Secretary to study and submit a report three years after the first slot exemption granted is used on the impact of the additional slots on the safety, environment, noise, access to underserved markets, and competition at such airport. Requires the Secretary to study community noise levels in the areas surrounding the four high-density airports after the 100 percent Stage 3 fleet requirements are in place, and compare those levels with the levels in such areas before 1991. (Sec. 609) Declares that it shall be an unfair or deceptive practice for any carrier utilizing electronically transmitted tickets to fail to notify the purchaser of a ticket's expiration date, if any. (Sec. 610) Defines major air carrier joint venture agreements as agreements with regard to code-sharing, blocked-space arrangements, long-term wet leases of a substantial number of aircraft, or frequent flyer programs, or any other cooperative working arrangement between two or more major air carriers that affects more than 15 percent of the total number of available seat miles offered by such carriers. Requires any major air carrier that has entered into such an agreement to submit to the Secretary certain information regarding it. (Sec. 611) Directs the Secretary to study and report to specified congressional committees on the efficacy of a program of Federal loan guarantees for the purchase of regional jets by commuter air carriers that service underserved markets. (Sec. 612) Directs the General Accounting Office (GAO) to study the current state of the national airport network and its ability to meet the air transportation needs of the United States over the next 15 years. Title VII: National Parks Overflights - Prohibits a commercial air tour operator from conducting commercial air tour operations over a national park or tribal lands, except in accordance with this Act, conditions prescribed for that operator by the FAA Administrator, and with any commercial air tour management plan for the park or tribal lands. (Sec. 702) Sets forth specified requirements with respect to: (1) the granting of authority to commercial air tour operators to conduct air tour operations over national parks or tribal lands, with specified exceptions; and (2) establishment of commercial air tour management plans. Exempts from the requirements of this Act: (1) the Grand Canyon National Park, or any Indian country within or abutting such park; or (2) any land or waters located in Alaska. (Sec. 703) Directs the FAA Administrator and the Director of the National Park Service (Director) to establish, jointly, an advisory group to provide continuing advice and counsel with respect to the operation of commercial air tours over and near national parks. Directs the FAA Administrator and the Director to report jointly to Congress on the effectiveness of this Act in providing incentives for the development and use of quiet aircraft technology. (Sec. 704) Directs the FAA Administrator to report to Congress on the effects proposed overflight fees are likely to have on the commercial air tour industry. (Sec. 705) Prohibits any commercial air tour from operating in the airspace over the Rocky Mountain National Park. Title VIII: Centennial of Flight Commemoration - Centennial of Flight Commemoration Act - Establishes the Centennial of Flight Commission to: (1) represent the United States and take a leadership role with other countries in recognizing the importance of aviation history and the centennial of powered flight; (2) encourage and promote participation and sponsorships in commemoration of the centennial of powered flight by certain companies, individuals, institutions, organizations, and governments; (3) plan and develop programs and activities with the First Flight Centennial Commission, the First Flight Centennial Foundation of North Carolina, and the 2003 Committee of Ohio; (4) provide a central clearinghouse for information regarding aviation history and the centennial of powered flight; and (5) coordinate celebration dates during the centennial year and assist in conducting activities relating to the centennial throughout the United States. (Sec. 812) Establishes a First Flight Centennial Federal Advisory Board. (Sec. 815) Authorizes appropriations. Title IX: Extension of Airport and Airway Trust Fund Expenditure Authority - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund through October 1, 2000. Sets forth certain limits on transfers to the Fund.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Regulation of Firearm Products Title II: Prohibitions Title III: Enforcement Subtitle A: Civil Enforcement Subtitle B: Criminal Enforcement Title IV: Administrative Provisions Title V: Relationship to Other Law Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act of 1999 - Title I: Regulation of Firearm Products - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe such regulations governing the design, manufacture, and performance of, and commerce in "firearm products" (defined as a firearm, firearm part, nonpowder firearm, and ammunition) as are reasonably necessary to reduce or prevent unreasonable risk of injury resulting from the use of such products. Allows any person to petition the Secretary to: (1) issue, amend, or repeal such a regulation; or (2) require the recall, repair, or replacement of, or the issuance of refunds with respect to, a firearm product. Sets deadlines for taking action on petitions. (Sec. 102) Authorizes the Secretary to issue orders: (1) prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transfer of a firearm product which has been manufactured, imported, transferred, or distributed in violation of a regulation prescribed under this Act; (2) requiring the recall, repair, or replacement of, or refunds for, firearm products; and (3) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, transfer, distribution, or export of a firearm product if the exercise of other authority under this Act would not be sufficient to prevent the product from posing an unreasonable risk of injury to the public. Authorizes the Secretary, in order to ascertain compliance with this Act, to enter and inspect: (1) any place in which firearm products are manufactured, stored, or held, for distribution in commerce; and (2) any conveyance being used to transport a firearm product. Title II: Prohibitions - Sets forth prohibitions on the manufacture or transfer of firearm products for failure by: (1) a manufacturer to test and certify firearm products or to provide notice to the Secretary of new types of firearm products; (2) a manufacturer or dealer in firearms to label firearm products; and (3) an importer, manufacturer, or dealer to fail to maintain, or permit inspection of, records. Prohibits: (1) the importation and exportation of uncertified firearm products; (2) the manufacture, offer for sale, distribution in commerce, importation, or exportation of a firearm product in violation of this Act; and (3) the manufacture, purchase, or import of a firearm product at a rate that is significantly greater than that at which the person manufactured, purchased, or imported the product during a base period (prescribed by the Secretary) before the applicable regulation is prescribed under this Act. Makes this title inapplicable to specified governmental authorities. Title III: Enforcement - Subtitle A: Civil Enforcement - Directs the Secretary to impose a civil fine upon any person who violates title II. Provides that each violation shall constitute a separate offense with respect to each firearm product involved, subject to specified limitations. Sets the applicable fine amount at $5,000 for the five-year period immediately following this Act's enactment date, and $10,000 thereafter. (Sec. 302) Authorizes the Attorney General, upon request of the Secretary, to bring an action: (1) to restrain any violation of title II in the U.S. district court for any district in which the violation has occurred or in which the defendant is found or transacts business; and (2) in rem for condemnation of a qualified firearm product in the district court for any district in which the Secretary has found and seized for confiscation the product. (Sec. 303) Authorizes: (1) the Secretary to bring an action in district court to restrain a manufacturer or dealer from manufacturing, distributing, transferring, importing, or exporting; and (2) the court, in such an action, to grant such temporary or permanent relief as necessary to protect the public from the risks posed by such product. (Sec. 304) Authorizes: (1) any person aggrieved by a violation of this Act or any interested person to bring an action against such other person in district court for damages; and (2) the court to award to a prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney's fee. (Sec. 306) Specifies that: (1) compliance with this Act shall not relieve any person from liability to any person under common law or State statutory law; and (2) the failure of the Secretary to take any action authorized under this Act shall not be admissible in litigation relating to the product under common law or State statutory law. Subtitle B: Criminal Enforcement - Subjects any person who has been notified of a violation of a provision of this Act and who knowingly violates such provision with respect to a firearms product, to a fine and up to two years' imprisonment. Title IV: Administrative Provisions - Directs the Secretary to: (1) maintain a Firearm Injury Information Clearinghouse for information relating to the causes and prevention of death and injury associated with firearms; (2) conduct continuing studies and investigations of firearm-related deaths and injuries and the resulting economic costs and losses; (3) collect and maintain production and sales figures for licensed manufacturers under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act; (4) conduct research on the safety of firearm products; (5) develop firearm safety testing methods and devices; and (6) make available to the public, at least annually, the results of such activities. (Sec. 402) Sets forth reporting requirements. Title V: Relationship to Other Law - Specifies that: (1) in the event of any conflict between this Act and any provision of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), the AECA provision shall control; and (2) this Act shall not be construed to preempt State or local law or to prevent a State from enacting any provision of law regulating or prohibiting conduct with respect to a firearm product, except to the extent of inconsistency with this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Airport and Airway Improvements Title II: Airline Service Improvements Subtitle A: Service to Airports Not Receiving Sufficient Service Subtitle B: Regional Air Service Incentive Program Title III: FAA Management Reform Title IV: Family Assistance Title V: Safety Title VI: Whistleblower Protection Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions Title VIII: National Parks Air Tour Management Title IX: Truth in Budgeting Title X: Aviation Spending Guarantee Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century - Title I: Airport and Airway Improvements - Amends Federal Aviation law to reauthorize through FY 2004: (1) the Airport Improvement Program (AIP); and (2) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Facilities and Equipment Program. Earmarks a specified amount for the voluntary purchase and installation of universal access systems. (Sec. 103) Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize appropriations for FAA operations through FY 2004. Makes specified allocations, including for: (1) wildlife hazard mitigation measures and management of the wildlife strike database of the FAA; and (2) a university consortium established to provide an air safety and security management certificate program. Sets forth fiscal year limits on amounts appropriated from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund for certain aviation improvement programs. (Sec. 104) Makes specified allocations out of the Trust Fund for the aviation safety accelerated program. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation through FY 2004 to make grants out of such amounts for eligible projects to: (1) reduce delays and congestion at airports and in the air traffic control system; (2) construct airport improvements or acquire air traffic equipment to enhance competition among air carriers; and (3) enhance air service to small and medium-sized communities. Directs the Secretary to establish innovative methods for processing, reviewing, and approving such projects in order to reduce, to the maximum extent practicable, the time required from an applicant's request for project approval through the completion of the project. (Sec. 105) Makes specified changes to the formula for crediting airport improvement fund amounts to the discretionary fund. Revises the apportionment of airport improvement fund amounts to sponsors of primary (including cargo only) airports and to the States for each fiscal year. Provides minimum apportionments for reliever and nonprimary commercial service airports. Authorizes the use of airport improvement funds apportioned to Alaska, Puerto Rico, or Hawaii for any of their public airports. Authorizes the use of State-apportioned airport improvement funds for integrated airport system planning that encompasses one or more primary airports. Authorizes the Secretary to permit the use of State highway specifications for airfield pavement construction using airport improvement funds at nonprimary airports serving certain aircraft provided safety will not be negatively affected and the life of the pavement will not be shorter than it would be if constructed using FAA standards. Increases the apportionment for airport improvement funds for airport noise compatibility programs. Authorizes the use of the supplemental apportionment of airport improvement funds for Alaska for any of its public airports. Repeals a certain limitation on the apportionment of airport improvement funds for commercial service airports in Alaska. (Sec. 106) Authorizes the Secretary to use certain unobligated funds to make discretionary grants for airport planning and development. (Sec. 107) Increases from 12 to 20 at any time the number of current or former military airports that may receive airport improvement funds. Increases the amount of discretionary funds that are available to designated sponsors of current or former military airports to construct, improve, or repair airport terminal building facilities and airport surface parking lots, fuel farms, utilities, hangers, and air cargo terminals (50,000 square feet or less). (Sec. 108) Revises U.S. policies regarding aviation programs to encourage the funding and use of integrated in-pavement lighting systems for runways and taxiways and other runway and taxiway incursion prevention devices. (Sec. 109) Provides for an eligible agency to impose a passenger facility fee of more than three dollars (currently, one, two, or three dollars) on each airline passenger of a domestic or foreign air carrier boarding an aircraft at an airport the agency controls to finance an eligible airport-related project, provided certain conditions are met. (Sec. 110) Prohibits the approval of a passenger facility fee or airport improvement grant for a covered airport (one that has more than .25 percent of the total number of passenger boardings each year at all commercial service airports, and at which one or two air carriers control more than 50 percent of the passenger boardings) unless it submits a competition plan containing certain airport gate and related facility information. (Sec. 111) Provides that the lesser of $15 million or 20 percent of small airport grant funds be set-aside for each of the next four fiscal years to assist sponsors of airports (not located in Alaska and serve aircraft designed for more than nine but less than 31 passenger seats) in meeting the safety terms in airport operating certificates. Requires the Secretary to notify the grant recipient that the source of the grant is from the small airport fund. (Sec. 112) Directs the Secretary to establish a pilot program to contract for air traffic control services at Level I air traffic control towers that do not qualify for the Contract Tower Program. Sets forth specified program requirements. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 113) Authorizes the Secretary to approve not more than 20 projects in which airport improvement grant funds may be used for innovative financing techniques for airport development projects. (Sec. 114) Directs the Secretary, in order to improve security at public U.S. airports, to carry out not less than one project to test and evaluate innovative airport security systems and related technology. (Sec. 115) Declares that the Government's share of costs shall be: (1) not more than 90 percent for airport improvement projects funded under the State block grant program; (2) 100 percent for airport security projects funded with airport improvement funds; and (3) in FY 2000, 100 percent for any airport improvement funded project at a nonprimary airport, or at a primary airport having less than .05 percent of the total number of passenger boardings each year at all commercial service airports. (Sec. 116) Prohibits the Secretary from requiring an eligible agency to impose a passenger facility fee in order to obtain a letter of intent with respect to airport development projects. (Sec. 117) Treats as an eligible airport-related project with respect to which an eligible agency may impose a passenger facility fee: (1) the construction of a terminal building (including aircraft fueling facilities adjacent to it); and (2) the costs of terminal development at an airport that did not have more than .25 percent of the total U.S. annual passenger boardings and at which total passenger boardings declined by at least 16 percent between 1989 and 1997. (Sec. 119) Requires the Secretary to publish notice in the Federal Register and provide an opportunity for comment before any modification can be made with respect to airport development project grant assurances made by an airport owner or operator (before December 29, 1987) with respect to the disposal of surplus property for the airport. Declares that the Secretary may only release an option of the United States for a reversionary interest in property conveyed to a public agency sponsoring an airport development project after providing notice and an opportunity for public comment. Requires any Federal, executive branch department, agency, or instrumentality to grant priority to a request by a public agency (except another Federal executive branch department, agency, or instrumentality) for surplus property for use at a public airport. Authorizes the Secretary to waive, without charge, a term of a gift of an interest in such property after providing notice and an opportunity for public comment and other conditions are met. (Sec. 120) Authorizes the Secretary to obligate airport improvement funds and amounts from the Trust Fund for any project to construct a new runway at an international airport. (Sec. 121) Extends the instrument landing system program through FY 2004. Directs the Secretary to maintain and upgrade Loran-C navigation facilities throughout the transition period to satellite-based navigation. (Sec. 122) Includes charter air transportation at an airport that is not in Alaska and serves aircraft designed for more than nine but less than 31 passenger seats within the eligible categories for issuance of an airport operating certificate. Directs the FAA Administrator to permit such airports to preclude scheduled passenger operations (including public chartered operations) if it notifies the Administrator that it does not intend to obtain a certificate. (Sec. 123) Directs the FAA Administrator to submit to specified congressional committees a copy of the annual budget estimates of the FAA (including line item justifications) at the same time such budget estimates are submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 124) Revises the amount of certain funds apportioned to the discretionary and small airport funds. Authorizes the Secretary to distribute specified percentages of funds from the small airport fund for grants for projects at small hub airports, public-use airports, and certain commercial service airports. Requires the Secretary to give priority consideration to airport development projects to support operations by turbine powered aircraft (if the non-Federal share of project costs is at least 40 percent) when making small airport fund grants to sponsors of public-use airports. Declares that an airport development project shall remain eligible for funding from the discretionary fund (subject to the availability of funds) even though the airport's status changes from a primary to a nonprimary airport. Permits certain regulations to authorize a public agency to request waiver of a passenger facility fee for: (1) any class of domestic or foreign air carrier that enplanes not more than one percent of the total number of passengers enplaned annually at an airport; or (2) passengers enplaned on a flight to an airport with scheduled passenger service but fewer than 2,5000 passenger boardings each year, or in a community with a population of less than 10,000 and not connected by land to the National Highway System. (Sec. 125) Directs the FAA Administrator to conduct a study of the long term physical performance, safety implications, and environmental benefits of using recycled materials (including recycled pavements, waste materials, and byproducts) in aviation pavement. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 126) Repeals the pavement maintenance pilot program. Revises the definition of "airport development," for purposes of grant eligibility for airport development funds, to include routine work to preserve and extend the useful life of runways, taxiways, and aprons at nonprimary airports. Title II: Airline Service Improvements - Subtitle A: Service to Airports Not Receiving Sufficient Service - Repeals requirements under the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) prohibiting the increase or decrease by the Administrator in the number of takeoffs and landings (the High Density Rule) at airports (except Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport). (Sec. 201) Authorizes the Secretary to grant exemptions from the High Density Rule to air carriers that provide nonstop air transportation using jet aircraft that comply with stage 3 noise levels and whose flights begin or end within 1,250 miles (perimeter rule) between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and an airport that has had less than two million enplanements or between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and a airport that does not have nonstop transportation. Requires the Secretary to treat all commuter air carriers that have cooperative agreements (including code share agreements with other air carriers) equally for determining eligibility for exemptions regardless of the form of the corporate relationship between the commuter air carrier and the other air carrier. (Sec. 202) Earmarks specified funds for: (1) the essential air service program; (2) air carriers to subsidize service to and from an underserved airport (not to exceed three years); (3) underserved airports to obtain jet aircraft service to and from the underserved airports; and (4) rural air safety at airports with less than 100,000 annual boardings. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the FAA Administrator to give priority in funding to airports in which the community will provide from local sources a portion of project costs. (Sec. 203) Waives the State or local contribution requirement with respect to the compensation of an air carrier providing air service to certain noneligible places. (Sec. 204) Directs the Secretary, in carrying out aviation policy, to consider, among other things, as being in the public interest and consistent with public convenience and necessity ensuring that consumers in all regions of the United States, including those in small communities and rural and remote areas, have access to affordable, regularly scheduled air service. Subtitle B: Regional Air Service Incentive Program - Authorizes the Secretary to provide through one or more lenders guaranteed loans (including the extension of credit) to commuter air carriers (maximum seating capacity of 75 or less) for the purchase of regional jet aircraft which are to be used to provide service to underserved markets. Outline loan conditions and limitations, Including that: (1) the maximum amount guaranteed on a loan or extended on credit shall be no more than 50 percent, or $100,000; (2) such aircraft comply with certain Federal noise-level requirements; and (3) the air carrier agrees that the purchased aircraft be used to provide service to an underserved market. Authorizes the Secretary to make use of federal facilities and assistance in carrying out the incentive program. Terminates the Secretary's program authority five years after enactment of this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: FAA Management Reform - Establishes the Air Traffic Control Oversight Board within the Department of Transportation. Sets forth the Board's responsibilities, including to oversee the FAA in its administration, management, conduct, direction, and supervision of the air traffic control system. (Sec. 303) Provides for the appointment, by the FAA Administrator, and with the approval of the Board, of a Chief Operating Officer for the air traffic control system. (Sec. 304) Provides that the Secretary (currently, by the President, and with the consent of the Senate) shall make subsequent appointments of Federal Aviation Management Advisory Council members. (Sec. 305) Directs the Secretary to develop and implement a coordinated environmental review process for aviation infrastructure projects that require the preparation of an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (or any other environmental review or approval by operation of law). Sets forth the elements of such review process. (Sec. 306) Prohibits the FAA Administrator from issuing a proposed or final regulation that is likely to result in the expenditure by State, local, and tribal governments, or by the private sector, of $250 million (currently, $100 million) or more in aggregate (adjusted annually for inflation), or any regulation which is significant, unless the Secretary approves the issuance of the regulation in advance. (Sec. 307) Directs the Inspector General to conduct an assessment of the overall method of calculating FAA costs and attributing such costs to the user is reasonable. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Family Assistance - Amends Federal transportation law to revise provisions prohibiting unsolicited communication concerning potential action for personal injury or wrongful death by an attorney to an individual injured in an accident involving a domestic air carrier before the 45th day (currently, 30th day) following the accident to provide that such prohibition include accidents involving a foreign air carrier in the United States. Authorizes the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to bring a civil action in a district court for violations committed under this title. (Sec. 401) Prohibits a State or political subdivision from preventing nonprofit organization employees with experience in disasters and post-trauma communication with families from providing mental health and counseling services within the 30 day period after an accident. Includes within the definition of "passenger" for purposes of the provision of assistance to families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents: (1) foreign air carrier employees aborad the aircraft; and (2) any other person aboard the aircraft without regard to whether the person paid for the transportation, occupied a seat, or held a reservation for the flight. (Sec. 402) Revises air carrier plans that provide assistance to the families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents to require them to include, at a minimum, an assurance that: (1) upon request of the family of a passenger, the air carrier will inform the family of whether the passenger's name appeared on a preliminary passenger manifest for the flight involved in the accident; and (2) the air carrier will provide adequate training to air carrier employees and agents to meet the needs of survivors and family members following an accident. Prohibits the Secretary from approving an application of an air carrier for a certificate of public convenience and necessity unless the applicant has included, among other things, an agreement that in the event that the air carrier volunteers assistance to U.S. citizens within the United States in the case of an aircraft accident outside the United States involving major loss of life, the air carrier will consult with the NTSB and the Department of State on the provision of such assistance. Declares that an air carrier shall not be liable for damages in any action brought in a Federal or State court arising out of the performance of an air carrier in providing information concerning a flight reservation. (Sec. 403) Makes similar changes to foreign air carrier plans. Title V: Safety - Directs the FAA Administrator to require by regulation that collision avoidance equipment (TCAS-II) be installed on each cargo aircraft with a payload capacity of 15,000 kilograms or more. (Sec. 502) Declares that an air carrier does not need to obtain the employment records of an applicant pilot who has been employed by a branch of the U.S. armed forces, the National Guard, or reserve before allowing such individual to begin service as a pilot. Provides for electronic access to the employment records of FAA air pilots. (Sec. 503) Provides for the enforcement of whistleblower laws for FAA employees. (Sec. 504) Directs the FAA Administrator to issue guidelines and encourage the development of air safety risk management programs throughout the aviation industry, including self-audits and self- disclosure programs. (Sec. 505) Directs the FAA Administrator to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking: (1) to develop procedures to protect air carriers and their employees from civil enforcement actions under the Flight Operations Quality Assurance program; and (2) on implementing a certain section of title 49 relating to the issuance of airport operating certificates for small scheduled passenger air carrier operations. (Sec. 507) Directs the FAA Administrator to conduct a rulemaking proceeding to require the safe disposition of life-limited parts removed from an aircraft. Sets forth civil penalties. (Sec. 508) Subjects to a civil penalty of up to $25,000 any individual who interferes with the duties or responsibilities of the flight crew or cabin crew of a civil aircraft, or who poses an imminent threat to the safety of the aircraft or other individuals on the aircraft. Title VI: Whistleblower Protection - Amends Federal transportation law to establish a whistleblower protection program for airline employees providing air safety information. Prohibits air carriers, contractors, and subcontractors from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee as to pay, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee: (1) is about to provide or has provided to the Federal Government information relating to air safety; or (2) is about to file or has filed a proceeding, or testified, or otherwise participated in a proceeding relating to air safety. Sets forth a department of Labor complaint procedure for persons who believe they have been discharged or discriminated against in violation of this Act. Provides for award of attorney's fees of up to $5,000 to a prevailing employer for any such complaint found frivolous or brought in bad faith. Specifies civil penalties for violation of this Act. Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends Federal transportation law to provide that a proposal under a competitive bid process that is in the possession of the FAA Administrator may not be made available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act, with a specified exception. (Sec. 703) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to make a multiyear contract of not more than ten years (currently, such contracts for the procurement of goods and services are limited to no more than five years) for telecommunication services that are provided through the use of a satellite if the FAA Administrator finds that the longer contract period would be cost beneficial. (Sec. 704) Provides that a proposed change to the FAA personnel management system that has not lead to an agreement between the FAA employee bargaining unit and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service shall not become effective until 60-days after the FAA Administrator has submitted the change to Congress. Provides that such period shall not include any period during which Congress has adjourned sine die. Authorizes FAA employees who have been the subject of a major adverse personnel action to contest such action either through any contractual grievance procedure through the employee's collective bargaining unit or through the FAA's internal process relating to review of FAA major adverse personnel actions (under the Guaranteed Fair Treatment or a specified section of the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996. Requires such employees who can contest such personnel action through more than one forum to elect the appropriate forum (no more than one). Amends the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 to authorize FAA employees under the new FAA personnel management system to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board and seek judicial review of Board decisions. (Sec. 705) Amends Federal transportation law to prohibit domestic (including interstate) air carriers and foreign air carriers from discriminating against an air passenger on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex. Prohibits foreign air carriers from discriminating against handicapped individuals. Provides a civil penalty for violations committed against handicapped individuals. Directs the Secretary to work with appropriate international organizations and the aviation authorities of other nations to establish higher standards, if appropriate, to accommodate handicapped air passengers, particularly with respect to foreign air carriers that code share with domestic air carriers. (Sec. 706) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to make improvements to real property leased for an air navigation facility, regardless of whether the cost of making such improvements exceeds the cost of leasing such property, provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 707) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to enter into bilateral agreements with the aeronautical authorities of another country to exchange with that country all or part of their respective safety oversight functions and duties with respect to certain domestic and foreign aircraft. (Sec. 708) Provides for the availability of airman certificate records to the public. (Sec. 709) Authorizes a person to file with the NTSB a petition for a ten-day emergency stay of emergency orders revoking an airman's certificate. (Sec. 712) Directs the FAA Administrator to establish new fees for, among other things, FAA services to any entity obtaining such services outside the United States (except no fee shall be imposed for production-certification related service performed outside the United States). (Sec. 714) Directs the FAA Administrator to study, and submit the results to Congress on, the feasibility of requiring U.S. airports to install enhanced vision technologies to replace or enhance conventional landing light systems over a ten-year period. Includes the installation of such technologies at airports as an activity eligible for airport development project funds. (Sec. 715) Amends the Airport Noise and capacity Act to make foreign air carriers eligible for a waiver from stage three noise level requirements for certain aircraft. Authorizes the Secretary to provide a procedure under which a person may operate a stage one or stage two aircraft in nonrevenue service to or from a U.S. airport in order to: (1) sell the aircraft outside the United States; (2) sell the aircraft for scrapping; or (3) obtain modifications to the aircraft to meet stage three noise levels. (Sec. 718) Extends the Secretary's authority to approve an application of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: (1) for airport development project grants; or (2) to impose a passenger facility fee. (Sec. 719) Declares that a memorandum of agreement between the FAA Administrator and any person that directly obtains aircraft situational display data shall require that such person: (1) demonstrate the capability of selectively blocking the display of any aircraft-situation-display-to-industry derived data related to any identified aircraft registration number; and (2) agree to block selectively the aircraft registration numbers of any aircraft owner or operator upon FAA request. (Sec. 720) Authorizes the Secretary to hire additional personnel to eliminate the backlog of pending equal employment opportunity complaints to the department of Transportation (DOT) and to ensure that investigations of complaints are completed no later than 180 days after the initiation of the investigation. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 721) Directs the Secretary, subject to specified conditions, to waive any term contained in the deed of conveyance with respect to airport property that is no longer required for purposes of the Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport. (Sec. 722) Authorizes the City of Los Angeles Department of Airports to grant an easement to the California Department of Transportation to lands required to provide a right-of-way for the construction of the California State Route 138 bypass. (Sec. 723) Declares that flight operations conducted by Alaska guide pilots shall be regulated under the general operating and flight rules contained in part 91 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. Directs the FAA Administrator to conduct a rulemaking proceeding to modify the general operating and flight rules by establishing special rules requiring Alaska guide pilots to: (1) operate aircraft inspected no less often than after 125 hours of flight time; (2) participate in an annual flight review; (3) have at least 500 hours of flight time as a pilot; (4) have a commercial rating; (5) hold at least a second-class medical certificate; and (6) hold a letter of authorization certifying that the pilot is in compliance with the rules issued by the Administrator. (Sec. 725) Extends, through December 31, 2004, the aviation war risk insurance program. (Sec. 726) Amends the centennial of Flight Commemoration Act to include as one of the duties of the Centennial of Flight Commission to publish popular and scholarly works related to the history of aviation or the anniversary of the centennial of powered flight. Requires the Commission to adopt a policy to protect against possible conflicts of interest involving its members and employees. Requires Commission duties to be carried out by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). (Sec. 727) Directs the FAA Administrator to establish a pilot program to test and evaluate the benefits of long-term capital leasing contracts of aviation equipment and facilities. (Sec. 729) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish an Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Advisory Panel to review issues related to the use and oversight of aircraft and aviation component repair and maintenance facilities located within, or outside of, the United States; and (2) seek the advice of the panel on methods to increase safety by improving the oversight of aircraft repair facilities. Directs the Secretary to require, by regulation, domestic and foreign air carriers and repair facilities to submit certain information (including the existence of employee drug and alcohol testing programs at foreign repair facilities) in order to assess balance of trade and safety issues with respect to work performed on aircraft used by domestic and foreign carriers and corporate operators. Requires the Secretary to make such information available to the public. Title VIII: National Parks Air Tour Management - National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 1999 - prohibits a commercial air tour operator from conducting commercial air tour operations over a national park or tribal lands, except in accordance with this Act, conditions prescribed for that operator by the FAA Administrator, and with any commercial air tour management plan for the park or tribal lands. (Sec. 803) Sets forth specified requirements with respect to: (1) the granting of authority to commercial air tour operators to conduct air tour operations over national parks or tribal lands, with specified exceptions; and (2) establishment of commercial air tour management plans. Exempts from the requirements of this Act: (1) the Grand Canyon National Park, or any Indian country within or abutting such park; or (2) any land or waters located in Alaska. (Sec. 804) Directs the FAA Administrator and the Director of the National Park Service (Director) to establish, jointly, an advisory group to provide continuing advice and counsel with respect to the operation of commercial air tours over and near national parks. (Sec. 805) Directs the FAA Administrator to report to Congress on the effects proposed overflight fees are likely to have on the commercial air tour industry. Directs the FAA Administrator and the Director to report jointly to Congress on the effectiveness of this Act in providing incentives for the development and use of quiet aircraft technology. Title IX: Truth in Budgeting - Truth in Budgeting Act - Prohibits the receipts and disbursements of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of the Federal budget as submitted by the President, the congressional budget, or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman- Hollings Act). Amends Federal aviation law to require the Secretary to estimate annually: (1) what, but for this Act, would be at the close of the next fiscal year the amount of unfunded aviation authorizations; and (2) the net aviation receipts at the close of such year. Title X: Aviation Spending Guarantee - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency deficit Control Act of 1985 to establish discretionary spending categories in budget authority and outlays for the traditional aviation general fund (FAA operation account (69-1301- 0-1-402)) for FY 2000 through 2004 (including adjustment for inflation). Provides for the reduction in discretionary spending limits for budget authority and outlays for FY 2000 through 2002. (Sec. 1002) Prohibits the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from making any estimates of changes in direct spending outlays and receipts for any fiscal year resulting from this title. (Sec. 1003) Sets forth FAA guaranteed spending levels for budget resources for FY 2000 through 2004 (including adjustments to align with revenues). Authorizes appropriations for the AIP program. Sets forth estimated aviation income levels for FY 2000 through 2004.
United States · United States Congress · 4 March 1999
Public Services Aviation Act of 1999 - Amends Federal aviation safety law to consider a government-owned aircraft to be a public aircraft if it is: (1) operated in the performance of a governmental function by a unit of government on behalf of another unit of government pursuant to a cost reimbursement agreement; or (2) transporting (for non-commercial purposes) crewmembers whose presence is associated with the administration or support (or, as currently, performance) of a governmental function such as, but not limited to, public safety, among other functions specified by current law.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Service to Airports Not Receiving Sufficient Service Title II: Regional Air Service Incentive Program Title III: Contract Tower Program Airline Service Improvement Act of 1999 - Title I: Service to Airports Not Receiving Sufficient Service - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to grant exemptions pertaining to the use of slots (arrival and departure spaces) at high density airports in order to enable air carriers to provide nonstop air transportation using noise-compliant aircraft between a high density airport and an airport that had less than two million enplanements and an airport that does not have such nonstop transportation on the date on which the application for an exemption is filed. Provides exemption limitations, including a limitation of no more than six exemptions per day for slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (with further conditions on the Washington exemptions). Requires exemption decisions to be made by the Secretary within 120 days of application. Makes funds not otherwise obligated or expended for the Federal essential air service program available for: (1) air carrier service to airports not receiving sufficient air service; and (2) rural air safety at airports with less than 100,000 annual boardings. Makes 50 percent of any available funds in excess of $50 million in a fiscal year after 1999 available for the rural air safety program. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 to provide jet aircraft service to underserved airports. Provides an assistance priority at airports for which a community will provide a portion of the costs incurred. Waives the local contribution requirement for any place for which a proposal was approved or designated as eligible for such assistance during the period beginning October 1, 1991, and ending on December 31, 1997. Title II: Regional Air Service Incentive Program - Authorizes the Secretary to guarantee any lender against loss on any loan made to a commuter air carrier (maximum seating capacity of 75 or less) or new entrant air carrier (less than five years of service) for the purchase of jet aircraft when such aircraft are to be used to provide at least two round-trips per day five days per week to underserved markets. Outlines loan conditions and limitations, including that: (1) such aircraft comply with certain Federal noise-level requirements; and (2) the air carrier agrees to provide service to the underserved airport(s) for at least two years after being placed in service. Directs the Secretary to repay the holder of a loan guaranteed by the Secretary after the holder has made reasonable collection efforts. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) collect a loan guarantee fee from such lenders; and (2) be given, and make use of, Federal facilities and assistance in carrying out the incentive program. Terminates the above authority five years after the enactment of this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Contract Tower Program - Directs the Secretary to establish a program to contract for air traffic control services at not more than 20 low activity air traffic control towers that do not qualify for the current contract tower program. Provides airport priority under the program. Requires the airport sponsor or appropriate State or local government to pay the portion of control tower costs exceeding benefits under the program. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1999
Aviation Safety Protection Act - Amends Federal transportation law to establish a whistleblower protection program for airline employees providing air safety information. Prohibits air carriers, contractors, and subcontractors from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee as to pay, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee: (1) is about to provide or has provided to the Federal Government information relating to any violation of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) order, regulation, or standard, or any other Federal law relating to air carrier safety; or (2) is about to file or has filed a proceeding, or testified, or otherwise participated in a proceeding relating to such violations. Sets forth a Department of Labor complaint procedure for persons who believe they have been discharged or discriminated against in violation of this Act. Specifies civil penalties for violation of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 3 March 1999
Hazardous Material Transportation Safety Reauthorization Act of 1999 - Amends Federal transportation law to revise transportation of hazardous material provisions to declare new purposes, including to: (1) ensure the safe and efficient transportation of hazardous material in commerce; (2) provide the Secretary of Transportation with preemption authority to achieve uniform regulation of hazardous material transportation, ensure efficient movement of hazardous material in commerce; and promote the national health, welfare, and safety; and (3) provide adequate training for public sector emergency response teams and hazmat employees to ensure safe responses to hazardous material transportation accidents. (Sec. 3) Revises the term "commerce" to include transportation on a U.S.-registered aircraft within Federal regulation of the transportation of hazardous material. (Sec. 5) Changes from discretionary to mandatory the Secretary of Transportation's authority to impose a fee on persons who are required to file a registration statement for the transport of hazardous material in order to pay for the costs of processing such statements. Revises the annual fee to be paid by each person required to file a registration statement to at least $500 (currently, at least $250 but no more than $5,000). Requires the Secretary of Transportation, at the beginning of each fiscal year, to publish a fee schedule. Declares that registration requirements shall not apply to Indian tribes. (Sec. 6) Subjects motor carrier owners and operators who receive unsatisfactory safety and safety fitness ratings to specified penalties. (Sec. 8) Repeals a provision requiring the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to distribute a curriculum of courses to train public sector emergency and preparedness teams to regional response teams and certain committees and commission established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation, with the National Response Team for Oil and Hazardous Substances (formerly the national response team), to publish a list of programs that use a course developed under this section for training public-sector employees to respond to accidents or incidents involving hazardous material. (Sec. 9) Directs the Secretary of Transportation (currently, the Director of FEMA) to monitor public sector emergency response planning and training for an accident involving hazardous material. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an Emergency Preparedness Fund. Makes amounts in such Fund, without further appropriation, available, among other things, to publish and distribute the North American Emergency Response Guidebook. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to allow a State or Indian tribe receiving a planning and training grant to use up to 25 percent of the grant amount to assist small businesses in complying with regulations for the safe transportation of hazardous material. (Sec. 10) Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to issue a special permit (currently, an exemption) from Federal safety standards with respect to the transportation of hazardous material to a person transporting hazardous material in a way that achieves a safety level at least equal to the safety level required under such Federal safety standards, or consistent with the public interest if a required safety level does not exist. Increases from two years to four years the period of the special permit authorizing variances from Federal standards governing the safe transportation of hazardous material. (Sec. 11) Requires a working group of State and local government officials to establish uniform forms and procedures for a State to, among other things, issue special permits to persons that transport hazardous material by motor vehicle. (Sec. 12) Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to enter into grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions with a person, U.S. agency, State or local government, Indian tribe, foreign government, educational institution, or other entity to further research, development, demonstration, risk assessment, emergency response planning and training activities with respect to the transportation of hazardous materials. (Sec. 13) Sets forth certain enforcement provisions with respect to the safe transportation of hazardous material. (Sec. 14) Revises penalties for violations of a regulation, order, special permit, or approval in connection with the transportation of a hazardous material to: (1) increase the maximum civil penalty to not more than $27,500 for each violation; and (2) provide for a fine, or imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both, for violations which lead to the release of a hazardous material (aggravated violations). (Sec. 16) Authorizes a person with a substantial interest in a final enforcement order issued in connection with the transportation of a hazardous material to petition for review in the appropriate court. (Sec. 17) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a study to: (1) determine the safety benefits and administrative efficiency of implementing a Federal permit program for high-risk hazardous material carriers; and (2) identify and evaluate alternative regulatory methods and procedures that may improve the safety of such carriers. (Sec. 18) Authorizes appropriations. Earmarks certain funds for: (1) supplemental training grants to conduct hazardous material training programs for individuals to respond to hazardous material accidents; (2) training the public sector to respond to accidents involving the transportation of hazardous material; (3) hazardous material emergency response planning and training grants to States and Indian tribes; (4) monitoring and providing technical assistance to public sector emergency response planning and training for an accident involving hazardous material; (5) publishing and distributing the North American Emergency Response Guidebook; (6) certain administrative costs; and (7) grants for training instructors to train hazmat employees. (Sec. 19) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to conduct, and report to Congress on, a two-year pilot program to randomly inspect intermodal containers in coastal port areas in order to determine the extent to which undeclared hazardous material is being offered for transportation in commerce.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Water Resources Projects Title II: General Provisions Title III: Project-Related Provisions Water Resources Development Act of 1999 - Title I: Water Resources Projects - Authorizes projects for navigation, environmental restoration, flood damage reduction, recreation, flood control, storm damage reduction, ecosystem restoration and shore protection, and aquifer storage and recovery in Alaska, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Texas. Authorizes projects for water resources development and conservation and related purposes, subject to a final report from the Army Chief of Engineers and approval by the Secretary of the Army, in Alaska, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Washington. (Sec. 102) Modifies projects for flood control, navigation, water conveyance, water supply storage reallocation, water diversion, beach erosion control and hurricane protection, land retention, storm damage reduction and shoreline protection, environmental infrastructure, and hurricane-flood protection (together with certain report requirements or land transfers, in some cases) in Arkansas, California, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine (with a deauthorization of certain portions of such project), Mississippi, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. (Sec. 103) Deauthorizes navigation projects in Connecticut and Maine. (Sec. 104) Directs the Secretary to conduct studies with respect to specified projects in Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Guam. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study and report to Congress on water supply needs of States not currently eligible for assistance under title XVI of the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992. Title II: General Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a program to reduce flood hazards and restore the natural functions and values of riverine ecosystems throughout the United States. Requires appropriate studies. Requires non-Federal interests to pay 35 percent of the cost of any project carried out. Outlines project selection criteria, policies, and procedures. Prohibits any project from being carried out until the Secretary notifies specified congressional committees and 21 days have passed since such notification. (Sec. 202) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to provide that the non-Federal share of the costs of periodic nourishment of products or measures for shore protection or beach erosion control shall be 50 percent, with specified exceptions. (Sec. 203) Amends the Flood Control Act of 1948 to increase to $7 million the maximum amount for small flood control projects. (Sec. 204) Amends the Flood Control Act of 1960 to authorize the Secretary to accept funds voluntarily contributed to expand the compilation and dissemination of information on floods and flood damage. (Sec. 205) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to: (1) extend through FY 2000 the Everglades and South Florida ecosystem restoration program; and (2) allow non-profit entities to enter into agreements to pay non-Federal shares of aquatic ecosystem restoration projects. (Sec. 207) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to allow non-profit entities to enter into agreements to pay non-Federal shares of the costs of projects for beneficial uses of dredged materials. (Sec. 208) Amends the Flood Control Act of 1936 to allow contributions by States and political subdivisions to be used for environmental restoration activities. (Sec. 209) Authorizes the Secretary during FY 1999 through 2002 to withhold a specified amount of recreation user fees for repair and maintenance projects, interpretation, signage, habitat or facility enhancement, resource preservation, annual operation, maintenance, and law enforcement related to public use at recreation sites. (Sec. 210) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 to permit studies undertaken by the Secretary concerning the Pacific region to include flood damage reduction and environmental restoration. (Sec. 211) Directs the Secretary to develop a plan for a project to protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat of the Missouri River and the middle Mississippi River. Prohibits such plan or project from affecting water rights or private property rights. Permits the modification of previously authorized projects in such areas. Requires a 35 percent non-Federal cost share. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 and 2001. (Sec. 212) Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit fees from being charged to non-Federal interests for an assessment of the value of the resources and the public interest served in promoting development of Outer Continental Shelf resources. Requires full reimbursement of amounts paid by the non-Federal interests for beach erosion control and hurricane protection at Sandbridge Beach in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as a result of such an assessment. (Sec. 213) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1990 to: (1) include Snake Creek in Bixby, Oklahoma, as a priority work for environmental dredging activities; and (2) direct the Secretary to include primary flood damages avoided within a benefit analysis for justifying Federal non-structural flood damage reduction projects. (Sec. 215) Amends the River and Harbor Act of 1958 to include within projects for the control of aquatic growth projects for the control of Arundo dona and tarmarix. (Sec. 216) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of: (1) 1992 to include three water systems and projects in California and Nevada among authorized environmental infrastructure projects; (2) 1996 to include certain California and Nevada watersheds and river basins within authorized watershed management, restoration, and development; and (3) 1986 to include projects in Lake County, California, Hollis, New Hampshire, and Milford, New Hampshire, under a lakes silt and debris removal program. (Sec. 219) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to: (1) add an additional project purpose to a water resource development project in the New York-New Jersey Harbor; and (2) increase the authorization of appropriations for such project. (Sec. 220) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of: (1) 1976 to reduce from 50 to 35 the percent of total cost to be borne by States for placing dredged sand on State beaches; and (2) 1986 to state that not more than 80 percent of the non-Federal share of fish and wildlife mitigation costs may be in-kind. Directs the Secretary to work with the State of Ohio and other Great Lakes States to fully implement and maximize beneficial reuse of dredged material along Great Lakes shores. (Sec. 223) Directs the Secretary and the EPA Administrator to convene the National Contaminated Sediment Task Force (established under prior law). Requires the Task Force to report to Congress on the status of remedial actions taken at aquatic sites in specified areas. (Sec. 224) Directs the Secretary to report biannually to Congress on a plan for programs of the Army Corps of Engineers in the Great Lakes basin. Directs the Secretary to request each Federal agency that may have information relevant to the Great Lakes biohydrological system to provide an inventory of such information. Requires the Secretary to compile, analyze, and submit to Congress, the International Joint Commission, and the Great Lakes States a report on such information. Directs the Secretary to report to Congress detailing the economic benefits of recreational boating in the Great Lakes basin. (Sec. 225) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to make appropriate the use of authority under such Act to control sea lamprey at any Great Lakes basin location. (Sec. 226) Authorizes the Secretary to investigate, study, evaluate, and report on water quality, environmental quality, recreation, fish and wildlife, flood control, and navigation in the western Lake Erie watershed. (Sec. 227) Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical assistance to non-Federal interests, and conduct other site-specific studies, to formulate and evaluate fish screens, passage devices, and other measures used to decrease the incidence of juvenile fish inadvertently entering into irrigation systems. Requires: (1) non- Federal interests to provide 50 percent of the cost of such assistance; and (2) a report from the Secretary to Congress. (Sec. 229) Amends the River and Harbor Act of 1968 to: (1) increase from $2 million to $5 million the amount permitted as a Federal first cost for a shore damage project before specific authorization by Congress is required; and (2) direct the Secretary to coordinate such projects with other Federal projects in the same area and to combine such projects into a comprehensive regional project. Title III: Project-Related Provisions - Authorizes the Secretary to acquire for Rhode Island a dredge and associated equipment for dredging salt ponds. (Sec. 302) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to: (1) include the Chemung River watershed, New York, under a water resources development program for the Upper Susquehanna River Basin in Pennsylvania and New York; (2) include certain projects in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania under authorized small flood control projects; and (3) include a project in Delaware Bay, New Jersey, under authorized small navigation projects. (Sec. 305) Makes the streambank protection project at Coulson Park in Billings, Montana, eligible for assistance under the Flood Control Act of 1946. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out such projects in the Arctic Ocean, Barrow, Alaska, the Saginaw River in Bay City, Michigan, and the Monongahela River in Point Marion, Pennsylvania. (Sec. 306) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct measures to address water quality, flows, and fish habitat restoration in the historic Springfield, Oregon, millrace through reconfiguration of the existing millpond if it is determined that harmful impacts have occurred as the result of a previously constructed flood control project. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 307) Directs the Secretary to expeditiously complete certain previously authorized saltmarsh restoration activities in Sluice Creek, Guilford, Connecticut, and Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, Connecticut. (Sec. 308) Designates the project for flood control, Eight Mile Creek, Paragould, Arkansas, as the Francis Bland Floodway Ditch. (Sec. 310) Modifies the project for flood control and other purposes at Cumberland, Maryland, to authorize the Secretary to undertake restoration of the historic Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Specifies estimated Federal and non-Federal costs. (Sec. 311) Includes Miami Beach, Florida, under a previously authorized national shoreline erosion control development and demonstration program. (Sec. 312) Directs the Secretary to accept from Oklahoma an amount to be determined as prepayment for water supply cost obligations for water supply storage at Sardis Reservoir in Oklahoma. (Sec. 313) Directs the Secretary to proceed immediately to prepare engineering design, plans, and specifications to extend certain locks on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to provide lock chambers of specified dimension so that construction can proceed immediately upon completion of studies and authorization of projects by Congress. (Sec. 314) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 relating to the Upper Mississippi River system to: (1) add certain activities under a master plan for the improvement of the system; (2) direct the Secretary to create an independent technical advisory committee to review system projects, monitoring plans, and habitat and natural resources needs assessments; (3) require promotion of the simulation of natural river processes to the maximum extent practicable; (4) authorize appropriations for FY 1999 through 2009 for system programs; (5) require an evaluation report from the Secretary to Congress; (6) authorize the transfer of appropriated amounts between various programs; and (7) direct the Secretary to investigate, and if appropriate, carry out restoration of urban wildlife habitat, with a special emphasis on the establishment of greenways, in the St. Louis, Missouri, area and surrounding communities. (Sec. 315) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 relating to a research and development program for Columbia River basin salmon survival to: (1) include the Snake River in such program; (2) revise generally authorized activities under the program; (3) increase the authorization of appropriations for the development, and installation in Corps dams, of advanced hydropower turbines; and (4) direct the Secretary to carry out methods to reduce nesting populations of avian predators on dredge spoil islands in the Columbia River under the Secretary's jurisdiction (authorizes appropriations). (Sec. 316) Authorizes the Secretary to credit against non-Federal shares costs incurred in preparing environmental and other preconstruction documentation for the habitat restoration project in Nine Mile Run, Pennsylvania, if such documentation is determined to be integral to such project. (Sec. 317) Directs the Secretary to work with the Secretary of Transportation on a project to maintain the Larkspur Ferry Channel in Larkspur, California, as authorized under prior law. (Sec. 318) Authorizes the Secretary to study and implement a comprehensive flood impact response modeling system for the Coralville Reservoir and the Iowa River watershed, Iowa. Requires a report to Congress. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 319) Directs the Comptroller General to study, and report to specified congressional committees on, various alternatives for innovative financing of future construction, operation, and maintenance of projects in small and medium-sized ports. (Sec. 320) Directs the Secretary to convey all U.S. rights and interest in land acquired for the Candy Lake project in Osage County, Oklahoma. Requires the Secretary to give prior owners the first option to purchase such lands (requiring such previous owners to be notified of such sale). (Sec. 321) Directs the Secretary to evaluate and, if justified, carry out flood damage reduction measures along the lower Salcha River and on Piledriver Slough in Alaska, and along the Eyak River at Cordova, Alaska. (Sec. 323) Directs the Secretary to carry out ecosystem restoration and storm drainage reduction at North Padre Island, Corpus Christi Bay, Texas, with specified Federal and non-Federal costs. (Sec. 324) Directs the Secretary to complete a water supply reallocation study at the project for flood control, Kanopolis Lake, Kansas. (Sec. 325) Authorizes a public entity designated by the New York State project director to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Secretary with respect to a project for providing environmental assistance to non-Federal interests in the New York City watershed. (Sec. 326) Directs the Secretary to review and, if consistent with project purposes, reimburse the city of Charlevoix, Michigan, for the Federal share of specified construction costs at a navigation project in Charlevoix Harbor. (Sec. 327) Authorizes the Secretary to construct the Hamilton Dam flood control project, Michigan, under authority of the Flood Control Act of 1948. (Sec. 328) Limits the non-Federal share of project costs for the project for flood control, Holes Creek, Ohio. (Sec. 329) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to direct the Secretary to provide assistance to the Narragansett Bay Commission for the construction of a combined sewer (currently, river) overflow management facility in Rhode Island.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Amends the Ports and Waterways Safety Act to require a commercial vessel to notify the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating before entering into U.S. waters. Sets forth information to be contained in such notification. Authorizes the Secretary to deny entry of a vessel into U.S. waters if: (1) the Secretary has not received notification from the vessel; or (2) the vessel is not in compliance with any other applicable law relating to marine safety, security, or environmental protection. Authorizes the Secretary to direct the operation of any vessel in navigable U.S. waters during hazardous circumstances, including the absence of a pilot required by Federal or State law, weather, casualty, vessel traffic, or the poor condition of the vessel.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Prohibits aliens from applying for asylum in Guam. Provides for: (1) detention of such aliens pending transport to another port of entry for asylum review; and (2) reimbursement of local costs.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Aviation Consumer Right To Know Act of 1999 - Amends Federal aviation law to prohibit any air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent from selling air transportation in the United States for a flight that bears a designator code of another air carrier unless the air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent informs the person purchasing the air transportation that the carrier providing such transportation will be a carrier other than the carrier whose designator code is used to identify the flight and informs the person of the corporate name of the other carrier. Requires an air carrier, upon the request of any person (including a governmental entity), to disclose the number or percentage of seats that the carrier intends to make available on a specific date for use by a person redeeming an award under a frequent flyer program. Requires the air carrier to also: (1) provide the person full access to all fares for air transportation provided by it, regardless of the technology the person uses to access the fares; and (2) permit the person to purchase air transportation at any published fare. Prohibits an air carrier from: (1) prohibiting a person (including governmental entity) that purchases air transportation from only using a portion of the air transportation purchased (including using the air transportation purchased only for one-way travel instead of round-trip travel); and (2) assessing an additional fee or charge to the person, or any ticket agent that sold the air transportation to such person. Requires any announcement by an air carrier of a delay or cancellation of a flight, a diversion of a flight to an airport other than the airport at which the flight is scheduled to land, or a delay in deplaning at an airport to include an explanation of the reason for such delay, cancellation, or diversion and, in the case of a delay, the expected length of the delay. Prohibits an air carrier from providing false or misleading explanations. Prohibits an air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent from selling air transportation in the United States for a flight on which an insecticide is planned to be used in the aircraft while passengers are on board the aircraft unless such air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent first informs the person purchasing the air transportation of its use, including the name of the insecticide.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Regulation of Firearm Products Title II: Prohibitions Title III: Enforcement Subtitle A: Civil Enforcement Subtitle B: Criminal Enforcement Title IV: Administrative Provisions Title V: Relationship to Other Law Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act of 1999 - Title I: Regulation of Firearm Products - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe such regulations governing the design, manufacture, and performance of, and commerce in "firearm products" (defined as a firearm, firearm part, nonpowder firearm, and ammunition) as are reasonably necessary to reduce or prevent unreasonable risk of injury resulting from the use of such products. Allows any person to petition the Secretary to: (1) issue, amend, or repeal such a regulation; or (2) require the recall, repair, or replacement of, or the issuance of refunds with respect to, a firearm product. Sets deadlines for taking action on petitions. (Sec. 102) Authorizes the Secretary to issue orders: (1) prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transfer of a firearm product which has been manufactured, imported, transferred, or distributed in violation of a regulation prescribed under this Act; (2) requiring the recall, repair, or replacement of, or refunds for, firearm products; and (3) prohibiting the manufacture, importation, transfer, distribution, or export of a firearm product if the exercise of other authority under this Act would not be sufficient to prevent the product from posing an unreasonable risk of injury to the public. Authorizes the Secretary, in order to ascertain compliance with this Act, to enter and inspect: (1) any place in which firearm products are manufactured, stored, or held, for distribution in commerce; and (2) any conveyance being used to transport a firearm product. Title II: Prohibitions - Sets forth prohibitions on the manufacture or transfer of firearm products for failure by: (1) a manufacturer to test and certify firearm products or to provide notice to the Secretary of new types of firearm products; (2) a manufacturer or dealer in firearms to label firearm products; and (3) an importer, manufacturer, or dealer to fail to maintain, or permit inspection of, records. Prohibits: (1) the importation and exportation of uncertified firearm products; (2) the manufacturer, offer for sale, distribution in commerce, importation, or exportation of a firearm product in violation of this Act; and (3) the manufacture, purchase, or import of a firearm product at a rate that is significantly greater than that at which the person manufactured, purchased, or imported the product during a base period (prescribed by the Secretary) before the applicable regulation is prescribed under this Act. Makes this title inapplicable to specified governmental authorities. Title III: Enforcement - Subtitle A: Civil Enforcement - Directs the Secretary to impose a civil fine upon any person who violates title II. Provides that each violation shall constitute a separate offense with respect to each firearm product involved, subject to specified limitations. Sets the applicable fine amount at $5,000 for the five-year period immediately following this Act's enactment date, and $10,000 thereafter. (Sec. 302) Authorizes the Attorney General, upon request of the Secretary, to bring an action: (1) to restrain any violation of title II in the U.S. district court for any district in which the violation has occurred or in which the defendant is found or transacts business; and (2) in rem for condemnation of a qualified firearm product in the district court for any district in which the Secretary has found and seized for confiscation the product. (Sec. 303) Authorizes: (1) the Secretary to bring an action in district court to restrain a manufacturer or dealer from manufacturing, distributing, transferring, importing, or exporting; and (2) the court, in such an action, to grant such temporary or permanent relief as necessary to protect the public from the risks posed by such product. (Sec. 304) Authorizes: (1) any person aggrieved by a violation of this Act or any interested person to bring an action against such other person in district court for damages; and (2) the court to award to a prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney's fee. (Sec. 306) Specifies that: (1) compliance with this Act shall not relieve any person from liability to any person under common law or State statutory law; and (2) the failure of the Secretary to take any action authorized under this Act shall not be admissible in litigation relating to the product under common law or State statutory law. Subtitle B: Criminal Enforcement - Subjects any person who has been notified of a violation of a provision of this Act and who knowingly violates such provision with respect to a firearms product, to a fine and up to two years' imprisonment. Title IV: Administrative Provisions - Directs the Secretary to: (1) maintain a Firearm Injury Information Clearinghouse for information relating to the causes and prevention of death and injury associated with firearms; (2) conduct continuing studies and investigations of firearm-related deaths and injuries and the resulting economic costs and losses; (3) collect and maintain production and sales figures for licensed manufacturers under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act; (4) conduct research on the safety of firearm products; (5) develop firearm safety testing methods and devices; and (6) make available to the public, at least annually, the results of such activities. (Sec. 402) Sets forth reporting requirements. Title V: Relationship to Other Law - Specifies that: (1) in the event of any conflict between this Act and any provision of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), the AECA provision shall control; and (2) this Act shall not be construed to preempt State or local law or to prevent a State from enacting any provision of law regulating or prohibiting conduct with respect to a firearm product, except to the extent of inconsistency with this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Air Service Restoration Act - Amends Federal transportation law to direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a five-year pilot aviation development program to be administered by a program director designated by the Secretary. Requires the program director to: (1) function as a facilitator between small communities and air carriers; (2) carry out a specified airline service restoration program; (3) ensure that the Bureau of Transportation Statistics collects data on passenger information to assess the service needs of small communities; (4) coordinate efforts with other Federal, State, and local agencies to increase the viability of service to small communities and the creation of aviation development zones; and (5) recommend policies to the Secretary and Congress that will ensure that small communities have access to quality, affordable air transportation services. Requires the program director to report annually to the Secretary and the Congress with respect to the availability of quality air transportation services to small communities. (Sec. 5) Authorizes no more than 40 small communities or a consortia of small communities or a State to develop an assessment of air service requirements and submit it with an air service program proposal to the program director. Sets forth specified program requirements. Requires the program director to report annually to Congress on progress in expanding commercial aviation service to smaller communities. . Requires the program director to establish a five-year pilot program to assist communities and States with inadequate access to the national transportation system to improve such access, including facilitating better link-ups to such system. Sets forth certain requirements and eligibility criteria with respect to communities participating in the pilot program. (Sec. 6) Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 7) Directs the Secretary to review, and promulgate regulations to address, the marketing practices of air carriers that may inhibit the availability of quality, affordable air transportation services to small and medium-sized communities. (Sec. 8) Requires major air carriers providing air service to essential airport facilities that have interline agreements involving ticketing, baggage, and ground handling, and terminal and gate access with other carriers, to provide on a nondiscriminatory basis the same services to any requesting air carrier that offers air service to a small community airport. (Sec. 9) Directs the Secretary to issue a determination as to whether a price established by an air carrier for a route in air transportation that contains a flight segment to or from an airport dominated by the carrier ( if more than 50 percent of the daily passenger enplanements at an airport are enplanements of such carrier) is reasonable if an individual files with the Secretary a written request for such determination. Authorizes the Secretary to only determine whether such price is reasonable or unreasonable and not set a price.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Consumer Access to Travel Information Act of 1999 - Amends Federal aviation policy law to direct the Secretary of Transportation to consider it in the public interest, and consistent with public convenience and necessity, to ensure that consumers may obtain unbiased information in an efficient and convenient manner from travel agents and other independent sources about air transportation passenger services and fares. Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the availability of such information to consumers. Requires the Secretary, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, to issue a cease and desist order to any air carrier or other party engaged in any practice or policy which constitutes a predatory, unfair, or deceptive practice or unfair method of competition which restricts the widespread, convenient, and efficient access by the public to unbiased comparative air transportation passenger service and fare information or the sale, booking, or distribution of air transportation passenger services or products.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Educational Facilities Improvement Title II: Scholarships Title III: A+ Accounts for Public and Private Schools Renewing America's Schools Act - Title I: Educational Facilities Improvement - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) title XII (School Facilities Infrastructure Improvement) to establish an educational facilities construction and renovation bond subsidy program. (Sec. 101) Directs the Secretary of Education to use such bond subsidy program funds to pay up to 50 percent, according to a sliding scale based on need, of the interest costs applicable to any State or local bond for construction or renovation of educational facilities in local areas. Provides for: (1) mandatory direct grants to local bond authorities for up to 100 local areas with the highest numbers of school age children whose families do not exceed 100 percent of the poverty line (plus an optional 25 additional local areas with extraordinary construction or renovation needs); and (2) mandatory grants to States for State or local bond authority assistance for local areas according to a specified formula. Authorizes reservation of specified amounts for Indian schools, schools in U.S. territories, and certain studies, evaluations, and reports. Sets forth requirements for authorized activities, waivers (in order to increase assistance), fair wages, and reports. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000. Title II: Scholarships - Amends ESEA title VI (Innovative Education Program Strategies) to allow any State that has enacted or will enact a law establishing a voluntary public and private school parental choice scholarship program in compliance with specified ESEA requirements to reserve an additional 15 percent from its annual title VI allotment for use exclusively for such parental choice programs. (Sec. 202) Requires State educational agencies, except in the case of such programs, to distribute 90 percent (currently 85 percent) of title VI funds to local educational agencies based on criteria which gives priority to low-income families and areas. (Sec. 203) Includes such parental choice programs among State and local uses of title VI funds. Requires such parental choice programs to be located in an area that has the greatest numbers or percentages of children: (1) living in areas with a high concentration of low-income families; (2) from low-income families; or (3) living in sparsely populated areas. Requires such programs to ensure that program participation is limited to families whose family income does not exceed 185 percent of the poverty line. Directs the Comptroller General to make contracts for annual evaluation of each parental choice program. Provides that title VI funds to establish a parental choice program shall be considered assistance to the student and shall not be considered as assistance to any school that chooses to participate in such program. Prohibits the Secretary from exercising any direction, supervision, or control over curricula, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any school that chooses to participate in a parental choice program. Title III: A+ Accounts for Public and Private Schools - A+ Accounts for Public and Private Schools Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit tax-free expenditures from education individual retirement accounts 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. (Sec. 302) Provides for a temporary increase, from $500 to $2,500, through December 31, 2003, for the maximum annual contribution to such an account. Waives certain age limitations in cases of children with special needs. Permits corporations to contribute to such accounts.
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Sets forth the rule (open) for the consideration of H.R. 661 (prohibiting commercial operation of supersonic transport category aircraft under certain conditions).
United States · United States Congress · 2 March 1999
Designates majority membership on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
United States · United States Congress · 1 March 1999
Clean Gasoline Act of 1999 - Amends the Clean Air Act to prohibit the manufacture, sale, supply, dispensation, transport, or introduction into commerce of motor vehicle gasoline that contains a concentration of sulfur exceeding 40 parts per million per gallon of gasoline. Provides that a person shall not be in violation of such prohibition if, during a one-year period, the person engages in such an activity with respect to gasoline that contains a sulfur concentration between 40 and 80 parts per million per gallon if the average concentration of sulfur in the gasoline during the period is less than 30 parts per million per gallon. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to report to the Congress on the effects of use of low sulfur motor vehicle gasoline on urban and regional air quality. Provides for an update within two years of submission of the original report. Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate a regulation to establish maximum and average allowable sulfur concentrations in motor vehicle gasoline that are lower than concentrations specified under this Act if: (1) research conducted after this Act's enactment indicates that significant air quality benefits would result from a reduction in allowable sulfur concentration in such gasoline; or (2) advanced vehicle technologies have been developed that can significantly reduce emissions of air pollutants from motor vehicles but that require gasoline with a lower concentration of sulfur than that specified under this Act. Prescribes penalties for violations of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Airline Competition Act of 1999 - Amends Federal aviation law to make eligible large hub airports and low-competition airports for slots (takeoff and landing authority) for air carriers providing essential air service at such airports. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to give preference in granting an exemption from certain requirements limiting takeoffs and landings at high density airports to air transportation provided to low-competition airports that are located within a 500-mile radius of a high density airport. (Sec. 4) Directs the Secretary to issue regulations that define predatory practices and unfair methods of competition of air carriers for purposes of applying this Act to complaints of such practices under section 41712 of title 49, United States Code, or any other applicable provision of law. Directs the Secretary to: (1) after a complaint alleging a predatory practice or unfair method of competition by an air carrier is filed on or after enactment of this Act with the Secretary under section 41712 of title 49, United States Code, or any other applicable provision of law, make an initial finding of whether such practice that is the subject of the complaint constitutes a predatory practice or unfair method of competition; and (2) complete action on such complaints filed with the Secretary before enactment of this Act. (Sec. 5) Directs the Secretary to report annually to Congress concerning barriers to entry, predatory practices (including pricing), and other limits on competition in the aviation industry. (Sec. 6) Declares that nothing in this Act shall authorize the Secretary to take action that would increase aircraft noise in any community in the vicinity of an airport. Directs the Secretary to issue proposed regulations that establish and implement stage 4 noise levels which provide for the significant reduction in the noise level of, and which are consistent with levels attainable through the use of the most effective noise control technology available for stage 3 aircraft as of January 1, 1999, for, stage 4 aircraft. (Sec. 7) Amends Federal aviation law provisions prohibiting State regulation of air prices, routes, and services to declare that such provisions shall not bar a cause of action brought against an air carrier by one or more private parties seeking to enforce any right under the common law of any State or State statute other than a statute purporting to directly prescribe fares, routes, or levels of air transportation service.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Highway Innovation and Cost Savings Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the treatment of a qualified infrastructure project bond as an exempt private activity bond.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Critical Infrastructure Communications Act of 1999 - Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules to ensure the ongoing protection and promotion of radio spectrum used by electric, gas, and water utilities and natural gas and petroleum pipelines against interference from other users of spectrum and consistent with provisions of the Communications Act of 1934. Requires the FCC, until such rules are adopted, to discontinue licensing private mobile radio facilities on: (1) any channels that were formerly allocated by the FCC to the Power (IW) Radio Service or Petroleum (IP) Radio Service on either an exclusive or shared basis; and (2) any channels less than 15khz removed from such channels. Provides exceptions in the case of a license applicant that: (1) obtains the concurrence of the designated frequency advisory committee for the IW or IP Service, or both; or (2) obtains and submits written concurrence of all IW and IP radio services licensees having a co- channel or adjacent-channel facility within 70 miles of the applicant's proposed site.
United States · United States Congress · 25 February 1999
Highway Innovation and Cost Savings Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the treatment of a qualified highway infrastructure project bond as an exempt private activity bond.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Authorization Title II: Miscellaneous Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1999 - Title I: Authorization - Authorizes appropriations to the Coast Guard for FY 2000 and 2001 for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, and aircraft; (3) research, development, testing, and evaluation; (4) retired pay, payments under the Retired Serviceman's Family Protection and Survivor Benefit Plans, and payments for medical care of retired personnel and their dependents; (5) alteration or removal of bridges constituting obstructions to navigation and for personnel and administrative costs associated with the Bridge Alteration Program; and (6) environmental compliance and restoration at Coast Guard facilities. (Sec. 102) Authorizes Coast Guard end-of-year strength and military training student loads. Title II: Miscellaneous - Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to issue a certificate of documentation with endorsement for the coastwise trade for the vessel NOT A SHOT. (Sec. 202) Earmarks certain amounts authorized by this Act to reimburse the owner of the former Coast Guard lighthouse facility at Cape May, New Jersey, for costs incurred for clean-up of lead contaminated soil. (Sec. 203) Amends the Ports and Waterways Safety Act to require any commercial vessel entering the U.S. territorial sea, within 24 hours before such entry, to notify the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating of specified information, including: (1) whether it carries any dangerous cargo (with description); and (2) a description of any hazardous conditions on the vessel. Authorizes the Secretary to deny entry to such a vessel if: (1) no such notification is received; or (2) the vessel is not in compliance with any applicable law relating to marine safety, security, or environmental protection. Authorizes the Secretary to direct the operation of any vessel in U.S. navigable waters as necessary during hazardous circumstances, including the absence of a pilot required by State or Federal law, weather, casualty, vessel traffic, or the poor condition of the vessel.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1999
Combined Sewer Overflow Control and Partnership Act of 1999 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require each permit, order, or decree issued pursuant to such Act for a discharge from a combined storm and sanitary sewer to conform to the Combined Sewer Overflow Control Policy signed by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on April 11, 1994. Authorizes the Administrator, notwithstanding specified compliance schedules and permit limitations, to issue or execute a permit, order, or decree for discharges from such sewers that includes a schedule for compliance with a long-term control plan for a term of up to 15 years. Provides for extensions of such term, as appropriate. Modifies any administrative or judicial decree or order issued before this Act's enactment date that establishes any deadline or schedule for the construction of treatment works for control of any discharge from a municipal combined sewer system to extend such deadlines or schedules to conform with this Act, at the request of the municipal owner or operator. Prohibits any permit, order, or decree issued pursuant to the Act from requiring compliance with water quality based requirements contained in a long-term control plan under the Control Policy unless the Administrator has completed the water quality standards-designated use review process called for in the Control Policy. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to municipalities for planning, design, and construction of facilities to intercept, transport, control, or treat combined storm and sanitary sewer flows. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2002. Directs the Administrator to report biennially to the Congress on recommended funding levels for the two fiscal years following the date of a report on activities relating to combined storm and sanitary sewer flows.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1999
Federal Maritime Commission Authorization Act of 1999 - Authorizes appropriations to the Federal Maritime Commission for FY 2000 and 2001.
United States · United States Congress · 24 February 1999
Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to make funds currently earmarked to replace the M-14-Barton Drive interchange in Ann Arbor, Michigan, available to conduct a study of alternatives to the interchange, including relocation on M-14 - U.S. 23 from Maple Road to Plymouth Road, mass transit options, and other means of reducing commuter traffic and improving highway safety.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
Human Rights, Opportunity, Partnership, and Empowerment for Africa Act (or the Hope for Africa Act) - Declares the policy of Congress toward sub-Saharan African countries. Title I: Cancellation of Debt Owed By Sub-Saharan African Countries - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct the President to cancel all concessional and nonconcessional loans made, guarantees issued, or credits extended by the United States to sub-Saharan African countries. Directs the President to report annually to the appropriate congressional committees concerning the cancellation of debt. (Sec. 102) Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of State to notify foreign governments that have provided loans, guarantees, or credits to the government of a sub-Saharan African country that it is U.S. policy to forgive all such debts and that such foreign governments should do the same. (Sec. 104) Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the United States Executive Directors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) to use the U.S. vote to advocate that such financial institutions: (1) unconditionally cancel all debts owed by a sub-Saharan African country to such institution; (2) encourage each country benefitting from such debt cancellation to allocate 20 percent of the country's national budget (including savings from such debt cancellation) to basic services, as the country has committed to do under the United Nations 20- 20 Initiative; and (3) after canceling such debt, require that any future loans not be used to finance in whole or part the implementation of any agreement which requires the country to pay more than five percent of its annual export earnings toward the servicing of foreign loans. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to report to specified congressional committees with respect to the response by foreign governments to the policies advocated by this section. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) report to Congress on the amount of debt owed to any U.S. person by any country in sub-Saharan Africa; and (2) acquire and cancel each debt obligation owed to each U.S. person. (Sec. 106) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1999 to include as an additional duty of the International Financial Institution Advisory Commission that it advise the Secretary of the Treasury and report to Congress on the viability and desirability of having each indebted sub-Saharan African country repay foreign loans in their currency. (Sec. 107) Directs the Secretary of State to encourage the government of each sub-Saharan African country to allocate 20 percent of its national budget (including the savings from cancellation of debt owed by it to the United States) to other foreign countries, to the IMF and the World Bank, and to U.S. persons for the provision of basic services to individuals in their respective country, as provided for in the United Nations 20-20 Initiative. (Sec. 108) Expresses the sense of Congress that, prior to the cancellation of debt owed by sub-Saharan African countries, each such country should not pay in any calendar year an aggregate amount greater than five percent of the export earnings of the country for the prior calendar year. Title II: Trade Provisions Relating to Sub-Saharan Africa - Directs the United States, pursuant to the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, to eliminate existing quotas on textile and apparel exports to the United States from Kenya and Mauritius not later than 30 days after each country demonstrates that it: (1) does not engage in significant violations of internationally recognized human rights; (2) provides for the enforcement of certain internationally recognized worker rights; and (3) takes adequate measures to prevent illegal transshipment of goods. Directs the President to continue the no quota policy for each of the other sub-Saharan African countries that are in compliance with such requirements. (Sec. 201) Provides that, when the quota for either Kenya or Mauritius is first eliminated, the quota for textile and apparel products from China for each calendar year shall be reduced by an amount equal to the volume of imports of all textile and apparel products from all sub-Saharan African countries into the United States in the preceding calendar year, plus five percent of that amount. Requires the Secretary of Labor to determine, and report annually to Congress on, whether or not each sub-Saharan African country is providing for effective enforcement of internationally recognized worker rights. Directs the President to report annually to Congress on the growth in textiles and apparel exports to the United States from countries in sub-Saharan Africa in order to inform U.S. consumers, workers, and textile manufacturers about the effects of the no quota policy. Directs the President to provide an additional benefit of 50 percent tariff reduction for any textile and apparel product of a sub-Saharan African country that meets the requirements (relating to human rights, workers rights, and illegal transshipments) and that is imported directly into the United States from such country if the business enterprise, or a subcontractor of the enterprise, producing the product is in compliance with specified conditions. Sets forth specified conditions for the import of textile and apparel goods into the United States, including such goods from a sub-Saharan African country. Sets forth penalties for violations committed under this Act. Directs the U.S. Customs Service to monitor and the Commissioner of Customs to report annually on measures taken by sub-Saharan African countries which export textiles or apparel goods to the United States to prevent unlawful transshipment of such goods and circumvention of this Act or any agreement regulating trade in such goods between such country and the United States. (Sec. 202) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize the President to provide duty-free treatment for certain import-sensitive articles, or articles set forth in the product list of the Lome Treaty, that are the product of a beneficiary developing sub-Saharan African country and that are in compliance with certain human rights requirements with respect to such articles if the President determines that such articles are not import-sensitive in the context of imports from such countries. Sets forth certain rules of origin for purposes of duty-free treatment of products from beneficiary developing sub-Saharan African countries. Extends duty-free treatment to: (1) products from beneficiary developing sub-Saharan African countries through June 30, 2005; and (2) products of other beneficiary developing countries through June 30, 1999. (Sec. 203) Grants a U.S. citizen a cause of action in the U.S. district court to seek compliance of sub-Saharan African countries with the requirements of this Act. Title III: Development Assistance for sub-Saharan African Countries - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise congressional findings with respect to long-term development assistance for sub-Saharan Africa to declare that the HIV- AIDS epidemic, along with other conditions, have caused countless deaths and untold suffering among the people of sub-Saharan Africa. (Sec. 302) Directs the Agency for International Development (AID) to provide capacity building assistance through participatory planning to private and voluntary organizations that are involved in providing assistance for sub-Saharan Africa. (Sec. 303) Prohibits military assistance to sub-Saharan African countries. (Sec. 304) Revises critical sectoral priorities provisions to give priority to: (1) increasing food security by promoting agriculture policies in sub-Saharan African countries; (2) improving health conditions in such countries by emphasizing, among other things, HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment programs; (3) providing increased access to voluntary family planning services, including access to prenatal healthcare; (4) improving education and vocational education, with particular emphasis on primary education and vocational education for women; and (5) developing income-generating opportunities, including development of manufacturing and processing industries and microcredit projects. (Sec. 305) Increases the minimum amount of long-term development assistance that should be targeted to certain critical sectors with respect to sub-Saharan African countries. (Sec. 306) Directs the Administrator of AID to report semiannually to Congress on: (1) how, and to what extent, AID has consulted with nongovernmental organizations in sub-Saharan Africa regarding the use of long-term development assistance to sub-Saharan African countries; (2) the extent to which such assistance has been successful in capacity building among local nongovernmental organizations and in increasing food security and access to health and education services among the people of sub-Saharan Africa; and (3) how, and to what extent, such assistance has furthered the goals of sustainable economic and agricultural development, gender equity, environmental protection, and respect for workers' rights there. (Sec. 307) Authorizes appropriations for the Development Fund for Africa. Title IV: Sub-Saharan Africa Equity and Infrastructure Funds - Directs the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to initiate one or more equity funds in support of infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa, including basic health services (including AIDS prevention and treatment), hospitals, potable water, sanitation, schools, electrification of rural areas, and publicly-accessible transportation. Title V: Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Export-Import Bank Initiatives - Directs the Board of Directors of OPIC to establish and work with an advisory committee to assist it in developing and implementing policies, programs, and financial instruments with respect to sub-Saharan Africa, including with respect to equity and infrastructure funds established under this Act. Sets forth requirements with respect to the composition and administration of the advisory committee. (Sec. 502) Amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to revise provisions establishing an advisory committee to require such committee to assist the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States in developing, among other things, financial instruments with respect to sub-Saharan African countries. Sets forth requirements with respect to the composition and administration of the advisory committee. Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - Prohibits the use of appropriated funds to any Federal agency to be used to seek the revocation or revisions of any sub-Saharan African intellectual property or competition law or policy that is designed to promote access to pharmaceuticals or other medical technologies. (Sec. 603) Directs the President to: (1) provide notice and opportunity to the public for comments on the success or failure of the implementation of this Act; and (2) report such comments to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 23 February 1999
Declares that flight operations conducted by Alaska guide pilots shall be regulated under the general operating and flight rules contained in part 91 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a rulemaking proceeding to modify the general operating and flight rules by establishing special rules requiring Alaska guide pilots to: (1) operate aircraft inspected no less often than after 125 hours of flight time; (2) participate in an annual flight review; (3) have at least 500 hours of flight time as a pilot; (4) have a commercial rating; (5) hold at least a second-class medical certificate; and (6) hold a letter of authorization certifying that the pilot is in compliance with the rules issued by the Administrator.