DOCUMENTS IN THE NEWS - 1999
Laws and Proposed Legislation

Education Flexibility Partnership Act (Ed-Flex)

Background
• Permits states flexibility to use educational grants for what is needed to improve schools without following all federal regulations
• H.R. 800 passed the House and Senate on April 21, 1999
Conference Report 106-100
• Text of law with changes approved by the House and Senate
• PDF and text format
AllPolitics Summary

Ergonomic Standards

OSHA announced proposed ergonomic standards on February 19, 1999
OSHA Ergonomics Web Page
• Text of proposed workplace standards to relieve muscular and skeletal injuries
• Background on the standards and highlights
• Summary of conference and results by corporations testing new standards

Health Care Reform

American Medical Association
• Press statement on AMA's decision to let employed physicians unionize
• Dated June 23, 1999
Medicare
• President Clinton's Medicare Reform Plan
  • Provides to early buy-in to Medicare and a prescription drug plan
  • Announced on June 29, 1999
  • Detailed Description is dated July 2, 1999
House of Representatives Prescription Drug Task Force
• Numerous reports and studies on cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. versus foreign countries, cost to seniors as opposed to HMOs, and drug company profits
• Authors include the Congressional Research Service and lobby groups
See also Patients Bill of Rights

Independent Counsel Act

American Bar Association
• ABA Resolution
  • Text of ABA resolution opposing independent counsel law
• CNN Article
  • Reports that ABA supporting non-renewal of the statute
Future of the Independent Counsel Act
• Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearings include witnesses and selected statements
• Part I, February 24, 1999
• Part II, March 3, 1999 includes testimony of President's attorney, Robert Bennett
• Part III, March 17, 1999 features Attorney General Janet Reno
• Part IV, March 24, 1999 has testimony of Iran-Contra and Watergate counsels
• Part V, April 14, 1999 includes testimony by Ken Starr
Law Governing Independent Counsel
• Laws governing appointment, duties, and dismissal appear in Title 28, Chapter 40 (paragraphs 591-599) of the United States Code
Independent Counsel Renewal (Policy.com)
• Quotations on both sides of the law's renewal in 1999

Patients' Bill of Rights

Proposed Legislation - 1998
• Would give medical patients some leverage over Health Maintenance Organization decisions on their care
  • Bill numbers are H.R. 3605, S. 1890, and S.1891
  • Search Thomas by bill number for the 105th Congress for the texts, debates, and legislative status
• ABC News This Week
  • Summary of program aired on July 12, 1998
  • Links to Democratic and Republican policy positions, Presidential Commission report, and lobby group position paper
• Time Magazine, July 13, 1998
  • Playing the HMO Game
  • Let's Play Doctor
  • Ahead of the Feds
Proposed Legislation - 1999
• Patients Bill of Rights (S.1344, 106th Congress)
  • Thomas provides text of bill, amendments and debates
  • Debated on Senate floor the week of July 12 with roll call vote on July 15
• Patients Bill of Rights (H.R. 2723,106th Congress)
  • Known as the Norwood/Dingell bill
  • H.R. 2723 Text and Legislative Status (THOMAS)
  • Passed House on October 7, 1999 by roll call vote of 275-151
  • CNN Article on passage
  • Replaced by H.R. 2990
• Pending Patient Protection Legislation (Kaiser Family Foundation)
  • Chart with detailed comparison of the provisions in conference version of H.R. 2990, the Patients Bill of Rights
  • Covers access to emergency services, hospital stays for mastectomies, etc.
  • Published in March 2000
• AllPolitics
  • Continuing political coverage of debate
  • HMO Debate: What's In It For You?
    • Compares Republican and Democratic plans
    • Links to related lobby groups and most recent articles
    • July 12, 1999
  • Health Care Debate is Far from Over
    • Analyzes passage of Republican bill and likelihood of veto
    • July 16, 1999
• Policy.com
  • Statements by lobby groups from the various sides of managed care reform
• Senate Democratic Policy Committee
  • Links to S.6, an alternative bill sponsored by Tom Daschle
  • Lists medical cases and whether or not patients would be covered by Republican bill
• Senate Republican Conference
  • Attacks cost of Daschle/Kennedy plan (S.6)
  • Virtues of S.1344
• Senator Ted Kennedy
  • See press releases for July 1999 for floor statements on the Patients Bill of Rights
Proposed Legislation - 2000
• Kennedy-Daschle Amendment
  • Amendment 3273 to the National Defense Authorization Bill (S. 2549) for FY 2001
  • Presented by Tom Daschle on behalf of Ted Kennedy on June 8, 2000
  • Attempted to insert the House-passed Patients Bill of Rights into the authorization to circumvent a stall in the Senate-House Conference Committee
  • Tabled by 51-48 by Roll Call Vote 121
President's Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry
• Recommendations include clear goals, improved measurement of health quality, public-private partnerships, group purchases
• Consumer strength, accountability, health care workers, focusing on vulnerable populations
• Issued July 1998
See Health Statistics for data on health care and a ranking of HMOs

Social Security Reform

Advisory Council on Social Security Report
• Discusses three options for reforming Social Security System weighed during the panel's 1994-96 study
• Council was chaired by Edward Gramlich and the report submitted in January 1997
National Commission on Retirement Policy
• Recommends retirement age of 70 by year 2029 and putting 2% of payroll tax into individual savings accounts
• Report co-chaired by Members of Congress and private sector
• Released May 19, 1998
Social Security Administration
• Consumer information on benefits
• President Clinton's initiatives
White House Conference on Social Security
• Conference held on December 8-9, 1998
• Administration statements and testimony
• Conference schedule
• Links to the Social Security Administration

Tax Cut

Background
• Republican tax cut measure of H.R. 2488
• Also known as the Financial Freedom Act
• Narrowly passed House on July 22
• President Clinton has promised to veto it
Text and Status of H.R. 2488 (THOMAS)
• Text, summary, and references to the Congressional Record for debate
• House Roll Call Vote 333
  • House vote on passage of bill, July 22, 1999
• Final Passage on August 5, 1999
  • House Roll Call Vote
  • Senate Roll Call Vote
• President's Veto Message dated 9/23/99
House Democratic Leadership
• Statements about the bill found under July 1999 press releases and outrages
House Ways and Means Press Release
• Summarizes provisions of the bill
• Dated July 16, 1999
Joint Committee on Taxation
• JCX-99 series provides numerous analyses of the tax cut in pdf format
Policy.com
• Analyzes legislative issues on a daily basis and provides alternative viewpoints
• Both Parties Find Budget Talks Taxing
  • Provides links to alternative proposals and interest groups
  • July 15, 1999
• House Passes $792B Tax Cut
  • Quotes Republican and Democratic leadership after bill passage on July 22

Ten Commandments in Schools

Consequences for Juvenile Offenders Act (H.R. 1501)
• Aderholt Amendment (no. 28) would permit states to establish own rules for posting the Ten Commandments in the schools
• Passed 248-180 (Roll Call Vote 221) on June 17, 1999
• See Congressional Record for debate on June 17, beginning. p. H4485
Stone v. Graham
• 1980 Supreme Court decision on unconstitutionality of Kentucky's law posting the Ten Commandments in public schools
• Web site includes text of decision and cases citing it
Ten Commandments
• Appear in the Bible, Exodus 20
• Revised Standard Version
• King James Version

Web Handicapped Regulations

Background
• Regulations to be published in May 1999
Bobby
• Verifies web pages for handicapped accessibility
• Analyzes each component, makes suggestions, and tells amount of time required to download each element of a page
• Created by the Center for Applied Special Technology
Handicapped Access Hits the Web (MSNBC)
• Expected impact of the regulations
• Ways to make a web site handicapped accessible
Justice Department Guidelines
• Checklist form for Web Accessibility
• Section 508 Documents
  • Text of Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Section 508 (PL 105-220)
  • Instructions and memoranda to government departments
Web Accessibility Initiative
• Describes simple ways to make web site accessible to the handicapped<
• Full Text released on May 5 in various formats

Grace York, Coordinator, Documents Center
University of Michigan Library
Graphics by Sherry Piontek and Barbara Perles
Send comments and suggestions to graceyor@umich.edu

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/dn99/dn99laws..html

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