108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3146

AN ACT

To extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy

Families block grant program, and certain taxand trade programs, and for other purposes.

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3146

AN ACT

To extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

block grant program, and certain tax and trade programs, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 TITLE I—FAMILY ASSISTANCE

2 PROVISIONS

3 SEC. 101. EXTENSION OF THE TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE

4 FOR NEEDY FAMILIES BLOCK GRANT PRO5 GRAM THROUGH MARCH 31, 2004.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Activities authorized by part A of

7 title IV of the Social Security Act, and by sections 510,

8 1108(b), and 1925 of such Act, shall continue through

9 March 31, 2004, in the manner authorized for fiscal year

10 2002, notwithstanding section 1902(e)(1)(A) of such Act,

11 and out of any money in the Treasury of the United States

12 not otherwise appropriated, there are hereby appropriated

13 such sums as may be necessary for such purpose. Grants

14 and payments may be made pursuant to this authority for

15 carrying out such activities during the first two quarters

16 of fiscal year 2004 at the level provided for the first two

17 quarters of fiscal year 2002.

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

19 (1) SUPPLEMENTAL GRANTS FOR POPULATION

20 INCREASES IN CERTAIN STATES.—Section

21 403(a)(3)(H) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

22 603(a)(3)(H)) is amended—

23 (A) in the subparagraph heading, by strik24 ing ‘‘OF GRANTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002’’; and

25 (B) in clause (ii)—
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1 (i) by striking ‘‘2003’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘March 31, 2004’’; and

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘2001’’ and inserting

4 ‘‘fiscal year 2001’’.

5 (2) CONTINGENCY FUND.—Section

6 403(b)(3)(C)(ii) of such Act (42 U.S.C.

7 603(b)(3)(C)(ii)) is amended by striking ‘‘2003’’ and

8 inserting ‘‘2004’’.

9 (3) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—Section

10 409(a)(7) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 609(a)(7)) is

11 amended—

12 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or

13 2004’’ and inserting ‘‘2004, or 2005’’; and

14 (B) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking

15 ‘‘2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2004’’.

16 SEC. 102. EXTENSION OF THE NATIONAL RANDOM SAMPLE

17 STUDY OF CHILD WELFARE AND CHILD WEL18 FARE WAIVER AUTHORITY THROUGH MARCH

19 31, 2004.

20 Activities authorized by sections 429A and 1130(a)

21 of the Social Security Act shall continue through March

22 31, 2004, in the manner authorized for fiscal year 2002,

23 and out of any money in the Treasury of the United States

24 not otherwise appropriated, there are hereby appropriated

25 such sums as may be necessary for such purpose. Grants
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1 and payments may be made pursuant to this authority for

2 carrying out such activities during the first two quarters

3 of fiscal year 2004 at the level provided for the first two

4 quarters of fiscal year 2002.

5 TITLE II—TAX PROVISIONS

6 SEC. 201. DISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION TO

7 CARRY OUT INCOME CONTINGENT REPAY8 MENT OF STUDENT LOANS.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (D) of section

10 6103(l)(13) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relat11 ing to termination) is amended by striking ‘‘September 30,

12 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2004’’.

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

14 subsection (a) shall apply to requests made after Sep15 tember 30, 2003.

16 SEC. 202. EXTENSION OF INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

17 USER FEES.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev19 enue Code of 1986 (relating to miscellaneous provisions)

20 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

21 ‘‘SEC. 7528. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE USER FEES.

22 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—The Secretary shall establish

23 a program requiring the payment of user fees for—
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1 ‘‘(1) requests to the Internal Revenue Service

2 for ruling letters, opinion letters, and determination

3 letters, and

4 ‘‘(2) other similar requests.

5 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM CRITERIA.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The fees charged under the

7 program required by subsection (a)—

8 ‘‘(A) shall vary according to categories (or

9 subcategories) established by the Secretary,

10 ‘‘(B) shall be determined after taking into

11 account the average time for (and difficulty of)

12 complying with requests in each category (and

13 subcategory), and

14 ‘‘(C) shall be payable in advance.

15 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTIONS, ETC.—

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall

17 provide for such exemptions (and reduced fees)

18 under such program as the Secretary deter19 mines to be appropriate.

20 ‘‘(B) EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN REQUESTS

21 REGARDING PENSION PLANS.—The Secretary

22 shall not require payment of user fees under

23 such program for requests for determination

24 letters with respect to the qualified status of a

25 pension benefit plan maintained solely by 1 or
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1 more eligible employers or any trust which is

2 part of the plan. The preceding sentence shall

3 not apply to any request—

4 ‘‘(i) made after the later of—

5 ‘‘(I) the fifth plan year the pen6 sion benefit plan is in existence, or

7 ‘‘(II) the end of any remedial

8 amendment period with respect to the

9 plan beginning within the first 5 plan

10 years, or

11 ‘‘(ii) made by the sponsor of any pro12 totype or similar plan which the sponsor

13 intends to market to participating employ14 ers.

15 ‘‘(C) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—

16 For purposes of subparagraph (B)—

17 ‘‘(i) PENSION BENEFIT PLAN.—The

18 term ‘pension benefit plan’ means a pen19 sion, profit-sharing, stock bonus, annuity,

20 or employee stock ownership plan.

21 ‘‘(ii) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER.—The

22 term ‘eligible employer’ means an eligible

23 employer (as defined in section

24 408(p)(2)(C)(i)(I)) which has at least 1

25 employee who is not a highly compensated
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1 employee (as defined in section 414(q))

2 and is participating in the plan. The deter3 mination of whether an employer is an eli4 gible employer under subparagraph (B)

5 shall be made as of the date of the request

6 described in such subparagraph.

7 ‘‘(iii) DETERMINATION OF AVERAGE

8 FEES CHARGED.—For purposes of any de9 termination of average fees charged, any

10 request to which subparagraph (B) applies

11 shall not be taken into account.

12 ‘‘(3) AVERAGE FEE REQUIREMENT.—The aver13 age fee charged under the program required by sub14 section (a) shall not be less than the amount deter15 mined under the following table:

Average

‘‘Category Fee

Employee plan ruling and opinion ........................................... $250

Exempt organization ruling ..................................................... $350

Employee plan determination .................................................. $300

Exempt organization determination ........................................ $275

Chief counsel ruling ................................................................. $200.

16 ‘‘(c) TERMINATION.—No fee shall be imposed under

17 this section with respect to requests made after December

18 31, 2004.’’.

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
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1 (1) The table of sections for chapter 77 of such

2 Code is amended by adding at the end the following

3 new item:

‘‘Sec. 7528. Internal Revenue Service user fees.’’.

4 (2) Section 10511 of the Revenue Act of 1987

5 is repealed.

6 (3) Section 620 of the Economic Growth and

7 Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 is repealed.

8 (c) LIMITATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provi9 sion of law, any fees collected pursuant to section 7528

10 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by sub11 section (a), shall not be expended by the Internal Revenue

12 Service unless provided by an appropriations Act.

13 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

14 this section shall apply to requests made after the date

15 of the enactment of this Act.

16 TITLE III—TRADE PROVISIONS

17 SEC. 301. EXTENSION OF COBRA FEES.

18 Section 13031(j)(3) of the Consolidated Omnibus

19 Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c(j)(3))

20 is amended by striking ‘‘September 30, 2003’’ and insert21 ing ‘‘March 31, 2004’’.
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1 TITLE IV—MEDICARE COST2 SHARING PROVISIONS

3 SEC. 401. EXTENSION OF MEDICARE COST-SHARING FOR

4 CERTAIN QUALIFYING INDIVIDUALS.

5 (a) EXTENSION OF SUNSET.—Section

6 1902(a)(10)(E)(iv) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

7 1396a(a)(10)(E)(iv)) is amended—

8 (1) by striking subclause (II);

9 (2) beginning in the matter preceding subclause

10 (I), by striking ‘‘ending with December 2002’’ and

11 all that follows through ‘‘for medicare cost-sharing

12 described’’ in subclause (I) and inserting ‘‘ending

13 with March 2004) for medicare cost-sharing de14 scribed’’; and

15 (3) by striking ‘‘, and’’ at the end and inserting

16 a semicolon.

17 (b) TOTAL AMOUNT AVAILABLE FOR ALLOCATION.—

18 Section 1933(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

19 1396u–3(c)) is amended—

20 (1) in paragraph (1)(E), by striking ‘‘fiscal year

21 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘each of fiscal years 2002 and

22 2003’’; and

23 (2) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘the sum

24 of’’ and all that follows through

25 ‘‘1902(a)(10)(E)(iv)(II) in the State; to’’ and insert-
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1 ing ‘‘the total number of individuals described in

2 section 1902(a)(10)(E)(iv) in the State; to’’.

3 (c) SPECIAL RULE FOR FIRST QUARTER OF 2004.—

4 Section 1933 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

5 1396u–3) is amended by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(g) SPECIAL RULE.—With respect to the period that

7 begins on January 1, 2004, and ends on March 31, 2004,

8 a State shall select qualifying individuals, and provide

9 such individuals with assistance, in accordance with the

10 provisions of this section as in effect with respect to cal11 endar year 2003, except that for such purpose—

12 ‘‘(1) references in the preceding subsections of

13 this section to ‘fiscal year’ and ‘calendar year’ shall

14 be deemed to be references to such period; and

15 ‘‘(2) the total allocation amount under sub16 section (c) for such period shall be $100,000,000.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives September 24,

2003.

Attest:

Clerk.