I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3400

To provide a more effective, efficient, and responsive government.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 28, 1993

Mr. GEPHARDT introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

following committees for a period ending not later than November 15,

1993: Agriculture, Armed Services, Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs,

Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Government Operations, House Administration, the Judiciary, Merchant Marine

and Fisheries, Natural Resources, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Post Office and Civil Service, Public Works and Transportation,

Science, Space, and Technology, Veterans’ Affairs, and Ways and Means

A BILL

To provide a more effective, efficient, and responsive

government.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Reform

5 and Savings Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

7 The table of contents is as follows:

TITLE I—DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
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Subtitle A—Department of Agriculture Reorganization

Subtitle B—Eliminate Federal Support for Wool and Mohair

Subtitle C—Eliminate Federal Support for Honey

TITLE II—DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Polar Satellite Convergence

TITLE III—DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Subtitle A—Create Incentives for the Department of Defense to Generate

Revenues

Subtitle B—Closure of the Uniform Services University of the Health

Sciences

Subtitle C—Streamline and Reorganize the United States Army Corps of

Engineers

TITLE IV—DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Subtitle A—Alaska Power Administration Sale Authorization Act

Subtitle B—Federal-Private Cogeneration of Electricity

Subtitle C—Power Marketing Administration Debt Buyout

TITLE V—DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Subtitle A—Increased Flexibility in Contracting for Medicare Claims

Processing

Subtitle B—Workers’ Compensation Data Exchange Pilot Projects

Subtitle C—Federal Clearinghouse on Death Information

Subtitle D—Continuing Disability Reviews

TITLE VI—DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN

DEVELOPMENT

Subtitle A—Multifamily Property Disposition

Subtitle B—Merger of the Certificate and Voucher Programs

Subtitle C—Streamline HUD

Subtitle D—Refinance Section 235 Mortgages

Subtitle E—Section 8 Rents for New Construction and Rehabilitation

Projects

TITLE VII—DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Subtitle A—Improve the Federal Helium Program

Subtitle B—Improve Minerals Management Service Royalty Collection
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Subtitle C—Phase Out the Mineral Institute Program

TITLE VIII—DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Bureau of Prisons Health Services User Fee

TITLE IX—DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Subtitle A—Deterrence of Fraud and Abuse in the FECA Program

Subtitle B—Enhancement of Reemployment Programs for Federal Employees

Disabled in the Performance of Duty

Subtitle C—Wage Determinations—McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act

and Davis-Bacon Act

Subtitle D—Elimination of Filing Requirement for Plan Descriptions, Summary Plan Descriptions, and Descriptions of Material Modifications to a

Plan

TITLE X—DEPARTMENT OF STATE/UNITED STATES

INFORMATION AGENCY

Reduction of Mission Operating Costs

TITLE XI—DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Subtitle A—Authority to Charge Tuition for Attendance at the United States

Merchant Marine Academy

Subtitle B—Reform of the Essential Air Service Program

Subtitle C—Repeal of Authorization for the Airway Science Program, Collegiate Training Initiative, and Air Carrier Maintenance Technical Training

Facility Grant Program

TITLE XII—DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Subtitle A—Remove Certain Limitations and Restrictions Contained in

Veterans Law

Subtitle B—Closure of Supply Depots and Transfer of Revolving Supply

Fund Money

Subtitle C—Provision of Information from the Medicare and Medicaid

Coverage Data Bank to the Department of Veterans Affairs

Subtitle D—Veterans’ Appeals Improvement Act of 1993

TITLE XIII—HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Subtitle A—Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1993

Subtitle B—SES Annual Leave Accumulation

TITLE XIV—REINVENTING SUPPORT SERVICES

Government Information Dissemination and Printing Improvement Act of

1993
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TITLE XV—STREAMLINING MANAGEMENT CONTROL

Authority to Increase Efficiency in Reporting to Congress

TITLE XVI—IMPROVING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Subtitle A—Electronic Payments

Subtitle B—Franchise Funds and Innovation Funds

Subtitle C—Simplifying the Management Reporting Process

Subtitle D—Annual Financial Reports

Subtitle E—Strengthening Debt Collection Programs

Subtitle F—Improving Department of Justice Debt Collection

Subtitle G—Adjusting Civil Monetary penalties for Inflation

TITLE XVII—YEAR-END SPENDING

1 TITLE I—DEPARTMENT OF

2 AGRICULTURE

3 Subtitle A—Department of

4 Agriculture Reorganization

5 SEC. 1001. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REORGANIZA6 TION.

7 Pursuant to authorities proposed in the Department

8 of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1993 (H.R. 3171)

9 and current legal authorities, the Secretary of Agriculture

10 shall take action to restructure and reinvent the Depart11 ment of Agriculture by reducing the number of agencies

12 in the Department, reducing headquarters and adminis13 trative staffing and overhead, closing or consolidating un14 necessary field locations, and taking such other actions as

15 may be necessary to reduce the staffing of the department
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1 by not less than 7,500 staff years and save a total of not

2 less than $1.64 billion in fiscal years 1995 through 1999.

3 Subtitle B—Eliminate Federal

4 Support for Wool and Mohair

5 SEC. 1101. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 703 OF NATIONAL

6 WOOL ACT OF 1954.

7 Section 703 of the National Wool Act of 1954 (7

8 U.S.C. 1782) is amended—

9 (1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the

10 following new subsection:

11 ‘‘(a) Subject to subsection (b)(3), the Secretary of

12 Agriculture shall, through the Commodity Credit Corpora13 tion, make loans and payments to producers of wool and

14 mohair through December 31, 1995.’’;

15 (2) in subsection (b)—

16 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘1997’’

17 and inserting ‘‘1995’’; and

18 (B) by striking paragraph (3) and insert19 ing the following new paragraph:

20 ‘‘(3) No loans, purchases, or payments shall be made

21 for the 1996 and subsequent marketing years, except that

22 loans and payments for the 1995 marketing year shall be

23 paid in 1996.’’; and

24 (3) by adding at the end the following new

25 paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(4)(A) Through December 31, 1995, the Secretary

2 shall offer to wool and mohair producers recourse loans

3 under terms and conditions that are prescribed by the Sec4 retary, except that the loans shall be administered at no

5 net cost to the Federal Government.

6 ‘‘(B) A producer who fails to repay a loan made

7 under subparagraph (A) by the end of the following mar8 keting year shall be ineligible for a loan under this Act

9 for that marketing year and subsequent marketing

10 years.’’.

11 SEC. 1102. AMENDMENT TO SECTION 704 OF NATIONAL

12 WOOL ACT OF 1954.

13 Section 704(a) of the National Wool Act of 1954 (7

14 U.S.C. 1783(a)) is amended by inserting after the first

15 sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘In the case of each

16 of the 1994 and 1995 marketing years, the payments shall

17 be 75 and 50 percent, respectively, of the amount other18 wise determined under the preceding sentence.’’.

19 SEC. 1103. REPEAL OF NATIONAL WOOL ACT OF 1954.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Effective December 31, 1995, the

21 National Wool Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1781 et seq.) is

22 repealed.

23 (b) APPLICATION.—The repeal made by subsection

24 (a) shall apply to both the wool and mohair programs.
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1 (c) PROHIBITION.—Effective beginning December

2 31, 1995, the Secretary of Agriculture may not provide

3 loans or payments for wool or mohair by using the funds

4 of the Commodity Credit Corporation or under the author5 ity of any law.

6 SEC. 1104. REPEAL OF SECTION 702 OF NATIONAL WOOL

7 ACT OF 1954, ETC.

8 (a) Section 702 of the National Wool Act of 1954

9 (7 U.S.C. 1781) is repealed.

10 (b) Section 703 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1782) is

11 amended—

12 (1) by striking the section heading and insert13 ing the following new section heading: ‘‘SUPPORT

14 PRICE FOR WOOL AND MOHAIR’’;

15 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(i), by striking ‘‘such

16 price support’’ and inserting ‘‘the support price’’;

17 and

18 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘price sup19 port’’ and inserting ‘‘support under this section’’.

20 (c) Section 704 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1783) is

21 amended—

22 (1) by striking the section heading and insert23 ing the following new section heading:

24 ‘‘SEC. 704. PAYMENTS.’’;

25 and
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1 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘If payments

2 are utilized as a means of price support, the’’ and

3 inserting ‘‘The’’.

4 (d) The first sentence of section 706 of such Act (7

5 U.S.C. 1785) is amended by striking ‘‘price support oper6 ations’’ and inserting ‘‘operations under this Act’’.

7 SEC. 1105. SAVINGS PROVISION.

8 A provision of this subtitle may not affect the liability

9 of any person under any provision of law as in effect be10 fore the effective date of the provision.

11 Subtitle C—Eliminate Federal

12 Support for Honey

13 SEC. 1201. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 207 OF AGRICUL14 TURAL ACT OF 1949.

15 Section 207 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C.

16 1446h) is amended—

17 (1) by striking ‘‘1998’’ each place it appears, in

18 subsections (a), (c), and (j), and inserting ‘‘1995’’;

19 (2) by striking ‘‘loan’’ each place it appears ex20 cept for subsection (d), and inserting ‘‘nonrecourse

21 loan’’; and

22 (3) in subsection (a), by striking paragraphs

23 (3), (4), and (5) and inserting the following new

24 paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(4)(i) No loans, purchases, or payments shall

2 be made for the 1996 and subsequent crop years.

3 ‘‘(ii) Through December 31, 1995, the Sec4 retary shall offer to honey producers recourse loans

5 under terms and conditions that are prescribed by

6 the Secretary, except that the loans shall be admin7 istered at no net cost to the Federal Government.

8 ‘‘(iii) A producer who fails to repay a loan made

9 under clause (ii) by the end of the following market10 ing year shall be ineligible for a loan under this Act

11 for that marketing year and subsequent marketing

12 years.’’.

13 SEC. 1202. FURTHER AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 207 OF AG14 RICULTURAL ACT OF 1949.

15 Section 207 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C.

16 1446h) is amended—

17 (1) After subsection (b)(2), by inserting the

18 following:

19 ‘‘(3) In the case of the 1994 and 1995 market20 ing years, the quantity of honey for which a pro21 ducer may receive a nonrecourse loan shall be re22 duced by 25 and 50 percent, respectively, of the

23 lesser of—

24 ‘‘(i) the amount requested for a

25 nonrecourse loan, or
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1 ‘‘(ii) the most recent five year average of

2 previous loan placements.

3 ‘‘(4) The honey not eligible for the nonrecourse

4 loan shall be eligible for a recourse loan but shall

5 not be eligible for a loan deficiency payment.’’;

6 (2) In paragraphs (3) and (4), by striking

7 ‘‘(3)’’ and ‘‘(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘(4)’’ and ‘‘(5)’’; and

8 (3) After subsection (c)(2), by inserting the fol9 lowing new paragraph:

10 ‘‘(3) In the case of the 1994 and 1995 market11 ing years, the quantity of honey for which a pro12 ducer can receive loan deficiency payments shall be

13 75 and 50 percent, respectively, of the lesser of—

14 ‘‘(i) the amount requested for honey eligi15 ble for nonrecourse loans, or

16 ‘‘(ii) the average amount received in loan

17 deficiency payments for the previous five

18 years.’’.

19 SEC. 1203. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 405A OF AGRICUL20 TURAL ACT OF 1949.

21 Section 405A of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7

22 U.S.C. 1425a) is amended—

23 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$125,000’’

24 and inserting ‘‘$75,000’’; and
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1 (2) in subsection (a), by striking all that follows

2 ‘‘Provided, however,’’ and inserting ‘‘In the case of

3 the 1994 and 1995 marketing years, the amount

4 that a producer can forfeit shall be limited by the

5 amount that can be put under loan as determined

6 under section 207(b) and (c) of this Act.’’.

7 SEC. 1204. REPEAL OF SECTION 207 OF AGRICULTURAL ACT

8 OF 1949.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Effective December 31, 1995,

10 Section 207 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C.

11 1446h) is repealed.

12 (b) PROHIBITION.—Effective beginning December

13 31, 1995, the Secretary of Agriculture may not provide

14 loans or payments for honey by using the funds of the

15 Commodity Credit Corporation or under the authority of

16 any law, except that the Commodity Credit Corporation

17 may settle any outstanding loans made on or before

18 December 31, 1995.

19 SEC. 1205. SAVINGS PROVISION.

20 A provision of this subtitle may not affect the liability

21 of any person under any provision of law as in effect be22 fore the effect date of the provision.
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1 TITLE II—DEPARTMENT OF

2 COMMERCE

3 SEC. 2001. POLAR SATELLITE CONVERGENCE.

4 The Departments of Commerce and Defense and the

5 National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall pro6 pose a single operational polar environmental and weather

7 satellite system, which meets national needs. A detailed

8 implementation plan shall be submitted to Congress by the

9 Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy,

10 in consultation with the Departments of Commerce and

11 Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis12 tration, by April 30, 1994. The plan shall be designed to

13 result in savings of up to $300 million in budget authority

14 and up to $251 million in outlays between fiscal years

15 1994 and 1999.

16 TITLE III—DEPARTMENT OF

17 DEFENSE

18 Subtitle A—Create Incentives for

19 the Department of Defense to

20 Generate Revenues

21 SEC. 3001. INCENTIVES FOR DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO

22 GENERATE REVENUES.

23 Section 2577 of title 10, United States Code, is

24 amended by striking subsections (b) and (c), and inserting

25 the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(b) Proceeds from the sale of recyclable materials

2 at an installation shall be credited to funds available for

3 operations and maintenance at that installation, and, at

4 the discretion of the installation commander, to the

5 nonappropriated morale and welfare account of the instal6 lation to be used for any morale and welfare activity.’’.

7 Subtitle B—Closure of the Uniform

8 Services University of the

9 Health Sciences

10 SEC. 3101. CLOSURE OF UNIFORM SERVICES UNIVERSITY

11 OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES.

12 (a) REPEAL OF AUTHORITY.—Chapter 104 of title

13 10, United States Code, is hereby repealed.

14 (b) PHASE-OUT PROCESS.—(1) Notwithstanding any

15 other provision of law, the Secretary of Defense shall

16 phase out the Uniformed Services University of the Health

17 Sciences, beginning in fiscal year 1995, and ending with

18 the closure of such University not later than September

19 30, 1998. No provision of section 2687 of title 10, United

20 States Code, or of any other law establishing preconditions

21 to the closure of any activity of the Department of Defense

22 shall operate to establish any precondition to the phase23 out and closure of the Uniformed Services University of

24 the Health Sciences pursuant to this subtitle.
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1 (2) Under the phase-out process required by para2 graph (1), the Secretary of Defense is authorized to exer3 cise all of the authorities pertaining to the operation of

4 the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

5 that were granted to the Secretary of Defense, the Board

6 of Regents, or the Dean of the Uniformed Services Univer7 sity of the Health Sciences by chapter 104 of title 10,

8 United States Code, prior to enactment of the repeal of

9 that chapter by subsection (a). Such authorities may be

10 exercised by the Secretary of Defense so as to achieve an

11 orderly phase-out of operations of the Uniformed Services

12 University of the Health Sciences.

13 (3) No new class of students may be admitted to

14 begin studies in the Uniformed Services University of the

15 Health Sciences after September 30, 1994. No students

16 may be awarded degrees by such University after Septem17 ber 30, 1998, except that the Secretary of Defense may

18 grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis for any students

19 who by that date have completed substantially all degree

20 requirements.

21 (c) AUTHORITIES UNAFFECTED.—(1) Commissioned

22 service obligations incurred by students of the Uniformed

23 Services University of the Health Sciences shall be unaf24 fected by enactment of the repeal of chapter 104 of title

25 10, United States Code, by subsection (a).
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1 (2) Nothing in this subtitle shall be construed as lim2 iting the exercise by the Secretary of Defense of other au3 thorities under law pertaining to health sciences edu4 cation, training and professional development, graduate

5 medical education, medical and scientific research, and

6 similar activities. To the extent any such activities had

7 been assigned by the Secretary of Defense to the Uni8 formed Services University of the Health Sciences, the

9 Secretary of Defense’s authority to assign such activities

10 to any other component or entity of the Department of

11 Defense shall be unaffected by the phase-out and closure

12 of the Uniformed Services University of the Health

13 Sciences pursuant to this subtitle.

14 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) Section 178 of

15 title 10, United States Code, pertaining to the Henry M.

16 Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military

17 Medicine, is amended—

18 (A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Uniformed

19 Services University of the Health Sciences’’ and in20 serting ‘‘Department of Defense’’;

21 (B) in subsection (c)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘the

22 Dean of the Uniformed Services University of the

23 Health Sciences’’ and inserting ‘‘a person designated

24 by the Secretary of Defense’’; and
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1 (C) in subsection (g)(1), by striking ‘‘Uni2 formed Services University of the Health Sciences’’

3 and inserting ‘‘Secretary of Defense’’.

4 (2) Section 466 of the Public Health Service Act (42

5 U.S.C. section 286a), pertaining to the Board of Regents

6 of the National Library of Medicine, is amended in sub7 section (a)(1)(B) by striking ‘‘the Dean of the Uniformed

8 Services University of the Health Sciences’’.

9 (3) The table of chapters and the table of sections

10 at the beginning of title 10, United States Code, is amend11 ed by striking references to chapter 104 and sections 2112

12 through 2115.

13 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall be effective

14 upon the date of enactment.

15 Subtitle C—Streamline and Reor16 ganize the U.S. Army Corps of

17 Engineers

18 SEC. 3201. STREAMLINING AND REORGANIZATION OF

19 CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

20 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec21 retary of the Army shall reorganize the United States

22 Army Corps of Engineers by reorganizing the head23 quarters offices, reducing the number of division offices,

24 and restructuring the district functions so as to increase

25 the efficiency of the United States Army Corps of Engi-
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1 neers and reduce staff and costs, with the goal of achiev2 ing approximately $50 million in net annual savings by

3 fiscal year 1998.

4 TITLE IV—DEPARTMENT OF

5 ENERGY

6 Subtitle A—Alaska Power Adminis7 tration Sale Authorization Act

8 SEC. 4001. SHORT TITLE.

9 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Alaska Power Ad10 ministration Sale Authorization Act’’.

11 SEC. 4002. SALE OF SNETTISHAM AND EKLUTNA HYDRO12 ELECTRIC PROJECTS.

13 (a) The Secretary of Energy may sell the Snettisham

14 Hydroelectric Project (referred to in this subtitle as

15 ‘‘Snettisham’’) to the State of Alaska Power Authority

16 (now known as the Alaska Industrial Development and

17 Export Authority, and referred to in this subtitle as the

18 ‘‘Authority’’), or its successor, in accordance with the Feb19 ruary 10, 1989, Snettisham Purchase Agreement between

20 the Alaska Power Administration of the United States De21 partment of Energy and the Authority.

22 (b) The Secretary of Energy may sell the Eklutna

23 Hydroelectric Project (referred to in this subtitle as

24 ‘‘Eklutna’’) to the Municipality of Anchorage doing busi25 ness as Municipal Light and Power, the Chugach Electric
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1 Association, Inc., and the Matanuska Electric Association,

2 Inc. (referred to in this subtitle as ‘‘Eklutna Purchasers’’)

3 in accordance with the August 2, 1989, Eklutna Purchase

4 Agreement between the United States Department of En5 ergy and the Eklutna Purchasers.

6 (c) The heads of other affected Federal departments

7 and agencies, including the Secretary of the Interior, shall

8 assist the Secretary of Energy in implementing the sales

9 authorized by this Act.

10 (d) The Secretary of Energy shall deposit sale pro11 ceeds in the Treasury of the United States to the credit

12 of miscellaneous receipts.

13 (e) There are authorized to be appropriated such

14 sums as are necessary to prepare or acquire Eklutna and

15 Snettisham assets for sale and conveyance, such prepara16 tions to provide sufficient title to ensure the beneficial use,

17 enjoyment, and occupancy to the purchasers of the assets

18 to be sold.

19 (f) No later than one year after both of the sales au20 thorized in section 4002 have occurred, as measured by

21 the Transaction Dates stipulated in the Purchase Agree22 ments, the Secretary of Energy shall—

23 (1) complete the business of, and close out, the

24 Alaska Power Administration; and
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1 (2) prepare and submit to Congress a report

2 documenting the sales.

3 SEC. 4003. ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS.

4 Before taking any action authorized in section 4002,

5 the Secretary shall assess the feasibility of alternative op6 tions for maximizing the return to the Treasury from the

7 sale of the Alaska Power Marketing Administration.

8 Subtitle B—Federal-Private

9 Cogeneration of Electricity

10 SEC. 4101. FEDERAL-PRIVATE COGENERATION OF ELEC11 TRICITY.

12 Section 804(2)(B) of the National Energy Conserva13 tion Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 8287c(2)(B)) is amended by

14 striking ‘‘, excluding any cogeneration process for other

15 than a federally owned building or buildings or other fed16 erally owned facilities.’’.

17 Subtitle C—Power Marketing

18 Administration Debt Buyout

19 PART 1—BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION

20 DEBT BUYOUT

21 SEC. 4201. SHORT TITLE.

22 This part may be cited as the ‘‘Bonneville Power Ad23 ministration Repayment Bonds Act’’.
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1 SEC. 4202. SALE OF BONDS.

2 Notwithstanding any other law and without fiscal

3 year limitation—

4 (1) in addition to the authority in section 13 of

5 the Federal Columbia River Transmission System

6 Act (16 U.S.C. 838k), the Administrator may issue

7 and sell bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebt8 edness (referred to in this part as ‘‘Bonds’’) in the

9 manner and amounts the Administrator, considers

10 appropriate in the name of and for and on behalf of

11 the Bonneville Power Administration, to—

12 (A) satisfy the unpaid repayment obliga13 tion associated with the appropriated capital in14 vestment made in the Federal Columbia River

15 Power System before the issuance of the Bonds

16 authorized under this part takes place, but not

17 including Federal irrigation investments as18 signed to be repaid from power revenues; and

19 (B) refund Bonds;

20 (2) the Administrator shall transfer, and the

21 Secretary of the Treasury shall accept for the ac22 count of the General Fund, the net proceeds of the

23 Bonds referred to in paragraph (1)(A), and when

24 the Secretary of the Treasury receives the net pro25 ceeds, the repayment obligation associated with the

26 part of the appropriated capital investment in the
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1 Federal Columbia River Power System covered by

2 the Bonds is considered to be satisfied forever;

3 (3) the Secretary of the Treasury, in consulta4 tion with the Administrator, shall establish the

5 amount of proceeds needed to satisfy the unpaid re6 payment obligation associated with the part of the

7 capital investment referred to in paragraph (1)(A)

8 as the amount necessary to increase the sum of the

9 net proceeds and the discounted present value of the

10 remaining Federal debt service of the Federal Co11 lumbia River Power System by $100 million relative

12 to the discounted present value of the total Federal

13 debt service of the Federal Columbia River Power

14 System as provided by the Administrator based upon

15 the repayment schedule that would have been paid

16 under repayment policy and practices in effect on

17 September 1, 1993;

18 (4) to determine the discounted present values

19 in paragraph (3), the Secretary of the Treasury

20 shall use discount rates based on the secondary mar21 ket’s average yield for the most recently issued 30-

22 year Treasury bonds when the Bonds authorized in

23 paragraph (1) are issued;

24 (5) these Bonds shall be in the forms and de25 nominations, bear the maturities (without respect to
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1 the remaining average service life of the capital in2 vestment associated with the repayment obligation

3 satisfied by the Bonds issued under this part), be is4 sued and sold at the times, prices, discounts, and

5 yields, and be subject to other terms and conditions

6 (including variable rates) as the Administrator con7 siders appropriate;

8 (6) under section 2(f) of the Bonneville Project

9 Act of 1937 (16 U.S.C. 832a(f)) and this part, the

10 Administrator may enter into any contract that the

11 Administrator considers necessary for the purposes

12 of carrying out this part including, but not limited

13 to, contracts for—

14 (A) the payment of the principal, interest,

15 and premium, if any, on Bonds issued under

16 this part;

17 (B) the purchase or redemption of those

18 Bonds;

19 (C) the payment of costs and expenses in20 cidental to this payment, purchase, and re21 demption; or

22 (D) the creation of reserve and other funds

23 to be held by a trustee, which funds the Admin24 istrator may pledge exclusively to pay those

25 costs for which the funds were created and es-
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1 tablish a lien on the funds in favor of the bene2 ficiaries of the funds under any indenture, reso3 lution, or other agreement entered into in con4 nection with the issuance of Bonds under this

5 part;

6 (7) Bonds issued under this part—

7 (A) shall be issuable and payable through

8 the Federal wire system;

9 (B) are negotiable instruments that may

10 be accepted as security for all fiduciary, trust,

11 and public funds, the investment or deposit of

12 which is under the authority or control of any

13 officer or agency of the United States;

14 (C) may be held without limitation by na15 tional banks;

16 (D) qualify as legal investments for banks,

17 savings and loan institutions, and credit unions;

18 and

19 (E) are eligible collateral for Federal ad20 vances and discounts, for deposits of the United

21 States, and for the Treasury tax and loan

22 accounts;

23 (8) Bonds issued under this part are not in24 tended to be and are not secured by the full faith

25 and credit of the United States;
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1 (9) Bonds issued under this part are exempt

2 both as to principal and interest from all taxation by

3 any State or local taxing authority, except estate, in4 heritance, and gift taxes;

5 (10) Bonds issued under this part shall contain

6 a recital that they are issued under this part and

7 this recital is conclusive evidence of the regularity of

8 the issuance and sale of the Bonds and their

9 validity;

10 (11) the Bonds issued under this part, all re11 ceipts of the Secretary of the Treasury under this

12 part, any portion of the fund established under the

13 Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act

14 (16 U.S.C. 838 et seq.) related to these Bonds, all

15 receipts and disbursements of that fund related to

16 these Bonds, and all expenditures by the Adminis17 trator related to these Bonds—

18 (A) are exempt from any general budget

19 limitation imposed by statute on expenditures

20 and net lending (budget outlays) of the United

21 States Government, sequestration order, or dis22 cretionary spending limit;

23 (B) are exempt from any order issued pur24 suant to sections 251, 252, or 253 of the Bal-
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1 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control

2 Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.); and

3 (C) are not subject to apportionment under

4 subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, United

5 States Code;

6 (12) in all future contracts for the sale of elec7 tric power, transmission, or other services, the Ad8 ministrator shall include provisions specifying that

9 after the repayment obligation is fully and forever

10 satisfied, the Administrator’s rates for electric

11 power, transmission, or other services shall not in12 clude any form of economic rent to be returned to

13 the United States Government, including, without

14 limitation, a falling water charge or any other fee for

15 use of Federal facilities for power generation or

16 transmission, that relates to a project, facility, or

17 separable unit of a project or facility associated with

18 the satisfied repayment obligation, other than a

19 charge necessary to repay the new indebtedness in20 curred under this part. Amounts provided under sec21 tion 1304 of title 31, United States Code, shall be

22 the sole source for payment of a judgment against

23 the Administrator or the United States on a claim

24 for a violation of the contract provision required by

25 this paragraph;
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1 (13) the Administrator shall offer to amend the

2 Administrator’s existing contracts for the sale of

3 electric power, transmission, or other services to in4 clude the provisions described in paragraph (12);

5 and

6 (14) the Administrator shall consult with the

7 Secretary of the Treasury regarding the timing and

8 structure of the bonds issued under this part.

9 SEC. 4203. PAYMENT OF BOND COSTS.

10 Section 11(b)(6) of the Federal Columbia River

11 Transmission System Act (16 U.S.C. 838i(b)(6)), is

12 amended by striking ‘‘or’’ before ‘‘(iv)’’ and by inserting

13 before the semicolon ‘‘, or (v) to pay the cost of financing

14 and debt service, including premiums, if any, on Bond is15 sued by the Bonneville Power Administration’’.

16 SEC. 4204. COMBINED REPAYMENT STUDY.

17 Section 7(a) of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power

18 Planning and Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 893e(a)), is

19 amended by adding after paragraph (2) the following:

20 ‘‘(3) In establishing power and transmission

21 rates, the Administrator may base them on a single,

22 combined generation and transmission repayment

23 study which demonstrates that all indebtedness is

24 repaid by its due date. The use of such a study is
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1 sufficient for the commission to approve the rates as

2 meeting repayment requirements.’’.

3 SEC. 4205. DEFINITIONS.

4 For the purposes of this part—

5 (1) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator

6 of the Bonneville Power Administration; and

7 (2) ‘‘appropriated capital investment made in

8 the Federal Columbia River Power System’’ means

9 an investment made by the United States that—

10 (A) is made using Federal appropriations;

11 (B) is for a project or separable feature of

12 a project that is placed in service;

13 (C) is allocated to power and required by

14 law to be repaid from the power revenues by

15 the Administrator;

16 (D) is not allocated or suballocated to irri17 gation; and

18 (E) excludes an investment made using

19 funds borrowed under section 13 of the Federal

20 Columbia River Transmission System Act.

21 PART 2—OTHER POWER MARKETING

22 ADMINISTRATIONS DEBT BUYOUT

23 SEC. 4206. SHORT TITLE.

24 This part may be cited as the ‘‘Power Marketing Ad25 ministrations Financing Act’’.
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1 SEC. 4207. DEFINITIONS.

2 For the purposes of this part—

3 (1) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator

4 of the Southeastern Power Administration, the Ad5 ministrator of the Southwestern Power Administra6 tion, and the Administrator of the Western Area

7 Power Administration;

8 (2) ‘‘Fund’’ means the Power Marketing Ad9 ministration Sinking Fund established under section

10 4209; and

11 (3) ‘‘Power marketing administration’’ means

12 the Southeastern Power Administration, the South13 western Power Administration, and the Western

14 Area Power Administration.

15 SEC. 4208. REPAYMENT OF EXISTING INDEBTEDNESS.

16 (a) Notwithstanding any other law, within 12 months

17 after the enactment of this Act, each Administrator shall

18 develop, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treas19 ury, and shall implement a plan for paying the United

20 States Treasury the discounted present value of principal

21 and interest payments on power investments scheduled to

22 be paid to the United States Treasury as provided by the

23 Administrator under existing law and repayment practices

24 by that power marketing administration, as well as a one25 time additional payment of $12,500,000 by the Southeast26 ern Power Administration, $12,500,000 by the Southwest-
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1 ern Power Administration, and $50,000,000 by the West2 ern Area Power Administration. Each Administrator shall

3 issue revenue bonds as provided in section 4210 to pay

4 the obligation to the United States Treasury addressed in

5 this section, except that the issuance of these bonds shall

6 occur only if each Administrator determines by means of

7 financial studies that the refinancing will not cause an in8 crease in power rates over existing repayment practices.

9 When the Treasury receives full payment from an Admin10 istrator, it shall consider the repayment obligation of the

11 Administration associated with the payment fully and for12 ever discharged.

13 (b) In all future contracts for the sale of electric

14 power, transmission, or other services, each Administrator

15 shall include provisions agreeing that when the repayment

16 obligation is fully and forever discharged under subsection

17 (a), the Administrator’s rates for electric power, trans18 mission, or other services shall not, other than is necessary

19 to repay the new indebtedness incurred under this Act,

20 include any charge in place of the satisfied obligation or

21 include any other similar form of economic rent by or re22 turned to the United States (including, without limitation,

23 a falling water charge or any other type of user fee for

24 use of Federal facilities for the purpose of power genera25 tion and transmission) on account of any project, facility,
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1 or separable unit of a project or facility associated with

2 the repayment obligation satisfied.

3 (c) Each Administrator shall offer to amend existing

4 contracts for the sale of electric power, transmission, or

5 other services to include the provision described in sub6 section (b).

7 SEC. 4209. POWER MARKETING ADMINISTRATION SINKING

8 FUND.

9 (a) There is established in the Treasury of the United

10 States a Power Marketing Administration Sinking Fund.

11 The Secretary of the Treasury, acting as trustee for the

12 power marketing administrations, shall establish and

13 maintain a separate account in the Fund for each power

14 marketing administration, and monies of one power mar15 keting administration shall not be commingled with mon16 ies of another power marketing administration. Within the

17 separate account for each power marketing administra18 tion, separate projects or systems shall be accounted for

19 separately. An Administrator may deposit into the Fund

20 the monies derived from revenues that the Administrator

21 considers appropriate to ensure that the bonds issued

22 under section 4210 are refunded in a timely manner.

23 (b) Balances in the Fund shall earn interest at a rate

24 determined by the Secretary of the Treasury.
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1 (c) An Administrator may make expenditures from

2 the Administrator’s account in the Fund without further

3 appropriation and without fiscal year limitation to pay in4 debtedness incurred from bonds issued under section

5 4210.

6 (d) Each power marketing administration shall main7 tain its books of account in substantial conformance with

8 the Uniform System of Accounts of the Federal Energy

9 Regulatory Commission.

10 (e) The financial transactions of an Administrator

11 shall be audited by independent financial auditors, and re12 ports of the results of each audit shall be made to the

Congress within 61 13 ⁄2 months following the end of the fiscal

14 year covered by the audit.

15 SEC. 4210. REVENUE BONDS.

16 (a) Each Administrator, in consultation with the Sec17 retary of the Treasury, may issue and sell from time to

18 time in the name of, and for and on behalf of, the respec19 tive power marketing administration bonds, notes, and

20 other evidences of indebtedness (in this section collectively

21 referred to as ‘‘bonds’’) to refinance existing indebtedness

22 as provided in section 4208 and to issue and sell bonds

23 to refund those bonds. The bonds shall be in the forms

24 and denominations, bear maturities (without respect to

25 the remaining average service life of facilities), and be sub-
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1 ject to terms and conditions as prescribed by the Adminis2 trator taking into account terms and conditions prevailing

3 in the market for similar bonds and financing practices

4 of the utility industry. Provisions for early retirement of

5 bonds may be prescribed by each Administrator. The

6 bonds shall bear interest at a rate determined by the

7 Administrator.

8 (b) Each Administrator may enter into any contract

9 that the Administrator considers necessary for the pur10 poses of carrying out this part including, but not limited

11 to, contracts for—

12 (1) the payment of the principal, interest, and

13 premium, if any, on bonds issued under this part;

14 (2) their purchase or redemption;

15 (3) the payment of costs and expenses inciden16 tal to their payment, purchase, and redemption; or

17 (4) the creation of reserve and other funds to

18 be held by the Secretary of the Treasury as trustee,

19 which funds the Administrator may pledge exclu20 sively to pay those costs for which the funds were

21 created and may establish a lien on the funds in

22 favor of the beneficiaries of the funds under any in23 denture, resolution, or other agreement entered into

24 in connection with the issuance of bonds under this

25 part.
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1 (c) Bonds issued under this part—

2 (1) shall be issuable and negotiable through the

3 Federal wire system;

4 (2) are negotiable instruments that may be ac5 cepted as security for all fiduciary, trust, and public

6 funds, the investment or deposit of which is under

7 the authority or control of any officer or agency of

8 the United States;

9 (3) may be held, without limitation, by national

10 banks;

11 (4) qualify as legal instruments for banks, sav12 ings and loan institutions, and credit unions; and

13 (5) are eligible collateral for Federal advances

14 and discounts, for deposits of the United States, and

15 for Treasury tax and loan accounts.

16 (d) Bonds issued under this part are exempt both as

17 to principal and interest from all taxation by any State

18 or local taxing authority, except estate, inheritance, and

19 gift taxes.

20 (e) Bonds issued under this part shall contain a re21 cital that they are issued under this part and such a recital

22 is conclusive evidence of the regularity of the issuance and

23 sale of the bonds and their validity.

24 (f) These bonds are not intended to be and are not

25 secured by the full faith and credit of the United States.
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1 (g) The bonds issued under this part, all receipts of

2 the Secretary of the Treasury under this part, any portion

3 of the Fund established under section 4210 related to

4 these bonds, all receipts and disbursements of the Fund

5 related to these bonds, and all expenditures by an Admin6 istrator related to these bonds—

7 (1) are exempt from any general budget limita8 tion imposed by statute on expenditures and net

9 lending (budget outlays) of the United States Gov10 ernment, sequestration order, or discretionary

11 spending limit;

12 (2) are exempt from any order issued pursuant

13 to sections 251, 252, or 253 of the Balanced Budget

14 and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2

15 U.S.C. 900 et seq.); and

16 (3) are not subject to apportionment under sub17 chapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, United States

18 Code.

19 (h) With respect to the Western Area Power Adminis20 tration, except as otherwise provided, this Act is consid21 ered to be a supplement to the Federal reclamation laws.
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1 TITLE V—DEPARTMENT OF

2 HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

3 Subtitle A—Increased Flexibility in

4 Contracting for Medicare

5 Claims Processing

6 SEC. 5001. INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN CONTRACTING FOR

7 MEDICARE CLAIMS PROCESSING.

8 (a) CARRIERS TO INCLUDE ENTITIES THAT ARE NOT

9 INSURANCE COMPANIES.—

10 (1) The matter in section 1842(a) of the Social

11 Security Act preceding paragraph (1) is amended by

12 striking ‘‘with carriers’’ and inserting ‘‘with agencies

13 and organizations (referred to as carriers’’).

14 (2) Section 1842(f) of the Act is repealed.

15 (b) ELIMINATION OF INTERMEDIARY NOMINATION

16 BY PROVIDERS OF SERVICES; SECRETARIAL FLEXIBILITY

17 IN ASSIGNING FUNCTIONS TO INTERMEDIARIES AND

18 CARRIERS.—

19 (1) Section 1816 of that Act is amended by

20 striking everything after the heading but before sub21 section (b) and inserting the following:

22 ‘‘SEC. 1816. (a)(1) The Secretary may enter into

23 agreements with agencies or organizations to perform

24 some or all of the following functions (or parts of those

25 functions):
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1 ‘‘(A) determine (subject to the provisions of sec2 tion 1878 and to such review by the Secretary as

3 may be provided for by the agreements) the amount

4 of the payments required pursuant to this part to be

5 made to providers of services,

6 ‘‘(B) make payments described in subparagraph

7 (A),

8 ‘‘(C) provide consultative services to institutions

9 or agencies to enable them to establish and maintain

10 fiscal records necessary for purposes of this part and

11 otherwise to qualify as hospitals, extended care fa12 cilities, and home health agencies,

13 ‘‘(D) serve as a center for, and communicate to

14 providers, any information or instructions furnished

15 to the agency or organization by the Secretary, and

16 serve as a channel of communication from providers

17 to the Secretary,

18 ‘‘(E) make such audits of the records of provid19 ers as may be necessary to ensure that proper pay20 ments are made under this part, and

21 ‘‘(F) perform such other functions as are nec22 essary to carry out the purposes of this part.

23 ‘‘(2) As used in this title and part B of title XI, the

24 term ‘fiscal intermediary’ means an agency or organiza25 tion with a contract under this section.’’.
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1 (2) Subsections (d) and (e) of section 1816 of

2 that Act are repealed.

3 (3) Section 1816(f)(1) of that Act is amended

4 by striking the second sentence.

5 (4) The matter in section 1842(a) of that Act

6 preceding paragraph (1) is amended by inserting ‘‘,

7 or parts of those functions’’ after ‘‘following func8 tions’’.

9 (5) Section 1842(b)(3)(G) of that Act is

10 amended by inserting ‘‘(unless provided by another

11 carrier)’’ after ‘‘will provide’’.

12 (6) The matter in section 1842(b)(3)(H) of that

13 Act preceding clause (i) is amended by striking ‘‘im14 plement—’’ and inserting ‘‘implement (as appro15 priate)—’’.

16 (7) Section 1842(b)(3)(L) of that Act is amend17 ed by inserting ‘‘(as appropriate)’’ after ‘‘will’’.

18 (8) The first sentence of section 1842(h)(2) of

19 that Act is amended by inserting ‘‘(unless main20 tained by another carrier)’’ after ‘‘shall maintain’’.

21 (c) ELIMINATION OF SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR TER22 MINATION OF CONTRACTS.—

23 (1) Section 1816(f)(1) of that Act is amended

24 by striking ‘‘, renew, or terminate’’ and ‘‘or reas25 sign’’.
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1 (2) Section 1816(g) of that Act is repealed.

2 (3) Section 1842(b) of that Act is amended by

3 striking paragraph (5).

4 (d) REPEAL OF PROHIBITION AGAINST DATA

5 MATCHING.—Sections 1816(c)(1) and 1842(b)(2)(A) of

6 that Act are each amended by striking the last sentence.

7 (e) REPEAL OF COST REIMBURSEMENT REQUIRE8 MENTS.—

9 (1) The first sentence of section 1816(c)(1) of

10 that Act is amended—

11 (A) by striking the comma after ‘‘appro12 priate’’ and inserting ‘‘and’’; and

13 (B) by striking everything after ‘‘sub14 section (a)’’ up to the period.

15 (2) Section 1816(c)(1) of that Act is further

16 amended by striking the remaining sentences.

17 (3) The first sentence of section 1842(c)(1)(A)

18 of that Act is amended—

19 (A) by striking ‘‘shall provide’’ the first

20 place it occurs and inserting ‘‘may provide’’;

21 and

22 (B) by striking everything after ‘‘this

23 part’’ up to the period.

24 (4) Section 1842(c)(1)(A) of that Act is further

25 amended by striking the remaining sentences.
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1 (5) Section 2326(a) of the Deficit Reduction

2 Act of 1984 is repealed.

3 (f) ELIMINATION OF SEPARATE CARRIER FOR RAIL4 ROAD RETIREES.—Section 1842(g) of the Social Security

5 Act is repealed.

6 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

7 the preceding subsections apply to contracts (including re8 newals) entered into after the third calendar month that

9 begins after the date of enactment of this Act.

10 Subtitle B—Workers’ Compensa11 tion Data Exchange Pilot

12 Projects

13 SEC. 5101. WORKERS’ COMPENSATION DATA EXCHANGE

14 PILOT PROJECTS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

16 conduct pilot projects with not more than three States for

17 the purpose of studying various means of obtaining on a

18 timely and accurate basis such information relating to

19 benefits paid on account of total or partial disability under

20 the States’ workers’ compensation plan as the Secretary

21 may require for the purpose of carrying out section 224

22 of the Social Security Act.

23 (b) REIMBURSEMENT OF STATE COSTS.—A State

24 that participates in a project conducted pursuant to sub25 section (a) may be paid by the Secretary, from amounts
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1 available pursuant to subsection (e), the reasonable costs

2 of such participation.

3 (c) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall evaluate each

4 project conducted pursuant to subsection (a) and shall

5 apply the findings, as appropriate, to agreements nego6 tiated pursuant to subsection (h)(2) of such section 224.

7 (d) DEADLINE FOR COMMENCEMENT OF

8 PROJECTS.—No pilot project authorized by subsection (a)

9 may be commenced after the expiration of the 5-year pe10 riod beginning on the date of enactment of this section.

11 (e) FUNDING.—Expenditures for pilot projects con12 ducted pursuant to subsection (a) may be made from the

13 Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund and the Old-Age

14 and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, as determined ap15 propriate by the Secretary.

16 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall be effective

17 upon enactment.

18 Subtitle C—Federal Clearinghouse

19 on Death Information

20 SEC. 5201. FEDERAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON DEATH INFOR21 MATION.

22 (a) CLEARINGHOUSE DESIGNATION.—The heading

23 for section 205(r) of the Social Security Act is amended

24 to read as follows: ‘‘Clearinghouse on Death Information’’.
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1 (b) ACQUISITION OF DISCLOSABLE DEATH INFORMA2 TION FROM STATES.—

3 (1) Section 205(r)(1)(A) of the Social Security

4 Act is amended by striking ‘‘to furnish the Secretary

5 periodically with’’ and inserting ‘‘to furnish periodi6 cally to the Secretary, for use in carrying out sub7 paragraph (B) and paragraphs (3) and (4),’’.

8 (2)(A) Notwithstanding clause (ii) of section

9 6103(d)(4)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

10 (as added by section 13444(a) of the Omnibus

11 Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law

12 103–66)), in order for a contract requiring a State

13 to furnish the Secretary of Health and Human Serv14 ices information concerning individuals with respect

15 to whom death certificates (or equivalent documents

16 maintained by the State or any subdivision thereof)

17 have been officially filed with it to meet the require18 ments of such section 6103(d)(4)(B), such contract

19 shall authorize the Secretary to use such information

20 and to redisclose such information to any Federal

21 agency or any agency of a State or political subdivi22 sion in accordance with section 205(r) of the Social

23 Security Act.

24 (B) The provisions of subparagraph (A) of this

25 paragraph and, notwithstanding subparagraph (C)
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1 of section 6103(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code

2 of 1986 (as added by section 13444(a) of the Omni3 bus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law

4 103–66)), the provisions of subparagraphs (A) and

5 (B) of such section 6103(d)(4) shall apply to all

6 States, regardless of whether they were, on July 1,

7 1993, pursuant to a contract, furnishing the Sec8 retary of Health and Human Services information

9 concerning individuals with respect to whom death

10 certificates (or equivalent documents maintained by

11 the State or any subdivision thereof) have been offi12 cially filed with it.

13 (C) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this para14 graph shall take effect at the same time as the

15 amendment made by section 13444(a) of the Omni16 bus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 takes effect.

17 (D) For the purpose of applying the special rule

18 contained in section 13444(b)(2) of the Omnibus

19 Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, the reference in

20 such section to section 6103(d)(4)(B) of the Internal

21 Revenue Code of 1986 shall be deemed to include a

22 reference to subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.

23 (c) PAYMENT TO STATES FOR DEATH INFORMA24 TION.—Section 205(r)(2) of the Social Security Act is

25 amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘the reasonable costs’’ and in2 serting ‘‘a reasonable amount’’; and

3 (2) by striking ‘‘transcribing and transmitting’’

4 and inserting ‘‘furnishing’’.

5 (d) FEE FOR CLEARINGHOUSE INFORMATION.—

6 (1) Section 205(r)(3) of the Social Security Act

7 is amended by striking out ‘‘if’’ and all that follows,

8 and inserting ‘‘, provided that such agency agrees to

9 pay the fees set by the Secretary pursuant to para10 graph (8).’’.

11 (2) Section 205(r)(4) of the Social Security Act

12 is amended—

13 (A) by inserting ‘‘and political subdivi14 sions’’ after ‘‘States’’ the first place such term

15 appears;

16 (B) by striking ‘‘the States’’ and inserting

17 ‘‘any State, political subdivision, or combination

18 thereof’’; and

19 (C) by striking ‘‘if’’ and all that follows

20 and inserting ‘‘provided such States and politi21 cal sudivisions agree to pay the fees set by the

22 Secretary pursuant to paragraph (8).’’.

23 (3) Section 205(r) of the Social Security Act is

24 amended by adding at the end a new paragraph as

25 follows: ‘‘(8) The Secretary shall establish fees for
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1 the disclosure of information pursuant to this sub2 section. Such fees shall be in amounts sufficient to

3 cover all costs (including indirect costs) associated

4 with the Secretary’s responsibilities under this sub5 section. Fees collected pursuant to this paragraph

6 shall remain available, without fiscal year limitation,

7 to the Secretary to cover the administrative costs of

8 carrying out this subsection.’’.

9 (e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Section 205(r) of the

10 Social Security Act is amended by adding at the end (after

11 the paragraph added by subsection (d)(3)) the following

12 new paragraph:

13 ‘‘(9) The Secretary may provide to any Federal or

14 State agency that provides Federally funded benefits,

15 upon the request of such agency, technical assistance on

16 the effective collection, dissemination, and use of death in17 formation available under this subsection for the purpose

18 of ensuring that such benefits are not erroneously paid

19 to deceased individuals.’’.

20 (f) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 205(r) of the

21 Social Security Act is amended by adding at the end (after

22 the paragraph added by subsection (e)) the following new

23 paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(10) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘Fed2 erally funded benefit’ means any payment funded in whole

3 or in part by the Federal Government.’’.

4 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro5 vided, the amendments made by this section shall take ef6 fect upon their enactment.

7 Subtitle D—Continuing Disability

8 Reviews

9 SEC. 5301. CONTINUING DISABILITY REVIEWS.

10 Section 201(g)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act is

11 amended by adding at the end of the paragraph the follow12 ing sentence: ‘‘From funds provided pursuant to this sub13 paragraph for the following fiscal years, not less than the

14 following amounts shall be available only for conducting

15 continuing disability reviews and related workloads: for

16 fiscal year 1994, $46 million; for fiscal year 1995,

17 $47,200,000; for fiscal year 1996, $48,500,000; for fiscal

18 year 1997, $49,800,000; for fiscal year 1998,

19 $51,100,000; and for fiscal year 1999, $52,500,000.’’.
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1 TITLE VI—DEPARTMENT OF

2 HOUSING AND URBAN DEVEL3 OPMENT

4 Subtitle A—Multifamily Property

5 Disposition

6 SEC. 6001. MULTIFAMILY PROPERTY DISPOSITION.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) the portfolio of multifamily housing project

9 mortgages insured by the FHA is severely troubled

10 and at risk of default, requiring the Secretary to in11 crease loss reserves from $5,500,000,000 in 1991 to

12 $11,900,000,000 in 1992 to cover estimated future

13 losses;

14 (2) the inventory of multifamily housing

15 projects owned by the Secretary has more than tri16 pled since 1989, and, by the end of 1993, may ex17 ceed 75,000 units;

18 (3) the cost to the Federal Government of own19 ing and maintaining multifamily housing projects es20 calated to approximately $250,000,000 in fiscal year

21 1992;

22 (4) the inventory of multifamily housing

23 projects subject to mortgages held by the Secretary

24 has increased dramatically, to more than 2,400
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1 mortgages, and approximately half of these mort2 gages, with over 230,000 units, are delinquent;

3 (5) the inventory of insured and formerly in4 sured multifamily housing projects is rapidly deterio5 rating, endangering tenants and neighborhoods;

6 (6) over 5 million families today have a critical

7 need for housing that is affordable and habitable;

8 and

9 (7) the current statutory framework governing

10 the disposition of multifamily housing projects effec11 tively impedes the Government’s ability to dispose of

12 properties, protect tenants, and ensure that projects

13 are maintained over time.

14 (b) MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSITION OF MULTIFAM15 ILY HOUSING PROJECTS.—Section 203 of the Housing

16 and Community Development Amendments of 1978 (12

17 U.S.C. 1701z-11) is amended to read as follows:

18 ‘‘SEC. 203. MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSITION OF MULTIFAM19 ILY HOUSING PROJECTS.

20 ‘‘(a) GOALS.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban

21 Development (hereafter in this section referred to as the

22 ‘Secretary’) shall manage or dispose of multifamily hous23 ing projects that are owned by the Secretary or that are

24 subject to a mortgage held by the Secretary in a manner

25 that—
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1 ‘‘(1) is consistent with the National Housing

2 Act and this section;

3 ‘‘(2) will protect the financial interests of the

4 Federal Government; and

5 ‘‘(3) will, in the least costly fashion among rea6 sonable available alternatives, further the goals of—

7 ‘‘(A) preserving housing so that it can re8 main available to and affordable by low-income

9 persons;

10 ‘‘(B) preserving and revitalizing residential

11 neighborhoods;

12 ‘‘(C) maintaining existing housing stock in

13 a decent, safe, and sanitary condition;

14 ‘‘(D) minimizing the involuntary displace15 ment of tenants;

16 ‘‘(E) maintaining housing for the purpose

17 of providing rental housing, cooperative hous18 ing, and homeownership opportunities for low19 income persons; and

20 ‘‘(F) minimizing the need to demolish mul21 tifamily housing projects.

22 The Secretary, in determining the manner in which a

23 project is to be managed or disposed of, may balance com24 peting goals relating to individual projects in a manner

25 that will further the purposes of this section.
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1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

2 following definitions shall apply:

3 ‘‘(1) MULTIFAMILY HOUSING PROJECT.—The

4 term ‘multifamily housing project’ means any multi5 family rental housing project which is, or prior to

6 acquisition by the Secretary was, assisted or insured

7 under the National Housing Act, or was subject to

8 a loan under section 202 of the Housing Act of

9 1959.

10 ‘‘(2) SUBSIDIZED PROJECT.—The term ‘sub11 sidized project’ means a multifamily housing project

12 receiving any of the following types of assistance im13 mediately prior to the assignment of the mortgage

14 on such project to, or the acquisition of such mort15 gage by, the Secretary:

16 ‘‘(A) Below market interest rate mortgage

17 insurance under the proviso of section

18 221(d)(5) of the National Housing Act.

19 ‘‘(B) Interest reduction payments made in

20 connection with mortgages insured under sec21 tion 236 of the National Housing Act.

22 ‘‘(C) Direct loans made under section 202

23 of the Housing Act of 1959.

24 ‘‘(D) Assistance in the form of—
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1 ‘‘(i) rent supplement payments under

2 section 101 of the Housing and Urban De3 velopment Act of 1965;

4 ‘‘(ii) housing assistance payments

5 made under section 23 of the United

6 States Housing Act of 1937 (as in effect

7 before January 1, 1975); or

8 ‘‘(iii) housing assistance payments

9 made under section 8 of the United States

10 Housing Act of 1937 (excluding payments

11 made for tenant-based assistance under

12 section 8),

13 if (except for purposes of section 183(c) of the

14 Housing and Community Development Act of

15 1987) such assistance payments are made to

16 more than 50 percent of the units in the

17 project.

18 ‘‘(3) FORMERLY SUBSIDIZED PROJECT.—The

19 term ‘formerly subsidized project’ means a multi20 family housing project owned by the Secretary that

21 was a subsidized project immediately prior to its ac22 quisition by the Secretary.

23 ‘‘(4) UNSUBSIDIZED PROJECT.—The term

24 ‘unsubsidized project’ means a multifamily housing
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1 project owned by the Secretary that is not a sub2 sidized project or a formerly subsidized project.

3 ‘‘(c) MANAGEMENT OR DISPOSITION OF PROP4 ERTY.—

5 ‘‘(1) DISPOSITION TO PURCHASERS.—The Sec6 retary is authorized, in carrying out this section, to

7 dispose of a multifamily housing project owned by

8 the Secretary on a negotiated, competitive bid, or

9 other basis, on such terms as the Secretary deems

10 appropriate considering the low-income character of

11 the project and the requirements of subsection (a),

12 to a purchaser determined by the Secretary to be ca13 pable of—

14 ‘‘(A) satisfying the conditions of the dis15 position;

16 ‘‘(B) implementing a sound financial and

17 physical management program that is designed

18 to enable the project to meet anticipated oper19 ating and repair expenses to ensure that the

20 project will remain in decent, safe, and sanitary

21 condition;

22 ‘‘(C) responding to the needs of the ten23 ants and working cooperatively with tenant or24 ganizations;
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1 ‘‘(D) providing adequate organizational

2 staff and financial resources to the project; and

3 ‘‘(E) meeting such other requirements as

4 the Secretary may determine.

5 ‘‘(2) CONTRACTING FOR MANAGEMENT SERV6 ICES.—The Secretary is authorized, in carrying out

7 this section—

8 ‘‘(A) to contract for management services

9 for a multifamily housing project that is owned

10 by the Secretary (or for which the Secretary is

11 mortgagee in possession), on a negotiated, com12 petitive bid, or other basis at a price deter13 mined by the Secretary to be reasonable, with

14 a manager the Secretary has determined is ca15 pable of—

16 ‘‘(i) implementing a sound financial

17 and physical management program that is

18 designed to enable the project to meet an19 ticipated operating and maintenance ex20 penses to ensure that the project will re21 main in decent, safe, and sanitary condi22 tion;

23 ‘‘(ii) responding to the needs of the

24 tenants and working cooperatively with

25 tenant organizations;
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1 ‘‘(iii) providing adequate organiza2 tional, staff, and other resources to imple3 ment a management program determined

4 by the Secretary; and

5 ‘‘(iv) meeting such other requirements

6 as the Secretary may determine; and

7 ‘‘(B) to require the owner of a multifamily

8 housing project that is subject to a mortgage

9 held by the Secretary to contract for manage10 ment services for the project in the manner de11 scribed in subparagraph (A).

12 ‘‘(d) MAINTENANCE OF HOUSING PROJECTS.—

13 ‘‘(1) HOUSING PROJECTS OWNED BY THE SEC14 RETARY.—In the case of multifamily housing

15 projects that are owned by the Secretary (or for

16 which the Secretary is mortgagee in possession), the

17 Secretary shall—

18 ‘‘(A) to the greatest extent possible, main19 tain all such occupied projects in a decent, safe,

20 and sanitary condition;

21 ‘‘(B) to the greatest extent possible, main22 tain full occupancy in all such projects; and

23 ‘‘(C) maintain all such projects for pur24 poses of providing rental or cooperative hous25 ing.
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1 ‘‘(2) HOUSING PROJECTS SUBJECT TO A MORT2 GAGE HELD BY THE SECRETARY.—In the case of

3 any multifamily housing project that is subject to a

4 mortgage held by the Secretary, the Secretary shall

5 require the owner of the project to carry out the re6 quirements of paragraph (1).

7 ‘‘(e) REQUIRED ASSISTANCE.—In carrying out the

8 goal specified in subsection (a)(3)(A), the Secretary shall

9 take not less than one of the following actions:

10 ‘‘(1) CONTRACT WITH OWNER.—Enter into con11 tracts under section 8 of the United States Housing

12 Act of 1937, to the extent budget authority is avail13 able, with owners of multifamily housing projects

14 that are acquired by a purchaser other than the Sec15 retary at foreclosure or after sale by the Secretary.

16 ‘‘(A) SUBSIDIZED OR FORMERLY SUB17 SIDIZED PROJECTS RECEIVING CERTAIN ASSIST18 ANCE.—In the case of a subsidized or formerly

19 subsidized project referred to in subparagraphs

20 (A) through (C) of subsection (b)(2)—

21 ‘‘(i) the contract shall be sufficient to

22 assist at least all units covered by an as23 sistance contract under any of the authori24 ties referred to in subsection (b)(2)(D) be25 fore acquisition, unless the Secretary acts
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1 pursuant to the provisions of subparagraph

2 (C);

3 ‘‘(ii) in the case of units requiring

4 project-based rental assistance pursuant to

5 this paragraph that are occupied by fami6 lies who are not eligible for assistance

7 under section 8, a contract under this sub8 paragraph shall also provide that when a

9 vacancy occurs, the owner shall lease the

10 available unit to a family eligible for assist11 ance under section 8; and

12 ‘‘(iii) the Secretary shall take actions

13 to ensure the availability and affordability,

14 as defined in paragraph (3)(B), for the re15 maining useful life of the project, as de16 fined by the Secretary, of any unit located

17 in any project referred to in subparagraphs

18 (A) through (C) of subsection (b)(2) that

19 does not otherwise receive project-based as20 sistance under this subparagraph. To carry

21 out this clause, the Secretary may require

22 purchasers to establish use or rent restric23 tions maintaining affordability, as defined

24 in paragraph (3)(B).
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1 ‘‘(B) SUBSIDIZED OR FORMERLY SUB2 SIDIZED PROJECTS RECEIVING OTHER ASSIST3 ANCE.—In the case of a subsidized or formerly

4 subsidized project referred to in subsection

5 (b)(2)(D)—

6 ‘‘(i) the contract shall be sufficient to

7 assist at least all units in the project that

8 are covered, or were covered immediately

9 before foreclosure on or acquisition of the

10 project by the Secretary, by an assistance

11 contract under any of the authorities re12 ferred to in such subsection, unless the

13 Secretary acts pursuant to provisions of

14 subparagraph (C); and

15 ‘‘(ii) in the case of units requiring

16 project-based rental assistance pursuant to

17 this paragraph that are occupied by fami18 lies who are not eligible for assistance

19 under section 8, a contract under this

20 paragraph shall also provide that when a

21 vacancy occurs, the owner shall lease the

22 available unit to a family eligible for assist23 ance under section 8.

24 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS TO SUBPARAGRAPHS (A)

25 AND (B).—In lieu of providing project-based as-
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1 sistance under subparagraph (A) or (B), the

2 Secretary may require certain units in

3 unsubsidized projects to contain use restrictions

4 providing that such units will be available to

5 and affordable by very low-income families for

6 the remaining useful life of the project, as de7 fined by the Secretary, if—

8 ‘‘(i) the Secretary matches any reduc9 tion in units otherwise required to be as10 sisted with project-based assistance under

11 subparagraph (A) or (B) with at least an

12 equivalent increase in units made afford13 able to very low-income persons within

14 unsubsidized projects;

15 ‘‘(ii) low-income tenants residing in

16 units otherwise requiring project-based as17 sistance under subparagrph (A) or (B)

18 upon disposition receive section 8 tenant19 based assistance; and

20 ‘‘(iii) the units described in clause (i)

21 are located within the same market area.

22 ‘‘(D) CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS FOR

23 UNSUBSIDIZED PROJECTS.—Notwithstanding

24 actions taken pursuant to subparagraph (C), in
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1 unsubsidized projects, the contract shall at least

2 be sufficient to provide—

3 ‘‘(i) project-based rental assistance for

4 all units that are covered or were covered

5 immediately before foreclosure or acquisi6 tion by an assistance contract under—

7 ‘‘(I) section 8(b)(2) of the United

8 States Housing Act of 1937 (as such

9 section existed before October 1,

10 1983) (new construction and substan11 tial rehabilitation); section 8(b) of

12 such Act (property disposition); sec13 tion 8(d)(2) of such Act (project14 based certificates); section 8(e)(2) of

15 such Act (moderate rehabilitation);

16 section 23 of such Act (as in effect

17 before January 1, 1975); or section

18 101 of the Housing and Urban Devel19 opment Act of 1965 (rent supple20 ments); or

21 ‘‘(II) section 8 of the United

22 States Housing Act of 1937, following

23 conversion from section 101 of the

24 Housing and Urban Development Act

25 of 1965; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) tenant-based assistance under

2 section 8 of the United States Housing Act

3 of 1937 for tenants currently residing in

4 units that were covered by an assistance

5 contract under the Loan Management Set6 Aside program under section 8(b) of the

7 United States Housing Act of 1937 imme8 diately before foreclosure or acquisition of

9 the project by the Secretary.

10 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION CONTRACTS.—In

11 the case of multifamily housing projects that are ac12 quired by a purchaser other than the Secretary at

13 foreclosure or after sale by the Secretary, enter into

14 annual contribution contracts with public housing

15 agencies to provide tenant-based assistance under

16 section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937

17 to all low-income families who are eligible for such

18 assistance on the date that the project is acquired

19 by the purchaser. The Secretary shall take action

20 under this paragraph only after making a deter21 mination that there is available in the area an ade22 quate supply of habitable affordable housing for low23 income families. Actions taken pursuant to this

24 paragraph may be taken in connection with not

25 more than 10 percent of the aggregate number of
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1 units in subsidized or formerly subsidized projects

2 disposed of by the Secretary annually.

3 ‘‘(3) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with

5 the authority provided under the National

6 Housing Act, reduce the selling price, apply use

7 or rent restrictions on certain units, or provide

8 other financial assistance to the owners of mul9 tifamily housing projects that are acquired by a

10 purchaser other than the Secretary at fore11 closure, or after sale by the Secretary, on terms

12 which will ensure that—

13 ‘‘(i) at least those units otherwise re14 quired to receive project-based section 8

15 assistance pursuant to subparagraphs (A),

16 (B), or (D) of paragraph (1) are available

17 to and affordable by low-income persons;

18 and

19 ‘‘(ii) for the remaining useful life of

20 the project, as defined by the Secretary,

21 there shall be in force such use or rent re22 strictions as the Secretary may prescribe.

23 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—A unit shall be consid24 ered affordable under this paragraph if—
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1 ‘‘(i) for very low-income tenants, the

2 rent for such unit does not exceed 30 per3 cent of 50 percent of the area median in4 come, as determined by the Secretary, with

5 adjustments for family size; and

6 ‘‘(ii) for low-income tenants other

7 than very low-income tenants, the rent for

8 such unit does not exceed 30 percent of 80

9 percent of the area median income, as de10 termined by the Secretary, with adjust11 ments for family size.

12 ‘‘(C) VERY LOW-INCOME TENANTS.—The

13 Secretary shall provide assistance under section

14 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 to

15 any very low-income tenant currently residing

16 in a unit otherwise required to receive project17 based assistance under section 8, pursuant to

18 subparagraph (A), (B), or (D) of paragraph

19 (1), if the rents charged such tenants as a re20 sult of actions taken pursuant to this para21 graph exceed the amount payable as rent under

22 section 3(a) of the United States Housing Act

23 of 1937.

24 ‘‘(4) TRANSFER FOR USE UNDER OTHER PRO25 GRAMS OF THE SECRETARY.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Enter into an agree2 ment providing for the transfer of a multifamily

3 housing project—

4 ‘‘(i) to a public housing agency for use

5 of the project as public housing; or

6 ‘‘(ii) to an owner or another appro7 priate entity for use of the project under

8 section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 or

9 under section 811 of the Cranston-Gon10 zalez National Affordable Housing Act.

11 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR AGREEMENT.—

12 The agreement described in subparagraph (A)

13 shall—

14 ‘‘(i) contain such terms, conditions,

15 and limitations as the Secretary deter16 mines appropriate, including requirements

17 to assure use of the project under the pub18 lic housing, section 202, and section 811

19 programs; and

20 ‘‘(ii) ensure that no current tenant

21 will be displaced as a result of actions

22 taken under this paragraph.

23 ‘‘(f) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—In addition to the actions

24 authorized by subsection (e), the Secretary may take any

25 of the following actions:
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1 ‘‘(1) SHORT-TERM LOANS.—Provide short-term

2 loans to facilitate the sale of multifamily housing

3 projects to nonprofit organizations or to public agen4 cies if—

5 ‘‘(A) authority for such loans is provided

6 in advance in an appropriations Act;

7 ‘‘(B) such loans are for a term of not more

8 than 5 years;

9 ‘‘(C) the Secretary is presented with satis10 factory documentation, evidencing a commit11 ment of permanent financing to replace such

12 short-term loan, from a lender who meets

13 standards set forth by the Secretary; and

14 ‘‘(D) the terms of such loans are consist15 ent with prevailing practices in the marketplace

16 or the provision of such loans results in no cost

17 to the Government, as defined in section 502 of

18 the Congressional Budget Act.

19 ‘‘(2) TENANT-BASED ASSISTANCE.—In connec20 tion with projects referred to in subsection (e), make

21 available tenant-based assistance under section 8 of

22 the United States Housing Act of 1937 to very low23 income families (as defined in section 3(b)(2) of the

24 United States Housing Act of 1937) that do not

25 otherwise qualify for project-based assistance.
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1 ‘‘(3) ALTERNATIVE USES.—

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any

3 other provision of law, and subject to notice to

4 and comment from existing tenants, allow not

5 more than—

6 ‘‘(i) 5 percent of the total number of

7 units in multifamily housing projects that

8 are disposed of by the Secretary during

9 any 1-year period to be made available for

10 uses other than rental or cooperative uses,

11 including low-income homeownership op12 portunities, or in any particular project,

13 community space, office space for tenant

14 or housing-related service providers or se15 curity programs, or small business uses, if

16 such uses benefit the tenants of the

17 project; and

18 ‘‘(ii) 5 percent of the total number of

19 units in multifamily housing projects that

20 are disposed of by the Secretary during

21 any 1-year period to be used in any man22 ner, if the Secretary and the unit of gen23 eral local government or area-wide govern24 ing body determine that such use will fur-
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1 ther fair housing, community development,

2 or neighborhood revitalization goals.

3 ‘‘(B) DISPLACEMENT PROTECTION.—The

4 Secretary shall make available tenant-based

5 rental assistance under section 8 of the United

6 States Housing Act of 1937 to any tenant dis7 placed as a result of actions taken by the Sec8 retary pursuant to subparagraph (A), and the

9 Secretary shall take such actions as the Sec10 retary determines necessary to ensure the suc11 cessful use of any tenant-based assistance.

12 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF USE OR RENT RESTRIC13 TIONS IN UNSUBSIDIZED PROJECTS.—In carrying out the

14 goals specified in subsection (a), the Secretary may re15 quire certain units in unsubsidized projects to contain use

16 or rent restrictions providing that such units will be avail17 able to and affordable by very low-income persons for the

18 remaining useful life of the property, as defined by the

19 Secretary.

20 ‘‘(h) CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.—

21 ‘‘(1) CONTRACT TERM.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Contracts for project23 based rental assistance under section 8 of the

24 United States Housing Act of 1937 provided
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1 pursuant to this section shall be for a term of

2 not more than 15 years; and

3 ‘‘(B) CONTRACT TERM OF LESS THAN 15

4 YEARS.—Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), to

5 the extent that units receive project-based as6 sistance for a contract term of less than 15

7 years, the Secretary shall require that rents

8 charged to tenants for such units not exceed

9 the amount payable for rent under section 3(a)

10 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 for

11 a period of at least 15 years.

12 ‘‘(2) CONTRACT RENT.—

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

14 set contract rents for section 8 project-based

15 rental contracts issued under this section at lev16 els that, in conjunction with other resources

17 available to the purchaser, provide for the nec18 essary costs of rehabilitation of such project

19 and do not exceed the percentage of the existing

20 housing fair market rents for the area (as de21 termined by the Secretary under section 8(c) of

22 the United States Housing Act of 1937) as the

23 Secretary may prescribe.

24 ‘‘(B) UP-FRONT GRANTS AND LOANS.—If

25 such an approach is determined to be more
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1 cost-effective, the Secretary may utilize the

2 budget authority provided for project-based sec3 tion 8 contracts issued under this section to—

4 ‘‘(i) provide project-based section 8

5 rental assistance; and

6 ‘‘(ii)(I) provide up-front grants for the

7 necessary cost of rehabilitation; or

8 ‘‘(II) pay for any cost to the Govern9 ment, as defined in section 502 of the Con10 gressional Budget Act, for loans made pur11 suant to subsection (f)(1).

12 ‘‘(i) DISPOSITION PLAN.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Prior to the sale of a mul14 tifamily housing project that is owned by the Sec15 retary, the Secretary shall develop a disposition plan

16 for the project that specifies the minimum terms

17 and conditions of the Secretary for disposition of the

18 project, the initial sales price that is acceptable to

19 the Secretary, and the assistance that the Secretary

20 plans to make available to a prospective purchaser

21 in accordance with this section. The initial sales

22 price shall reflect the intended use of the property

23 after sale.

24 ‘‘(2) COMMUNITY AND TENANT INPUT INTO

25 DISPOSITION PLANS AND SALES.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this

2 section, the Secretary shall develop procedures

3 to obtain appropriate and timely input into dis4 position plans from officials of the unit of gen5 eral local government affected, the community

6 in which the project is situated, and the tenants

7 of the project.

8 ‘‘(B) TENANT ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary

9 shall develop procedures to facilitate, where feasible

10 and appropriate, the sale of multifamily housing

11 projects to existing tenant organizations with dem12 onstrated capacity or to public or nonprofit entities

13 which represent or are affiliated with existing tenant

14 organizations.

15 ‘‘(C) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—

16 ‘‘(i) USE OF FUNDS.—To carry out

17 the procedures developed under subpara18 graphs (A) and (B), the Secretary is au19 thorized to provide technical assistance, di20 rectly or indirectly, and to use amounts ap21 propriated for technical assistance under

22 the Emergency Low Income Housing Pres23 ervation Act of 1987, the Low-Income

24 Housing Preservation and Resident Home25 ownership Act of 1990, subtitle B of title
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1 IV of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Af2 fordable Housing Act, or under this section

3 for the provision of technical assistance

4 under this section.

5 ‘‘(ii) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—Recipients

6 of technical assistance funding under the

7 Emergency Low Income Housing Preserva8 tion Act of 1987, the Low-Income Housing

9 Preservation and Resident Homeownership

10 Act of 1990, subtitle B of title IV of the

11 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable

12 Housing Act, or under this section shall be

13 permitted to provide technical assistance to

14 the extent of such funding under any of

15 such programs or under this section, not16 withstanding the source of funding.

17 ‘‘(j) RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL.—

18 ‘‘(1) PROCEDURE.—

19 ‘‘(A) NOTIFICATION BY SECRETARY OF

20 THE ACQUISITION OF TITLE.—Not later than

21 30 days after acquiring title to a project, the

22 Secretary shall notify the unit of general local

23 government and the State agency or agencies

24 designated by the Governor of the acquisition of

25 such title.
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1 ‘‘(B) EXPRESSION OF INTEREST.—Not

2 later than 45 days after receiving notification

3 from the Secretary under subparagraph (A),

4 the unit of general local government or des5 ignated State agency may submit to the Sec6 retary a preliminary expression of interest in

7 the project. The Secretary may take such ac8 tions as may be necessary to require the unit of

9 general local government or designated State

10 agency to substantiate such interest.

11 ‘‘(C) TIMELY EXPRESSION OF INTER12 EST.—If the unit of general local government or

13 designated State agency has expressed interest

14 in the project before the expiration of the 45-

15 day period referred to in subparagraph (B), and

16 has substantiated such interest if requested, the

17 Secretary, upon approval of a disposition plan

18 for a project, shall notify the unit of general

19 local government and designated State agency

20 of the terms and conditions of the disposition

21 plan and give the unit of general local govern22 ment or designated State agency not more than

23 90 days after the date of such notification to

24 make an offer to purchase the project.
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1 ‘‘(D) NO TIMELY EXPRESSION OF INTER2 EST.—If the unit of general local government or

3 designated State agency does not express inter4 est before the expiration of the 45-day period

5 referred to in subparagraph (B), or does not

6 substantiate an expressed interest if requested,

7 the Secretary, upon approval of a disposition

8 plan, may offer the project for sale to any inter9 ested person or entity.

10 ‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF OFFERS.—Where the

11 Secretary has given the unit of general local govern12 ment or designated State agency 90 days to make

13 an offer to purchase the project, the Secretary shall

14 accept an offer that complies with the terms and

15 conditions of the disposition plan. The Secretary

16 may accept an offer that does not comply with the

17 terms and conditions of the disposition plan if the

18 Secretary determines that the offer will further the

19 goals specified in subsection (a) by actions that in20 clude extension of the duration of low-income afford21 ability restrictions or otherwise restructuring the

22 transaction in a manner that enhances the long-term

23 affordability for low-income persons. The Secretary

24 shall, in particular, have discretion to reduce the ini25 tial sales price in exchange for the extension of low-
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1 income affordability restrictions beyond the period of

2 assistance contemplated by the attachment of assist3 ance pursuant to subsection (e). If the Secretary and

4 the unit of general local government or designated

5 State agency cannot reach agreement within 90

6 days, the Secretary may offer the project for sale to

7 the general public.

8 ‘‘(3) PURCHASE BY UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL

9 GOVERNMENT OR DESIGNATED STATE AGENCY.—

10 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a unit

11 of general local government (including a public hous12 ing agency) or designated State agency may pur13 chase a subsidized or formerly subsidized project in

14 accordance with this subsection.

15 ‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall

16 apply to projects that are acquired on or after the

17 effective date of this subsection. With respect to

18 projects acquired before such effective date, the Sec19 retary may apply—

20 ‘‘(A) the requirements of paragraphs (2)

21 and (3) of section 203(e) as such paragraphs

22 existed immediately before the effective date of

23 this subsection; or

24 ‘‘(B) the requirements of paragraphs (1)

25 and (2) of this subsection, if the Secretary gives
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1 the unit of general local government or des2 ignated State agency—

3 ‘‘(i) 45 days to express interest in the

4 project; and

5 ‘‘(ii) if the unit of general local gov6 ernment or designated State agency ex7 presses interest in the project before the

8 expiration of the 45-day period, and sub9 stantiates such interest if requested, 90

10 days from the date of notification of the

11 terms and conditions of the disposition

12 plan to make an offer to purchase the

13 project.

14 ‘‘(k) DISPLACEMENT OF TENANTS AND RELOCATION

15 ASSISTANCE.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whenever tenants will be

17 displaced as a result of the disposition of, or repairs

18 to, a multifamily housing project that is owned by

19 the Secretary (or for which the Secretary is mortga20 gee in possession), the Secretary shall identify ten21 ants who will be displaced, and shall notify all such

22 tenants of their pending displacement and of any re23 location assistance which may be available. In the

24 case of a multifamily housing project that is not

25 owned by the Secretary (and for which the Secretary
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1 is not mortgagee in possession), the Secretary shall

2 require the owner of the project to carry out the re3 quirements of this paragraph.

4 ‘‘(2) RIGHTS OF DISPLACED TENANTS.—The

5 Secretary shall assure for any such tenant (who con6 tinues to meet applicable qualification standards)

7 the right—

8 ‘‘(A) to return, whenever possible, to a re9 paired unit;

10 ‘‘(B) to occupy a unit in another multifam11 ily housing project owned by the Secretary;

12 ‘‘(C) to obtain housing assistance under

13 the United States Housing Act of 1937; or

14 ‘‘(D) to receive any other available reloca15 tion assistance as the Secretary determines to

16 be appropriate.

17 ‘‘(l) MORTGAGE AND PROJECT SALES.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may not ap19 prove the sale of any loan or mortgage held by the

20 Secretary (including any loan or mortgage owned by

21 the Government National Mortgage Association) on

22 any subsidized project or formerly subsidized

23 project, unless such sale is made as part of a trans24 action that will ensure that such project will con25 tinue to operate at least until the maturity date of
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1 such loan or mortgage, in a manner that will provide

2 rental housing on terms at least as advantageous to

3 existing and future tenants as the terms required by

4 the program under which the loan or mortgage was

5 made or insured prior to the assignment of the loan

6 or mortgage on such project to the Secretary.

7 ‘‘(2) SALE OF CERTAIN PROJECTS.—The Sec8 retary may not approve the sale of any subsidized

9 project—

10 ‘‘(A) that is subject to a mortgage held by

11 the Secretary; or

12 ‘‘(B) if the sale transaction involves the

13 provision of any additional subsidy funds by the

14 Secretary or a recasting of the mortgage, unless

15 such sale is made as part of a transaction that

16 will ensure that such project will continue to

17 operate at least until the maturity date of the

18 loan or mortgage, in a manner that will provide

19 rental housing on terms at least as advan20 tageous to existing and future tenants as the

21 terms required by the program under which the

22 loan or mortgage was made or insured prior to

23 the proposed sale of the project.

24 ‘‘(3) MORTGAGE SALES TO STATE AND LOCAL

25 GOVERNMENTS.—Notwithstanding any provision of
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1 law that may require competitive sales or bidding,

2 the Secretary may carry out negotiated sales of sub3 sidized or formerly subsidized mortgages held by the

4 Secretary, without the competitive selection of pur5 chasers or intermediaries, to units of general local

6 government or State agencies, or groups of investors

7 that include at least one such unit of general local

8 government or State agency, if the negotiations are

9 conducted with such agencies, except that—

10 ‘‘(A) the terms of any such sale shall in11 clude the agreement of the purchasing agency

12 or unit of local government or State agency to

13 act as mortgagee or owner of a beneficial inter14 est in such mortgages, in a manner consistent

15 with maintaining the projects that are subject

16 to such mortgages for occupancy by the general

17 tenant group intended to be served by the appli18 cable mortgage insurance program, including,

19 to the extent the Secretary determines appro20 priate, authorizing such unit of local govern21 ment or State agency to enforce the provisions

22 of any regulatory agreement or other program

23 requirements applicable to the related projects;

24 and
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1 ‘‘(B) the sales prices for such mortgages

2 shall be, in the determination of the Secretary,

3 the best prices that may be obtained for such

4 mortgages from a unit of general local govern5 ment or State agency, consistent with the ex6 pectation and intention that the projects fi7 nanced will be retained for use under the appli8 cable mortgage insurance program for the life

9 of the initial mortgage insurance contract.

10 ‘‘(4) SALE OF MORTGAGES COVERING

11 UNSUBSIDIZED PROJECTS.—Notwithstanding any

12 other provision of law, the Secretary may sell mort13 gages held on unsubsidized projects on such terms

14 and conditions as the Secretary may prescribe.

15 ‘‘(m) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than June

16 1 of each year, the Secretary shall submit to the Commit17 tee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate

18 and the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Af19 fairs of the House of Representatives, a report describing

20 the status of multifamily housing projects owned by or

21 subject to mortgages held by the Secretary, which report

22 shall include—

23 ‘‘(1) the name, address, and size of each

24 project;

25 ‘‘(2) the nature and date of assignment;
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1 ‘‘(3) the status of the mortgage;

2 ‘‘(4) the physical condition of the project;

3 ‘‘(5) an occupancy profile of the project, includ4 ing the income, family size, and race of current resi5 dents as well as the rents paid by such residents;

6 ‘‘(6) the proportion of units in a project that

7 are vacant;

8 ‘‘(7) the date on which the Secretary became

9 mortgagee in possession;

10 ‘‘(8) the date and conditions of any foreclosure

11 sale;

12 ‘‘(9) the date of acquisition by the Secretary;

13 ‘‘(10) the date and conditions of any property

14 disposition sale;

15 ‘‘(11) a description of actions undertaken pur16 suant to this section, including—

17 ‘‘(A) a comparison of results between ac18 tions taken after enactment of the Housing and

19 Community Development Act of 1993 and ac20 tions taken in years prior to such enactment;

21 ‘‘(B) a description of any impediments to

22 the disposition or management of multifamily

23 housing projects, together with a recommenda24 tion of proposed legislative or regulatory
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1 changes designed to ameliorate such impedi2 ments;

3 ‘‘(C) a description of actions taken to re4 structure or commence foreclosure on delin5 quent multifamily mortgages held by the De6 partment; and

7 ‘‘(D) a description of actions taken to

8 monitor and prevent the default of multifamily

9 housing mortgages held by the Federal Housing

10 Administration;

11 ‘‘(12) a description of any of the functions per12 formed in connection with this section that are con13 tracted out to public or private entities or to States,

14 including—

15 ‘‘(A) the costs associated with such delega16 tion;

17 ‘‘(B) the implications of contracting out or

18 delegating such functions for current Depart19 ment field or regional personnel, including an20 ticipated personnel or work load reductions;

21 ‘‘(C) necessary oversight required by De22 partment personnel, including anticipated per23 sonnel hours devoted to such oversight;

24 ‘‘(D) a description of any authority grant25 ed to such public or private entities or States
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1 in conjunction with the functions that have

2 been delegated or contracted out or that are not

3 otherwise available for use by Department per4 sonnel; and

5 ‘‘(E) the extent to which such public or

6 private entities or States include tenants of

7 multifamily housing projects in the disposition

8 planning for such projects;

9 ‘‘(13) a description of the activities carried out

10 under subsection (j) during the preceding year; and

11 ‘‘(14) a description and assessment of the rules,

12 guidelines, and practices governing the Department’s

13 management of multifamily housing projects that

14 are owned by the Secretary (or for which the Sec15 retary is mortgagee in possession) as well as the

16 steps that the Secretary has taken or plans to take

17 to improve the management performance of the De18 partment.’’.

19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Secretary shall, by no20 tice published in the Federal Register, which shall take

21 effect upon publication, establish such requirements as

22 may be necessary to implement the amendments made by

23 this section. The notice shall invite public comments, and

24 the Secretary shall issue final regulations based on the ini-
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1 tial notice, taking into account any public comments re2 ceived.

3 Subtitle B—Merger of the

4 Certificate and Voucher Programs

5 SEC. 6101. MERGER OF CERTIFICATE AND VOUCHER PRO6 GRAMS.

7 The United States Housing Act of 1937 is amended

8 as provided in subsections (a) through (d) of this section.

9 (a) MERGER OF CERTIFICATE AND VOUCHER PRO10 GRAMS.—Section 8(o) is amended to read as follows:

11 ‘‘(o) CERTIFICATE PROGRAM.—(1) The Secretary

12 may provide assistance for tenant-based assistance using

13 a payment standard in accordance with this subsection.

14 The payment standard shall be used to determine the

15 monthly assistance which may be paid for any family, as

16 provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, and shall not

17 exceed the fair market rental established under subsection

18 (c). However, the payment standard for a designated part

19 of the market area may exceed the fair market rental by

20 not more than 20 percent where the Secretary determines

21 that higher market rents in a designated part of the mar22 ket area justify a higher payment standard. The Secretary

23 may require an agency to submit proposed payment stand24 ards to the Secretary for approval.
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1 ‘‘(2)(A) For a family receiving tenant-based assist2 ance, where the rent (including the amount allowed for

3 tenant-paid utilities) does not exceed the payment stand4 ard, the monthly assistance payment shall be the amount

5 by which the rent exceeds the highest of the following

6 amounts, rounded to the nearest dollar:

7 ‘‘(i) 30 percent of the family’s monthly adjusted

8 income;

9 ‘‘(ii) 10 percent of the family’s monthly income;

10 or

11 ‘‘(iii) if the family is receiving payments for

12 welfare assistance from a public agency and a part

13 of such payments, adjusted in accordance with the

14 family’s actual housing costs, is specifically des15 ignated by such agency to meet the family’s housing

16 costs, the portion of such payments which is so des17 ignated.

18 ‘‘(B) For a family receiving tenant-based assistance,

19 where the rent (including the amount allowed for tenant20 paid utilities) exceeds the payment standard, the monthly

21 assistance payment shall be the amount by which the ap22 plicable payment standard exceeds the highest of the fol23 lowing amounts, rounded to the nearest dollar:

24 ‘‘(i) 30 percent of the family’s monthly adjusted

25 income;
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1 ‘‘(ii) 10 percent of the family’s monthly income;

2 or

3 ‘‘(iii) if the family is receiving payments for

4 welfare assistance from a public agency and a part

5 of such payments, adjusted in accordance with the

6 family’s actual housing costs, is specifically des7 ignated by such agency to meet the family’s housing

8 costs, the portion of such payments which is so des9 ignated.

10 ‘‘(C) For a family receiving project-based assistance,

11 the rent the family is required to pay shall be determined

12 in accordance with section 3(a)(1) and the amount of the

13 housing assistance payment shall be determined in accord14 ance with subsection (c)(3).

15 ‘‘(3) At the time a family initially receives tenant16 based assistance with respect to any unit, the total amount

17 a family may pay towards rent may not exceed 45 percent

18 of the family’s monthly adjusted income.

19 ‘‘(4) At the time a family initially receives assistance

20 under the certificate program, a family shall qualify as—

21 ‘‘(A) a very low-income family;

22 ‘‘(B) a family previously assisted under this

23 Act; or

24 ‘‘(C) a low-income family that meets eligibility

25 criteria specified by the Secretary.
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1 ‘‘(5) Reviews of family income shall be made at least

2 annually.

3 ‘‘(6)(A) In selecting families to be assisted, pref4 erence shall be given to families which, at the time they

5 are seeking assistance, (i) occupy substandard housing

6 (including families that are homeless or living in a shelter

7 for homeless families), (ii) are involuntarily displaced, or

8 (iii) are paying more than 50 percent of family income

9 for rent; except that any family otherwise eligible for as10 sistance under this section may not be denied preference

11 for tenant-based assistance (or delayed or otherwise ad12 versely affected in the provision of such assistance) solely

13 because the family resides in public housing.

14 ‘‘(B) A public housing agency may provide for cir15 cumstances in which families who do not qualify for any

16 preference established in subparagraph (A) are provided

17 assistance under this subsection before families who do

18 qualify for such preference. However, not more than 10

19 percent in the case of tenant-based assistance and not

20 more than 30 percent in the case of project-based assist21 ance (or such higher percentage, in either case, deter22 mined by the Secretary to be necessary) of the families

23 who initially receive assistance in any 1-year period may

24 be families who do not qualify for such preference. The

25 public housing agency shall, in implementing the preced-
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1 ing sentence, establish a system of preferences in writing

2 and after public hearing to respond to local housing needs

3 and priorities which may include—

4 ‘‘(i) assisting very low-income families who ei5 ther reside in transitional housing assisted under

6 title IV of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless As7 sistance Act, or participate in a program designed to

8 provide public assistance recipients with greater ac9 cess to employment and educational opportunities;

10 ‘‘(ii) assisting families identified by local public

11 agencies involved in providing for the welfare of chil12 dren as having a lack of adequate housing that is a

13 primary factor in the imminent placement of a child

14 in foster care, or in preventing the discharge of a

15 child from foster care and reunification with his or

16 her family;

17 ‘‘(iii) assisting youth, upon discharge from fos18 ter care, in cases in which return to the family or

19 extended family or adoption is not available;

20 ‘‘(iv) assisting veterans who will use the assist21 ance for a dwelling unit designed for the handi22 capped, and upon discharge or eligibility for dis23 charge from a hospital or nursing home, have a

24 physical disability which, because of the configura-
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1 tion of their homes, prevents them from access to or

2 use of their homes; and

3 ‘‘(v) achieving other objectives of national hous4 ing policy as affirmed by Congress.

5 ‘‘(C) Any individual or family evicted from housing

6 assisted under the Act by reason of drug-related criminal

7 activity (as defined in subsection (f)(5)) shall not be eligi8 ble for a preference under any provision of this subpara9 graph for 3 years unless the evicted tenant successfully

10 completes a rehabilitation program approved by the Sec11 retary (which shall include waiver for any member of a

12 family of an individual prohibited from tenancy under this

13 clause who the agency determines clearly did not partici14 pate in and had no knowledge of such criminal activity

15 or when circumstances leading to eviction no longer exist).

16 ‘‘(7) The Secretary shall require, for any unit, that—

17 ‘‘(A) the public housing agency inspect the unit

18 before any assistance payment may be made to de19 termine that the unit meets housing quality stand20 ards for decent, safe, and sanitary housing estab21 lished by the Secretary for the purpose of this sec22 tion; and

23 ‘‘(B) the public housing agency make annual or

24 more frequent inspections during the contract term.
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1 No assistance payment may be made for a dwelling unit

2 which fails to meet such quality standards, unless any

3 such failure is promptly corrected by the owner and the

4 correction is verified by the public housing agency.

5 ‘‘(8) If a family vacates a dwelling unit, no assistance

6 payment may be made for the unit after the month during

7 which the unit was vacated.

8 ‘‘(9) A public housing agency may adjust its payment

9 standard under this subsection where necessary to assure

10 continued affordability for families receiving tenant-based

11 assistance.

12 ‘‘(10) The Secretary may set aside up to 5 percent

13 of the budget authority available under this subsection as

14 an adjustment pool. The Secretary shall use amounts in

15 the adjustment pool for adjustments pursuant to para16 graph (9) to ensure continued affordability where the Sec17 retary determines additional assistance for this purpose is

18 necessary, based on documentation submitted by a public

19 housing agency.

20 ‘‘(11)(A) The rent for units assisted under this sub21 section shall be reasonable in comparison with rents

22 charged for comparable units in the private unassisted

23 market.

24 ‘‘(B) A public housing agency shall, at the request

25 of a family receiving tenant-based assistance under this
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1 subsection, assist such family in negotiating a reasonable

2 rent with an owner. A public housing agency shall review

3 the rent for a unit under consideration by the family (and

4 all rent increases for units under lease by the family) to

5 determine whether the rent (or rent increase) requested

6 by an owner is reasonable. If a public housing agency de7 termines that the rent (or rent increase) for a unit is not

8 reasonable, the agency shall disapprove a lease for such

9 unit.

10 ‘‘(C) If units assisted under this subsection are ex11 empt from local rent control while they are so assisted,

12 the rent for such units shall be reasonable in comparison

13 with other units in the market area that are exempt from

14 local rent control.

15 ‘‘(12)(A) A public housing agency may make assist16 ance payments on behalf of a family which utilizes a man17 ufactured home as its principal place of residence. Such

18 payments may be made for the rental of the real property

19 on which there is located a manufactured home which is

20 owned by any such family.

21 ‘‘(B)(i) For assistance pursuant to this paragraph,

22 the rent for the space on which a manufactured home is

23 located and with respect to which assistance payments are

24 to be made includes maintenance and management

25 charges and tenant-paid utilities.
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1 ‘‘(ii) The public housing agency shall establish a pay2 ment standard for the purpose of determining the monthly

3 assistance which may be paid for any family under this

4 paragraph. The payment standard may not exceed an

5 amount approved or established by the Secretary.

6 ‘‘(iii) The monthly assistance payment for assistance

7 under this paragraph shall be determined in accordance

8 with paragraph (2).

9 ‘‘(13)(A) Where the Secretary enters into an annual

10 contributions contract with a public housing agency pursu11 ant to which the agency will enter into a contract for as12 sistance payments with respect to an existing structure

13 under this subsection, the contract for assistance pay14 ments may not be attached to the structure unless the

15 owner agrees to rehabilitate or newly construct the struc16 ture other than with assistance under this Act and other17 wise complies with the requirements of this section. The

18 public housing agency may approve such attachment for

19 up to 15 percent of the funding available for tenant-based

20 assistance administered by the agency under this section.

21 ‘‘(B) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec22 tion, a public housing agency and an applicable State

23 agency may, on a priority basis, attach to structures not

24 more than an additional 15 percent of the assistance only

25 with respect to projects assisted under a State program
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1 that permits the owner of the projects to prepay a State2 assisted or State-subsidized mortgage on the structure.

3 However, the attachment of assistance under this sub4 paragraph shall be for the purpose of—

5 ‘‘(i) providing incentives to owners to preserve

6 such projects for occupancy by low- and moderate7 income families (for the period that assistance under

8 this sentence is available), and

9 ‘‘(ii) to assist low-income families to afford any

10 increases in rent that may be required to induce the

11 owner to maintain occupancy in the project by low12 and moderate-income families.

13 ‘‘(C) Any assistance provided to low-income families

14 under subparagraph (B) shall not be considered for pur15 poses of the limitation under paragraph (6) regarding the

16 percentage of families that may receive assistance under

17 this section who do not qualify for preferences under that

18 paragraph.

19 ‘‘(D) In the case of a contract for assistance pay20 ments that is attached to a structure under this para21 graph, a public housing agency shall enter into a contract

22 with an owner, contingent upon the future availability of

23 appropriations for the purpose of renewing expiring con24 tracts for assistance payments as provided in appropria25 tions Acts, to extend the term of the underlying contract
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1 for assistance payments for such period or periods as the

2 Secretary determines to be appropriate to achieve long3 term affordability of the housing. The contract shall obli4 gate the owner to have such extensions of the underlying

5 contract for assistance payments accepted by the owner

6 and the owner’s successors in interest. To the extent as7 sistance is used as provided in the second sentence of sub8 paragraph (B), the contract for assistance may, at the op9 tion of the public housing agency, have an initial term not

10 exceeding 15 years.

11 ‘‘(E) The Secretary shall annually survey public

12 housing agencies to determine which public housing agen13 cies have, in providing assistance in such year, reached

14 the 15 percent limitations contained in subparagraphs (A)

15 and (B), and shall report to the Congress on the results

16 of the survey.

17 ‘‘(F) For project-based assistance under this para18 graph, assistance contracts shall establish rents, and pro19 vide for rent adjustments, in accordance with subsection

20 (c).

21 ‘‘(14) A family may lease a unit, other than a public

22 housing unit, from the public housing agency with assist23 ance under this subsection. The Secretary may establish

24 appropriate program requirements for units owned by the

25 public housing agency, including requirements for HUD
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1 approval of initial rents, rent adjustments, and adminis2 trative fees, taking into account that the agency admin3 istering the assistance is also the owner of the assisted

4 unit.

5 ‘‘(15) Subsection (c) shall not apply to tenant-based

6 assistance under this subsection, except that subsections

7 (c)(9) and (c)(10) shall apply.’’.

8 (b) PORTABILITY.—Section 8(r) is amended—

9 (1) in each of paragraphs (1) and (3), by strik10 ing ‘‘subsection (b) or’’;

11 (2) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the end

12 the following new sentence: ‘‘The Secretary may re13 serve amounts available for assistance under sub14 section (o) to compensate public housing agencies

15 which issue certificates to families that move into

16 the jurisdiction of the agency under portability pro17 cedures.’’; and

18 (3) by adding the following new paragraph at

19 the end:

20 ‘‘(5) A family may not receive a certificate from

21 an agency and move to another jurisdiction under

22 the tenant-based assistance program, if the family

23 has moved out of its assisted unit in violation of its

24 lease.’’.
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1 (c) HOMEOWNERSHIP OPTION.—Section 8(y) is

2 amended—

3 (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting before the

4 semicolon ‘‘or owns or is acquiring shares in a coop5 erative’’;

6 (2) in paragraph (1)(B)(i), by inserting before

7 the semicolon ‘‘and demonstrates to the public hous8 ing agency that it has sufficient resources for home9 ownership’’; and

10 (3) by amending paragraph (2)(A) to read as

11 follows:

12 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT OF AS13 SISTANCE.—

14 ‘‘(i) Where the monthly homeowner15 ship expenses, as determined in accordance

16 with requirements established by the Sec17 retary, do not exceed the payment stand18 ard, the monthly assistance payment shall

19 be the amount by which the homeowner20 ship expenses exceed the highest of the fol21 lowing amounts, rounded to the nearest

22 dollar:

23 ‘‘(I) 30 percent of the family’s

24 monthly adjusted income;
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1 ‘‘(II) 10 percent of the family’s

2 monthly income; or

3 ‘‘(III) if the family is receiving

4 payments for welfare assistance from

5 a public agency and a part of such

6 payments, adjusted in accordance with

7 the family’s actual housing costs, is

8 specifically designated by such agency

9 to meet the family’s housing costs, the

10 portion of such payments which is so

11 designated.

12 ‘‘(ii) Where the monthly homeowner13 ship expenses, as determined in accordance

14 with requirements established by the Sec15 retary, exceed the payment standard, the

16 monthly assistance payment shall be the

17 amount by which the applicable payment

18 standard exceeds the highest of the follow19 ing amounts, rounded to the nearest dollar:

20 ‘‘(I) 30 percent of the family’s

21 monthly adjusted income;

22 ‘‘(II) 10 percent of the family’s

23 monthly income; or

24 ‘‘(III) if the family is receiving

25 payments for welfare assistance from
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1 a public agency and a part of such

2 payments, adjusted in accordance with

3 the family’s actual housing costs, is

4 specifically designated by such agency

5 to meet the family’s housing costs, the

6 portion of such payments which is so

7 designated.’’.

8 (d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO

9 THE 1937 ACT; DELETION OF OBSOLETE PROVISIONS.—

10 (1) The second and third sentences of section

11 8(a) are hereby repealed.

12 (2) Section 8(b) is amended by—

13 (A) striking ‘‘RENTAL CERTIFICATES AND

14 OTHER EXISTING HOUSING PROGRAMS.—’’ and

15 inserting ‘‘CERTIFICATES AND OTHER EXIST16 ING HOUSING PROGRAMS.—(1)’’; and

17 (B) striking the second sentence.

18 (3) Section 8(c)(3) is amended by striking the

19 subparagraph designation ‘‘(A)’’ and striking all of

20 subparagraph (B).

21 (4) The first sentence of section 8(c)(4) is

22 amended by striking ‘‘or by a family that qualifies

23 to receive’’ and all that follows through ‘‘1990’’.

24 (5) Sections 8(c) (5) and (7) are hereby re25 pealed.
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1 (6) Section 8(c)(8) is amended by inserting

2 after ‘‘section’’ the following: ‘‘(other than a con3 tract under section 8(o)(13))’’.

4 (7) Section 8(d)(1)(A) is amended—

5 (A) by inserting after the subparagraph

6 designation ‘‘(A)’’ the following: ‘‘except for as7 sistance under subsection (o),’’;

8 (B) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘(I)’’;

9 (C) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and (II) 90

10 percent of such families in the case of assist11 ance not attached to a structure’’; and

12 (D) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘except’’ and

13 all that follows through the semicolon at the

14 end.

15 (8) Section 8(d)(2) is amended by striking the

16 third sentence of subparagraph (A) and all that fol17 lows through the end of paragraph (2).

18 (9) Section 8(f) is amended by—

19 (A) in paragraph (6), striking ‘‘(d)(2)’’

20 and inserting ‘‘(o)(13)’’; and

21 (B) in paragraph (7), striking ‘‘(b) or’’

22 and inserting before the period the following:

23 ‘‘and that provides for the eligible family to se24 lect suitable housing and to move to other suit25 able housing’’.
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1 (10) Section 8(j) is hereby repealed.

2 (11) Section 8(n) is hereby repealed.

3 (12) The first sentence of section 8(q)(1) and

4 sections 8(q)(2)(A)(i) and 8(q)(2)(B) are each

5 amended by striking ‘‘subsections (b) and (o)’’ and

6 inserting ‘‘this section’’.

7 (13) Section 18(b)(3) is amended—

8 (A) in subparagraph (A)(v), by striking

9 ‘‘(excluding vouchers under section 8(o))’’ each

10 place it appears;

11 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking

12 ‘‘8(d)(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘8(o)(13)’’;

13 (C) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking

14 ‘‘(excluding vouchers under section 8(o))’’; and

15 (D) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking

16 ‘‘and vouchers’’.

17 (14) Section 21(b)(3) is amended—

18 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘cer19 tificate under section 8(b)(1) or a housing

20 voucher under section 8(o)’’ and inserting ‘‘ten21 ant-based assistance under section 8’’; and

22 (B) by striking the second sentence.

23 (15) Section 23(b)(3)(A) is amended by strik24 ing ‘‘Certificate and voucher assistance under sec-
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1 tion 8 (b) and (o)’’ and inserting ‘‘Tenant-based as2 sistance under section 8’’.

3 (e) OTHER TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND4 MENTS.—

5 (1) Section 931 of the Cranston-Gonzalez Na6 tional Affordable Housing Act is amended by strik7 ing ‘‘assistance under the certificate and voucher

8 programs under sections 8 (b) and (o)’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘tenant-based assistance under section 8’’.

10 (2) Section 861(b)(1)(D) of the Cranston-Gon11 zalez National Affordable Housing Act is amended

12 by striking ‘‘certificates or vouchers’’ and inserting

13 ‘‘assistance’’.

14 (3) Section 183(c)(2) of the Housing and Com15 munity Development Act of 1987 is amended by

16 striking ‘‘section 8(o)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 8’’.

17 (4) Section 223(a) of the Housing and Commu18 nity Development Act of 1987 is amended by strik19 ing ‘‘sections 8(b) and 8(o)’’ and inserting ‘‘section

20 8’’.

21 (5) The second sentence of section 533(a) of

22 the Housing Act of 1949 is amended by striking

23 ‘‘assistance payments as provided by section 8(o)’’

24 and inserting ‘‘tenant-based assistance as provided

25 under section 8’’.
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1 (f) IMPLEMENTATION.—The amendments made by

2 this section shall take effect upon the date specified in

3 a regulation or notice published by the Secretary in the

4 Federal Register. The Secretary may provide for the con5 version of assistance under the certificate and voucher

6 programs, as they existed before the effective date of the

7 amendments made by this section, to the certificate pro8 gram established under this section. However, the Sec9 retary may continue to apply the provisions of the United

10 States Housing Act of 1937 and other statutes amended

11 by this section, as they existed immediately before such

12 effective date, to assistance obligated by the Secretary be13 fore such effective date for the certificate or voucher pro14 gram, where necessary for simplification of program ad15 ministration, avoidance of hardship, or other good cause.

16 Subtitle C—Streamline HUD

17 SEC. 6201. HUD STREAMLINING.

18 The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

19 shall carry out the recommendation of the Report of the

20 National Performance Review, issued on September 7,

21 1993, that the Department streamline its headquarters,

22 regional, and field office structure and consolidate and re23 duce its size, without regard to the requirements of section

24 7(p) of the Department of Housing and Urban Develop25 ment Act.
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1 Subtitle D—Refinance Section 235

2 Mortgages

3 SEC. 6301. SECTION 235 MORTGAGE REFINANCING.

4 Section 235(r) of the National Housing Act is

5 amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (2)(C), by inserting after ‘‘re7 financed’’ the following: ‘‘, plus the costs incurred in

8 connection with the refinancing as described in para9 graph (4)(B) to the extent that the amount for those

10 costs is not otherwise included in the interest rate

11 as permitted by subparagraph (E) or paid by the

12 Secretary as authorized by paragraph (4)(B)’’;

13 (2) in paragraph (4)—

14 (A) by inserting after ‘‘otherwise)’’ the fol15 lowing: ‘‘and the mortgagee with respect to the

16 amount described in paragraph (A)’’; and

17 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting after

18 ‘‘mortgagor’’ the following: ‘‘and the mortga19 gee’’; and

20 (3) by revising paragraph (5) to read as follows:

21 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall use amounts of budget

22 authority recaptured from assistance payments con23 tracts relating to mortgages that are being refi24 nanced for assistance payments contracts with re25 spect to mortgages insured under this subsection.
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1 The Secretary may also make such recaptured

2 amounts available for incentives under paragraph

3 (4)(A) and the costs incurred in connection with the

4 refinancing under paragraph (4)(B). For purposes

5 of subsection (c)(3)(A), the amount of recaptured

6 budget authority that the Secretary commits for as7 sistance payments contracts relating to mortgages

8 insured under this subsection and for amounts paid

9 under paragraph (4) shall not be construed as ‘un10 used.’ ’’.

11 Subtitle E—Section 8 Rents for

12 New Construction and Rehabili13 tation Projects

14 SEC. 6401. SECTION 8 RENTS FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION AND

15 REHABILITATION PROJECTS.

16 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the max17 imum monthly contract rents for new construction and

18 substantial rehabilitation projects under section 8 of the

19 United States Housing Act of 1937 shall not be adjusted

20 as provided under section 8(c)(2)(A) for 1 year after the

21 date of enactment of this Act.
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1 TITLE VII—DEPARTMENT OF

2 THE INTERIOR

3 Subtitle A—Improve the Federal

4 Helium Program

5 SEC. 7001. AMENDMENTS TO HELIUM ACT AMENDMENTS OF

6 1960.

7 (a) Section 4 of the Helium Act Amendments of 1960

8 (74 Stat. 920, 50 U.S.C. 167b) is amended to insert after

9 ‘‘lands acquired, leased, or reserved;’’ the following: ‘‘re10 duce costs and increase operational efficiencies, especially

11 in operations that do not produce revenue; establish and

12 adjust fees charged private industry for storage, trans13 mission, and withdrawal of privately-owned helium from

14 Government storage facilities to compensate fully for all

15 costs incurred;’’.

16 (b) Section 6 of the Helium Act Amendments of 1960

17 (74 Stat. 921, 50 U.S.C. 167d) is amended—

18 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read:

19 ‘‘(b) The Secretary is authorized to sell helium for

20 Federal, medical, scientific, and commercial uses in such

21 quantities and under such terms and conditions as the

22 Secretary determines. Sales shall be made in quantities

23 and a manner to avoid undue disruption of the usual mar24 kets of producers, processors, and consumers of helium
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1 and to protect the United States against avoidable loss.’’;

2 and

3 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read:

4 ‘‘(c) Sales of helium by the Secretary shall be at

5 prices, as established by the Secretary, that are adequate

6 to cover all costs incurred in carrying out the provisions

7 of this Act. Helium shall be sold at prices comparable to

8 helium sold by private industry. An annual review of price

9 comparability shall be made and adjustments shall be

10 made accordingly.’’.

11 SEC. 7002. LONG-TERM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.

12 The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare and de13 velop a long-term, comprehensive plan to (1) cancel the

14 outstanding debt owed to the Treasury by the Department

15 of the Interior related to the Federal helium program; and

16 (2) improve Federal helium program operations over a

17 multi-year period. The plan should analyze various options

18 to accomplish (1) and (2) above, with emphasis on ways

19 to minimize adverse impacts on Federal employment, Fed20 eral helium purchasers, and U.S. private sector helium

21 markets. The plan, with the Secretary’s preferred options,

22 shall be presented to the President within 4 months of

23 enactment of this Act. The President may adopt the plan,

24 in whole or in part, and is authorized to cancel the out-
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1 standing debt upon a finding that such debt cancellation

2 is in the national interest.

3 Subtitle B—Improve Minerals Man4 agement Service Royalty Collec5 tion

6 SEC. 7101. IMPROVEMENT OF MINERALS MANAGEMENT

7 SERVICE ROYALTY COLLECTION.

8 (a) The Secretary of the Interior shall, by fiscal year

9 1995, direct the Minerals Management Service, Royalty

10 Management Program, to develop and implement (1) an

11 automated business information system to provide to its

12 auditors a lease history that includes reference, royalty,

13 production, financial, compliance history, pricing and valu14 ation, and other information; (2) the optimum methods

15 to identify and resolve anomalies and to verify that royal16 ties are paid correctly; (3) a more efficient and cost-effec17 tive royalty collection process by instituting new compli18 ance and enforcement measures, including assessments

19 and penalties for erroneous reporting and underreporting;

20 and (4) such other actions as may be necessary to reduce

21 royalty underpayment and increase revenue to the U.S.

22 Treasury by an estimated total of $28 million by fiscal

23 year 1999.

24 (b) The Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management

25 Act of 1982 (Public Law No. 97–451), 30 U.S.C. 1701
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1 et seq.) is amended by adding a new subsection 111(h)

2 as follows:

3 ‘‘PENALTY ASSESSMENT FOR SUBSTANTIAL

4 UNDERREPORTING OF ROYALTY’’

5 ‘‘SEC. 111. (h)(1) If there is any underreporting of

6 royalty owed on production from any lease issued or ad7 ministered by the Secretary for the production of oil, gas,

8 coal, any other mineral, or geothermal steam, from any

9 Federal or Indian lands or the Outer Continental Shelf,

10 for any production month, by any person who is respon11 sible for paying royalty, the Secretary may assess a pen12 alty of 10 percent of the amount of that underreporting.

13 ‘‘(2) If there is a substantial underreporting of roy14 alty owed on production from any lease issued or adminis15 tered by the Secretary for the production of oil, gas, coal,

16 any other mineral, or geothermal steam, from any Federal

17 or Indian lands or the Outer Continental Shelf, for any

18 production month, by any person who is responsible for

19 paying royalty, the Secretary may assess a penalty of 20

20 percent of the amount of that substantial underreporting.

21 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this section, the term

22 ‘underreporting’ means the difference between the royalty

23 on the value of the production which should have been re24 ported and the royalty on the value of the production

25 which was reported, if the value of the production which

26 should have been reported is greater than the value of the
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1 production which was reported. An underreporting con2 stitutes a ‘substantial underreporting’ if such difference

3 exceeds 10 percent of the royalty on the value of the pro4 duction which should have been reported.

5 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall not impose the assessment

6 provided in paragraphs (1) or (2) if the person corrects

7 the underreporting before the date the person receives no8 tice from the Secretary that an underreporting may have

9 occurred, or before 90 days after the date of enactment

10 of this section, whichever is later.

11 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall waive any portion of an as12 sessment provided in paragraphs (1) or (2) attributable

13 to that portion of the underreporting for which the person

14 demonstrates that—

15 ‘‘(i) the person had written authorization from

16 the Secretary to report royalty on the value of the

17 production on the basis on which it was reported, or

18 ‘‘(ii) the person had substantial authority for

19 reporting royalty on the value of the production on

20 the basis on which it was reported, or

21 ‘‘(iii) the person previously had notified the

22 Secretary, in such manner as the Secretary may by

23 rule prescribe, of relevant reasons or facts affecting

24 the royalty treatment of specific production which

25 led to the underreporting, or
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1 ‘‘(iv) the person meets any other exception

2 which the Secretary may, by rule, establish.

3 ‘‘(6) All penalties collected under this subsection shall

4 be deposited to the same accounts in the Treasury or paid

5 to the same recipients in the same manner as the royalty

6 with respect to which such penalty is paid.’’.

7 Subtitle C—Phase Out the Mineral

8 Institute Program

9 SEC. 7201. PHASE OUT OF MINERAL INSTITUTE PROGRAM.

10 The Secretary of the Interior, beginning in fiscal year

11 1995, shall take action to phase out the Mining and Min12 eral Resources Research Institute Act of 1984, Public Law

13 98–409, as amended (98 Stat. 1536 through 1541 and

14 102 Stat. 2339 through 2341, 30 U.S.C. 1221 through

15 1230). There are hereby authorized to be appropriated

16 under the Act the following amounts: fiscal year 1995—

17 $6.5 million; fiscal year 1996—$5 million; fiscal year

18 1997—$3 million; and fiscal year 1998—$1.5 million. No

19 further appropriations for this Act are authorized after

20 September 30, 1998.
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1 TITLE VIII—DEPARTMENT OF

2 JUSTICE

3 SEC. 8001. BUREAU OF PRISONS HEALTH SERVICES USER

4 FEE.

5 Chapter 303 of title 18, United States Code, is

6 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 4047. USER FEE FOR HEALTH SERVICES.

8 ‘‘The Attorney General may assess a nominal fee for

9 health services provided to an inmate. The Attorney Gen10 eral may withdraw, without the inmate’s consent, funds

11 from his or her trust fund account, designated as ‘Funds

12 of Federal Prisoners’ in section 1321(a)(21) of title 31,

13 necessary to pay fees incurred by the inmate for health

14 services. The Attorney General may waive or refund, for

15 good cause and at any time, all or part of the expenses

16 incurred by an inmate through the assessment of fees for

17 health services. An inmate shall not be denied health serv18 ices treatment because of his or her inability to pay a

19 health services fee. The Attorney General is authorized to

20 promulgate regulations to implement this section.’’.
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1 TITLE IX—DEPARTMENT OF

2 LABOR

3 Subtitle A—Deterrence of Fraud

4 and Abuse in the FECA Program

5 SEC. 9001. DETERRENCE OF FRAUD AND ABUSE IN FECA

6 PROGRAM.

7 (a) Section 8102 of title 5, United States Code, is

8 amended to redesignate subsection (b) as subsection (c),

9 and to add the following new subsection (b):

10 ‘‘(b) An individual convicted of a violation of 18

11 U.S.C. 1920, as amended, or of any other fraud related

12 to the application for or receipt of benefits under sub13 chapter I or III of chapter 81 of title 5, shall forfeit, as

14 of the date of the conviction, all entitlement to any pro15 spective benefits provided by subchapter I or III for any

16 injury occurring on or before the date of the conviction.

17 Such a forfeiture of benefits shall be in addition to any

18 action the Secretary may take under section 8106 or 8129

19 of title 5, United States Code.’’.

20 (b) Section 8116 of title 5, United States Code, is

21 amended by adding the following new subsection (e):

22 ‘‘(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title,

23 no benefits under sections 8105 or 8106 of this subchapter

24 shall be paid or provided to any individual during any pe25 riod during which such individual is confined in a jail,
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1 prison, or other penal institution or correctional facility,

2 pursuant to that individual’s conviction of an offense that

3 constituted a felony under applicable law, except where

4 such individual has one or more dependents within the

5 meaning of section 8110 of this subchapter, in which case

6 the Secretary may, during the period of incarceration, pay

7 to such dependents a percentage of the benefits that would

8 have been payable to such individual computed according

9 to the percentages set forth in section 8133(a) (1)–(5) of

10 this subchapter.’’.

11 (c) Section 8116 of title 5, United States Code, is

12 further amended by adding the following new subsection

13 (f):

14 ‘‘(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 552a

15 of this title, or any other provision of Federal or State

16 law, any agency of the United States Government or of

17 any State (or political subdivision thereof) shall make

18 available to the Secretary, upon written request, the

19 names and Social Security account numbers of individuals

20 who are confined in a jail, prison or other penal institution

21 or correctional facility under the jurisdiction of such agen22 cy, pursuant to such individuals’ conviction of an offense

23 that constituted a felony under applicable law, which the

24 Secretary may require to carry out the provisions of this

25 subsection.’’.
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1 (d) Section 1920 of title 18, United States Code, is

2 amended to read as follows: ‘‘Whoever knowingly and will3 fully falsifies, conceals, or covers up a material fact, or

4 makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or rep5 resentation, or makes or uses a false statement or report

6 knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraud7 ulent statement or entry in connection with the application

8 for or receipt of compensation or other benefit or payment

9 under subchapter I or III of chapter 81 of title 5, United

10 States Code, shall be punished by a fine of not more than

11 $250,000, or by imprisonment for not more than five

12 years, or both.’’.

13 (e) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the

14 amendments made by this section shall be effective on the

15 date of enactment and shall apply to actions taken on or

16 after the date of enactment both with respect to claims

17 filed before the day of enactment and with respect to

18 claims filed after such date.

19 (f) The amendments made by subsections (a), (b),

20 and (c) of this section shall be effective on the date of

21 enactment and shall apply to any person convicted or im22 prisoned on or after the date of enactment.

23 (g) The amendment made by subsection (d) of this

24 section shall be effective on the date of enactment and

25 shall apply to any claim, statement, representation, report,
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1 or other written document made or submitted in connec2 tion with a claim filed under subchapter I or III of chapter

3 81 of title 5, United States Code.

4 Subtitle B—Enhancement of Reem5 ployment Programs for Federal

6 Employees Disabled in the Per7 formance of Duty

8 SEC. 9101. ENHANCEMENT OF REEMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS

9 FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES DISABLED IN THE

10 PERFORMANCE OF DUTY.

11 (a) Section 8104 of title 5, United States Code, is

12 amended—

13 (1) by striking the comma after ‘‘employment’’

14 and by striking ‘‘other than employment undertaken

15 pursuant to such rehabilitation’’ from subsection (b);

16 and

17 (2) by adding the following new subsection (c):

18 ‘‘(c) The Secretary of Labor, as part of the vocational

19 rehabilitation effort, may assist permanently disabled indi20 viduals in seeking and/or obtaining employment. The Sec21 retary may reimburse an employer (including a Federal

22 employer), who was not the employer at the time of injury

23 and who agrees to employ a disabled beneficiary, for por24 tions of the salary paid by such employer to the reem-
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1 ployed, disabled beneficiary. Any such sums shall be paid

2 from the Employees’ Compensation Fund.’’.

3 (b) The Secretary of Labor is authorized to expand

4 the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act Periodic Roll

5 Management Project to all offices of the Office of Work6 ers’ Compensation Program of the Department of Labor.

7 (c) The provisions of, and amendments made by, sub8 sections (a) and (b) of this section shall be effective on

9 the date of enactment.

10 Subtitle C—Wage Determinations—

11 McNamara-O’Hara Service Con12 tract Act and Davis-Bacon Act

13 SEC. 9201. WAGE DETERMINATIONS.

14 (a) The McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act, as

15 amended (41 U.S.C. 351 et seq.) is amended by adding

16 at the end the following new section:

17 ‘‘SEC. 11. To more effectively implement wage deter18 mination procedures, the Secretary of Labor is authorized

19 to develop and implement an electronic data interchange

20 system to request and obtain wage determinations re21 quired under the Act.’’.

22 (b) The Davis-Bacon Act, as amended (41 U.S.C.

23 276a et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the follow24 ing new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 8. To more effectively implement wage deter2 mination procedures, the Secretary of Labor is authorized

3 to develop and implement an electronic data interchange

4 system to request and obtain wage determinations re5 quired under the Act.’’.

6 (c) The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b)

7 of this section shall be effective on the date of enactment.

8 Subtitle D—Elimination of Filing

9 Requirement for Plan Descrip10 tions, Summary Plan Descrip11 tions, and Descriptions of Mate12 rial Modifications to a Plan

13 SEC. 9301. ELIMINATION OF FILING REQUIREMENTS.

14 (a) Section 101(b) of the Employee Retirement In15 come Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (29 U.S.C. 1021(b))

16 is amended by striking paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) and

17 by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as paragraphs

18 (1) and (2), respectively.

19 (b) Section 102 of ERISA (29 U.S.C. 1022) is

20 amended by striking paragraph (a)(2) and redesignating

21 paragraph (a)(1) as subsection (a).

22 (c) Section 104(a)(1) of ERISA (29 U.S.C.

23 1024(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:

24 ‘‘SEC. 104. (a)(1) The administrator of any employee

25 benefit plan subject to this part shall file with the Sec-
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1 retary the annual report for a plan year within 210 days

2 after the close of such year (or within such time as may

3 be required by regulations promulgated by the Secretary

4 in order to reduce duplicative filing). The Secretary shall

5 make copies of such annual reports available for inspection

6 in the public document room of the Department of Labor.

7 The administrator shall also furnish to the Secretary,

8 upon request, any documents relating to the employee ben9 efit plan including but not limited to the summary plan

10 description, description of material modifications to the

11 plan, bargaining agreement, trust agreement, contract, or

12 other instrument under which the plan is established or

13 operated.’’.

14 (d) Section 104(b) of ERISA (29 U.S.C. 1024(b))

15 is amended by adding at the end the following new para16 graph:

17 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall, upon written request

18 of any participant or beneficiary of a plan for a copy

19 of any documents described in paragraph (4), make

20 a written request to the plan administrator for cop21 ies of such documents. The plan administrator shall

22 comply with such request from the Secretary. Upon

23 obtaining such copies from the plan administrator,

24 the Secretary shall provide them to the requesting

25 participant or beneficiary. In making a request
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1 under this paragraph to the plan administrator, the

2 Secretary shall not disclose to the plan administrator

3 the identity of the participant or beneficiary. The

4 administrator may make a reasonable charge to

5 cover the cost of furnishing such complete copies

6 consistent with any regulations issued by the Sec7 retary pursuant to paragraph (4). The Secretary

8 may require the participant or beneficiary to reim9 burse the Secretary for such charges before the par10 ticipant receives the requested copies.’’.

11 (e) Section 106(a) of ERISA (29 U.S.C. 1026(a)) is

12 amended by striking ‘‘descriptions,’’.

13 (f) Section 107 of ERISA (29 U.S.C. 1027) is

14 amended by striking ‘‘description or’’.

15 (g) Section 108 of ERISA (29 U.S.C. 1028) is

16 amended by striking ‘‘(B) after publishing or filing the

17 plan description, annual reports,’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) after

18 publishing the plan description, or after publishing or fil19 ing the annual reports,’’.

20 (h) Section 109(b) of ERISA (29 U.S.C. 1029(b))

21 is amended to read as follows:

22 ‘‘(b) The financial statement and opinion required to

23 be prepared by an independent qualified public accountant

24 pursuant to section 103(a)(3)(A) and the actuarial state25 ment required to be prepared by an enrolled actuary pur-
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1 suant to section 103(a)(4)(A) shall not be required to be

2 submitted on forms.’’.

3 (i) Section 502(c) of ERISA is amended by adding

4 at the end the following new paragraph:

5 ‘‘(4) The Secretary may assess a civil penalty

6 against any plan administrator of up to $100 per

7 day from the date of such plan administrator’s fail8 ure or refusal to comply with a request for docu9 ments which such administrator is required to fur10 nish to the Secretary (unless such failure or refusal

11 results from matters reasonably beyond the control

12 of the administrator) pursuant to section 104(b)(5)

13 by mailing the material requested to the address

14 provided by the Secretary within 30 days after such

15 request.’’.

16 (j) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this section

17 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

18 TITLE X—DEPARTMENT OF

19 STATE/UNITED STATES IN20 FORMATION AGENCY

21 SEC. 10001. REDUCTION OF MISSION OPERATING COSTS.

22 The Secretary of State shall take action to reduce

23 costs of providing marine guard and other security at dip24 lomatic missions overseas by a total of $5,700,000 by the

25 end of fiscal year 1999.
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1 SEC. 10002. IMPROVEMENT OF EFFICIENCY OF USIA PUB2 LIC DIPLOMACY ACTIVITIES.

3 The Director of the United States Information Agen4 cy (USIA) shall take action to improve the efficiency of

5 USIA’s public diplomacy activities and save a total of

6 $15,000,000 by the end of fiscal year 1999.

7 TITLE XI—DEPARTMENT OF

8 TRANSPORTATION

9 Subtitle A—Authority to Charge

10 Tuition for Attendance at the

11 U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

12 SEC. 11001. TUITION FOR U.S. MERCHANT MARINE ACAD13 EMY.

14 Section 1303(d) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936

15 (46 App. U.S.C. 1295b(d)), is amended to read as follows:

16 ‘‘(d)(1) Beginning with the class of individuals first

17 entering the Academy in the 1995–1996 academic year,

18 the Secretary shall impose a system of tuition and fees

19 on individuals attending the Academy that shall, in total,

20 equal an amount that is up to one-half the total operating

21 costs of the Academy during the preceding fiscal year. The

22 tuition and fees paid by the Academy’s total cadet enroll23 ment shall be retained by the Secretary to assist in meet24 ing the Academy’s operating expenses.

25 ‘‘(2) Beginning with the class of individuals first en26 tering the Academy in the 1995–1996 academic year, the
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1 Secretary is authorized to impose reasonable fees on any

2 cadet at the Academy for all required uniforms and text3 books. The Secretary shall provide to any individual first

4 entering the Academy before the 1995–1996 academic

5 year all required uniforms and textbooks.

6 ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall provide to any cadet at the

7 Academy allowances for transportation (including reim8 bursement of traveling expenses) while traveling under or9 ders as a cadet of the Academy.’’.

10 Subtitle B—Reform of the Essential

11 Air Service Program

12 SEC. 11101. REFORM OF ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE PRO13 GRAM.

14 Section 419 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49

15 App. U.S.C. 1389) is amended by—

16 (1) revising paragraph (a)(2) to read as follows:

17 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTIONS ON QUALIFICATIONS AS AN

18 ELIGIBLE POINT.—To qualify as an eligible point in

19 the 48 contiguous states, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico

20 for purposes of fiscal year 1995 and thereafter, a

21 point described in paragraph (1) must not require a

22 rate of subsidy per passenger in excess of $200 and

23 may not be located fewer than 70 highway miles

24 from the nearest hub airport or small hub airport;’’

25 and
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1 (2) revising paragraph (l)(2) to read as follows:

2 ‘‘(2) AMOUNTS AVAILABLE.—There shall be

3 available to the Secretary from the Airport and Air4 way Trust Fund to incur obligations under this sec5 tion—

6 ‘‘(A) $33,423,077 for fiscal year 1994; and

7 ‘‘(B) $25,600,000 per fiscal year for each

8 of fiscal years 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and

9 1999.

10 Such amounts shall remain available until expended.

11 Unobligated balances that remain available as of

12 September 30, 1994, are rescinded.’’.

13 Subtitle C—Repeal of Authoriza14 tions for the Airway Science

15 Program, Collegiate Training

16 Initiative, and Air Carrier Main17 tenance Technician Training

18 Facility Grant Program

19 SEC. 11201. AIRWAY SCIENCE PROGRAM.

20 All authority for—

21 (1) the Secretary of Transportation to enter

22 into grant agreements with universities or colleges

23 having an airway science curriculum recognized by

24 the Federal Aviation Administration, to conduct
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1 demonstration projects in the development, advance2 ment, or expansion of airway science programs; and

3 (2) the Federal Aviation Administration to

4 enter into competitive grant agreements with institu5 tions of higher education having airway science cur6 ricula, and all authorizations to appropriate for such

7 purposes, as enacted under the head, ‘‘Federal Avia8 tion Administration, Facilities and Equipment’’, in

9 the Department of Transportation and Related

10 Agencies Appropriations Acts for fiscal years ending

11 before October 1, 1993;

12 is repealed.

13 SEC. 11202. COLLEGIATE TRAINING INITIATIVE.

14 Section 362 of the Department of Transportation and

15 Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (Public Law

16 102–388), is repealed, except that the Administrator of

17 the Federal Aviation Administration may continue to con18 vert appointment of persons who have been appointed pur19 suant to such section prior to the effective date of this

20 Act from the excepted service to a career conditional or

21 career appointment in the competitive civil service, pursu22 ant to subsection (c) of such section.
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1 SEC. 11203. AIR CARRIER MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

2 TRAINING FACILITY GRANT PROGRAM.

3 Section 119 of Public Law 102–581 (49 U.S.C. app.

4 1354 note) is repealed.

5 TITLE XII—DEPARTMENT OF

6 VETERANS AFFAIRS

7 Subtitle A—Remove Certain Limi8 tations and Restrictions Con9 tained in Veterans Law

10 SEC. 12001. REMOVAL OF CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND RE11 STRICTIONS.

12 (a) ELIMINATE HOSPITAL AND NURSING HOME BED

13 CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS.—

14 (1) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of section

15 8110 of title 38, United States Code, is amended—

16 (A) by striking ‘‘at not more than 125,000

17 and not less than 100,000’’; and

18 (B) by striking the third and fourth sen19 tences.

20 (2) Subsection (a) of section 8111 of such title

21 is amended to read as follows:

22 ‘‘(a) The Secretary and the Secretary of the Army,

23 the Secretary of the Air Force, and the Secretary of the

24 Navy may enter into agreements and contracts for the mu25 tual use or exchange of use of hospital and domiciliary

26 facilities, and such supplies, equipment, material and
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1 other resources as may be needed to operate such facilities

2 properly, except that the Secretary may not enter into an

3 agreement that would in any way subordinate or transfer

4 the operation of the Department to any other agency of

5 the Government.’’.

6 (b) ELIMINATE THE PERSONNEL LEVEL REQUIRE7 MENT FOR THE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.—Sec8 tion 312(b) of title 38, United States Code, is repealed.

9 (c) ELIMINATE REQUIREMENT TO REPORT TO CON10 GRESS AGENCY REORGANIZATIONS.—Sections 510(b)

11 through 510(f) of title 38, United States Code, are re12 pealed.

13 (d) ELIMINATE REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN SERV14 ICES IN THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.—

15 Section 7305 of title 38, United States Code, is amended

16 to read ‘‘The Veterans Health Administration shall in17 clude such professional and auxiliary services as the Sec18 retary may find necessary to carry out the functions of

19 the Administration.’’.

20 (e) ELIMINATE CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS ON THE

21 UNDER SECRETARY FOR HEALTH—

22 (1) Section 7306(a) of title 38, United States

23 Code, is amended to read ‘‘(a) The Office of the

24 Chief Medical Director shall consist of such person-
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1 nel as may be deemed necessary for the purposes of

2 this chapter.’’.

3 (2) Section 7306(b) of title 38, United States

4 Code, is repealed.

5 (3) Section 7306(c) of title 38, United States

6 Code, is amended by changing the second sentence

7 to read ‘‘Such appointments shall be made upon the

8 recommendation of the Chief Medical Director.’’.

9 (4) Sections 7306(c), (d), and (e) of title 38,

10 United States Code, are redesignated as sections

11 7306(b), (c), and (d), respectively.

12 Subtitle B—Closure of Supply De13 pots and Transfer of Revolving

14 Supply Fund Money

15 SEC. 12101. CLOSURE OF SUPPLY DEPOTS AND TRANSFER

16 OF FUNDS.

17 Notwithstanding the provisions of section 510(b) and

18 8121 of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary of Vet19 erans Affairs shall phase out and close the Department

20 of Veterans Affairs’ Supply Depots, located at Somerville,

21 New Jersey; Hines, Illinois; and Bell, California over two

22 fiscal years, beginning in fiscal year 1994 and ending in

23 fiscal year 1995, and shall transfer from the Department

24 of Veterans Affairs Revolving Supply Fund to the General
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1 Fund of the Treasury, $45 million by September 30,

2 1994, and $44 million by September 30, 1995.

3 Subtitle C—Provision of Informa4 tion From the Medicare and

5 Medicaid Coverage Data Bank

6 to the Department of Veterans

7 Affairs

8 SEC. 12201. PROVISION OF DATA BANK INFORMATION TO

9 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

10 (a) ADDITIONAL PURPOSE OF DATA BANK.—

11 (1) The heading to section 1144 of the Social

12 Security Act is amended by striking ‘‘MEDICARE

13 AND MEDICAID’’ and inserting ‘‘HEALTH CARE’’.

14 (2) Subsection (a) of that section is amended—

15 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1),

16 by striking ‘‘Medicare and Medicaid’’ and in17 serting ‘‘Health Care’’;

18 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para19 graph (1);

20 (C) by substituting ‘‘, and’’ for the period

21 at the end of paragraph (2); and

22 (D) by adding at the end the following:

23 ‘‘(3) assist in the identification of, and the col24 lection from, third parties responsible for payment

25 for health care items and services furnished to veter-
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1 ans under chapter 17 of title 38, United States

2 Code.’’.

3 (b) DISCLOSURE OF DATA BANK INFORMATION TO

4 SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.—Subsection

5 (b)(2)(B) of that section is amended by inserting ‘‘to the

6 Secretary of Veterans Affairs and’’ after ‘‘Data Bank’’.

7 Subtitle D—Veterans’ Appeals

8 Improvement Act of 1993

9 SEC. 12301. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES TO TITLE 38, UNIT10 ED STATES CODE.

11 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This subtitle may be cited as the

12 ‘‘Veterans’ Appeals Improvement Act of 1993’’.

13 (b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly

14 provided, whenever in this subtitle an amendment is ex15 pressed in terms of an amendment to a section or other

16 provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to

17 a section or other provision of title 38, United States

18 Code.

19 SEC. 12302. COMPOSITION OF THE BOARD OF VETERANS’

20 APPEALS.

21 (a) BOARD MEMBERS AND PERSONNEL.—Section

22 7101(a) is amended to read as follows:

23 ‘‘(a)(1) There is in the Department a Board of Veter24 ans’ Appeals (hereafter in this chapter referred to as the

25 ‘Board’). The Board is under the administrative control
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1 and supervision of a Chairman directly responsible to the

2 Secretary.

3 ‘‘(2) The members of the Board shall be the Chair4 man, a Vice Chairman, such number of Deputy Vice

5 Chairmen as the Chairman may designate under sub6 section (b)(4), and such number of other members as may

7 be found necessary to conduct hearings and consider and

8 dispose of matters properly before the Board in a timely

9 manner. The Board shall have such other professional, ad10 ministrative, clerical, and stenographical personnel as are

11 necessary to conduct hearings and consider and dispose

12 of matters properly before the Board in a timely man13 ner.’’.

14 (b) APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL OF BOARD MEM15 BERS.—Section 7101(b) is amended—

16 (1) in paragraph (2)(A) by striking ‘‘other

17 members of the Board (including the Vice Chair18 man)’’ and inserting ‘‘Board members other than

19 the Chairman’’;

20 (2) in paragraph (2)(B) by striking ‘‘para21 graph’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph’’; and

22 (3) by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the

23 following:

24 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall designate one Board

25 member as Vice Chairman based upon recommenda-
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1 tions of the Chairman. The Chairman may designate

2 one or more Board members as Deputy Vice Chair3 men. The Vice Chairman and any Deputy Vice

4 Chairman shall perform such functions as the Chair5 man may specify. The Vice Chairman shall serve as

6 Vice Chairman at the pleasure of the Secretary. Any

7 Deputy Vice Chairman shall serve as Deputy Vice

8 Chairman at the pleasure of the Chairman.’’.

9 (c) ACTING BOARD MEMBERS.—SECTION 7101(C) IS

10 AMENDED BY—

11 (1) striking paragraph (1) and inserting the fol12 lowing:

13 ‘‘(1) The Chairman may from time to time des14 ignate one or more employees of the Department to

15 serve as acting Board members.’’;

16 (2) striking paragraph (2) in its entirety; and

17 (3) redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph

18 (2) and in that paragraph by—

19 (A) striking ‘‘temporary Board members

20 designated under this subsection and the num21 ber of’’; and

22 (B) striking ‘‘section 7102(a)(2)(A)(ii) of

23 this title’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘para24 graph (1)’’.
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1 (d) CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL REPORT.—Section

2 7101(d)(2) is amended—

3 (1) in subparagraph (D) by striking ‘‘year;

4 and’’ and inserting ‘‘year;’’;

5 (2) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘year.’’

6 and inserting ‘‘year; and’’; and

7 (3) by adding at the end of paragraph (2) the

8 following new subparagraph:

9 ‘‘(F) the names of those employees of the De10 partment designated under subsection (c)(1) to serve

11 as acting Board members during that year and the

12 number of cases each such acting Board member

13 participated in during that year.’’.

14 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

15 (1) Section 7101(d)(3)(B) is amended by strik16 ing ‘‘section 7103(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘section

17 7101(b)’’.

18 (2) Section 7101(e) is amended by striking ‘‘a

19 temporary or’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’.

20 SEC. 12303. ASSIGNMENT OF MATTERS BEFORE THE

21 BOARD.

22 Section 7102 is amended to read as follows:

23 ‘‘§ 7102. Assignment of matters before the Board

24 ‘‘The Chairman may determine any matter before the

25 Board, or rule on any motion in connection therewith, or
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1 may assign any such matter or motion to any other Board

2 member or a panel of members for determination. Any

3 such assignment by the Chairman may not be reviewed

4 by any other official or by any court, whether by an action

5 in the nature of mandamus or otherwise.’’.

6 SEC. 12304. DETERMINATIONS BY THE BOARD.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7103(a) is amended to

8 read as follows:

9 ‘‘(a) When the Chairman retains a matter or submits

10 it to another Board member or a panel of members for

11 determination in accordance with section 7102 of this

12 title, or to an expanded panel of Board members in ac13 cordance with subsection (b) of this section, the Chairman,

14 other member, or panel of members may:

15 ‘‘(1) Issue an order dismissing any appeal, in

16 whole or in part, which fails to allege specific error

17 of fact or law in the determination being appealed

18 or in which the determination being appealed has be19 come moot. Each order of dismissal shall include a

20 written statement of the Board’s findings and con21 clusions, and the reasons or bases for those findings

22 and conclusions, in support of the dismissal.

23 ‘‘(2) Issue an order remanding the case, in

24 whole or in part, to the agency of original jurisdic25 tion for such additional development as the Chair-
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1 man, other member, or panel of members may con2 sider necessary for proper disposition of the case.

3 ‘‘(3) Render a written decision with respect to

4 any issues not dismissed or remanded, which deci5 sion shall constitute the Board’s final disposition of

6 the issues so decided. Such decisions shall be based

7 on the entire record in the proceeding, upon consid8 eration of all evidence and material of record, and

9 upon applicable provisions of law and regulation.

10 The Board shall be bound in its decisions, including

11 allowances made under the provisions of subsection

12 (d) of this section, by the regulations of the Depart13 ment, the instructions of the Secretary, and the

14 precedent opinions of the chief legal officer of the

15 Department. Each decision of a Board member or a

16 panel of members shall include—

17 ‘‘(A) a written statement of the Board’s

18 findings and conclusions, and the reasons or

19 bases for those findings and conclusions, on all

20 material issues of fact and law presented on the

21 record; and

22 ‘‘(B) an order granting appropriate relief

23 or denying relief.
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1 Decisions by a panel of Board members, except as other2 wise provided in subsection (b), shall be made by a major3 ity of the members of the panel.’’.

4 (b) RECONSIDERATION.—Section 7103(b) is amend5 ed to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(b) The decision of a Board member or a panel of

7 members is final, unless the Chairman orders reconsider8 ation of the case, and a claim disallowed by the Board

9 may not thereafter be reopened or allowed except as pro10 vided in section 5108 of this title and subsection (d) of

11 this section. If the Chairman orders reconsideration in a

12 case, the case shall be considered upon reconsideration by

13 a panel of members other than the Chairman if one mem14 ber originally decided the case or by an expanded panel

15 of members other than the Chairman if a panel originally

16 decided the case. When a panel considers a case after a

17 motion for reconsideration has been granted, the decision

18 of a majority of the panel members shall constitute the

19 final decision of the Board, except as provided in sub20 section (d). If the expanded panel cannot reach a majority

21 decision, the Chairman may either assign additional mem22 bers other than the Chairman to the panel or vote with

23 the members of the expanded panel so as to create a ma24 jority decision. Either the expanded panel majority or the

25 majority made with the vote of the Chairman shall con-
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1 stitute the final decision of the Board, except as provided

2 in subsection (d).’’.

3 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE ALLOWANCE; NOTICE OF DE4 TERMINATION.—Section 7103 is further amended by add5 ing at the end of the following:

6 ‘‘(d) Whenever a Board member other than the

7 Chairman or Vice Chairman is of the opinion that a prior,

8 otherwise final denial of a claim should be revised or

9 amended to allow the claim in whole or in part, based on

10 a difference of opinion as to how the evidence should be

11 evaluated rather than on any error in the prior decision,

12 the Board member shall recommend such allowance to the

13 Chairman or Vice Chairman. The Chairman or Vice

14 Chairman, whether upon the recommendation of any other

15 Board member or upon the Chairman’s or Vice Chair16 man’s own motion, if of the opinion that a prior, otherwise

17 final denial of a claim should be revised or amended to

18 allow the claim in whole or in part, based on a difference

19 of opinion as to how the evidence should be evaluated rath20 er than on any error in the prior decision, shall approve

21 the award of any benefit, or any increase therein, on the

22 basis of such difference of opinion. The discretionary exer23 cise of the authority provided to the Chairman and Vice

24 Chairman under this subsection shall not be reviewed by
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1 any other official or by any court, whether by an action

2 in the nature of mandamus or otherwise.

3 ‘‘(e) After reaching a determination under any of the

4 provisions of this section, the Board shall promptly mail

5 a copy of its written decision to the appellant and the ap6 pellant’s authorized representative (if any) at the last

7 known address of the appellant and at the last known ad8 dress of such representative (if any), respectively.’’.

9 SEC. 12305. JURISDICTION OF THE BOARD.

10 Section 7104 is amended by—

11 (a) striking the subsection designation ‘‘(a)’’;

12 (b) striking ‘‘211(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘511(a)’’;

13 and

14 (c) striking all after ‘‘made by the Board.’’.

15 SEC. 12306. APPELLATE PROCEDURE.

16 Section 7105(d) is amended by striking paragraph

17 (5).

18 SEC. 12307. MEDICAL OPINIONS.

19 Section 7109 is amended to read as follows:

20 ‘‘§ 7109. Medical opinions

21 ‘‘(a) A Board member or a panel of members before

22 whom a matter which involves a medical question is pend23 ing may, in the discretion of the member or panel, request

24 an opinion on that medical question from—
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1 ‘‘(1) an employee of the Board who is licensed

2 to practice medicine in any State;

3 ‘‘(2) an employee of the Veterans Health Ad4 ministration who is licensed to practice medicine in

5 any State and who has been designated by the

6 Under Secretary for Health to provide such an opin7 ion; or

8 ‘‘(3) an employee of any Federal department or

9 agency who is licensed to practice medicine in any

10 State and who has been designated, in accordance

11 with arrangements made by the Secretary with the

12 head of any such Federal department or agency, to

13 provide such an opinion.

14 ‘‘(b) When, in the judgment of a Board member or

15 a panel of members assigned a matter for determination

16 in accordance with section 7102 of this title, the medical

17 complexity or controversy involved in that matter warrants

18 expert medical opinion in addition to, or in lieu of, that

19 available within the Department or within another Federal

20 department or agency, the Board may secure an advisory

21 medical opinion from one or more independent medical ex22 perts who are not employees of the Department or of an23 other Federal department or agency. The Secretary shall

24 make necessary arrangements with recognized medical

25 schools, universities, or clinics to furnish such advisory
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1 medical opinions at the request of the Chairman. Any such

2 arrangement shall provide that the actual selection of the

3 expert or experts to give the advisory opinion in an individ4 ual case shall be made by an appropriate official of such

5 institution. For purposes of this section, an employee of

6 a medical school, university, or clinic shall not be consid7 ered an employee of the Department or another Federal

8 department or agency just because the medical school, uni9 versity, or clinic receives grants from, or provides contract

10 services to, the Department or another Federal depart11 ment or agency.

12 ‘‘(c) Any opinion provided under this section shall be

13 in writing and made a part of the record. The Board shall

14 notify a claimant that an advisory medical opinion has

15 been requested under this section with respect to the

16 claimant’s case and shall mail to the claimant and the

17 claimant’s authorized representative (if any) at the last

18 known address of the claimant and at the last known ad19 dress of such representative (if any) a copy of such opinion

20 when the Board receives it. An opportunity for response

21 by or on behalf of the claimant shall be provided following

22 the mailing of the copy (or copies) of such advisory medi23 cal opinion.’’.

24 SEC. 12308. HEARINGS.

25 Section 7110 is amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘§ 7110. Hearings

2 ‘‘(a) The Board shall decide any appeal only after af3 fording the appellant an opportunity for a hearing.

4 ‘‘(b) A hearing docket shall be maintained and formal

5 recorded hearings shall be held by such member or mem6 bers of the Board as the Chairman may designate. Such

7 member or members designated by the Chairman to con8 duct the hearing will participate in making the final deter9 mination in the claim.

10 ‘‘(c) An appellant may request a hearing before the

11 Board at either its principal location or a regional office

12 of the Department. Any hearing held at a regional office

13 of the Department shall be scheduled for hearing in the

14 order in which the requests for hearing in that area are

15 received by the Department at the place specified by the

16 Department for the filing of requests for such hearings.

17 ‘‘(d) At the request of the Chairman, the Secretary

18 may provide suitable facilities and equipment to the Board

19 or other components of the Department to enable an ap20 pellant located at a facility within the area served by a

21 regional office to participate, through voice transmission,

22 or picture and voice transmission, by electronic or other

23 means, in a hearing with a Board member or members

24 sitting at the Board’s principal location. When such facili25 ties and equipment are available, the Chairman may, at

26 his or her discretion, afford the appellant an opportunity
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1 to participate in a hearing before the Board through the

2 use of such facilities and equipment in lieu of a hearing

3 held by personally appearing before a Board member or

4 members as provided in subsection (c).’’.

5 SEC. 12309. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

6 The table of contents at the beginning of chapter 71

7 is amended by—

8 (1) striking ‘‘7102. Assignment of members of

9 Board.’’ and inserting ‘‘7102. Assignment of appel10 late matters.’’;

11 (2) striking ‘‘7109. Independent medical opin12 ions.’’ and inserting ‘‘7109. Medical opinions.’’; and

13 (3) striking ‘‘7110. Traveling sections.’’ and in14 serting ‘‘7110. Hearings.’’.

15 SEC. 12310. EFFECTIVE DATES OF AWARDS BASED ON DIF16 FERENCE OF OPINION.

17 Section 5110 is amended by adding at the end the

18 following new subsection:

19 ‘‘(o) The effective date of the award of any benefit,

20 or any increase therein, pursuant to section 7103(d) of

21 this title on the basis of a difference of opinion shall be—

22 ‘‘(1) if the award resulted from review initiated

23 by an application to reopen the claim for the benefit

24 in question under the provision of section 5108 of

25 this title, fixed in accordance with the facts found
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1 but shall not be earlier than the date the Depart2 ment of Veterans Affairs received such application;

3 or

4 ‘‘(2) if the award resulted from review of the

5 final determination undertaken by the Department

6 of Veterans Affairs solely on its own initiative, the

7 date the Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Board

8 of Veterans’ Appeals approved the award.’’.

9 TITLE XIII—HUMAN RESOURCE

10 MANAGEMENT

11 Subtitle A—Federal Workforce

12 Restructuring Act of 1993

13 SEC. 13001. SHORT TITLE.

14 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Workforce

15 Restructuring Act of 1993’’.

16 SEC. 13002. AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 41 OF TITLE 5,

17 UNITED STATES CODE.

18 (a) Chapter 41 of title 5, United States Code, is

19 amended—

20 (1) in section 4101(4) by striking ‘‘fields’’ and

21 all that follows through the semicolon and inserting

22 ‘‘fields which will improve individual and organiza23 tional performance and assist in achieving the agen24 cy’s mission and performance goals;’’;

25 (2) in section 4103—
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1 (A) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘In’’ and

2 all that follows through ‘‘proficiency’’ and in3 serting ‘‘In order to assist in achieving an agen4 cy’s mission and performance goals by improv5 ing employee and organizational performance’’;

6 and

7 (B) in subsection (b)—

8 (i) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘de9 termines’’ and all that follows through the

10 period and inserting ‘‘determines that such

11 training would be in the interests of the

12 Government.’’;

13 (ii) by repealing paragraph (2) and

14 redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph

15 (2); and

16 (iii) in subparagraph (C) of paragraph

17 (2) (as so redesignated) by striking ‘‘re18 taining’’ and all that follows through the

19 period and inserting ‘‘such training.’’;

20 (3) in section 4105—

21 (A) by striking ‘‘(a) at the beginning; and

22 (B) by repealing subsections (b) and (c);

23 (4) by repealing section 4106;

24 (5) in section 4107—
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1 (A) by amending the catchline to read as

2 follows:

3 ‘‘§ 4107. Restriction on degree training’’;

4 (B) by repealing subsections (a) and (b)

5 and redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as

6 subsections (a) and (b), respectively;

7 (C) by amending subsection (a) (as so re8 designated)—

9 (i) by striking ‘‘subsection (d)’’ and

10 inserting ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘by, in, or through a

12 non-Government facility’’; and

13 (D) by amending paragraph (1) of sub14 section (b) (as so redesignated) by striking

15 ‘‘subsection (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)’’;

16 (6) in section 4108(a) by striking ‘‘by, in, or

17 through a non-Government facility under this chap18 ter’’ and inserting ‘‘for more than a minimum period

19 prescribed by the head of the agency’’;

20 (7) in section 4113(b) by striking everything

21 following the first sentence;

22 (8) by repealing section 4114; and

23 (9) in section 4118—

24 (A) in subsection (a)(7) by striking ‘‘by,

25 in, and through non-Government facilities’’;
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1 (B) by repealing subsection (b); and

2 (C) by redesignating subsections (c) and

3 (d) as subsections (b) and (c), respectively.

4 (b) The analysis of chapter 41 of title 5, United

5 States Code, is amended—

6 (1) by striking the items relating to sections

7 4106 and 4114; and

8 (2) by amending the item relating to section

9 4107 to read as follows:

‘‘4107. Restriction on degree training.’’.

10 (c) The amendments made by this section are effec11 tive on the date of enactment of this Act.

12 SEC. 13003. VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVES.

13 (a) For the purpose of this section—

14 (1) ‘‘agency’’ means an Executive agency, as

15 defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code,

16 but does not include the Department of Defense, the

17 Central Intelligence Agency, or the General Account18 ing Office; and

19 (2) ‘‘employee’’ means an employee, as defined

20 in section 2105 of title 5, United States Code, of an

21 agency, serving under an appointment without time

22 limitation, who has been currently employed for a

23 continuous period of at least 12 months, including

24 an individual employed by a county committee estab-
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1 lished under section 590h(b) of title 16, United

2 States Code, but does not include—

3 (A) a reemployed annuitant under sub4 chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title

5 5, United States Code, or another retirement

6 system for employees of the Government; or

7 (B) an employee having a disability on the

8 basis of which such employee is or would be eli9 gible for disability retirement under the applica10 ble retirement system referred to in subpara11 graph (A).

12 (b)(1) In order to assist in the restructuring of the

13 Federal workforce while minimizing involuntary separa14 tions, the head of an agency may pay, or authorize the

15 payment of, a voluntary separation incentive to employees

16 in any component of the agency, employees in any occupa17 tion or geographic location, or any combination thereof,

18 who agree, during a continuous 90-day period designated

19 by the agency head for the agency or a component thereof,

20 beginning no earlier than the date of enactment of this

21 Act and ending no later than September 30, 1994, to sep22 arate from service with the agency, whether by retirement

23 or resignation.

24 (2) In order to receive a voluntary separation incen25 tive, an employee shall separate from service no later than
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1 the last day of the 90-day period designated by the agency

2 head under paragraph (1), unless the agency head deter3 mines that, in order to ensure the performance of the

4 agency’s mission, the employee must agree to continue in

5 service until a later date, but not later than 2 years after

6 such last day of the 90-day period.

7 (c) A voluntary separation incentive—

8 (1) shall be paid in a lump sum after the em9 ployee’s separation;

10 (2) shall be equal to the lesser of—

11 (A) an amount equal to the amount the

12 employee would be entitled to receive under sec13 tion 5595(c) of title 5, United States Code, if

14 the employee were entitled to payment under

15 such section; or

16 (B) $25,000;

17 (3) shall not be a basis for payment, and shall

18 not be included in the computation, of any other

19 type of Government benefit;

20 (4) shall not be taken into account in determin21 ing the amount of any severance pay to which an

22 employee may be entitled under section 5595 of title

23 5, United States Code, based on any other separa24 tion; and
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1 (5) shall be paid from appropriations or funds

2 available for the payment of the basic pay of the em3 ployee.

4 (d) An employee who has received a voluntary separa5 tion incentive under this section and accepts employment

6 with the Government of the United States within 2 years

7 of the date of the separation on which payment of the in8 centive is based shall be required to repay the entire

9 amount of the incentive to the agency that paid the incen10 tive. If the employment is with an Executive agency (as

11 defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code), the

12 Director of the Office of Personnel Management may, at

13 the request of the head of the agency, waive the repayment

14 if the employment is in a position for which there is excep15 tional difficulty in recruiting a qualified employee. If the

16 employment is with an entity in the legislative branch, the

17 head of the entity or the appointing official may waive the

18 repayment if the employment is in a position for which

19 there is exceptional difficulty in recruiting a qualified em20 ployee. If the employment is with the judicial branch, the

21 Director of the Administrative Office of the United States

22 Courts may waive the repayment if the employment is in

23 a position for which there is exceptional difficulty in re24 cruiting a qualified employee.
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1 (e) The Director of the Office of Personnel Manage2 ment may prescribe any regulations necessary for the ad3 ministration of this Act.

4 (f) The Director of the Administrative Office of the

5 United States Courts may, by regulation, establish a pro6 gram consistent with the program established by sub7 sections (a) through (d) of this section for employees of

8 the judicial branch.

9 (g) It is the sense of Congress that—

10 (1) employment in the Executive Branch should

11 be reduced by not less than one full-time equivalent

12 position for each two employees who are paid vol13 untary separation incentives under this Act; and

14 (2) each agency should adjust its employment

15 levels to achieve this result.

16 SEC. 13004. REPAYMENT OF SEPARATION PAY.

17 (a) Section 5597 of title 5, United States Code, is

18 amended by adding at the end the following new sub19 section:

20 ‘‘(g) An employee who receives separation pay under

21 this section on the basis of a separation occurring on or

22 after the date of enactment of the Federal Workforce Re23 structuring Act of 1993 and accepts employment with the

24 Government of the United States within 2 years of the

25 date of the separation on which payment of the separation
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1 pay is based shall be required to repay the entire amount

2 of the separation pay to the defense agency that paid the

3 separation pay. If the employment is with an Executive

4 agency (as defined in section 105 of title 5, United States

5 Code), the Director of the Office of Personnel Manage6 ment may, at the request of the head of the agency, waive

7 the repayment if the employment is in a position for which

8 there is exceptional difficulty in recruiting a qualified em9 ployee. If the employment is with an entity in the legisla10 tive branch, the head of the entity or the appointing offi11 cial may waive the repayment if the employment is in a

12 position for which there is exceptional difficulty in recruit13 ing a qualified employee. If the employment is with the

14 judicial branch, the Director of the Administrative Office

15 of the United States Courts may waive the repayment if

16 the employment is in a position for which there is excep17 tional difficulty in recruiting a qualified employee.’’.

18 (b) Section 2(b) of the Central Intelligence Agency

19 Voluntary Separation Pay Act (Public Law 103–36; 107

20 Stat. 104) is amended by adding at the end the following:

21 ‘‘An employee who receives separation pay under this sec22 tion on the basis of a separation occurring on or after the

23 date of enactment of the Federal Workforce Restructuring

24 Act of 1993 and accepts employment with the Government

25 of the United States within 2 years of the date of the sepa-
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1 ration on which payment of the separation pay is based

2 shall be required to repay the entire amount of the separa3 tion pay to the Central Intelligence Agency. If the employ4 ment is with an Executive agency (as defined in section

5 105 of title 5, United States Code), the Director of the

6 office of Personnel Management may, at the request of

7 the head of the agency, waive the repayment if the employ8 ment is in a position for which there is exceptional dif9 ficulty in recruiting a qualified employee. If the employ10 ment is with an entity in the legislative branch, the head

11 of the entity or the appointing official may waive the re12 payment if the employment is in a position for which there

13 is exceptional difficulty in recruiting a qualified employee.

14 If the employment is with the judicial branch, the Director

15 of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts

16 may waive the repayment if the employment is in a posi17 tion for which there is exceptional difficulty in recruiting

18 a qualified employee.’’.

19 SEC. 13005. ADDITIONAL AGENCY PAYMENTS TO FUND.

20 (a) Section 8334 of title 5, United States Code, is

21 amended by adding at the end the following new sub22 section:

23 ‘‘(1) In addition to any other payments re24 quired by this subchapter, an agency shall remit to

25 the Office for deposit in the Treasury of the United
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1 States to the credit of the Fund an amount equal to

2 9 percent of the final rate of basic pay of each em3 ployee of the agency who retires under section

4 8336(d).’’.

5 (b) The amendment made by this section shall apply

6 with respect to retirements occurring on or after the date

7 of enactment of this Act.

8 Subtitle B—SES Annual Leave

9 Accumulation

10 SEC. 1301. SES ANNUAL LEAVE ACCUMULATION.

11 (a) Effective on the last day of the last applicable

12 pay period beginning in calendar year 1993, subsection (f)

13 of section 6304 of title 5, United States Code, is repealed.

14 (b) Notwithstanding the amendment made by sub15 section (a), in the case of an employee who, on the effec16 tive date of subsection (a), is subject to subsection (f) of

17 section 6304 of title 5, United States Code, and who has

18 to such employee’s credit annual leave in excess of the

19 maximum accumulation otherwise permitted by subsection

20 (a) or (b) of section 6304, such excess annual leave shall

21 remain to the credit of the employee and be subject to

22 reduction, in the same manner as provided in subsection

23 (c) of section 6304.
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1 TITLE XIV—REINVENTING

2 SUPPORT SERVICES

3 SEC. 14001. SHORT TITLE.

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Government Informa5 tion Dissemination and Printing Improvement Act of

6 1993’’.

7 SEC. 14002. PURPOSE.

8 The purpose of this title is to enhance public access

9 to public information, through a diversity of sources and

10 in a variety of forms and formats, by improving the print11 ing and dissemination practices of the Federal Govern12 ment.

13 SEC. 14003. DEFINITIONS.

14 As used herein—

15 (1) ‘‘information dissemination product’’ means

16 any book, paper, map, machine-readable material,

17 audiovisual production, or other documentary mate18 rial, regardless of physical form or characteristic,

19 disseminated by an agency to the public; and

20 (2) ‘‘public information’’ means any informa21 tion, regardless of form or format, that an agency

22 discloses, disseminates, or makes available to the

23 public pursuant to law, rule, regulation, policy, or

24 practice, and any part of that information.
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1 SEC. 14004. EXECUTIVE BRANCH PRINTING POLICY.

2 (a) The President shall establish policy for the acqui3 sition of printing by Executive branch agencies and pro4 mulgate government-wide regulations as appropriate.

5 (b) To the extent practicable and appropriate, the

6 policies promulgated for the acquisition of printing by Ex7 ecutive branch agencies shall be consistent with the prin8 ciples contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation,

9 promulgated pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 405a.

10 (c) The policies promulgated pursuant to this section

11 shall ensure that the Government Printing Office has the

12 opportunity to compete on an equal basis for Executive

13 branch agency printing acquisitions.

14 SEC. 14005. TRANSITION TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH PRINTING.

15 (a) The Government Printing Office shall remain the

16 mandatory source for Executive branch agencies’ printing

17 for 2 years after the effective date of this Act.

18 (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), Executive agen19 cies are authorized to obtain printing services costing

20 under $2500 from commercial sources, other printing

21 sources operated by Executive branch agencies, or the

22 Government Printing Office during this period.

23 (c) Subsection (a) does to apply to (1) printing for

24 the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence

25 Agency, and the National Security Agency, or (2) printing
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1 from other sources that are specifically authorized by law

2 at the time of enactment of this Act.

3 SEC. 14006. AUTHORITY AND FUNCTIONS OF THE DIREC4 TOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND

5 BUDGET.

6 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg7 et (the Director) shall develop policies and practices for

8 agency dissemination of public information to ensure that

9 agencies—

10 (1) make information dissemination products

11 available on timely, equitable and cost effective

12 terms;

13 (2) encourage a diversity of public and private

14 information dissemination products;

15 (3) avoid establishing, or permitting others to

16 establish, exclusive, restricted, or other distribution

17 arrangements that interfere with the availability of

18 information dissemination products on a timely and

19 equitable basis; and

20 (4) set user charges for information dissemina21 tion products no higher than sufficient to recover

22 the cost of dissemination, except where required by

23 statute or specifically authorized by the Director.

24 SEC. 14007. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES.

25 The head of each Executive branch agency shall—
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1 (1) ensure that the public has timely and equi2 table access to the agency’s public information;

3 (2) disseminate public information in an effi4 cient, cost effective, and economical manner;

5 (3) provide notice to the Superintendent of

6 Documents and otherwise comply with the require7 ments of section 1710, title 44, United States Code;

8 (4) establish fees and other dissemination ar9 rangements in a manner consistent with the policies

10 and practices developed by the Director under Sec11 tion 14006 of this Act;

12 (5) consider whether information dissemination

13 products available from other Federal or nonfederal

14 sources are equivalent to any agency information

15 dissemination product and reasonably fulfill the dis16 semination responsibilities of the agency; and

17 (6) regularly solicit and consider public input

18 on the agency’s information dissemination program.

19 SEC. 14008. DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM.

20 (a) Within 1 year of the date of enactment of this

21 Act, the Director shall, in consultation with the Secretary

22 of Commerce, the Superintendent of Documents, the Li23 brarian of Congress the Archivist of the United States,

24 and the public, propose such amendments to Chapter 19

25 of title 44, United States Code, as may be necessary and
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1 appropriate to ensure the distribution of government in2 formation dissemination products to the depository librar3 ies.

4 (b) The policies promulgated pursuant to section

5 14005 of this Act shall reaffirm agency responsibilities to

6 cooperate with the Superintendent of Documents with re7 gard to the distribution of government publications to the

8 depository libraries.

9 (c) Agency information dissemination programs shall

10 include provisions to maximize the distribution of informa11 tion dissemination products to the depository libraries.

12 SEC. 14009. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF GOVERN13 MENT INFORMATION LOCATOR SERVICE.

14 Section 3511 of title 44, United States Code, is

15 amended to read as follows:

16 ‘‘(a) In order to assist agencies and the public in re17 ducing the burden of agency information collection re18 quests by minimizing duplication, the Director shall main19 tain a publicly accessible comprehensive inventory of all

20 approved Federal agency information collection requests.

21 ‘‘(b) In order to assist agencies and the public in lo22 cating information and to promote information sharing

23 and equitable access by the public, the Director shall—

24 ‘‘(1) cause to be established and maintained a

25 distributed agency-based electronic Government In-
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1 formation Locator Service supported by agency in2 ventory systems which identify significant public in3 formation holdings consistent with the requirements

4 of Section 4101 of title 44, United States Code;

5 ‘‘(2) require each agency having significant in6 formation dissemination products to establish and

7 maintain a comprehensive inventory of such prod8 ucts, and shall prescribe the minimum contents of

9 such inventories, subject to any technical standards

10 developed pursuant to paragraph (3); and

11 ‘‘(3) establish an interagency committee, in co12 operation with the Secretary of Commerce, the Ar13 chivist of the United States, the Administrator of

14 General Services, the Public Printer, and the Librar15 ian of Congress, to develop such technical standards

16 for agency inventory systems as may be necessary

17 and appropriate.’’.

18 SEC. 14010. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

19 (a) Section 103 of title 44, United States Code, is

20 amended by striking ‘‘Government,’’ and inserting ‘‘Con21 gressional and Judicial branch publications’’.

22 (b) Section 312 of title 44, United States Code, is

23 amended by striking ‘‘Government’’ and inserting ‘‘Con24 gress or the Judiciary (other than the Supreme Court)’’

25 in the first sentence of the section.
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1 (c) Section 313 of title 44, United States Code, is

2 amended by inserting ‘‘for the use of Congress or the Ju3 diciary (other than the Supreme Court)’’ after ‘‘other4 wise’’ in the first paragraph thereof.

5 (d) Section 501 of title 44, United States Code, is

6 amended to read as follows: ‘‘Government printing, bind7 ing, and blank-book work for Congress and the Judiciary

8 (other than the Supreme Court) shall be done at the Gov9 ernment Printing Office, except classes of work the Public

10 Printer considers appropriate to be done elsewhere.’’.

11 (e) Sections 503, 504, 508, 509, 510, 512, 513, and

12 514 of title 44, United States Code, are repealed.

13 (f) Chapter 11 of title 44, United States Code, is re14 pealed in its entirety.

15 (g) Section 1502 of title 44, United States Code, is

16 amended by striking ‘‘and, together with the Public Print17 er,’’ after ‘‘custody’’ in the first section.

18 (h) Section 1503 of title 44, United States Code, is

19 amended by striking the sixth sentence, which reads, ‘‘The

20 Office shall transmit immediately to the Government

21 Printing Office for printing, as provided by this chapter,

22 one duplicate original or certified copy of each document

23 required or authorized to be published by section 1505 of

24 this title.’’.
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1 (i) Section 1504 of title 44, United States Code, is

2 repealed.

3 (j) Section 1506 of title 44, United States Code, is

4 amended by striking ‘‘Public Printer or Acting Printer’’.

5 (k) Section 1701 of title 44, United States Code, is

6 repealed.

7 (l) Section 207 of Public Law 102–392, Legislative

8 Branch Appropriations Act, 1993, is repealed.

9 TITLE XV—STREAMLINING

10 MANAGEMENT CONTROL

11 SEC. 15001. AUTHORITY TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY IN RE12 PORTING TO CONGRESS.

13 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this title is to improve

14 the efficiency of Executive branch performance in imple15 menting statutory requirements for reports to Congress

16 and its committees. Examples of improvements in effi17 ciency intended by this subtitle are the elimination or con18 solidation of duplicative or obsolete reporting requirements

19 and adjustments to deadlines that will provide for more

20 efficient workload distribution or improve the quality of

21 reports.

22 (b) AUTHORITY OF THE DIRECTOR.—The Director of

23 the Office of Management and Budget may publish annu24 ally in the President’s Budget his recommendations for

25 consolidation, elimination, or adjustments in frequency
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1 and due dates of statutorily required periodic reports to

2 the Congress or its committees. For each recommendation,

3 the Director shall provide an individualized statement of

4 the reasons that support the recommendation. In addition,

5 for each report for which a recommendation is made, the

6 Director shall state with specificity the exact consolida7 tion, elimination, or adjustment in frequency or due date

8 that is recommended. If the Director’s recommendations

9 are approved by law, they shall take effect.

10 (c) The Director’s recommendations shall be consist11 ent with the purpose stated in subsection (a).

12 (d) Prior to the publication of the recommendations

13 authorized in subsection (b), the Director or his designee

14 shall consult with the appropriate congressional commit15 tees concerning the recommendations.

16 TITLE XVI—FINANCIAL

17 MANAGEMENT

18 SEC. 16001. SHORT TITLE.

19 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Financial

20 Management Act of 1993’’.

21 Subtitle A—Electronic Payments

22 SEC. 16101. ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS.

23 (a) Section 3332 of title 31, United States Code, is

24 amended to read as follows:

‘‘3332. Required direct deposit.
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1 ‘‘(a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,

2 all Federal wage, salary, and retirement payments shall

3 be paid to recipients of such payments by electronic funds

4 transfer, unless another method has been determined by

5 the Secretary of the Treasury to be appropriate.

6 ‘‘(2) Each recipient of Federal wage, salary, or retire7 ment payments shall designate one or more financial insti8 tutions or other authorized payment agents and provide

9 the payment certifying or authorizing agency information

10 necessary for the recipient to receive electronic funds

11 transfer payments through each institution so designated.

12 ‘‘(b)(1) The head of each agency shall waive the re13 quirements of subsection (a) of this section for a recipient

14 of Federal wage, salary, or retirement payments author15 ized or certified by the agency upon written request by

16 such recipient.

17 ‘‘(2) Federal wage, salary, or retirement payments

18 shall be paid to any recipient granted a waiver under para19 graph (1) of this subsection by any method determined

20 appropriate by the Secretary of the Treasury.

21 ‘‘(c)(1) The Secretary of the Treasury may waive the

22 requirements of subsection (a) of this section for any

23 group of recipients upon request by the head of an agency

24 under standards prescribed by the Secretary of the Treas25 ury.
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1 ‘‘(2) Federal wage, salary, or retirement payments

2 shall be paid to any member of a group granted a waiver

3 under paragraph (1) of this subsection by any method de4 termined appropriate by the Secretary of the Treasury.

5 ‘‘(d) This section shall apply only to recipients of

6 Federal wage or salary payments who begin to receive

7 such payments on or after January 1, 1995, and recipients

8 of Federal retirement payments who begin to receive such

9 payments on or after January 1, 1995.

10 ‘‘(e) The crediting of the amount of a payment to

11 the appropriate account on the books of a financial institu12 tion or other authorized payment agent designated by a

13 payment recipient under this section shall constitute a full

14 acquittance to the United States for the amount of the

15 payment.’’.

16 (b) The table of sections for chapter 33 of title 31,

17 United States Code, is amended by amending the item for

18 section 3332 to read:

‘‘3332. Required direct deposit.’’.

19 Subtitle B—Franchise Funds and

20 Innovation Funds

21 SEC. 16201. FRANCHISE FUNDS AND INNOVATION FUNDS.

22 (a) Title 31, United States Code, is amended by add23 ing, after section 1537, a section 1538, as follows:
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1 ‘‘§ 1538. Franchise funds

2 ‘‘(a) There is hereby authorized to be established a

3 franchise fund in any executive agency which does not

4 have such a fund which shall be available, without further

5 appropriation action by the Congress, for expenses and

6 equipment necessary for the maintenance and operations

7 of such administrative services as the head of the agency,

8 with the approval of the Office of Management and Budg9 et, determines may be performed more advantageously on

10 a centralized basis.

11 ‘‘(b)(1) The fund shall consist of the fair and reason12 able value of inventories, equipment, and other assets and

13 inventories on order pertaining to the services to be pro14 vided by the fund as are transferred by the head of the

15 agency to the fund less related liabilities and unpaid obli16 gations together with any appropriations made for the

17 purpose of providing capital.

18 ‘‘(2) For the first fiscal year a fund is in operation

19 and each fiscal year thereafter, an amount not to exceed

20 4 percent of the total income of the fund may be retained

21 in the fund, to remain available until expended, to be used

22 only for the acquisition of capital equipment and for the

23 improvement and implementation of agency financial man24 agement and related support systems.

25 ‘‘(3) For the first three fiscal years a fund is in oper26 ation, up to 50 percent of the unobligated balances of
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1 funds provided in annual appropriations available at the

2 end of the fiscal year to the agency for salaries and ex3 penses may be transferred into the fund no later than the

4 end of the succeeding fiscal year.

5 ‘‘(c) The fund shall be reimbursed or credited with

6 payments, including advance payments, from applicable

7 appropriations and funds of the agency, other Federal

8 agencies, and other sources authorized by law for supplies,

9 materials, and services at rates which will recover the ex10 penses of operations including accrued leave, depreciation

11 of fund plant and equipment, and an amount necessary

12 to maintain a reasonable operating reserve, as determined

13 by the head of the agency.

14 ‘‘(d)(1) In the third fiscal year after the fund is es15 tablished, and each year thereafter, any Federal entity

16 seeking to obtain any service financed through the fund

17 that is not inherently governmental in nature must not

18 be precluded from obtaining such service from one or more

19 other sources, either governmental or non-governmental,

20 in addition to the source finance through the funds.

21 ‘‘(2) If, after the end of the third fiscal year after

22 a fund is established, any Federal entity seeking to obtain

23 any service financed through the fund that is not inher24 ently governmental in nature is precluded from obtaining

25 such service from one or more other sources, either gov-
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1 ernmental or non-governmental, in addition to the source

2 financed through the fund, the fund shall be cancelled.’’.

3 (b) The table of sections for subchapter III of chapter

4 15 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding,

5 after the item for section 1537, the following new item:

6 ‘‘Section 1538. Franchise Funds.’’.

7 (c) Title 31, United States Code, is amended by add8 ing, after section 1538, a section 1539, as follows:

9 ‘‘§ 1539. Innovation funds

10 ‘‘(a) There is hereby authorized to be established an

11 innovation fund in any executive agency which does not

12 have such a fund, which shall be available without further

13 appropriation action by the Congress.

14 ‘‘(b) The purpose of the fund is to provide a self15 sustaining source of financing for agencies to invest in

16 projects designed to produce measurable improvements in

17 agency efficiency and significant taxpayer savings.

18 Amounts available in the fund may be borrowed by the

19 agency for such projects, subject to subsection (e).

20 ‘‘(c) Each agency that establishes an innovation fund

21 will develop an investment project selection process, in22 cluding specific investment criteria such as return on in23 vestment, payback period, extent of matching or in-kind

24 support (including such support from other Federal agen25 cies), technical merit, and budget justification.
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1 ‘‘(d) For the first three fiscal years a fund is in oper2 ation, up to 50 percent of the unobligated balances of

3 funds provided in annual appropriations available at the

4 end of the fiscal year to the agency (other than appropria5 tions for salaries and expenses) may be transferred to and

6 merged with the innovation fund to be available to make

7 loans to agency components for projects designed to en8 hance productivity and generate cost savings, provided

9 that such transfers occur no later than the end of the suc10 ceeding fiscal year.

11 ‘‘(e)(1) Any amounts borrowed from the fund by an

12 agency component to finance a project selected under the

13 process described in subsection (c) shall be repaid to the

14 fund at the times specified in the repayment schedule

15 agreed upon at the time the loan is made.

16 ‘‘(2) Interest on loans made by the fund shall be paid

17 to the fund at the rate on marketable Treasury securities

18 of similar maturity at the time the loan is made.

19 ‘‘(3) Repayments shall be made from the accounts

20 anticipated to receive the greatest long-term benefit from

21 the project at the time the loan is made.

22 ‘‘(4) Repayments to the fund shall take priority over

23 any other obligation of payments of an account designated

24 to make repayments under paragraph (3) of this sub25 section.’’.
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1 (d) The table of sections for subchapter III of chapter

2 15 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding,

3 after the item for section 1538, the following new item:

‘‘Section 1539. Innovation Funds.’’.

4 Subtitle C—Simplifying the

5 Management Reporting Process

6 SEC. 16301. SIMPLIFICATION OF MANAGEMENT REPORTING

7 PROCESS.

8 (a) To improve the efficiency of Executive branch

9 performance in implementing statutory requirements for

10 general management and financial management reports to

11 the Congress and its committees, the Director of the Of12 fice of Management and Budget may publish annually in

13 the President’s Budget his recommendations for consoli14 dation, elimination, or adjustments in frequency and due

15 dates of statutorily required periodic reports of agencies

16 to the Office of Management and Budget or the President

17 and of agencies or the Office of Management and Budget

18 to the Congress under any laws for which the Office of

19 Management and Budget has general management or fi20 nancial management responsibility. For each rec21 ommendation, the Director shall provide an individualized

22 statement of the reasons that support the recommenda23 tion. In addition, for each report for which a recommenda24 tion is made, the Director shall state with specificity the

25 exact consolidation, elimination, or adjustment in fre-
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1 quency or due date that is recommended. If the Director’s

2 recommendations are approved by law, they shall take ef3 fect.

4 (b) The Director’s recommendations shall be consist5 ent with the purpose stated in subsection (a).

6 (c) Prior to the publication of the recommendations

7 authorized in subsection (a), the Director or his designee

8 shall consult with the appropriate congressional commit9 tees, including the House Committee on Government Op10 erations and the Senate Committee on Governmental Af11 fairs, concerning the recommendations.

12 Subtitle D—Annual Financial

13 Reports

14 SEC. 16401. ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORTS.

15 (a) Section 3515 of title 31, United States Code, is

16 amended to read as follows:

17 ‘‘§ 3515. Financial statements of agencies

18 ‘‘(a) Not later than March 1 of 1997 and each year

19 thereafter, the head of each executive agency identified in

20 section 901(b) of this title shall prepare and submit to

21 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget an

22 audited financial statement for the preceding fiscal year,

23 covering all accounts and associated activities of each of24 fice, bureau, and activity of the agency.
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1 ‘‘(b) Each audited financial statement of an executive

2 agency under this section shall reflect—

3 ‘‘(1) the overall financial position of the offices,

4 bureaus, and activities covered by the statement, in5 cluding assets and liabilities thereof; and

6 ‘‘(2) results of operations of those offices, bu7 reaus, and activities.

8 ‘‘(c) The Director of the Office of Management and

9 Budget shall prescribe the form and content of the finan10 cial statements of executive agencies under this section,

11 consistent with applicable accounting principles, stand12 ards, and requirements.

13 ‘‘(d) The Director of the Office of Management and

14 Budget may waive the application of all or part of sub15 section (a).

16 ‘‘(e) Not later than March 1 of 1996, the head of

17 each Executive agency identified in section 901(b) of this

18 title and designated by the Director of the Office of Man19 agement and Budget shall prepare and submit to the Di20 rector of the Office of Management and Budget an audited

21 financial statement for the preceding fiscal year, covering

22 all accounts and associated activities of each office, bu23 reau, and activity of the agency.

24 ‘‘(f) Not later than March 31 of 1994, 1995, and,

25 for Executive agencies not designated by the Director of
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1 the Office of Management and Budget under subsection

2 (e), 1996, the head of each Executive agency identified

3 in section 901(b) of this title shall prepare and submit

4 to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget

5 a financial statement for the preceding fiscal year, cover6 ing—

7 ‘‘(1) each revolving fund and trust fund of the

8 agency; and

9 ‘‘(2) to the extent practicable, the accounts of

10 each office, bureau, and activity of the agency which

11 performed substantial commercial functions during

12 the preceding fiscal year.

13 ‘‘(g) for purposes of subsection (f), the term ‘commer14 cial functions’ includes buying and leasing of real estate,

15 providing insurance, making loans and loan guarantees,

16 and other credit programs and any activity involving the

17 provision of a service or thing for which a fee, royalty,

18 rent, or other charge is imposed by an agency for services

19 and things of value it provides.’’.

20 (b) Subsection 3521(f) of title 31, United States

21 Code, is amended to read as follows:

22 ‘‘(f)(1) For each audited financial statement required

23 under subsections (a) and (e) of section 3515 of this title,

24 the person who audits the statement for purpose of sub25 section (e) of this section shall submit a report on the
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1 audit to the head of the agency. A report under this sub2 section shall be prepared in accordance with generally ac3 cepted government auditing standards.

4 ‘‘(2) Not later than June 30 following the fiscal year

5 for which a financial statement is submitted under sub6 section (f) of section 3515 of this title, the person who

7 audits the statement for purpose of subsection (e) of this

8 section shall submit a report on the audit to the head of

9 the agency. A report under this subsection shall be pre10 pared in accordance with generally accepted government

11 auditing standards.’’.

12 Subtitle E—Strengthening Debt

13 Collection Programs

14 SEC. 16501. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR EN15 HANCING DEBT COLLECTION.

16 (a) Title 31, United States Code, is amended by add17 ing, after section 3720A, a section 3720B, as follows:

18 ‘‘§ 3720B. Authorization of appropriations for enhanc19 ing debt collection

20 ‘‘(a) To the extent and in the amounts provided in

21 advance in appropriations acts—

22 ‘‘(1) an amount not to exceed 1 percent of the

23 delinquent debts collected for a program in one fiscal

24 year is authorized to be credited in the following fis25 cal year to a special fund for such program;
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1 ‘‘(2) an amount not to exceed 10 percent of any

2 sustained annual increase in delinquent debt collec3 tions, as defined by the Director of the Office of

4 Management and Budget, is authorized to be cred5 ited to a special fund for such program; and

6 ‘‘(3) from amounts credited under paragraphs

7 (1) and (2), such sums as may be necessary are au8 thorized to be appropriated for the improvement of

9 that program’s debt collection activities, including,

10 but not limited to, account and loan servicing, delin11 quent debt collection and asset disposition.

12 ‘‘(b) Debt is defined as delinquent under standards

13 prescribed or to be prescribed by the Secretary of the

14 Treasury.

15 ‘‘(c) For direct loan and loan guarantee programs

16 subject to Title V of the Congressional Budget Act of

17 1974, amounts credited in accordance with section (a)

18 shall be considered administrative costs and shall not be

19 included in the estimated payments to the Government for

20 the purpose of calculating the cost of such programs.’’.

21 (b) The table of sections for subchapter II of chapter

22 37 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding,

23 after the item for section 3720A, the following new item:

‘‘Section 3720B. Authorization of appropriations for enhancing debt collection.’’.
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1 SEC. 16502. CONTRACTS FOR COLLECTION SERVICES.

2 (a) Subsection 3701(d) of Title 31, United States

3 Code, is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘and 3716–3719’’ and inserting

5 in lieu thereof ‘‘, 3716, and 3717’’; and

6 (2) by striking ‘‘, the Social Security Act (42

7 U.S.C. 301 et seq.),’’.

8 (b) Section 3701 of title 31, United States Code, is

9 amended by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(e) Section 3718 of this title does not apply to a

11 claim or debt under, or to an amount payable under, the

12 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) owed by a

13 person receiving benefits under that Act or to a claim or

14 debt under, or to an amount payable under, title 26 of

15 the United States Code.’’.

16 SEC. 16503. NOTIFICATION TO AGENCIES OF DEBTORS’

17 MAILING ADDRESSES.

18 Section 3720A of title 31, United States Code is

19 amended by striking ‘‘the individual’s home address.’’ at

20 the end of subsection (c) and inserting the following: ‘‘the

21 person’s mailing address. Provision of this information is

22 authorized by section 6103(m)(2) of the Internal Revenue

23 Code (26 U.S.C. 6103(m)(2)).’’.
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1 Subtitle F—Improving Department

2 of Justice Debt Collection

3 SEC. 16601. DEBT COLLECTION FUND.

4 (a) Section 3011 of title 28, United States Code, is

5 amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘§ 3011. Establishment of debt collection fund; assess7 ment of surcharge on debt

8 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF DEBT COLLECTION

10 FUND.—

11 (A) There is hereby established in the

12 Treasury a Debt Collection Fund (hereafter re13 ferred to as ‘‘the Fund’’), which shall be avail14 able to the Attorney General to the extent and

15 in such amounts as are provided in advance in

16 appropriations Acts solely for the purposes

17 specified in paragraph (2).

18 ‘‘(B) If at the end of any fiscal year, unap19 propriated balances in the Fund exceed

20 $15,000,000, the excess balances shall be trans21 ferred to the general fund of the Treasury.

22 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General may use amounts

23 appropriated to the Fund to reimburse any appro24 priation or fund of the Department of Justice or any

25 other executive agency for expenses incurred in con-
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1 ducting or providing support to debt collection litiga2 tion, enforcing judgments, and related activities per3 taining to the collection of any debt or monies owed

4 to the United States Government.

5 ‘‘(3) Reimbursement received pursuant to para6 graph (2) shall be used solely for the purposes speci7 fied in that paragraph under authorities available to

8 the receiving appropriation or fund.

9 ‘‘(b) SURCHARGE.—

10 ‘‘(1) ASSESSMENT OF SURCHARGE ON DEBT.—

11 ‘‘(A) In any action in which the United

12 States prevails on its claim for a debt, and sub13 ject to paragraph (b)(1)(B) and (b)(2), the

14 court shall award the United States, and the

15 Department of Justice shall collect and deposit,

16 a surcharge of 10 percent of the total amount

17 of any judgment or settlement which is ap18 proved by the court.

19 ‘‘(B) Paragraph (b)(1)(A) shall not apply

20 if—

21 ‘‘(i) the United States receives an at22 torney’s fee in connection with the enforce23 ment of the claim;
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1 ‘‘(ii) the law upon which the action or

2 claim is based provides any other amount

3 to cover such costs; or

4 ‘‘(iii) the judgment or settlement is

5 for a claim under title 26, United States

6 Code.

7 ‘‘(C) Notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302 or

8 any other statute affecting the crediting of col9 lections, and pursuant to section (b)(2), for fis10 cal year 1994 and thereafter, surcharges col11 lected pursuant to this section shall be depos12 ited in, and collect to, the Fund.

13 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY TO AWARD AND CREDIT OF

14 SURCHARGES.—The authority of the court to award

15 surcharges and of the Department of Justice to col16 lect and deposit such surcharges pursuant to para17 graph (b)(1) shall be available only to the extent

18 provided in advance in appropriations Acts.’’.

19 (b) The table of sections for chapter 176 of Title 28,

20 United States Code, is amended by amending the item for

21 Section 3011 to read: ‘‘3011. Establishment of debt collec22 tion fund; assessment of surcharge on debt.’’.

23 SEC. 16602. CONTRACTS FOR COLLECTION SERVICES.

24 Subparagraph 3718(B)(1)(A) of title 31, United

25 States Code, is amended by striking the following: ‘‘If the
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1 Attorney General makes a contract for legal services to

2 be furnished in any judicial district of the United States

3 under the first sentence of this paragraph, the Attorney

4 General shall use his best efforts to obtain, from among

5 attorneys regularly engaged in the private practice of law

6 in such district, at least four such contracts with private

7 individuals or firms in such district.’’.

8 Subtitle G—Adjusting Civil

9 Monetary Penalties for Inflation

10 SEC. 16701. ADJUSTING CIVIL MONETARY PENALTIES FOR

11 INFLATION.

12 The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act

13 of 1990 is amended by—

14 (1) amending section 4 to read as follows: ‘‘The

15 head of each agency shall—

16 ‘‘(1) by regulation, no later than September 30,

17 1994, and at least once every 4 years thereafter, ad18 just each civil monetary penalty provided by law

19 within the jurisdiction of the Federal agency, except

20 for any penalty under title 26, United States Code,

21 by the inflation adjustment described under section

22 5 and publish each such adjustment in the Federal

23 Register; and
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1 ‘‘(2) provide a report to the Secretary of the

2 Treasury by November 15 of each year on all pen3 alties adjusted during the preceding fiscal year.’’;

4 (2) amending subsection 5(a) by striking ‘‘The

5 adjustment described under paragraphs (4) and

6 (5)(A) of section 4’’ and inserting ‘‘The inflation ad7 justment’’; and

8 (3) adding, after section 6, a section 7, as fol9 lows: ‘‘Section 7. Any increase to a civil monetary

10 penalty resulting from this Act shall apply only to

11 violations which occur after the date any such in12 crease takes effect.’’.

13 TITLE XVII—YEAR-END

14 SPENDING

15 SEC. 17001. YEAR-END SPENDING.

16 Section 1301 of title 31, United States Code, is

17 amended by adding the following new subsection at the

18 end:

19 ‘‘(e) Not to exceed 50 percent of unobligated balances

20 remaining available at the end of one fiscal year from ap21 propriations made available for salaries and expenses

22 made for that year shall remain available through Septem23 ber 30 of the following fiscal year for each account for

24 the same purposes. Not to exceed 2 percent of the funds

25 so carried over may be used to pay cash awards to employ-
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1 ees, as authorized by law, and not to exceed 3 percent

2 of the funds may be used for employee training pro3 grams.’’.

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