Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Department of Veterans Affairs

Title II: Department of Housing and Urban Development

Title III: Independent Agencies

Title IV: General Provisions

Title V: Supplemental

Title VI: Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of

1996

Title VII: Mental Health Parity

Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997 - Title I: Department of Veterans Affairs - Makes appropriations for FY 1997 to the Department of Veterans Affairs, setting forth uses and limitations for them.

Establishes in the Treasury a franchise fund pilot for capitalizing and operating central administrative services.

(Sec. 108) Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to convey, without consideration, to the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a specified portion of the grounds of the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, subject to the condition that the City use the real property conveyed in perpetuity solely for public park or recreational purposes.

Title II: Department of Housing and Urban Development - Makes appropriations for FY 1997 for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), setting forth uses and limitations for them.

(Sec. 201) Extends the duration of specified provisions relating to: (1) public housing funding flexibility, under the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996; (2) one-for-one replacement of public and Indian housing, under specified Federal law; (3) public and assisted housing rents, income adjustments, and preferences, under the Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, I and the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996; (4) applicability of such extensions to Indian housing authorities; (5) streamlining of section 8 tenant-based assistance, under the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996; (6) section 8 fair market rentals and delay in reissuance, under the Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, I; and (7) section 8 rent adjustments, under the United States Housing Act of 1937.

(Sec. 203) Extends the single family assignment program through FY 1997.

(Sec. 205) Requires that specified funds be available for activities relating to promotion and implementation of homeownership in targeted geographic areas.

(Sec. 206) Directs the Secretary of HUD to cancel the indebtedness of the Greene County Rural Health Center relating to a loan received under the Public Facility Loan program to establish the health center.

(Sec. 208) Reduces by $2 million in uncommitted authorization balances the limitation on the maximum payments that may be required in any fiscal year by all contracts with respect to rental and cooperative housing for lower income families.

(Sec. 209) Makes specified modernization funds available to the District of Columbia Housing Authority when it is no longer deemed "mod-troubled."

(Sec. 210) Requires that: (1) 50 percent of the amounts of budget authority (or of the cash amounts associated with such budget authority) that are recaptured from certain projects under the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1988 be rescinded (or, in the case of cash, remitted to the Treasury); and (2) the remaining amounts be used by State housing finance agencies or local governments or housing agencies with projects approved by the Secretary of HUD.

(Sec. 211) Provides for specified Section 8 contract renewal authority (with respect to certain expiring contracts for project- based assistance under the United States Housing Act of 1937).

(Sec. 212) Directs the Secretary of HUD to administer a demonstration program with respect to multifamily projects: (1) whose owners agree to participate; (2) with section 8 rents, in the aggregate, in excess of 120 percent of the fair market rent of the market area in which the project is located; and (3) the mortgages of which are insured under the National Housing Act. Makes appropriations for such program, in addition to amounts made available from a similar program (hereby repealed) under the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996.

(Sec. 213) Amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to authorize the Secretary of HUD to waive certain conditions on the use of funds with respect to Hawaiian home lands set aside under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920.

(Sec. 214) Directs the Secretary of HUD to establish a voluntary separation incentive program for HUD employees.

(Sec. 215) Directs the Secretary of HUD to maintain all current requirements under specified regulations with respect to policies and procedures for the promulgation and issuance of rules, including the use of public participation in the rulemaking process.

(Sec. 216) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to revise requirements relating to community development block grants.

(Sec. 217) Prohibits the use of any amounts made available under this Act during FY 1997 to investigate or prosecute under the Fair Housing Act any otherwise lawful activity engaged in by one or more persons, including the filing or maintaining of a nonfrivolous legal action, whose sole purpose is achieving or preventing action by a government official or entity, or a court of competent jurisdiction.

(Sec. 218) Prohibits the use of any funds made available under this Act to give final approval to any proposal to provide mortgage insurance in excess of $250 million for any project financing which may be guaranteed under the National Housing Act, unless the Secretary of HUD has transmitted to the specified congressional officers a justification for such guarantee, and 30 days have passed.

Title III: Independent Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1997 to the: (1) American Battle Monuments Commission; (2) Department of the Treasury for community development financial institutions; (3) Consumer Product Safety Commission; (4) Corporation for National and Community Service; (5) Court of Veterans Appeals; (6) Department of Defense-Civil for cemeterial expenses, Army; (7) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); (8) Executive Office of the President for the Office of Science and Technology Policy; (9) Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Environmental Quality; (10) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); (11) General Services Administration for the Consumer Information Center; (12) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); (13) National Credit Union Administration for the obligations of the Central Liquidity Facility; (14) National Science Foundation; (15) Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; and (16) Selective Service System.

Limits expenditure of FEMA funds as follows: (1) no repair of yacht harbors or golf courses, except for debris removal; (2) no tree or shrub replacement except in public parks; and (3) repair of recreational facilities restricted to debris removal and repair of recreational buildings only.

Directs the NASA Administrator to establish a voluntary separation incentive program for NASA employees.

Title IV: General Provisions - Specifies certain uses, limitations, and prohibitions on uses of funds appropriated by this Act.

(Sec. 415) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, to the greatest extent practicable, all equipment and products purchased with funds made available under this Act should be American-made.

(Sec. 417) Requires FY 1997 pay raises to be absorbed within the levels appropriated in this Act.

(Sec. 419) Requires that certain FY 1997 Department of Health and Human Services appropriations be made available to carry out the orderly termination of the Office of Consumer Affairs.

(Sec. 420) Authorizes certain corporations and agencies of HUD to make commitments without regard to fiscal year limitations as necessary to carry out provisions under the Government Corporation Control Act. Allows any collections by such corporations and agencies to be used for new loan or mortgage purchase commitments to the extent provided under this Act, with specified exceptions.

(Sec. 421) Amends Federal law to establish a benefits program to provide health care, vocational training and rehabilitation, and monetary allowances to cover the special needs of certain children of Vietnam veterans who were born with the birth defect spina bifida, possibly as the result of the exposure of one or both parents to herbicides during active service in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era.

(Sec. 422) Amends Federal law relating to veterans' benefits to treat as service-connected a qualifying additional disability or a qualifying death caused by faulty veterans' medical care or by veterans' training and rehabilitation services.

(Sec. 430) Amends the National Housing Act with respect to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance premiums to limit the premium payment to two percent of the original insured principal mortgage obligation for a first-time homebuyer who completes a program of counseling on homeownership responsibilities and financial management.

(Sec. 431) Amends the National Housing Act to require the HUD Secretary, with respect to downpayments on FHA-insured loans, to consider as cash or its equivalent any amounts borrowed from a family members, subject to certain conditions.

(Sec. 432) Amends the National Housing Act to provide for calculation of downpayment for certain mortgages originated in the States of Alaska or Hawaii.

(Sec. 433) Amends the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary of HUD to delegate, to one or more mortgagees approved under the direct endorsement program, the authority to insure mortgages involving property upon which there is located a dwelling designed principally for occupancy by one to four families.

(Sec. 434) Expresses the sense of the Senate that, in evaluating any option for compliance with international obligations, the EPA Administrator should: (1) take fully into account the protection of public health and the environment and the international obligations of the United States as a member of the World Trade Organization; (2) ensure that the compliance review process not result in the degradation of the gasoline quality required by the Clean Air Act with respect to conventional and reformulated gasoline; (3) not recognize individual foreign refiner baselines unless the Administrator determines that the issues of auditing, inspection of foreign facilities, and enforcement have been adequately addressed; and (4) provide a full and open administrative process in the formulation of any final rule.

(Sec. 435) Allows the use of specified funds under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act for implementing comprehensive conservation and management plans.

(Sec. 436) Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a plan for the allocation of health care resources of the Department of Veterans Affairs among the health care Networks of the Department so as to ensure that veterans eligible for medical care, with similar economic status and eligibility priority, have similar access to such care regardless of the region of the United States in which they reside.

(Sec. 437) Directs the Comptroller General to audit the operations of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight to ensure that: (1) the office resources and contract authority are adequate; and (2) are being used appropriately to ensure that the Federal National Mortgage Association (FANNIE MAE) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FREDDIE MAC) are adequately capitalized and operating safely.

(Sec. 438) Prohibits the use of NASA funds to relocate NASA aircraft to Dryden Flight Research Center, California, for aircraft consolidation purposes.

(Sec. 439) Amends the Japan-United States Friendship Act to rename the Japan-United States Friendship Commission as the United States-Japan Commission.

(Sec. 440) Authorizes the EPA Administrator, subject to the concurrence of the Administrator of the General Services Administration, to convey to the city of Downey, California, a specified parcel of real property at the NASA Industrial Plant, with a delay in the payment of consideration by such city.

Title V: Supplemental - Appropriates additional amounts to: (1) the Department of Veterans Affairs, for Veterans Benefit Administration compensation and pensions; and (2) the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for Government National Mortgage Association (GINNIE MAE) guarantees of mortgage-backed securities loan guarantee program account.

Title VI: Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 - Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 - Requires a health plan or an employee health benefit plan that provides maternity (including childbirth) benefits to provide coverage for a minimum 48-hour (for normal vaginal delivery) and 96-hour (for caesarian section) in-patient length of stay (with specified exceptions) for a mother and her newborn following delivery. Mandates timely post-delivery care when the mother and newborn are discharged before expiration of these minimum lengths of stay. Prohibits plans from using certain types of penalties or inducements regarding participants, beneficiaries, policyholders, or providers to circumvent this Act. Provides for enforcement. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) establish an advisory panel; and (2) conduct studies, for reports to certain congressional committees, on specified aspects of maternal and child health care.

(Sec. 612) Directs the Administrator of General Services to sell at fair market value: (1) Governors Island, New York, granting right of first refusal to the State of New York and the city of New York; and (2) the air rights adjacent to Washington Union Station, (including air rights which Amtrak is hereby directed to convey to the Administrator).

Title VII: Mental Health Parity - Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 - Requires group health plans, if they choose to offer mental health benefits, to provide the same financial conditions for such mental health benefits that they provide for medical and surgical benefits, including the same aggregate lifetime limits and the same annual limits, if any. Makes such parity requirements inapplicable to: (1) substance abuse or chemical dependency treatment; (2) health benefits or plans paid for under the Medicare or Medicaid programs under the Social Security Act; or (3) employers of fewer than 26 employees.

(Sec. 705) Makes this title applicable to the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program as of October 1, 1997.

(Sec. 706) Exempts purchasers from the provisions of this title if they result in a one percent or greater increase in the cost of a group health plan's premiums.