Discretionary Spending Offsets Act for Fiscal Year 2000

Discretionary Spending Offsets Act for Fiscal Year 2000 - Title I: Offsets for Discretionary Spending - Subtitle A: Agriculture - Part I: Food Safety Inspection and Enforcement Fees - Amends the Poultry Products Inspection Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to charge, with specified exceptions, user fees for poultry and poultry products inspection and related activities. (Currently inspection costs are federally paid, except for overtime and holiday work performed at poultry establishments.)

(Sec. 111) Revises authorization of appropriation provisions to cover only the Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel and Federal-State cooperative activities.

Includes fee setting activities within annual reporting requirements.

(Sec. 112) Amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act to direct the Secretary to charge, with specified exceptions, user fees for meat, meat products, and livestock inspection and related activities.

Revises authorization of appropriations provisions to cover only the Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel and Federal-State cooperative activities.

Amends the Wholesome Meat Act to include fee setting activities within annual reporting requirements.

(Sec. 113) Amends the Egg Products Inspection Act to direct the Secretary to charge, with specified exceptions, user fees for egg products inspection and related activities. (Currently inspection costs are federally paid, except for overtime and holiday work performed at official plants.) Removes such activities from covered authorizations of appropriations.

Amends the Egg Products Inspection Act to include fee setting activities within annual reporting requirements.

(Sec. 114) Makes conforming payment-related amendments to specified Acts.

Part II: Assessments Under Tobacco Program - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to require (if price supports are in effect) producer, purchaser, and importer tobacco marketing assessments beginning with the 1999 crop year. Sets forth assessment provisions with respect to: (1) allocations between domestic producers and purchasers of domestically produced tobacco; and (2) required annual collections.

Part III: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Cost-Share Fees - Amends the Federal Plant Pest Act to direct the Secretary to charge, with specified exceptions, user fees for biotechnology-related services.

(Sec. 132) Amends the Plant Quarantine Act to direct the Secretary to charge, with specified exceptions, user fees for biotechnology-related services.

(Sec. 133) Amends the Animal Welfare Act to direct the Secretary to charge, with specified exceptions for registration and licensing, user fees for registration services. Eliminates quarterly authorization of appropriation caps, and excludes user fee-covered activities from such authorization of appropriations.

Part IV: Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyard Administration Licensing Fee - Amends the United States Grain Standards Act to state that grain standardization fees shall be collected from persons benefitting from such services, including first purchasers, processors, and grain warehousemen.

(Sec. 142) Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to establish license and fee requirements for packers, live poultry dealers, stockyard owners, dealers, and market agencies.

Part V: Forest Service Fees - Amends the National Forest Management Act of 1976 to direct the Secretary to implement a timber sale preparation user fee pilot program.

(Sec. 152) Requires rental fees for commercial filming on National Forestry System lands to be deposited into a special Treasury fund. Authorizes such fund's use for administration and management of special uses on System lands.

(Sec. 153) Amends the National Forest Management Act of 1976 to direct the Secretary to charge fair market value user fees for special products (vegetation or other life forms growing on System lands) collected on System lands.

(Sec. 154) Amends the Granger-Thye Act to direct the Secretary to: (1) implement a public-private venture demonstration program to evaluate the feasibility of using non-Federal funds to construct, rehabilitate, and operate federally owned visitor facilities on System lands, and to conduct related environmental analyses; and (2) charge concession fees. Authorizes the Secretary to sell existing System facilities to authorized concessionaires. Provides for the allocation of concession fees and facility sales proceeds on a unit and agency-wide basis.

(Sec. 155) Directs the Secretary to charge fair market value user fees for non-ski recreation concessions on System lands and waters.

Subtitle B: Commerce - Part I: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Navigation Services Fees - Requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish and adjust user fees for any navigation services provided to commercial marine operators.

(Sec. 211) Authorizes a limited amount of offsetting collections from such fees to be appropriated for expenses associated with providing such services.

Part II: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Management Fees - Directs the Secretary to establish and adjust user fees associated with the U.S. fishing industry.

(Sec. 221) Authorizes a limited amount of offsetting collections from such fees to be appropriated for management and enforcement costs associated with domestic fisheries.

Part III: Analog Television Service Signal Lease Fee - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize the Federal Communications Commission to assess and collect lease fees for each fiscal year for the use of an analog television service license by commercial television broadcasters. Requires such fees to be used for upgrading Federal, State, and local public safety wireless communications equipment and facilities. Apportions such fees based upon the population covered by a broadcaster's signal.

(Sec. 231) Requires collected fees to be deposited as offsetting receipts in the Treasury and authorizes them to be appropriated.

Waives, reduces, or defers fees in any specific instance where such action would promote the public interest.

Provides for a penalty of 25 percent of the fee amount for late payment.

Subtitle C: Education and Labor - Part I: National Directory of New Hires - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to provide for data matching with respect to individual cases of defaulted loans and obligations to refund overpayments of grants under title IV (Student Assistance).

(Sec. 311) Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary for this subtitle) to match such data, through the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), with that in the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) established under the Social Security Act. Allows the Secretary to seek such information only as necessary to improve such debt collection. Authorizes the Secretary to use such information to: (1) collect such debt owed by individuals whose annualized wage level exceeds $16,000; and (2) conduct analyses of student loan defaults, after removal of personal identifiers. Allows data disclosure only to a guaranty agency holding the loan obligation, a contractor or agent of such agency or of the Secretary, and the Attorney General. Directs the Secretary to reimburse HHS for additional costs involved in such data matching. Authorizes the Secretary to impose fees on guaranty agencies for reasonable costs of obtaining such information.

Amends the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of HHS to exercise such NDNH data matching and disclosure authority in cooperation with that of the Secretary under HEA.

Revises the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 to make certain penalties for misuse of information applicable to all persons.

Part II: Recall of Federal Reserves Held by Guaranty Agencies - Amends HEA title IV to direct the Secretary to recall from the Federal Student Loan Reserve Funds held by guaranty agencies specified minimum amounts in each of FY 2000 through 2004, for deposit in the Treasury.

(Sec. 321) Eliminates provisions for guaranty agreements for reimbursing losses. Replaces such provisions with ones for guaranty agreements for paying lenders for default claims.

Exempts nonprofit guaranty agencies from the requirements of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to the extent that they are carrying out due diligence activities required by the Secretary.

Authorizes the Secretary to enter into voluntary, flexible agreements with any guaranty agency that had one or more prior agreements with the Secretary.

Part III: Employer Tax Credit User Fees - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish Work Opportunity Credit (WOC) and Welfare-to-Work Credit (WWC) user fees.

(Sec. 331) Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to impose such fees on employers submitting applications for certification of individuals as members of target groups (for WOC) and categories of long-term family assistance recipients (for WWC). Prohibits such fees from being paid, directly or indirectly, by the individual who is the subject of the certification. Bases the amount of such fees on an estimate of what is needed to fully fund administrative costs relating to such certification. Requires a fee for employers with fewer than 100 employees lower than that for employers with 100 or more. Requires such fees to be: (1) collected by designated local agencies; (2) deposited as offsetting receipts in the State Unemployment Insurance and Employment Service Operations account of the Treasury; and (3) available to pay administrative costs relating to such certification. Directs the Secretary of Labor to allocate such funds among the States based on their relative workload in processing the certifications. Makes such fees available for obligation only to the extent and in the amount provided in advance in appropriations acts. Authorizes the fees to be appropriated to remain available until expended.

Subtitle D: Natural Resource, Energy, and Environment - Part I: Nuclear Regulatory Commission User Fees and Annual Charges - Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to extend the last assessment of certain Nuclear Regulatory Commission annual charges through FY 2004.

Part II: Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Fees - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to assess fees from applicants for pesticide registrations, amendments to registrations, and experimental use permits effective October 1, 1999.

(Sec. 421) Permits fee reductions or waivers: (1) in connection with applications for an active ingredient that is contained only in pesticides for which registration is sought solely for agricultural or nonagricultural minor uses; or (2) in other instances determined to be in the public interest.

Provides for deposit of such fees in a special fund for environmental services in the Treasury.

Authorizes such fees to be appropriated to carry out activities for which the fees were collected.

Part III: Toxic Substances Control Act Fees - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to revise provisions regarding fees from persons required to submit data under such Act to remove an upper limit on the amount that may be collected.

(Sec. 431) Provides for deposit of such fees in a special fund for environmental services in the Treasury.

Authorizes such fees to be appropriated to carry out activities for which the fees were collected.

Subtitle E: Revenue - Part I: Reinstate Superfund Taxes - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the environmental tax to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1998, and before January 1, 2010.

(Sec. 511) Applies the Hazardous Substance Superfund financing rate after the date of this Act's enactment and before October 1, 2009.

Part II: Tobacco Excise Taxes - Increases the excise taxes on tobacco products.

(Sec. 522) Exempts, during 1999, from the requirement to deposit taxes persons required to make deposits with respect to alcohol and tobacco products.

Part III: Customs Access Fee - Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, with respect to customs fees, to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to charge and collect for the provision of customs services (in addition to the current fees) a fee for the use of any automated system of the Customs Service for processing commercial operations based on the volume of usage of the system. Requires publication of the fee. Exempts Federal agencies from such fee. Requires the issuance of bills on a monthly basis for such fee.

Part IV: Customs Air and Sea Passenger Processing Fee Amendments - Increases the $5.00 passenger arrival fee to $6.40 and declares certain exemptions (which include Mexico, Canada, and U.S. territories and possessions) from such fees inapplicable.

Part V: Harbor Services User Fee - Directs the Secretary of the Army to impose specified fees on the owners or operators of commercial vessels for services provided for the use of ports. Sets forth exemptions.

(Sec. 552) Establishes a United States Harbor Services Fund into which the section 551 fees shall be deposited. Authorizes Fund expenditures for harbor development, operations, and maintenance costs.

Subtitle F: Human Services - Part I: Social Security Administration Claimant Representative Fees - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration to impose on attorneys owed a fee from a claimant's past-due benefits an assessment, determined according to a specified formula, for crediting to the OASDI trust funds. Authorizes appropriations.

Part II: Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Amendments -Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of SSA title IV to limit the amount of the FY 2000 State TANF supplemental grant for population increases in certain States to the amount of such grant for FY 1999.

Part III: Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Contingency Fund - Amends SSA title IV part A with respect to the Contingency Fund for State Welfare Programs to provide for: (1) removal of the limit on the amount of deposits into the Contingency Fund; (2) State flexibility for Contingency Fund grants; and (3) revision of annual reconciliation requirements, in particular repealing the adjustment of State remittances for FY 2000 and 2001 that was enacted in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

Subtitle G: Health Care - Part I: Medicare Savers - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for: (1) a reduction in the clinical diagnostic laboratory test cap from 74 to 72 percent; (2) establishment of a national limit on payment for prosthetics and for orthotics; (3) a reduction in Medicare payment for hospital bad debts and extension of such bad debt payment limitation to other relevant facilities and services providers; (4) a freeze, for FY 2000, in the applicable percentage increase used in determining Medicare payment to hospitals for inpatient hospital services; (5) a payment amount under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) for a covered drug or biological not payable on a cost or prospective payment basis that is set at 83 percent of the average wholesale price for 2000 and each subsequent year; (6) reduced payment for erythropoietin provided during 2000 under Medicare coverage of certain items and services for end stage renal disease patients; (7) a prohibition on the furnishing of partial hospitalization services in residential services; (8) additional specified requirements for community mental health centers; (9) information requirements pertaining to group health plans under Medicare secondary payer provisions; and (10) Centers of Excellence for furnishing services related to surgical procedures and for furnishing other unrelated services as appropriate to hospital inpatients.

(Sec. 714) Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to repeal the moratorium on bad debt policy with respect to Medicare hospital services.

(Sec. 719A) Provides that not more than $1.1 million of the savings for FY 2000 resulting from enactment of this part may be treated as negative discretionary budget authority and outlays for such fiscal year.

Part II: Food and Drug Administration User Fees - Subpart A: Medical Device Fees - Medical Device Fee Act of 1999 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to: (1) direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to assess and collect various specified medical device application and supplement, establishment registration, and periodic premarket application report fees (except from small businesses) to be used for the review of device applications; (2) authorize appropriations; and (3) treat certain unpaid fees as a Federal claim for collection purposes.

Subpart B: Fees to Support Costs of Review of Food and Color Additive Petitions - Food and Color Additive Petition Fee Act of 1999 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to: (1) set forth provisions analogous to those under Subpart A with respect to food and color additive petition and producer registration fees; (2) require registration of food ingredient and color additive producers; and (3) make miscellaneous amendments relating to the food and color additive petition review process, including allowing access to outside experts during the review process.

Subpart C: Food Contact Substance Notification Fees - Food Contact Substance Notification Fee Act of 1999 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to: (1) set forth provisions analogous to those under Subpart A with respect to food contact substance notification fees; and (2) make a miscellaneous amendment relating to the food contact substance notification process.

Part III: Health Care Financing Administration User Fees - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) revise the limitation on the amount of fees the Secretary may collect from a Medicare+Choice organization with a contract under SSA title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) for enrollment-related costs; (2) direct the Secretary to impose fees for initial Medicare+Choice contract issuance and for renewal of such contracts and ongoing monitoring of Medicare+Choice organization operations; (3) exempt from such mandate entities subject to the requirements of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988; (4) modify provisions on the use of State agencies to determine compliance by service providers with conditions of participation with regard to State agreements; (5) add registration procedures and fees provisions under provisions on agreements with providers of services under Medicare; and (6) subject certain claims under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) and B to a specified processing fee for transfer to the Health Care Financing Administration Program Management Account.

(Sec. 737) Amends the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to repeal provisions on selection of regional laboratory carriers.

Subtitle H: Transportation - Part 1: Federal Aviation Administration Cost-Based User Fees - Amends Federal aviation law to require the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator to establish a schedule of new fees (until a permanent schedule is adopted) for the provision of air traffic control services to an air carrier, a commercial air carrier (for compensation or hire), or a foreign air carrier. Provides for the reduction of aviation excise taxes to be credited to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund if such taxes and receipts from fees exceed for FY 2000 the FAA budgetary requirements for FY 2001.

(Sec. 811) Provides for the adjustment of certain aviation excise taxes credited to the Trust Fund.

Part II: Coast Guard Vessel Navigation Assistance Fee - Amends Federal shipping law to authorize the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to establish annual fees to recover a portion of the costs of navigation services provided by the Coast Guard to commercial vessels. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary out of the collection of such fees.

Part III: Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Fees - Amends Federal transportation law to change from discretionary to mandatory the Secretary of Transportation's authority to impose a fee on persons who are required to file a registration statement for the transport of hazardous material in order to pay for the costs of processing such statements. Makes the annual fee to be paid by each person required to file a registration statement a flat $500 (currently, at least $250 but no more than $5,000). Requires the Secretary of Transportation to publish a fee schedule at the beginning of each fiscal year. Declares that registration requirements shall not apply to Indian tribes.

Part IV: Commercial Accident Investigation Fees - Authorizes the U.S. Government to collect a fee for service to offset, on an annual basis, the costs of investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of commercial transportation accidents involving air, ocean, and rail carriers.

Part V: Surface Transportation Board User Fees - Authorizes appropriations for the Surface Transportation Board, to be derived from fees collected during the fiscal year. Authorizes the Board to assess and collect user fees and annual charges in each fiscal year equal to its costs for such year.

Part VI: Rail Safety User Fees - Changes from mandatory to discretionary the authority of the Secretary of Transportation to impose fees on railroad carriers to cover the costs to promote rail safety and Federal Railroad Administration activities related to hazardous material transportation safety.

Title II: Budget Provisions - Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, upon enactment of this Act, to: (1) reduce any balances of direct spending and receipts legislation for FY 2000 to zero under pay-as-you-go enforcement provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act); and (2) treat the amount of any balances so reduced as negative discretionary budget authority and outlays for FY 2000 under discretionary spending limit enforcement provisions of such Act.