The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S8263-S8266 on July 12, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS
The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:
POM-238. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the World Wars relative to increasing defense budgets and restoring the strength and credibility of our Armed Forces; to the Committee on Appropriations.
POM-239. A resolution by the Military Order of the World Wars relative to halting nuclear proliferation; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
POM-240. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the World Wars relative to Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile defense; to the Committee on Armed Services.
POM-241. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the World Wars relative to funding and resources to combat nuclear, chemical, biological, computer cyberspace and other threats in the 21st Century; to the Committee on Appropriations.
POM-242. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the World Wars relative to Panama and the Panama Canal; to the Committee on Armed Services.
POM-243. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of the State of Nevada relative to regulation of insurance providers; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Senate Joint Resolution No. 22
Whereas, Congress is currently considering the enactment of H.R. 10 and S. 900 in an effort to reform certain outdated federal laws governing providers of financial services; and
Whereas, The reformation of those federal laws, many of which were enacted in response to the Great Depression, is necessary and appropriate to ensure that providers of financial services in this country can maintain their prominence in the modern domestic and global markets; and
Whereas, The provisions of H.R. 10 and S. 900, both of which provide for the facilitation of affiliation among banks, securities firms and insurance companies, could preempt the jurisdiction of this state:
1. To ensure the solvency and to regulate the trade practices of various providers of insurance in this state; and
2. To provide adequate protection to the residents of this state who purchase insurance from those providers, without establishing an effective mechanism for the federal exercise of that authority; and
Whereas, The purposes of H.R. 10 and S. 900 can be accomplished without preempting the authority of this state to regulate providers of insurance for the protection of its residents; and
Whereas, This state currently has an effective system of laws to monitor and ensure the financial stability of providers of insurance and to protect the residents of this state from unfair trade practices: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of Nevada, Jointly, That the Nevada Legislature hereby urges Congress to ensure that the provisions of H.R. 10 S. 900 and any similar federal legislation do not interfere with the jurisdiction of this state to regulate providers of insurance for the protection of its residents; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and transmit a copy of this resolution to the Vice President of the United States as the presiding officer of the Senate, the Speaker of the house of Representatives and each member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation; and be it further
Resolved, That this resolution becomes effective upon passage and approval.
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POM-244. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of the State of Illinois relative to reauthorization of the Older Americans Act; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Senate Joint Resolution No. 39
Whereas, The Older Americans Act promotes the dignity and value of every older person age 60 and over (numbering 2,000,000 in Illinois) through an Aging Network led by the Illinois Department on Aging, 13 area agencies on aging, 233 community-based senior service agencies, and 63 nutrition services agencies throughout Illinois; and
Whereas, The Older Americans Act is a successful federal program, with the U.S. Administration on Aging offering leadership in Washington, D.C., the Illinois Department on Aging (the first state department on aging in the nation) at the State level, the area agencies on aging in 13 regions designated by the State covering all of Illinois, and community-based senior service agencies providing services in every community; and
Whereas, The Older Americans Act programs target resources and services to those in greatest economic and social need, promote the dignity and contributions of our senior citizens, support transportation services, provide home care, assist families and individuals with case management, guide those challenged by the legal system through legal assistance, provide for senior community service employment, offer information and assistance, establish multi-purpose senior centers as focal points on aging, serve congregate luncheon and home-delivered meals, provide health promotion and disease prevention activities, involve older persons in nutrition education, reach out to families with respite services for caregivers and small repair and home modifications, provide opportunities, education, and services, connect people in shared housing, and advocate to public and private policy makers on the issues of importance to older persons; and
Whereas, The success of this aging network over the past 31 years is marked by the delivery of significant service to older persons in their own homes and community with the following services examples of that success:
(1) 374,538 recipients of access services, including 235,148 Information and Assistance Services clients and 68,493 recipients of Case Management Services;
(2) 53,450 recipients of in-home services, including 6,460,533 home-delivered meals to 41,305 elders;
(3) 185,520 recipients of community services, including 3,636,855 meals to 79,012 congregate meal participants at 647 nutrition sites and services delivered from 170 Senior Centers;
(4) 760 recipients of employment services, including 760 senior community service employment program participants; and
(5) 98,600 recipients of nursing home ombudsman services; and
Whereas, The organizations serving older persons employ professionals dedicated to offering the highest level of service and caring workers who every day provide in-home care, rides, educational and social activities, shopping assistance, advice, and hope to those in greatest isolation and need; and
Whereas, The organizations serving older persons involve a multi-generational corps of volunteers who contribute to the governance, planning, and delivery of services to older persons in their own communities through participation on boards and advisory councils and in the provision of clerical support, programming, and direct delivery of service to seniors; and
Whereas, The Older Americans Act programs in Illinois leverage local funding for aging services and encourage contributions from older persons; and
Whereas, The Older Americans Act programs are the foundation for the Illinois Community Care Program which reaches out to those with the lowest incomes and greatest frailty to provide alternatives to long-term care, and the Illinois Elder Abuse and Neglect Interventions Program which assists families in the most difficult of domestic situations with investigation and practical interventions; and
Whereas, The Congress of the United States has not reauthorized the Older Americans Act since 1995 and only extends the program each year through level appropriations; and
Whereas, Expansion of the Older Americans Act is proposed in reauthorization legislation this year to offer family caregiver support, increased numbers of home-delivered meals, improved promotion of elder rights, consolidation of several programs and sub-titles of the law: Therefore, be it
Resolved, by the Senate of the Ninety-first General Assembly of the State of Illinois, the House of Representatives concurring herein, That we urge the Congress of the United States of America to reauthorize the Older Americans Act this year; and be it further
Resolved, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and each member of the Illinois congressional delegation.
Adopted by the Senate, May 26, 1999.
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POM-245. A joint resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the State of Maryland relative to state regulation of self-funded employer-based health plans; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Senate Joint Resolution 7
Whereas, The McCarran-Ferguson Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1945, established a statutory framework whereby responsibility for regulating insurance and the insurance industry was left largely to the states; and
Whereas, The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) significantly altered this concept by creating a federal framework for regulating employer-based pension and welfare benefit plans, including health plans; and
Whereas, ERISA effectively prohibits states from directly regulating many employer-based health plans because ERISA preempts state regulation of self-insured plans; and
Whereas, Available data suggests that self-funding of employer-based health plans is increasing at a significant rate among both small and large businesses; and
Whereas, Between 1989 and 1993, the United States General Accounting Office estimates that the number of self-funded plan enrollees increased by about 6,000,000 individuals; and
Whereas, Approximately 40% to 50% of employer-based health plans are presently self-funded by employers that retain most or all of the financial risk for their respective health plans; and
Whereas, With the growth in the self-funding of health plans, states have lost regulatory oversight over a growing portion of the health market; and
Whereas, Recent federal court decisions have struck down state laws regulating insured health plans by expanding ERISA's current preemption of state laws regulating self-insured plans to laws relating to ensured plans; and
Whereas, As these phenomena continue, state governments are losing their ability to mange their health care markets; and
Whereas, Many state legislatures, such as the Maryland General Assembly, have taken significant actions to increase access to care, to control costs, and to regulate against abuses by health plans; and
Whereas, ERISA preemption is a significant obstacle to the states adopting a wide range of health care reform and consumer protection strategies; and
Whereas, The states' inability to protect consumers enrolled in self-funded health plans that fail to provide the consumers' anticipated level of health care is gradually eroding the public's confidence in the American health care system because self-funded plans are afforded an unfair advantage over traditional health insurance plans due to a lack of adequate state or federal accountability, regulation, or remedy for the ERISA plan members who are denied coverage; and
Whereas, Over the past 24 years, state governments have gradually realized that ERISA is an impediment to ensuring adequate consumer protection for all individuals with employer-based health care coverage and to enacting administrative simplification and cost reduction reforms that could improve the efficiency and equity of their health care markets; and
Whereas, ERISA plan participants, their dependents, and their treating physicians believe that they have been denied coverage for medically necessary procedures because ERISA's remedy provisions have been narrowly interpreted and ERISA's preemption provisions have been broadly interpreted, thereby creating substantial economic incentives, with few disincentives for plan administrators to deny medically necessary benefits legitimately covered under ERISA plans; and
Whereas, The time has now come for the states to aggressively seek changes in ERISA to give them more flexibility in regulating health plans at the state level, to increase access to health care, and to lower health care costs: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That this General Assembly hereby requests the U.S. Congress to amend the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to authorize each state to monitor and to regulate self-funded employer-based health plans in the interests of providing greater consumer protection and effecting significant health care reforms at the state level through the offices of the various insurance commissioners and states' attorneys general. Additionally, the United States Department of Labor should cooperatively refer complaints to the offices of the various insurance commissioners and states' attorneys general; and be it further
Resolved, That Sec. 502(a)(1)(B) of ERISA, which currently reads: ``(B) to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plan;'', be amended to read: ``(B) to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to recover from the fiduciary compensatory damages caused by the fiduciary's failure to pay benefits due under the terms of the plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to timely authorize assurance of payment and clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plans;''; and be it further
Resolved, This this General Assembly most fervently urges and encourages each state legislative body in the nation to enact this resolution, or one similar in context and form, as a show of solidarity in petitioning the federal government for greater state authority and responsibility in regulating self-funded employer-based health plans; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the Honorable Parris N. Glendening, Governor of Maryland; The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr., President of the Senate of Maryland; and the Honorable Casper R. Taylor, Jr., Speaker of the House of Delegates; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 444 North Capitol Street, NW., Suite 515, Washington, DC 20001; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the President of the United States; the Secretary of the United States Department of Labor; the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives; the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate; and to the presiding officer of each chamber of each state legislature in the nation; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the Maryland Congressional Delegation: Senators Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski, Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510; and Representatives Wayne T. Gilchrest, Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., Benjamin L. Cardin, Albert R. Wynn, Steny Hamilton Hoyer, Roscoe G. Bartlett, Elijah E. Cummings, and Constance A. Morella, House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515.
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POM-246. A joint resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the State of Maryland relative to state regulation of self-funded employer-based health plans; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
House Joint Resolution 8
Whereas, The McCarran-Ferguson Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1945, established a statutory framework whereby responsibility for regulating insurance and the insurance industry was left largely to the states; and
Whereas, The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) significantly altered this concept by creating a federal framework for regulating employer-based pension and welfare benefit plans, including health plans; and
Whereas, ERISA effectively prohibits states from directly regulating many employer-based health plans because ERISA preempts state regulation of self-insured plans; and
Whereas, Available data suggests that self-funding or employer-based health plans in increasing at a significant rate among both small and large businesses; and
Whereas, Between 1989 and 1993, the United States General Accounting Office estimates that the number of self-funded plan enrollees increase by about 6,000,000 individuals; and
Whereas, Approximately 40% to 50% of employer-based health plans are presently self-funded by employers that retain most or all of the financial risk for their respective health plans; and
Whereas, With the growth in the self-funding of health plans, states have lost regulatory oversight over a growing portion of the health market; and
Whereas, Recent federal court decisions have struck down state laws regulating insured health plans by expanding ERISA's current preemption of state laws regulating self-insured plans to laws relating to insured plans; and
Whereas, As these phenomena, continue, state governments are losing their ability to manage their health care markets; and
Whereas, Many state legislatures, such as the Maryland General Assembly, have taken significant actions to increase access to care, to control costs, and to regulate against abuses by health plans; and
Whereas, ERISA preemption is a significant obstacle to the states adopting a wide range of health care reform and consumer protection strategies; and
Whereas, The states' inability to protect consumers enrolled in self-funded health plans that fail to provide the consumers' anticipated level of health care is gradually eroding the public's confidence in the American health care system because self-funded plans are afforded an unfair advantage over traditional health insurance plans due to a lack of adequate state or federal accountability, regulation, or remedy for the ERISA plan members who are denied coverage; and
Whereas, Over the past 24 years, state governments have gradually realized that ERISA is an impediment to ensuring adequate consumer protection for all individuals with employer-based health care coverage and to enacting administrative simplification and cost reduction reforms that could improve the efficiency and equity of their health care markets; and
Whereas, ERISA plan participants, their dependents, and their treating physicians believe that they have been denied coverage for medically necessary procedures because ERISA's remedy provisions have been narrowly interpreted and ERISA's preemption provisions have been broadly interpreted, thereby creating substantial economic incentives, with few disincentives for plan administrators to deny medically necessary benefits legitimately covered under ERISA plans; and
Whereas, The time has now come for the states to aggressively seek changes in ERISA to give them more flexibility in regulating health plans at the state level, to increase access to health care, and to lower health care costs: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That this General Assembly hereby requests the U.S. Congress to amend the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to authorize each state to monitor and to regulate self-funded employer-based health plans in the interests of providing greater consumer protection and effecting significant health care reforms at the state level through the offices of the various insurance commissioners and states' attorneys general. Additionally, the United States Department of Labor should cooperatively refer complaints to the offices of the various insurance commissioners and states' attorneys general; and be it further
Resolved, That Sec. 502(a)(1)(B) of ERISA, which currently reads: ``(B) to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plan;'', be amended to read: ``(B) to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to recover from the fiduciary compensatory damages caused by the fiduciary's failure to pay benefits due under the terms of the plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to timely authorize assurance of payment and clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plans;''; and be it further
Resolved, That this General Assembly most fervently urges and encourages each state legislative body in the nation to enact this resolution, or one similar in context and form, as a show of solidarity in petitioning the federal government for greater state authority and responsibility in regulating self-funded employer-based health plans; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the Honorable Parris N. Glendening, Governor of Maryland; The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr., President of the Senate of Maryland; and the Honorable Casper R. Taylor, Jr., Speaker of the House of Delegates; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 444 North Capitol Street, N.W., Suite 515, Washington, D.C. 20001; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the President of the United States; the Secretary of the United States Department of Labor; the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives; the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate; and to the presiding officer of each chamber of each state legislature in the nation; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of Legislative Services to the Maryland Congressional Delegation: Senators Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; and Representatives Wayne T. Gilchrest, Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., Benjamin L. Cardin, Albert R. Wynn, Steny Hamilton Hoyer, Roscoe G. Bartlett, Elijah E. Cummings, and Constance A. Morella, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.
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POM-217. A joint resolution adopted by the Assembly of the State of Nevada relative to amending the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Assembly Joint Resolution No. 2
Whereas, On December 15, 1971, Congress enacted the provisions of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 1331 et seq.; and
Whereas, The purpose of the Act is to preserve the wild horses and burros living on the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service and to protect those wild horses and burros from capture, branding, harassment and death; and
Whereas, Since 1971, the population of wild horses living on the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service has increased dramatically, particularly in Nevada where the largest population of those wild horses exists; and
Whereas, the Act requires the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to manage the wild horses living on the public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service in a manner that will achieve and maintain a natural ecological balance on those public lands; and
Whereas, Pursuant to that Act, if the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture determines that an overpopulation of wild horses exists in an area of the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service, the secretary must remove the excess wild horses from those areas to achieve an appropriate level of management for the wild horses; and
Whereas, Although the provisions of the Act address the issue of overpopulation of wild horses, the Act does not require that the population of wild horses be maintained at a particular level, thereby allowing the population of wild horses to expand far beyond the level envisioned by Congress in 1971; and
Whereas, Allowing an excessive number of wild horses to live on the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service causes those public lands to deteriorate from overuse and contravenes the purposes of the Taylor Grazing Act, 43 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 315 et seq., and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, 43 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 1701 et seq., which are intended to protect those public lands from deterioration and overuse; and
Whereas, Requiring the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to maintain the population of wild horses living on the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service at the level established for those wild horses in 1975 will:
1. Improve the condition of the ranges used by the wild horses;
2. Increase the population and improve the habitat of deer, antelope and other species of wildlife living on those public lands;
3. Allow an increased use of the public lands and the development of native flora and vegetation;
4. Improve conditions for hunting and other outdoor sports;
5. Reduce the amount of money required to shelter, feed and prepare wild horses for adoption; and
6. Reduce the risk of deaths of wild horses because of freezing, starvation and drought: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of Nevada, Jointly, That the Nevada Legislature urges Congress to amend the provisions of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to establish the necessary regulations and procedures whereby horses and burros in excess of the appropriate management levels are gathered in a timely fashion, and unadoptable horses and burros are made available for sale at open market; and be it further
Resolved, That the Nevada Legislature urges Congress to include provisions in the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act directing that the proceeds of sales of unadoptable horses and burros be granted to the state director of the federal land management agency responsible for the horses and burros which were gathered off public lands, prior to sale, and that these proceeds be used to augment wild horse and burro management programs in the state; and be it further
Resolved, That the establishment of the appropriate management levels should be based on sound scientific and locally-collected resource information that incorporates and fully acknowledges other existing multiple uses of the land, such as the needs of other wildlife and livestock living on the land; and be it further
Resolved, That the establishment of the appropriate management levels should be concluded by the end of the federal fiscal year 2002, and maintained thereafter, irrespective of the outlet capacity of the federal horse adoption programs; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare and transmit a copy of this resolution to the Vice President of the United States as the presiding officer of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation and each legislature of the other 49 states; and be it further
Resolved, That this resolution becomes effective upon passage and approval.
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