Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998

(On June 25, 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that the Line Item Veto Act (Public Law 104-130) is unconstitutional, thus restoring provisions that had been cancelled as summarized below.)

(On November 1, 1997, the President exercised his line item veto authority to cancel $14.015 million in discretionary budget authority for the following seven items in this Act: (1) a new national cemetery in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; (2) a police training complex in Arab, Alabama; (3) trade and development activities of the Carter County Chamber of Commerce, Montana; (4) a solar aquatic wastewater treatment demonstration project in Burlington, Vermont; (5) the Alabama Water and Wastewater Institute operator training program; (6) wastewater and drinking water system needs in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania; and (7) optical astronomy testbeds. The following revised digest summarizes the enacted version of H.R. 2158 as modified by line item veto.) (Note: The high degree of specificity of the items cancelled precluded their inclusion in the original law's summary. As a result, the original law's summary and the summary of the law after the item vetoes are identical. For more information on the specific items vetoed, see the text of the conference report for H.R. 2158, H. Rept. 105-297, and Presidential Cancellation Numbers 97-65 through 97-71.))

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: HUD Multifamily Housing Reform

Subtitle A: FHA-Insured Multifamily Housing Mortgage

and Housing Assistance Restructuring

Subtitle B: Miscellaneous Provisions

Subtitle C: Enforcement Provisions

Subtitle D: Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance

Restructuring

Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 - Makes appropriations for FY 1998 for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and for sundry independent agencies.

Title I: Department of Veterans Affairs - Makes appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs for: (1) veterans' compensation, pensions, and readjustment benefits; (2) veterans' insurance and indemnities; (3) veterans' housing, education, and vocational rehabilitation loan accounts; (4) veterans' medical care; (5) medical and prosthetic research; (6) medical administration; (7) the General Post Fund, national homes; (8) departmental administration; (9) the National Cemetery System; (10) the Office of Inspector General; (11) construction; (12) the parking revolving fund; and (13) grants to States for construction of extended care facilities and cemeteries.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

(Sec. 108) Makes the enactment of this section contingent upon the enactment of legislation establishing the Medical Collections Fund.

Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, if the total amount to be recovered for FY 1998 for deposit to the Fund will be at least $25 million less than the amount contained in the latest Congressional Budget Office baseline estimate for such recovery, to certify the amount of the shortfall to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, from any unobligated amounts in the Treasury, to deposit an amount equal to that certified in the Fund.

Title II: Department of Housing and Urban Development - Makes appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for: (1) public and Indian housing; (2) the Public Housing Capital and Operating Funds; (3) drug elimination grants for low-income housing; (4) revitalization of severely distressed public housing; (5) Native American housing block grants; (6) Indian housing loan guarantees; (7) the capital grants-capital loans preservation account; (8) housing opportunities for persons with AIDS; (9) community development block grants; (10) brownfields redevelopment projects; (11) empowerment zones and enterprise communities; (12) the HOME investment partnerships program; (13) homeless assistance grants; (14) housing for special populations; (15) the Federal Housing Administration; (16) the Government National Mortgage Association; (17) housing policy development and research; (18) fair housing activities; (19) management and administration; (20) the Office of Inspector General; and (21) carrying out the Federal Housing Enterprise Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992.

Rescinds specified amounts for: (1) annual contributions for assisted housing; (2) the Supportive Housing Demonstration Program; (3) the Shelter Plus Care program; and (4) rental housing assistance.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

(Sec. 201) Extends certain provisions regarding contributions for low-income housing projects and the demolition, disposition, or conversion to home ownership of public housing.

Amends the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 to extend provisions regarding the streamlining of section 8 tenant-based assistance.

Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to extend specified provisions regarding section 8 rent adjustments through FY 1998.

Amends the Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, I to extend provisions regarding: (1) public and assisted housing minimum rents, income adjustments, and preferences; and (2) delays in the reissuance of section 8 vouchers and certificates.

(Sec. 210) Amends the National Housing Act to authorize HUD to make partial guaranteed mortgage loan payments for health care facilities.

(Sec. 214) Amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to provide for allocations for affordable housing to local jurisdictions that receive initial formula allocations of less than $500,000. (Currently, only jurisdictions that receive more than such amount are granted an allocation.)

(Sec. 217) Requires the Secretary of HUD to make a grant for any State that: (1) received an allocation for FY 1997 under the AIDS Housing Opportunity Act; (2) is not otherwise eligible for such allocation for FY 1998 because the State does not have the required number of AIDS cases; and (3) would meet such requirement if the cases in the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) for any city within the State (which was not eligible in FY 1997 but is eligible for FY 1998) were considered to be cases outside of such MSAs.

Title III: Independent Agencies -Makes appropriations for: (1) the American Battle Monuments Commission; (2) the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; (3) the Department of the Treasury's community development financial institutions program; (4) the Consumer Product Safety Commission; (5) the Corporation for National and Community Service; (6) the Office of Inspector General; (7) the Court of Veterans Appeals; and (8) the Department of Defense for Army cemeterial expenses.

Appropriates funds for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for: (1) science and technology activities; (2) environmental programs and management; (3) the Office of Inspector General; (4) buildings and facilities; (5) Superfund; (6) the leaking underground storage tank program; (7) oil spill response programs; and (8) assistance to States and Indian tribes for environmental programs and infrastructure.

Makes the Working Capital Fund available to EPA for maintenance and operation of administrative services without fiscal year limitation.

Appropriates funds for: (1) the Executive Office of the President for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Office of Environmental Quality and to meet unanticipated needs in the national interest, security, or defense; and (2) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General.

Makes appropriations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for: (1) disaster relief; (2) disaster assistance direct loans; (3) salaries and expenses; (4) the Office of Inspector General; (5) emergency management planning and assistance; (6) a specified emergency food and shelter program; and (7) the National Flood Insurance Fund.

Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to extend through FY 1998: (1) a certain ceiling on obligations issued under the national flood insurance program; (2) the authority for new flood insurance contracts; and (3) the authorization of appropriations for certain studies.

Requires the Director of FEMA to promulgate a methodology for collection of fees applicable to persons subject to FEMA's radiological emergency preparedness regulations. Permits collection of such fees only during FY 1998.

Makes appropriations for: (1) the General Services Administration for the Consumer Information Center; (2) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for human space flight, science, aeronautics, and technology research and development, mission support, and the Office of Inspector General; (3) the National Credit Union Administration's Central Liquidity Facility; (4) the National Science Foundation for research, major construction projects, science and engineering education and human resources programs, salaries and expenses, and the Office of Inspector General; (5) the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; and (6) the Selective Service System.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

Title IV: General Provisions -Sets forth provisions regarding availability, and prohibitions on the use, of funds appropriated by this Act.

(Sec. 415) Expresses the sense of the Congress that all equipment and products purchased with funds made available in this Act should be American-made.

(Sec. 417) Requires amounts necessary for FY 1998 pay raises for programs funded by this Act to be within levels appropriated.

(Sec. 419) 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) Makes funds to carry out the termination of the Office of Consumer Affairs available from those appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services for FY 1998.

Title V: HUD Multifamily Housing Reform - Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 - Subtitle A: FHA-Insured Multifamily Housing Mortgage and Housing Assistance Restructuring - Directs the Secretary of HUD to enter into agreements with participating administrative entities (with preference given to State or local housing finance agencies) to develop and implement mortgage restructuring and rental assistance plans for FHA-insured multifamily housing mortgages in order to: (1) reduce expiring section 8 contracts costs; (2) address troubled projects; and (3) correct management and ownership deficiencies.

Includes two-tiered mortgage restructuring among plan incentives.

Terminates program authority as of a specified date.

(Sec. 524) Sets forth authorities regarding renewal of certain section 8 contracts.

Subtitle B: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants for the capital costs of rehabilitation to owners of specified insured or section 8 projects, subject to certain conditions.

(Sec. 532) Requires the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on section 8 assistance for multifamily housing projects, including an analysis of how State and local housing finance agencies have benefited from rental assistance and the effectiveness of project oversight.

Subtitle C: Enforcement Provisions - Directs the Secretary to issue implementing regulations.

(Sec. 542) Amends the Social Security Act to make permanent provisions authorizing disclosure by States of certain income and unemployment records of housing assistance participants or applicants to HUD. Makes a conforming amendment to Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to tax return information of such individuals.

Part 1: FHA Single Family and Multifamily Housing -Amends the National Housing Act to expand HUD authorities with respect to: (1) lender sanctions; (2) equity skimming; and (3) civil money penalties.

Part 2: FHA Multifamily Provisions - Amends the National Housing Act and the Housing Act of 1937 to expand multifamily housing-related civil money penalties.

(Sec. 563) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 to extend the double damages remedy.

Subtitle D: Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring - Establishes the Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring within HUD.

(Sec. 579) Terminates Subtitle A (except for section 8 contract renewal provisions) and this subtitle on October 1, 2001.