amount of damages which may be awarded is capped according to the size of the employer's workforce. The bill made its way through Congress only after extensive negotiations and only after a similar bill" was vetoed by the President during the 101st Congress.
The loan limit for FHA (Federal Housing Administration) singlefamily home loans would be raised to 95 percent of the median home price in the area or 75 percent of the 1992 loan Umit set by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, wltichever is less. An unpopular law
Infrastructure Acti 6 was signed into law before the adjournment of the first session of the 102nd CongresS. This authorization bill allows states and local governments more flexibility in spending their share of the Highway Trust Fund, extends through 1999 two and half cents of
"The 102nd Congress acted to reverse several decisions by the United States Supreme Court concerning employment discrimination and civil rights . .." THE HOUSING BILL: A twoyear reauthorization of federal housing programs was cleared by Congress during the final days before adjournment. J2 A formula for local government contributions for new
construction and rehabilitation of federal housing under the HOME Investment Partnersltips Act is part of the final bill. An authorization for the HOPE (Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere) project, designed to allow public housing tenants to purchase public housing, also includes a program to teach young people job skills through employment on federal housing construction projects. Provisions enacted in 1990 to preserve the supply of federally assisted housing were reauthorized. Elimination of lead based paints from both private and public housing and protection of workers exposed to lead are goals of the bill. One of the most contentious issues addressed in the housing bill was the issue of "mixed housing." Tenants of federal housing projects that once housed only the elderly feel threatened by an influx of younger, disabled tenants, many of whom are mentally disabled or drug abusers. Separate facilities may be designated for the disabled and elderly under the terms of the bill, but the designations must be approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Preference may be given to the elderly by owners of federally subsidized housing so long as at least 10% of the units are set aside for the disabled. 24
ARKANSAS LAWYER
JANUARY 1993
that capped the amount of closing costs that could be financed in an FHA loan at 57 percent was llited by Congress in an earlier bill. 13 The housing bill authorized, for the first time, a program aimed at addressing the problems of homelessness in rural areas and reauthorized the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. Programs for homeless veterans were approved as part of separate legislation." The House and the Senate cleared bills to strengthen regulation of government sponsored enterprises,1S but the two houses were never able to conference the bills for procedural reasons. The two major government sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae (the Federal ational Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), have an estimated combined liability in excess of $1 trillion dollars. Out of concern that taxpayers might eventually be at risk if the government sponsored enterprises suffered financial difficulties, members of Congress were anxious to find a vehicle to move the legislation. A compromise bill was attached to the conference report on the housing bill. The compromise creates an independent regulator within the Department of Housing and Urban Development to regulate the entities and to write riskbased capital standards to ensure that the entities can survive economic fluctuations. HIGHWA Y BILL: The lntermodal Surface Transportation
the five cent gas tax increase which would have expired in 1995, and increases the amount of funding CABLE TELEVISIO : Legislation to allow the Federal Communications Commission to regulate rates for basic cable television services'7 was the first and only bill to survive a veto by President Bush. The law also regulates the relationship between cable operators and their competitors, such as satellite operators, and requires cable operators to get
permission from broadcasters to retransmit over-the-air Signals. COMMODITIES FUTURES TRADING COMMISSIO : One of the last pieces of legislation to clear the Senate was the Commodities Futures Improvements Act of 1991. 18 Spurred by the investigation and inclictments of commodities traders in Chicago, legislators sought to restrict dual trading, require more extensive record keeping of transactions, resolve questions of jurisdiction between the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission over new financial products that have characteristics of both securities and futures, and provide more enforcement authority for the Commodities Futures "Trading Commission. CHILDRE : A bill to require consumer credit agencies to include child support debts on credit reports 19 was presented to the PresideXlt for his signature. Willful failure to pa y child support may result in federal criminal action against the nonpayinf; parent