Memorandums on Governmentwide Family Policy

Memorandums on Governmentwide Family Policy

September 9, 1988

Memorandum for the Secretary of Agriculture

I have approved the recommendations contained in the first 11 sections of the Family Report directed by the Executive Order on the Family. These recommendations address one particular issue that falls within the purview of your Department.

Would you please ensure that the following recommendation is carried out:

The Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), together with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, should report to the Domestic Policy Council, within 90 days, on the progress of their joint Rural Housing Market Initiative that is testing the use of housing vouchers in rural areas served by FmHA.

I am directing Gary L. Bauer, Assistant to the President for Policy Development, to monitor progress on our response to these recommendations and to provide me with status reports in September and December 1988. Please provide Mr. Bauer with appropriate information about your progress.

Ronald Reagan

Memorandum for the Secretary of Education

I have approved the recommendations contained in the first 11 sections of the Family Report directed by the Executive Order on the Family. These recommendations address many issues that fall within the purview of your Department.

Would you please ensure that the following recommendations are carried out:

1. Work with the National Drug Policy Board, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a model policy that agencies could use to make the receipt of Federal funds contingent upon institutions taking appropriate steps to create a drug-free environment.

2. Work with the Office of Policy Development and the Working Group on the Parental Role in Education to plan a White House workshop on choice in education to highlight the advantages of choice for educational reform and to recognize the people who have contributed to the movement for greater parental choice in American education.

Ronald Reagan

Memorandum for the Secretary of Health and Human Services

Would you please ensure that the following recommendations are carried out:

1. Ensure that all human sexuality and family planning educational and informational materials developed for teens by Federal agencies and, to the extent permitted by law, grantees focus on promoting and encouraging abstinence.

2. Propose legislative initiatives or to take such necessary administrative action consistent with the law to prevent the use of Federal funds for the distribution of contraceptives or prescriptions for contraceptives in schools without parental permission for these services.

3. Work with the National Drug Policy Board, the Department of Education, and the Office of Personnel Management to develop a model policy that agencies could use to make the receipt of Federal funds contingent upon institutions taking appropriate steps to create a drug-free environment.

4. Work with the Office of Policy Development to develop options such as an Executive order, or other actions if appropriate, that would, to the extent permitted by law, protect unborn or newborn children from experimentation, research, and organ transplantation, except in cases where the unborn or newborn child would itself directly benefit by any such procedures to which it was subjected.

Ronald Reagan

Memorandum for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

I have approved the recommendations contained in the first 11 sections of the Family Report directed by the Executive Order on the Family. These recommendations address two issues that fall within the purview of your Department.

Would you please ensure that the following recommendations are carried out:

1. Issue by September 7, 1988, the final rule implementing Public Housing Resident Management and a Federal Register notice for public housing homeownership and management opportunities, as authorized in the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987; and expeditiously implement these provisions to bring about substantially increased resident management and homeownership of public housing projects.

2. With the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) report to the Domestic Policy Council, within 90 days, on the progress of their joint Rural Housing Market Initiative that is testing the use of housing vouchers in rural areas served by FmHA.

Ronald Reagan

Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury

Would you please ensure that the following recommendations are carried out:

1. A study of methods whereby tax changes can be directed toward families with dependent children, either through an increase in the personal exemption for dependent children, targeted tax credits, or other methods. Such tax relief would be contingent upon the need to maintain the government's revenue base and must not be at the expense of higher marginal rates. The study should be submitted for further analysis to the Economic Policy Council within 120 days.

2. A study of the idea of allowing spouses without earned income to contribute the same amount to an IRA ($2,000) as those who work outside the home. A report should be submitted to the Economic Policy Council, within 120 days, containing budget-neutral options for achieving this reform.

Ronald Reagan

Memorandum for the Attorney General

Would you please ensure that the following recommendations are carried out:

1. Prepare for my signature a memorandum advocating implementation of the major recommendations of the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence of 1983, with special emphasis on the following: that family violence be treated by law enforcement agencies as a criminal law violation, not primarily a social service problem; that the public be educated about this serious and often secret crime; and that prevention and early intervention are the best ways to stop violence and to build healthy families.

2. Develop a legislative proposal requiring that no bill be reported to the Senate or House of Representatives by any Committee of either House unless such bill is accompanied by a Family Impact Statement.

Ronald Reagan

Memorandum for the Director of the Office of Personnel Management

Would you please ensure that the following recommendation is carried out:

Work with the National Drug Policy Board, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a model policy that agencies could use to make the receipt of Federal funds contingent upon institutions taking appropriate steps to create a drug-free environment.

Ronald Reagan

Memorandum for the Chairman of the National Drug Policy Board

I have approved the recommendations contained in the first 11 sections of the Family Report required by the Executive Order on the Family. These recommendations address many issues that fall within the purview of the National Drug Policy Board.

Would you please ensure that the Board complies with the following:

1. Develop legislative proposals requiring mandatory minimum sentences for those who sell and distribute drugs to minors and those who use minors in drug trafficking.

2. Work with the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of Personnel Management to develop a model policy that agencies could use to make the receipt of Federal funds contingent upon institutions taking appropriate steps to create a drug-free environment.

3. Develop programs that promote family participation in the prevention, intervention, and treatment of illegal drug use by children.

Ronald Reagan

Note: Each memorandum was issued separately by the Office of the Press Secretary.