115 



nally, on August 15, 1984, he issued his National Space Strategy 

 which essentially implemented his other policy directives and 

 reaffirmed his commitment to build a permanent manned space 

 station within a decade as he had stated in his 1984 State of the 

 Union Address. Although originally it had been planned for the 

 National Space Strategy to enunciate long-term U.S. space goals, 

 the President left development of those goals to the newly estab- 

 lished National Commission on Space, whose report is due in 

 1986. 



July 22, 1982: Enactment of Public Law 97-219, the Small Business 

 Innovation Development Act of 1982, was designed to strengthen 

 the role of the small, innovative firms in federally funded re- 

 search and development, and to utilize Federal research and de- 

 velopment as a base for technological innovation to meet agency 

 needs and to contribute to the growth and strength of the Na- 

 tion's economy. Each Federal agency with an extramural re- 

 search and development budget in excess of $100 million is re- 

 quired to establish a small business innovation research (SBIR) 

 program, and to set aside annually 1.25 percent (phase in over a 

 four year period; 5 years for DOD) of the agency R&D budget to 

 fund the SBIR program. 



August 4, 1982: S. 2809, the National Science and Technology Im- 

 provement Act of 1982, was introduced. It would have established 

 in the Executive Office of the President a presidential program 

 for the improvement of science and technology to be adminis- 

 tered by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The 

 Act would have directed OSTP to assess particular problems of 

 science and engineering manpower improvement, and to upgrade 

 academic research in the physical and biological sciences. 



December 21, 1982: Enactment of Public Law 97-375, the Congres- 

 sional Reports Elimination Act of 1982, in which section 214, 

 amended the National Science Foundation Act of 1950. It re- 

 quested NSF's National Science Board to submit a report on Jan- 

 uary 15 of each even numbered year, on indicators of the state of 

 science and engineering in the United States. The law also 

 amended the National Science and Technology Policy, Organiza- 

 tion, and Priorities Act of 1976 (P.L. 94-282), instructing the Di- 

 rector of OSTP to prepare and present to Congress by January 15 

 of each odd numbered year a combined science and technology 

 report and outlook. 



January 6, 1983: H.R. 481 was introduced. It proposed the establish- 

 ment of the National Technology Foundation to foster communi- 

 cation between scientific and technological agencies of the Feder- 

 al Government and the small business community, operate pro- 

 grams of grants for the development of high-technology, and col- 

 lect, analyze, and publish information concerning grants and con- 

 tracts awarded to small businesses. The Act called for the reorga- 

 nization of several Federal agencies which would comprise the 

 actual foundation. 



January 7, 1983: Public Law 97-425, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act 

 of 1982, was signed. It authorized Department of Energy to 

 select, build, test, and evaluate repositories for the disposal of 

 high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The Act also 

 instructed DOE to establish a program of research and develop- 



