employees who retire after the date of enactment of this legislation will receive credit for past service and may receive full annuities if they deposit with interest a sum equal to the retirement deductions which would have been made from their salaries had they been included under the Retirement Act upon the date of its enactment. Under section 9 of the Civil Service Retirement Act, if such officers and employees elect not to deposit such sum, the annuities which they receive will be reduced by 10 percent of such sum. The reports of the Civil Service Commission dated February 25, 1949, and of the Bureau of the Budget dated April 1, 1949, are as follows: Hon. Toм MURRAY, CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, Chairman, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, DEAR MR. MURRAY: Further reference is made to your communication of January 7, 1949, relative to H. R. 86, a bill to amend the Civil Service Retirement Act so as to make such act applicable to the officers and employees of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf. The Columbia Institution for the Deaf was created as a nonprofit corporation by the act of February 16, 1857, 11 Stat. 161. The act of March 4, 1911 (36 Stat. 1422), provides that, in addition to the directors whose appointments have been provided by law, one Senator shall be appointed director by the President of the United States Senate and two Representatives by the Speaker of the House The act of July 1, 1898 (30 Stat. 624), as amended by the act of June 10, 1921 (42 Stat. 24), authorizes the directors of the Institution to have control of the disbursement of all moneys appropriated by Congress for the benefit of the Institution and the accounts are settled and adjusted in the General Accounting Office as required by the provisions of section 236 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. The act of March 4, 1911, states that no part of real or personal property held or acquired by the Columbia Institution for the Deaf shall be devoted to any other purpose than the education of the deaf or dumb and cannot be transferred or sold except under the authority of a special act of Congress. This act further provides that the Superintendent of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf at the commencement of each December session of Congress shall make a full and complete statement of all the expenditures made by virtue of any appropriations by Congress. The President and directors of the Institution furnish to the Federal Security Administrator on the 1st of July of each year an annual report showing the condition of the Institution, receipts and their sources, and disbursements. A proposed budget is also submitted to the Federal Security Administrator which clears through the Bureau of the Budget. This bill would extend to officers and employees of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf coverage under the Civil Service Retirement Act, at the election of such officers and employees within 6 months from the date of enactment of the amendment; for officers and employees later appointed, the election would be made within 6 months after entrance into the service. It also provide that any service rendered prior to the effective date of the amendment as an officer or employee of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf shall be considered creditable service. The option of electing retirement status is at present limited to certain officers and employees of the legislative branch of the Government, where as in all other cases retirement coverage is mandatory. If these employees of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf are to be considered on the same basis as other employees in the executive and judicial branches of the Government for retirement purposes, there is no good reason why they should not be subject to the same terms. Therefore the optional provision should be eliminated. The Civil Service Retirement Act is intended to include only officers and employees in or under the United States or the District of Columbia Governments. The work of the officers and employees in question is so closely allied to and associated with the Federal Government and the District of Columbia Government as to virtually constitute them Federal employees. H. Repts., 81-1, vol. 3—35 With the elimination of the optional proviso, the Commission recommends approval of the proposal. The Bureau of the Budget advises that there would be no objection to the submission of this report to your committee. Sincerely yours, HARRY B. MITCHELL, President (By direction of the Commission). EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, Hon. Toм MURRAY, BUREAU OF THE BUDGET, Washington 25, D. C., April 1, 1949. Chairman, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, MY DEAR MR. MURRAY: This will acknowledge your letter of March 23, 1949, requesting an expression of the views of the Bureau with respect to the proposal contained in H. R. 86, which would make the provisions of the Civil Service Retirement Act, as amended, applicable to the officers and employees of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf. The officers and employees of this Institution are compensated from funds supplied for the most part by the Federal Government and the government of the District of Columbia. Not only do these employees share with Federal and District of Columbia personnel, to whom the Civil Service Retirement Act attaches, a common source for their compensation, but in other respects they have come to be looked upon and generally regarded as Government people. The Bureau of the Budget would not think it inappropriate, under the circumstances, to confer upon this personnel the privileges and benefits of the Civil Service Retirement Act, as H. R. 86 proposes to do.. We are informed that the Civil Service Commission, while approving this measure, believes that there should be eliminated from the bill the provisions of section 2, which would accord to these officers and employees the option of electing retirement status. The Bureau finds itself readily in agreement with this recommendation of the Commission. The option of electing retirement status is not available to officers and employees of the executive branch of the Federal Government or to the personnel of the District of Columbia. If, as would appear, the objective of the bill is to accord parity in the matter of retirement benefits to a group whose work is closely allied to and associated with the Federal and District of Columbia Governments, it would seem fitting that they be brought into the retirement system only upon the same terms as are available to the employees of these Governments. Sincerely yours, FRANK PACE, Jr., Director. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, as introduced, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italics, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT ACT OF MAY 29, 1930, AS AMENDED SEC. 3. (a) This Act shall apply to all officers and employees in or under the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the United States Government, and to all officers and employees of the municipal government of the District of Columbia, except elective officers in the executive branch of the [Government] Government, and to all officers and employees of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf at the election of such officers and employees as herein provided: Provided, That this Act shall not apply to any such officer or employee of the United States or of the municipal government of the District of Columbia subject to another retirement system for such officers and employees of such governments: Provided further, That this Act shall not apply to any officer or employee in the legislative branch of the Government within the classes of officers and employees which were made eligible for the benefits of this Act by the Act of July 13, 1937, until he gives notice in writing to the disbursing officer by whom his salary is paid, of his desire to come within the purview of this Act; and any officer or employee within such classes may, within sixty days after January 24, 1942, withdraw from the purview of this Act by giving similar notice of such desire. In the case of any officer or employee in the service of the legislative branch of the Government on January 24, 1942, such notice of desire to come within the purview of this Act must be given within the calendar year 1942. In the case of any officer or employee of the legislative branch of the Government who enters the service after January 24, 1942, such notice of desire to come within the purview of this Act must be given within six months after the date of entrance to the service. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, any officer or employee in the legislative branch of the Government within the classes of officers or employees which were made eligible for the benefits of this Act by the Act of July 13, 1947, serving in such position on the effective date of this Act, may give notice of his desire to come within the purview of this Act at any time prior to July 1, 1948. For the purposes of this Act, the official reporters of the proceedings and debates of the Senate and persons employed by them in connection with the performance of their duties as such reporters shall be deemed to be officers or employees in or under the legislative branch of the Government, and service heretofore or hereafter rendered as an official reporter of debates of the Senate or as a person employed by the official reporters of debates of the Senate in connection with the performance of their duties as such reporters shall be deemed to be service as an officer or employee in or under the legislative branch of the Government. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to any such official reporter or person employed by them until he gives notice in writing to the said official reporters of his desire to come within the purview of this Act. In the case of any such official reporter or person employed by them who is in service on the date of enactment of this subsection, such notice of desire to come within the purview of this Act must be given within six months after such date. In the case of any such official reporter or person employed by them who enters the service subsequent to the date of enactment of this subsection, such notice of desire to come within the purview of this Act must be given within six months after the date of such entrance into the service. No provision of this or any other Act relating to automatic separation from the service shall be applicable to any such official reporter or person employed by them. In the case of any officer or employee in the service of the Columbia Institute for the Deaf on the effective date of this amendment, notice of desire to come within the purview of the Act must be given to the disbursing officer by whom his salary is paid within six months from the date of enactment of this Act. In the case of any officer or employee of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf who enters the service of such Institution after the date of enactment of this amendment, such notice of desire to come within the purview of this Act must be given within six months after the date of entrance into such service. * SEC. 5. Subject to the provisions of section 9 hereof, the aggregate period of service which forms the basis for calculating the amount of any annuity provided in this Act shall be computed from the date of original employment, whether as a classified or an unclassified officer or employee in the civil service of the United States, or in the service of the District of Columbia, including periods of service at different times and in one or more departments, branches, or independent offices, or the legislative branch of the Government, and periods of service as an officer or employee of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf, and also periods of service performed overseas under authority of the United States, and periods of honorable service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States; in the case of an officer or employee, however, who is eligible for and receives retired pay on account of military or naval service, the period of service upon which such retired pay is based shall not be included, except that in the case of an officer or employee who is eligible for and receives retired pay on account of a service-connected disability incurred in combat with an enemy of the United States or resulting from an explosion of an instrument of war, the period of the military service shall be included: Provided, That an officer or employee must have served for a total period of not less than five years exclusive of such military or naval service before he shall be eligible for annuity under this Act. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as to affect in any manner an officer's or employee's right to retired pay, pension, or compensation in addition to the annuicy herein provided. In computing length of service for the purposes of this Act, all periods of separation from the service, and so much of any leaves of absence as may exceed six months in the aggregate in any calendar year, shall be excluded, except leaves of absence granted employees while performing active military or naval service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States or while receiving benefits under the United States Employees' Compensation Act, and in the case of substitutes in the Postal Service credit shall be given from date of original appointment as a substitute. No officer or employee to whom this Act applies who during the period of any war, or of any national emergency as proclaimed by the President or declared by the Congress, has left or leaves his position to enter the armed forces of the United States shall be considered as separated from such position for the purposes of this Act by reason of his service with the armed forces of the United States. This paragraph shall not be so construed as to prevent the payment of refunds as provided by section 7 (a) or 12 (b) of this Act. In determining the aggregate period of service upon which the annuity is to be based, the fractional part of a month, if any, in the total service shall be eliminated. CONFIRM TITLE IN V. LEBLANC AND C. RICCARD TO CERTAIN LANDS IN WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH, LA. MAY 9, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. PETERSON, from the Committee on Public Lands submitted the following Ꭱ Ꭼ Ꮲ Ꮕ Ꭱ Ꭲ [To accompany H. R. 2588 The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2588) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to issue patents for certain lands to V. LeBlanc and C. Riccard, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following: That there is hereby confirmed (1) To V. LeBlanc, title to section 44, township 6 south, range 12 east, containing seventy-eight and sixty-six one-hundredths acres, situated in the parish of West Baton Rouge, State of Louisiana, Southeastern Land District of Louisiana. Louisiana Meridian; and (2) To C. Riccard, title to section 45, township 6 south, range 12 east, containing forty-eight and eighty-eight one-hundredths acres, situated in the parish of West Baton Rouge, State of Louisiana, Southeastern Land District of Louisiana. Louisiana Meridian. Amend the title so as to read: To confirm title in V. Le Blanc and C. Riccard to certain lands in West Baton ouge Parish, Louisiana EXPLANATION OF THE BILL H. R. 2588, as amended, confirms title in V. LeBlanc and C. Riccard to certain lands in West Baton Rouge Parish, La. No expenditure of Federal funds is involved, and the Department of the Interior favors the bill's enactment. |