RETIREMENT CREDIT AND FRINGE BENEFITS FOR

FEDERAL-STATE SERVICE

FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1964

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL SERVICE OF THE

COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE,

Washington, D.C. The committee met at 10 a.m., in room 215, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. James H. Morrison (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. MORRISON. The meeting will come to order.

Before we take up the bill, the Chair would like to recognize Mr. Wallhauser.

Mr. WALLHAUSER. I would like to have the privilege, if I may, of introducing Mr. Louis Paul, a teacher at Livingston High School in my district, who lives in Montclair, N.J., and who was sent here by the Eagleton Institute of Rutgers University as part of an educational program. He has been in my office for several weeks in cooperation with the New Jersey State Society. Rutgers University feels that it would be of assistance in the educational process to have our secondary schoolteachers gain firsthand experience in Government. I would like to introduce Mr. Paul.

Mr. MORRISON. Thank you, Mr. Wallhauser. We are happy to have the distinguished gentleman from your district. You praised him very justifiably. At the same time, I would like to add, while you feel fortunate in having him as your constituent, he should feel fortunate in having a dedicated and hard-working Congressman like yourself.

The Subcommittee on Civil Service is meeting this morning to receive testimony on two separate legislative proposals that are designed to improve the ability of the Federal Government to recruit highly capable and experienced personnel.

(H.R. 8544 and H.R. 5376 follow :)

[H.R. 8544, 88th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To extend the benefits of the Annual and Sick Leave Act of 1951, the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944, and the Classification Act of 1949 with respect to employees of county committees established pursuant to section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 802 of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended (5 U.S.C. 1132), is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

"(e) An employee of a county committee established pursuant to section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (16 U.S.C. 590h (b)) may upon appointment to a position subject to this Act have his initial rate of com

pensation fixed at the minimum rate of the appropriate grade, or at any step of such grade that does not exceed the highest previous rate of compensation received by him during service with such county committee."

SEC. 2. The Annual and Sick Leave Act of 1951 (65 Stat. 679–683), as amended (5 U.S.C. 2061 and following), is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new section:

"SEC. 210. Service rendered as an employee of a county committee established pursuant to section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (16 U.S.C. 590h (b)), or of a committee or an association of producers described in section 10(b) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of May 12, 1933 (48 Stat. 37), shall be included in determining years of service for the purpose of section 203 (a) of this Act. The provisions of section 205(e) of this Act for transfer of annual and sick leave between leave systems shall apply to the leave system established for such employees."

SEC. 3. Section 12 of the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944 (5 U.S.C. 861) is amended by inserting before the period at the end thereof the following: “: And provided further, That in computing length of total service, credit shall be given for service rendered as an employee of a county committee established pursuant to section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (16 U.S.C. 590h (b)), or of a committee or an association of producers described in section 10(b) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of May 12, 1933 (48 Stat. 37)”.

[H.R. 5376, 88th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To amend the Civil Service Retirement Act to provide for the inclusion in the computation of accredited service of certain periods of service rendered States or instrumentalities of States, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 3 of the Civil Serv ice Retirement Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new

subsection:

"(k) Subject to the conditions contained in this paragraph, any employee or Member who is serving in a position within the purview of this Act at the time of his retirement or death shall be allowed credit for all periods of service (including, but not limited to, service performed under cooperative arrangements with Federal contribution in the form of licensing services or supervision) performed by him (except for those periods in which the record shows he was certified as being eligible for relief) in the employ of a State, or a political subdivision thereof or of any instrumentality of either, in the carrying out of

"(1) the program of a State rural rehabilitation corporation created for the purpose of handling rural relief the funds for which were made available by the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 55). the Act of February 15, 1934 (48 Stat. 351), and the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935 (48 Stat. 1055), and any laws or parts of law amendatory of, or supplementary to, such Acts;

"(2) the Federal-State cooperative program of agricultural experiment stations research and investigation authorized by the Act of March 2, 1887. as amended and supplemented (7 U.S.C., ch. 14);

"(3) the Federal-State cooperative program of vocational education authorized by the Act of February 23, 1917, as amended and supplemented (20 U.S.C., ch. 2);

"(4) the Federal-State cooperative program of agricultural extension work authorized by the Act of May 8, 1914, as amended and supplemented (7 U.S.C., secs. 341-348);

"(5) the Federal-State cooperative program of forest and watershed protection authorized by section 2 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C.. sec. 563), and by the Act of June 7, 1924, as amended and supplemented (16 U.S.C., secs. 564-568b);

"(6) the Federal-State cooperative program for the control of plant pests and animal diseases authorized by the provisions of law set forth in chapters 7 and 8 of title 7 and in section 114a of title 21 of the United States Code:

"(7) the Federal-State cooperative program of the public employment service authorized under the Deficiency Appropriation Act of October 6,

1917, and as amended (29 U.S.C. 49); and annual appropriation Acts of the United States Department of Labor in subsequent years; the WagnerPeyser Act of June 6, 1933 (U.S. Stat. 113), as amended (29 U.S.C. 49); and the provisions for employment service and unemployment insurance under title III of the Social Security Act of August 14, 1935, as amended (42 U.S.C. 501 et seq.);

"(8) the Federal-State cooperative program of highway construction authorized by the Federal-Aid Road Act approved July 11, 1916, as amended and supplemented (23 U.S.C.);

"(9) the Federal-State cooperative assistance programs approved under title I, IV, V, X, and XIV of the Social Security Act of August 14, 1935, as amended and supplemented (42 U.S.C., ch. 7, subchs. 1, 4, 5, 10, and 14), and under agreements entered into under section 221 of the Social Security Act of August 14, 1935, as amended and supplemented (42 U.S.C., ch. 7, sec. 421);

"(10) the Federal-State cooperative program of vocational rehabilitation authorized by the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of August 3, 1954, as amended and supplemented (29 U.S.C., ch. 4, secs. 31-42) ;

"(11) the cooperative program in Fish Restoration and Management authorized by the Fish Restoration and Management Act of August 9, 1950, as amended and supplemented (16 U.S.C. 777A-K) ;

"(12) the cooperative program in Wildlife Restoration authorized by the Wildlife Restoration Act of September 2, 1937, as amended and supplemented (16 U.S.C. 669–669j);

“(13) the Federal-State cooperative program in marketing and investigation research authorized by the Research Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1623);

"(14) the public health programs authorized by sections 309, 314, and 316 of the Public Health Service Act (Public Law 410) of July 1, 1944, as amended and supplemented (42 U.S.C. 242g, 246, 247a);

"(15) the program of aid to certain public schools for the education of Indian children authorized by the Johnson-O'Malley Act of April 16, 1934, as amended by the Act of June 4, 1936, as amended and supplemented (48 Stat. 596)."

"The period of any service specified in this subsection shall be included in computing length of service for the purposes of this Act of any officer or employee only upon compliance with the following conditions:

(A) the employee or Member shall have to his credit a total period of not less than five years of allowable service under this Act, exclusive of service allowed by this subsection ;

"(B) the performance of such service is certified, in a form prescribed by the Civil Service Commission, by the head, or by a person designated by the head, of the department, agency, or independent establishment in the executive branch of the Government of the United States which administers the provisions of law authorizing the performance of such service, or is otherwise established to the satisfaction of the Commission;

"(C) the employees or Member shall have deposited with interest at 4 per centum per annum to December 31, 1947, and 3 per centum per annum thereafter, compounded on December 31 of each year, to the credit of the civil service retirement and disability fund a sum equal to the aggregate of the amounts that would have been deducted from his basic salary, pay, or compensation during the period of service credited under this subsection if during such period he had been subject to this Act, except that this paragraph shall not apply to services covered in paragraph (D) below;

"(D) the annuity computed under this subsection is reduced by the amount of any State annuity (including social security benefits) which an employee is receiving, or may receive, toward which the employee contributed during such State service and to which he is entitled by reason of such State service. As used in this subsection, the term 'State' includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any political subdivision thereof, or of any instrumentality of either."

SEC. 2. The annuity of any person who shall have performed service described in subsection (k) of section 3 of the Civil Service Retirement Act, as amended, and who on or after June 30, 1942, and before the date of enactment of this Act shall have been retired on annuity then or now payable from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, shall, upon application filed by such person

within one year after the date of enactment of this Act and upon compliance with the conditions prescribed by such subsection (k) be adjusted, effective as of the first day of the month immediately following the date of enactment of this Act, so that the amount of such annuity will be the same as if such subsection (k) had been in effect at the time of such person's retirement.

SEC. 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of laws, benefits under the Civil Service Retirement Act resulting from the operation of this Act shall be paid from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.

Mr. MORRISON. The first measure is H.R. 5476, introduced by our esteemed colleague from North Carolina, the Honorable David W. Henderson. This bill will give Federal employees credit, for civil service retirement purposes, for service performed by them as employees of a State or a State municipality in carrying out certain programs under cooperative arrangements and financed in whole or in part with Federal funds, provided they have a total of 5 years of creditable Federal service under the Retirement Act exclusive of the service credited under the bill.

H.R. 5376 would place several of our agencies and departments, particularly the Department of Agriculture, in much better positions in the highly competitive business of recruiting experienced personnel. State employees now engaged in these federally sponsored programs would be more encouraged to move into Federal status if they were permitted, after establishing eligibility under the Federal retirement program, to credit the similar service they have performed at the State level.

The other measure under consideration this morning is H.R. 8544, which I have introduced and which is designed to enable the Department of Agriculture to recruit more easily into the Federal service the experienced and highly qualified personnel who are now serving as employees of agricultural stabilization and conservation county committees. In brief, the bill would extend to these employees certain benefits that are now provided to other employees of the Federal Government. It would grant salary, leave, and retention credit in Federal employment for their service performed as employees of the agricultural stabilization and conservation county committees. It would also permit them to transfer unused annual and sick leave earned in county committee employment to their accounts when and if they enter the Federal service.

The first witness scheduled this morning is the Honorable David N. Henderson, author of H.R. 5376.

STATEMENT OF HON. DAVID HENDERSON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

Mr. HENDERSON. I want you and the members of the subcommittee to know that I appreciate your giving me the chance to testify today on H.R. 5376.

In view of the colloquy that went on earlier, I might add while we are fortunate in having the distinguished gentleman, our colleague, Mr. Wallhauser, with us this morning and his constituent, we all regret he is not going to be with us in the coming sessions because of his choice to retire from Congress. Our full committee is going to miss the distingiushed service he has given.

Mr. MORRISON. It will certainly be a great loss to the committee.