[Committee print], January 20, 1949

81ST CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION H. R.

Mr.

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To provide for the reorganization of Government agencies, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

TITLE I

SHORT TITLE

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Reorganization Act of 1945 1949”.

NEED FOR REORGANIZATIONS

SEC. 2. (a) The President shall examine and from time to time reexamine the organization of all agencies of the Government and shall determine what changes therein are necessary to accomplish the following purposes:

(1) to facilitate orderly transition from war to peace promote the better execution of the laws, the more effective management of the executive branch of the Government and of its agencies and functions, and the expeditious administration of the public business;

(2) to reduce expenditures and promote economy, to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government;

(3) to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Government to the fullest extent practicable within the revenues;

(4) to group, coordinate, and consolidate agencies and functions of the Government, as nearly as may be, according to major purposes;

(5) to reduce the number of agencies by consolidating those having similar functions under a single head, and to abolish such agencies or functions thereof as may not be necessary for the efficient conduct of the Government; and

(6) to eliminate overlapping and duplication of effort.

(b) The Congress declares that the public interest demands the carrying out of the purposes specified in subsection (a) and that such purposes may be accomplished in great measure by proceeding under the provisions of this Act, and can be accomplished more speedily thereby than by the enactment of specific legislation.

(e) It is the expectation of the Congress that the transfers, consolidations, coordinations, and abolitions under this Act shall accomplish an over-all reduction of at least 25 per centum in the administrative costs of the agency or agencies affeeted:

REORGANIZATION PLANS

SEC. 3. Whenever the President, after investigation, finds that—

(1) the transfer of the whole or any part of any agency, or of the whole or any part of the functions thereof, to the jurisdiction and control of any other agency; or

(2) the abolition of all or any part of the functions of any agency; or (3) the consolidation or coordination of the whole or any part of any agency, or of the whole or any part of the functions thereof, with the whole or any part of any other agency or the functions thereof; or

(4) the consolidation or coordination of any part of any agency or the functions thereof with any other part of the same agency or the functions thereof; or

(5) the authorization of any officer to delegate any of his functions; or

(6) the abolition of the whole or any part of any agency which agency or part does not have, or upon the taking effect of the reorganizations specified in the reorganization plan will not have, any functions,

is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes of section 2 (a), he shall prepare a reorganization plan for the making of the transfers, consolidations, coordinations, and abolitions, reorganizations as to which he has made findings and which he includes in the plan, and transmit such plan (bearing an identifying number) to the Congress, together with a declaration that, with respect to each transfer, consolidation, coordination, or abolition referred to in paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of this section and specified reorganization included in the plan, he has found that such transfer, consolidation, coordination, or abolition reorganization is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes of section 2 (a). The delivery to both Houses shall be on the same day and shall be made to each House while it is in session. The President, in his message transmitting a reorganization plan, shall specify with respect to each abolition of a function specified included in the plan the statutory authority for the exercise of such function.

OTHER CONTENTS OF PLANS

SEC. 4. Any reorganization plan transmitted by the President under section 3— (1) shall change, in such cases as he deems necessary, the name of any agency affected by a reorganization, and the title of its head; and shall designate the name of any agency resulting from a reorganization and the title of its head;

(2) may include provisions for the appointment and compensation of the head and one or more assistant heads other offcers of any agency (including an agency resulting from a consolidation or other type of reorganization) if the President finds, and in his message transmitting the plan declares, that by reason of transfers, consolidations and coordinations made by the plan, the responsibilities and duties of such head are of such nature as to require such action a reorganization made by the plan such provisions are necessary. The head so provided for may be an individual or may be a commission or board with two or more members. In the case of any such appointment the term of office shall not be fixed at more than four years, the compensation shall not be at a rate in excess of $10,000 per annum, that found by the President to prevail in respect of comparable offcers in the executive branch, and, if the appointment is not under the classified civil service, it shall be by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate;

(3) shall make provision for the transfer or other disposition of the records, property, and personnel affected by any transfer, consolidation, coordination, or abolition reorganization;

(4) shall make provision for the transfer of such unexpended balances of appropriations, and of other funds, available for use in connection with any function or agency transferred; consolidated, or coordinated, affected by a reorganization, as he deems necessary by reason of the transfer, consolidation, or coordination reorganization for use in connection with the transferred, consolidated, or coordinated functions affected by the reorganization, or for the use of the agency to which the transfer is made, which shall have such functions after the reorganization plan is effective, but such unexpended balances so transferred shall be used only for the purposes for which such appropriation was originally made;

(5) shall make provision for winding up the affairs of any agency abolished.

LIMITATIONS ON POWERS WITH RESPECT TO REORGANIZATIONS

SEC. 5. No reorganization plan shall provide for, and no reorganization under this Act shall have the effect of(1) abolishing or transferring an executive department or all the functions thereof or establishing any new executive department; or consolidating any two or more executive departments or all the functions thereof; or

(2) changing the name of any executive department or the title of its head, or designating any agency as "Department" or its head as "Secretary"; or (3)(2) continuing any agency beyond the period authorized by law for its existence or beyond the time when it would have terminated if the reorganization had not been made; or

(4) (3) continuing any function beyond the period authorized by law for its exercise, or beyond the time when it would have terminated if the reorgan ization had not been made, or beyond the time when the agency in which it was vested before the reorganization would have terminated if the reorganization had not been made; or

(5) (4) authorizing any agency to exercise any function which is not expressly authorized by law at the time the plan is transmitted to the Congress;

or

(6) imposing, in connection with the exercise of any quasi judicial or quasi legislative function possessed by an independent agency, any greater limitation upon the exercise of independent judgment and discretion, to the full extent authorized by law, in the earrying out of such function, than existed with respect to the exercise of such function by the agency in which it was vested prior to the taking effect of such reorganization; except that this prohibition shall not prevent the abolition of any such function; or

(7 (5) increasing the term of any office beyond that provided by law for such office: office; or

(6) transferring to or consolidating with any other agency the municipal government of the District of Columbia or all those functions thereof which are subject to this Act, or abolishing said government or all said functions. (b) No reorganization plan shall provide for any reorganization affecting any agency named below in this subsection; except that this prohibition shall not apply to the transfer to such ageney of the whole or any part of, or the whole or any part of the functions of, any agency not so named. No reorganization contained in any reorganization plan shall take effect if the reorganization plan is in vietation of this subsection: The agencies above referred to in this subsection are as follows: Interstate Commerce Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Seeurities and Exchange Commission, National Mediation Board, National Railroad Adjustment Board, and Railroad Retirement Board.

(e) No reorganization plan shall provide for any reorganization affecting any eivil function of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, or of its head, or affecting such Corps or its head with respect to any such civil function: No reorganization contained in any reorganization plan shall take effect if the rearganization plan is in violation of this subsection.

(d) No reorganization plan shall provide for a reorganization affecting any ageney named below in this subsection if it also provides for a reorganization which does not affect such ageney; except that this prohibition shall not apply to the transfer to such agency of the whole or any part of, or the whole or any part of the functions of,. any agency not so named. No reorganization contained in any reorganization plan shall take effect if the reorganization plan is in violation of this subsection: The agencies above referred to in this subsection are as follows: Federal Communications Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, United States Tariff Commission, and Veterans' Administration.

(e) If, sinee January 1, 1945, Congress has by law established the status of any agency in relation to other agencies or transferred any function to any agency, no reorganization plan shall provide for, and no reorganization under this Act shall have the effect of, changing the status of such agency in relation to other agencies or of abolishing any such transferred function or providing for its exercise by or under the supervision of any other ageney.

(f) No reorganization specified in a reorganization plan shall take effect unless the plan is transmitted to the Congress before April 1, 1948.

TAKING EFFECT OF REORGANIZATIONS

SEC. 6. (a) The reorganizations specified in the plan shall take effect in accordance with the plan Except as may be otherwise provided pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, the provisions of the reorganization plan shall take effect upon the expiration of the first period of sixty calendar days, of continuous session of the Congress, following the date on which the plan is transmitted to it; but only if, between the date of transmittal and the expiration of such sixty-day period there has not been passed by the two Houses a concurrent resolution stating in substance that the Congress does not favor the reorganization plan.

(b) For the purposes of subsection (a)—

(1) continuity of sessions shall be considered as broken only by an adjournment of the Congress sine die; but

(2) in the computation of the sixty-day period there shall be excluded the days on which either House is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain; except that if a resolution (as defined in section 202) with respect to such reorganization plan has been passed by one House and sent to the other, no exclusion under this paragraph shall be made by reason of adjournments of the first House taken thereafter.

(c) Any provision of the plan may, under provisions contained in the plan, be made operative at a time later than the date on which the plan shall otherwise take effect.

DEFINITION OF "AGENCY"

SEC. 7. When used in this Act, the term "agency" means any executive department, commission, council, independent establishment, Government corporation wholly or partly owned by the United States which is an instrumentality of the United States, board, bureau, division, service, office, officer, authority, administration, or other establishment, in the executive branch of the Government, and means also any and all parts of the municipal government of the District of Columbia except the courts thereof. Such term does not include the Comptroller General of the United States or the General Accounting Office, which are a part of the legislative branch of the Government.

MATTERS DEEMED TO BE REORGANIZATION

SEC. 8. For the purposes of this Act the term "reorganization" means any transfer, consolidation, coordination, abolition, change or designation of name or title, disposition, winding up of affairs, or provision for the appointment and compensation of the head or assistant heads of an ageney, authorization, or abolition, referred to in section 3 or 4, shall be deemed a "reorganization".

SAVINGS PROVISIONS

SEC. 9. (a) (1) Any statute enacted, and any regulation or other action made, prescribed, issued, granted, or performed in respect of or by any agency or function transferred to, or consolidated or coordinated with, any other agency or function affected by a reorganization under the provisions of this Act, before the effective date of such transfer, consolidation, or coordination reorganization, shall, except to the extent rescinded, modified, superseded, or made inapplicable by or under authority of law or by the abolition of a function, have the same effect as if such transfer, consolidation, or coordination reorganization had not been made; but where any such statute, regulation, or other action has vested functions the function in the agency from which the transfer is made it is removed under the plan, such functions function shall, insofar as they are it is to be exercised after the transfer plan becomes effective, be considered as vested in the agency to which the transfer is made under the plan under which the function is placed by the plan. (2) As used in paragraph (1) of this subsection the term "regulation or other action" means any regulation, rule, order, policy, determination, directive, authorization, permit, privilege, requirement, designation, or other action.

(b) No suit, action, or other proceeding lawfully commenced by or against the head of any agency or other officer of the United States, in his official capacity or in relation to the discharge of his official duties, shall abate by reason of the taking effect of any reorganization plan under the provisions of this Act, but the court may, on motion or supplemental petition filed at any time within twelve months after such reorganization plan takes effect, showing a necessity for a survival of such suit, action, or other proceeding to obtain a settlement of the questions involved, allow the same to be maintained by or against the successor of such head or officer under the reorganization se effected by such plan or, if there be no such successor, against such agency or officer as the President shall designate.

UNEXPENDED APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 10. The appropriations or portions of appropriations unexpended by reason of the operation of this Act shall not be used for any purpose, but shall be impounded and returned to the Treasury.

PRINTING OF REORGANIZATION PLANS

SEC. 11. If the reorganizations specified in a Each reorganization plan which shall take effect; the reorganization plan shall be printed in the Statutes at Large in the same volume as the public laws, and shall be printed in the Federal Register.

TITLE II

NOTE. The text of title II of the currently proposed bill is the same as the text of title II of the Reorganization Act of 1945, approved December 20, 1945 (59 Stat. 613). That title prescribes the procedure by which the two Houses of Congress consider and dispose of reorganization plans.

[PUBLIC NO. 19-76TH CONGRESS]

[CHAPTER 36-1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 4425]

AN ACT To provide for reorganizing agencies of the Government, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Reorganization Act of 1939."

TITLE I-REORGANIZATION

PART I

SECTION 1. (a) The Congress hereby declares that by reason of continued national deficits beginning in 1931 it is desirable to reduce substantially Goveinment expenditures and that such reduction may be accomplished in some measure by proceeding immediately under the provisions of this Act. The President shall investigate the organization of all agencies of the Government and shall determine what changes therein are necessary to accomplish the following purposes:

(1) To reduce expenditures to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government;

(2) To increase the efficiency of the operations of the Government to the fullest extent practicable within the revenues;

(3) To group, coordinate, and consolidate agencies of the Government, as nearly as may be, according to major purposes;

(4) To reduce the number of agencies by consolidating those having similar functions under a single head, and to abolish such agencies as may not be necessary for the efficient conduct of the Government; and

(5) To eliminate overlapping and duplication of effort.

(b) The Congress declares that the public interest demands the carrying out of the purposes specified in subsection (a) and that such purposes may be accomplished in great measure by proceeding immediately under the provisions of this title, and can be accomplished more speedily thereby than by the enactment of specific legislation.

SEC. 2. When used in this title, the term "agency" means any executive department, commission, independent establishment, corporation owned or controlled by the United States, board, bureau, division, service, office, authority, or administration, in the executive branch of the Government.

SEC. 3. No reorganization plan under section 4 shall provide—

(a) For the abolition or transfer of an executive department or all the functions thereof or for the establishment of any new executive department;

(b) In the case of the following agencies, for the transfer, consolidation, or abolition of the whole or any part of such agency or of its head, or of all or any of the functions of such agency or of its head: Civil Service Commission, Coast Guard, Engineer Corps of the United States Army, Mississippi River Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Power Commission, Federal Trade Commission, General Accounting Office, Interstate Commerce Commission, National Labor Relations Board, Securities and Exchange Commission, Board of Tax Appeals, United States Employees' Compensation Commission, United States Maritime Commission, United States Tariff Commission, Veterans' Administration, National Mediation Board, National Railroad Adjustment Board, Railroad Retirement Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; or

(c) For changing the name of any executive department or the title of its head, or for designating any agency as "Department" or its head as "Secretary"; or

(d) For the continuation of any agency beyond the period authorized by law for the existence of such agency; or

(e) For the continuation of any function of any agency beyond the period authorized by law for the exercise of such function; or

(f) For authorizing any agency to exercise any function which is not expressly authorized by law.

SEC. 4. Whenever the President, after investigation, finds that

(a) the transfer of the whole or any part of any agency or the functions thereof to the jurisdiction and control of any other agency; or