(EXTRACT FROM)

[PUBLIC-No. 703-76TH CONGRESS]

[CHAPTER 508-3D SESSION]

[H. R. 9850]

AN ACT

To expedite the strengthening of the national defense. Provided, That the limitations contained in sections 1136 and 3734 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, and any statutory limitation with respect to the cost of any individual project of construction, shall be suspended until and including June 30, 1942, with respect to any construction authorized by this Act: Provided further, That no contract entered into pursuant to the provisions of this section which would otherwise be subject to the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to provide conditions for the purchase of supplies and the making of contracts by the United States, and for other purposes," approved June 30, 1936 (49 Stat. 2036; U. S. C., Supp. V, title 41, secs. 35-45), shall be exempt from the provisions of such Act solely because of being entered into without advertising pursuant to the provisions of this section: Provided further, That the costplus-a-percentage-of-cost system of contracting shall not be used under this section; but this proviso shall not be construed to prohibit the use of the cost-plus-a-fixed-fee form of contract when such use is deemed necessary by the Secretary of War.

Approved, July 2, 1940.

(249)

[PUBLIC NO. 30-73D CONGRESS]

[S. 510]

AN ACT

To provide for the establishment of a national employment system and for cooperation with the States in the promotion of such system, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) in order to promote the establishment and maintenance of a national system of public employment offices there is hereby created in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the United States Employment Service, at the head of which shall be a director. The director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive a salary at the rate of $8,500 per annum.

(b) Upon the expiration of three months after the enactment of this Act the employment service now existing in the Department of Labor shall be abolished; and all records, files, and property (including office equipment) of the existing employment service shall thereupon be transferred to the United States Employment Service; and all the officers and employees of such service shall thereupon be transferred to the United States Employment Service created by this Act without change in classification or compensation. SEC. 2. The Secretary of Labor is authorized, without regard to the civil service laws, to appoint and, without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, to fix the compensation of one or more assistant directors and such other officers, employees, and assistants, and to make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat of government and elsewhere and for law books, books of reference, and periodicals) as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. In case of appointments for service in the veterans' employment service provided for in section 8 of this Act, the Secretary shall appoint only veterans of wars of the United States.

SEC. 3. (a) It shall be the province and duty of the bureau to promote and develop a national system of employment offices for men, women, and juniors who are legally qualified to engage in gainful occupations, to maintain a veterans' service to be devoted to securing employment for veterans, to maintain a farm placement service, to maintain a public employment service for the District of Columbia and, in the manner hereinafter provided, to assist in establishing and maintaining systems of public employment offices in the several States and the political subdivisions thereof in which there shall be located a veterans' employment service. The bureau shall also assist in coordinating the public employment offices throughout the country and in increasing their usefulness by developing and prescribing minimum standards of efficiency, assisting them in meeting problems peculiar to their localities, promoting

uniformity in their administrative and statistical procedure, fur nishing and publishing information as to opportunities for employment and other information of value in the operation of the system, and maintaining a system for clearing labor between the several States.

(b) Whenever in this Act the word "State" or "States " is used it shall be understood to include the Territories of Hawaii and Alaska.

SEC. 4. In order to obtain the benefits of appropriations apportioned under section 5, a State shall, through its legislature, accept the provisions of this Act and designate or authorize the creation of a State agency vested with all powers necessary to cooperate with the United States Employment Service under this Act.

SEC. 5. (a) For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act there is hereby authorized to be appropriated (1) the sum of $1,500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1934, (2) $4,000,000 for each fiscal year thereafter up to and including the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938, (3) and thereafter such sums annually as the Congress may deem necessary. Seventy-five per centum of the amounts appropriated under this Act shall be apportioned by the director among the several States in the proportion which their population bears to the total population of the States of the United States according to the next preceding United States census, to be available for the purpose of establishing and maintaining systems of public employment offices in the several States and the political subdivisions thereof in accordance with the provisions of this Act. No payment shall be made in any year out of the amount of such appropriations apportioned to any State until an equal sum has been appropriated or otherwise made available. for that year by the State, or by any agency thereof, including appropriations made by local subdivisions, for the purpose of maintaining public employment offices as a part of a State-controlled system of public employment offices; except that the amounts so appropriated by the State shall not be less than 25 per centum of the apportionment according to population made by the director for such State for the current year, and in no event less than $5,000. The balance of the amounts appropriated under this Act shall be available for all the purposes of this Act other than for apportionment among the several States as herein provided.

(b) The amounts apportioned to any State for any fiscal year shall be available for payment to and expenditure by such State, for the purposes of this Act, until the close of the next succeeding fiscal year; except that amounts apportioned to any State for any fiscal year preceding the fiscal year during which is commenced the first regular session of the legislature of such State held after the enactment of this Act shall remain available for payment to and expenditure by such State until the close of the fiscal year next succeeding that in which such session is commenced. Subject to the foregoing limitations, any amount so apportioned unexpended at the end of the period during which it is available for expenditure under this Act shall, within sixty days thereafter, be reapportioned for the current fiscal year among all the States in the same manner and on the same basis, and certified to the Secretary of the Treasury

and treasurers of the States in the same manner, as if it were being apportioned under this Act for the first time.

SEO. 6. Within sixty days after any appropriation has been made under authority of this Act the director shall make the apportionment thereof as provided in section 5 and shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the treasurers of the several States the amount apportioned to each State for the fiscal year for which the appropriation has been made.

SEO. 7. Within sixty days after any appropriation has been made under the authority of this Act, and as often thereafter while such appropriation remains available as he deems advisable, the director shall ascertain as to each of the several States (1) whether the State has, through its legislature or its governor, as the case may be, accepted the provisions of this Act and designated or authorized the creation of an agency to cooperate with the United States Employment Service in the administration of this Act in compliance with the provisions of section 4 of this Act; and (2) the amounts, if any, which have been appropriated or otherwise made available by such State and by any agency thereof, including appropriations made by local subdivisions, in compliance with the provisions of section of this Act. If the director finds that a State has complied with the requirements of such sections, and if plans have been submitted and approved in compliance with the provisions of section 8 of this Act, the director shall determine the amount of the payments, if any, to which the State is entitled under the provisions of section 5, and certify such amount to the Secretary of the Treasury. Such certificate shall be sufficient authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the State in accordance therewith.

SEC. 8. Any State desiring to receive the benefits of this Act shall, by the agency designated to cooperate with the United States Employment Service, submit to the director detailed plans for carrying out the provisions of this Act within such State. In those States where a State board, department, or agency exists which is charged with the administration of State laws for vocational rehabilitation of physically handicapped persons, such plans shall include provision for cooperation between such board, department, or agency and the agency designated to cooperate with the United States Employment Service under this Act. If such plans are in conformity with the provisions of this Act and reasonably appropriate and adequate to carry out its purposes, they shall be approved by the director and due notice of such approval shall be given to the State agency.

SEC. 9. Each State agency cooperating with the United States Employment Service under this Act shall make such reports concerning its operations and expenditures as shall be prescribed by the director. It shall be the duty of the director to ascertain whether the system of public employment offices maintained in each State is conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations and the standards of efficiency prescribed by the director in accordance with the provisions of this Act. The director may revoke any existing certificates or withhold any further certificate provided for in section 7, whenever he shall determine, as to any State, that the cooperating State agency has not properly expended the moneys paid to it or the moneys herein required to be appropriated by such State, in

accordance with plans approved under this Act. Before any such certificate shall be revoked or withheld from any State, the director shall give notice in writing to the State agency stating specifically wherein the State has failed to comply with such plans. The State agency may appeal to the Secretary of Labor from the action of the director in any such case, and the Secretary of Labor may either affirm or reverse the action of the director with such directions as he shall consider proper.

SEO. 10. During the current fiscal year and the two succeeding fiscal years the Director is authorized to expend in any State so much of the sum apportioned to such State according to population, and so much of the unapportioned balance of the appropriation made under the provisions of section 5 as he may deem necessary, as follows:

(a) In States where there is no State system of public employment offices, in establishing and maintaining a system of public employment offices under the control of the Director.

(b) In States where there is a State system of public employment offices, but where the State has not complied with the provisions of section 4, in establishing a cooperative Federal and State system of public employment offices to be maintained by such officer or board and in such manner as may be agreed upon by and between the Governor of the State and the Director.

The authority contained in this section shall terminate at the expiration of the period specified in the first paragraph of this section, and thereafter no assistance shall be rendered such States until the legislatures thereof provide for cooperation with the United States Employment Service as provided in section 4 of this Act.

SEC. 11 (a) The director shall establish a Federal Advisory Council composed of men and women representing employers and employees in equal numbers and the public for the purpose of formulating policies and discussing problems relating to employment and insuring impartiality, neutrality, and freedom from political influence in the solution of such problems. Members of such council shall be selected from time to time in such manner as the director shall prescribe and shall serve without compensation, but when attending meetings of the council they shall be allowed necessary traveling and subsistence expenses, or per diem allowance in lieu thereof, within the limitations prescribed by law for civilian employees in the executive branch of the Government. The council shall have access to all files and records of the United States Employment Service. The director shall also require the organization of similar State advisory councils composed of men and women representing employers and employees in equal numbers and the public.

(b) In carrying out the provisions of this Act the director is authorized and directed to provide for the giving of notice of strikes or lockouts to applicants before they are referred to employment. SEC. 12. The director, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, is hereby authorized to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.