FARMERS HOME ADMINISTRATION The 1983 Budget Estimates include proposed language for this item as follows (new language underscored): Compensation for Construction Defects For compensation for construction defects as authorized by section 509 (c) of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, $2,000,000. This new appropriation language is being proposed to establish a separate appropriation account for Compensation for Construction Defects. The activity was previously funded from the Rural Housing Insurance Fund. Amounts for the purpose of compensating owners for construction defects were authorized by the Rural Housing Insurance Fund appropriation language as authority to make expenditures from the Fund for such purposes. The actual amounts obligated and paid for the compensation of construction defects were then included in the calculation of reimbursable losses. Appropriations for the restoration of the actual losses of the Fund (of which Compensation for Construction Defects was a minor part) were then sought in subsequent appropriations. *Staff years are reflected in the Salaries and Expenses Project Statement. EXPLANATION OF PROGRAM This program is authorized under Section 509 (c) of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make expenditures to correct structural defects, or to pay claims of owners arising from such defects on newly constructed dwellings purchased with FmHA financial assistance. Claims will not be paid until provisions under the builder's warranty have been fully pursued. Requests for compensation for construction defects must be made within eighteen months of loan closing. JUSTIFICATION OF INCREASE (1) An increase of $2,000,000 for Compensation for Construction Defects Program (No appropriation available in 1982 under this appropriation, $2,000,000 authorization available under the Rural Housing Insurance Fund). Need for Change. This program was previously funded under the Rural Housing Insurance Fund. This language is proposed to establish a separate account for the compensation for construction defects activity. Nature of Change. The increase proposed for this appropriation does not represent an increase in funding for this activity, but only a transfer of the activity from the Rural Housing Insurance Fund. The level authorized under the Rural Housing Insurance Fund by the FY 1982 Appropriation Act was $2,000,000. STATUS OF PROGRAM Community Services Loan Fund The Headstart, Economic Opportunity, and Community Partnership Act of 1974, The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-452), approved August 20, 1964, authorized two new loan programs aimed at helping poor rural families improve their income through their own enterprise. This program was administered by the Farmers Home Administration of the Department of Agriculture for the Office of Economic Opportunity through delegation of authority. Under the program, loans were provided to low income rural residents for small farm and non-farm enterprises to help to increase income. Loans were also made to rural cooperative enterprises serving the rural poor through purchasing, processing, and marketing activities. No new loans have been made since the middle of 1971. The Farmers Home Administration is servicing outstanding loans totaling $7.4 million, as of September 30, 1981, a reduction of $.9 million from fiscal year 1980. PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLES The 1983 Budget Estimates propose the replacement of five passenger motor vehicles. The passenger motor vehicles of the Farmers Home Administration are used primarily by the County Supervisors in the Pacific Trust Territories, Guain, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands for the performance of their daily work. None of the vehicles are used in the 50 United States or Washington, D.C. The vehicles are used in areas where privately-owned vehicles and common carrier facilities are either non-existent, uneconomical, or inadequate due to the nature of the travel which requires a high degree of mobility with frequent stops at rural housing sites and farm properties. FmHA personnel are required to inspect and appraise homes and farms on which loan applications are pending. They also must visit various properties frequently to perform loan servicing activities. Passenger motor vehicles are not assigned to one individual exclusively at locations where more than one employee has a need for them. This allows several employees to use a single vehicle and minimizes the number and maintenance costs. Replacement of passenger motor vehicles. Replacement of five passenger motor vehicles now in operation is proposed. These vehicles are located in the Pacific Trust Territories and must be replaced because of excessive rust and corrosion. The high salt spray content and high humidity of the air in this region are very conducive to corrosion and shorten the serviceability period of motor vehicles. Age and mileage data for Farmers Home Administration passenger motor vehicles on hand as of September 30, 1981, are as follows: THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1982. RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION WITNESSES FRANK W. NAYLOR, JR., UNDER SECRETARY, SMALL COMMUNITY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT HAROLD V. HUNTER, ADMINISTRATOR, RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION JACK VAN MARK, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, JOSEPH VELLONE, ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR-ADMINISTRATION JOE S. ZOLLER, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR-ELECTRIC JOHN H. ARNESEN, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR-TELEPHONE THOMAS M. SCANLON, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF BUDGET MICHAEL W. KELLY, ASSISTANT GENERAL COUNSEL, ELECTRIC AND OPENING REMARKS Mr. WHITTEN. We turn now to the Rural Electrification Administration. Mr. Naylor, we welcome you again. We have with us Mr. Harold V. Hunter, Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration, and his associates. One of you might present the people who are here today, particularly those who are new. We will be glad to have their biographical sketches and any statement you would care to make included in the record. [The biographical sketches of Messrs. Hunter, Van Mark, and Scanlon, follow:] HAROLD V. HUNTER, REA ADMINISTRATOR Harold V. Hunter, Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), was nominated by President Reagan to head the Federal agency on June 15, 1981. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the tenth REA Administrator on July 31, 1981 and took the oath of office on August 6, 1981. Mr. Hunter had owned and operated HVH farms at Waukomis in Garfield County in association with his son, Losco and son-in-law John Loewen prior to assuming the position of REA Administrator. The HVH Farms operation, a 1,780 acre alfalfa and wheat-producing enterprise, is renown for the rearing of high-quality, registered Polled Hereford beef cattle. The HVH herd, raised for breeding stock, and developed with selective care over a period of more than 40 years, was begun by Mr. Hunter when he obtained a small commercial herd from his father, V. J. Hunter, in 1935. Beginning in 1962, Mr. Hunter was elected to four successive two-year terms in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. After that first election, he was returned by Garfield County voters to Oklahoma City in 1964, 1966 and 1968, each time without opposition. He served as assistant minority floor leader in the House of Representatives from 1967 to 1969. In a statewide poll of news media editors, Hunter was ranked among the "Ten Most Effective" members of the House of Representatives by the United Press International news wire service. Mr. Hunter also sat on the 15 |