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The bill H. R. 4307, would amend this provision by stipulating that the annuity of an employee retiring thereunder with at least 30 years of service shall have a value equal to the present worth of a deferred annuity beginning at the age of 60 years.

As the Commission pointed out in its report of February 4, 1944, on H. R. 3937, under existing laws administered by it, the present worth of a particular annuity is based upon the age at which the employee could retire on full annuity. In other words, an employee eligible for retirement on full annuity at age 60 after 30 years' service will, if retiring earlier with this service period, receive the present worth of an age 60 annuity. Since optional retirement on full annuity is authorized by the Canal Zone Code in the case of employees who attain age 60 and serve 30 years or more, it would be only equitable that earlier immediate annuities in 30-year cases be computed by using age 60 as a basis.

The Commission, therefore, recommends that this bill be enacted into law. The Bureau of the Budget advises that there would be no objection to the submission of this report to your committee.

Very sincerely yours,

HARRY B. MITCHELL, President.

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 are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, existing law in which no change is made is in roman, and new language is in italic):

93. VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT.-(a) Any employee to whom this article applies who shall have attained the age of fifty-five and rendered at least twenty-five years of service, of which not less than fifteen years shall have been rendered on the Isthmus of Panama, may voluntarily retire on an annuity equivalent in value to the present worth of a deferred annuity beginning at the age at which the employee would otherwise have become eligible for retirement, computed as provided in section 96 of this title, the present worth of said deferred annuity to be determined on the basis of the American Experience Table of Mortality and an interest rate of 4 per centum, compounded annually [.]: Provided, That any employee retiring prior to attaining the age of sixty under the provisions of this paragraph with at least thirty years of service shall receive an immediate annuity having a value equal to the present worth of a deferred annuity beginning at the age of sixty years, computed as provided in section 96 of this title.

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78TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session

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REPORT No. 1364

CONSOLIDATION AND REVISION OF LAWS RELATING TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

APRIL 20, 1944.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. BULWINKLE, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 4624]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4624) to consolidate and revise the laws relating to the Public Health Service, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

GENERAL STATEMENT

The bill for the most part is merely a restatement of the laws relating to the Public Health Service.

It proposes to bring together, in a compact and orderly arrangement, substantially all existing law on the subject except obsolete provisions; to repeal obsolete laws; to resolve certain ambiguities in existing law; and to make a number of revisions which operating experience has shown to be necessary or desirable.

At the present time the laws applicable to the Public Health Service are the result of the accumulation, over a century and a half, of a great number of separate enactments. Since 1878, when the codification accomplished by the Revised Statutes was completed, there have been many further enactments, often consisting of isolated provisions in appropriation acts, bearing on the functions of the Public Health Service. Passed at different times, these provisions of law have generally neither expressly repealed nor expressly amended their predecessors, but have simply superimposed new duties and authorities on those already existing. Couched in different terms, frequently providing different procedures, they have led to serious inconsistencies and ambiguities, as well as to gaps and duplications in substantive. authority, to such an extent as to impede the efficient discharge by

H. Repts., 78-2, vol. 287

the Service of its responsibilities. The number and volume of these enactments is indicated by the fact that the repealing section occupies over 14 pages of the present bill.

At the time of its consideration last year of the bill which became the Public Health Service Act of 1943 (Public Law 184, 78th Cong.), the committee recognized the unsatisfactory state of the law regarding the Public Health Service. The need for prompt action on that measure, in order to enable the Service better to meet its wartime responsibilities, precluded any substantial revision of existing law in connection with that bill. At the instance of the committee, however, work was begun upon a comprehensive bill which would substitute for the existing mass of uncorrelated legislation a compact and logically arranged law governing the Public Health Service. In October 1943, H. R. 3379 was introduced to accomplish this purpose. Hearings on that bill were commenced on March 1 and concluded on March 14, 1944. As a result of further study since the introduction of the bill, of suggestions made at the hearing, and especially of the enactment in November of the Public Health Service Act of 1943, many changes in the bill were found to be necessary. The present bill, H. R. 4624, incorporates these changes.

Enactment of the bill is recommended by the Federal Security Agency and by the president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers. No witness at the hearing opposed it, or urged more than minor amendments.

The bill consists of six titles. The first contains the short title and definitions, and the second deals with the organization, administration, and personnel of the Public Health Service. The third title contains the basic operating authority of the Service, and is subdivided into seven parts, dealing, respectively, with research and investigations, Federal-State cooperation, hospitals and medical examinations and medical care, lepers, narcotic addicts, biological products, and quarantine and inspection. The fourth title continues the existence and functions of the National Cancer Institute. Title V contains miscellaneous provisions of a permanent nature, while title VI, which would not be a part of the Public Health Service Act, contains certain temporary provisions and amendments of certain other statutes, as well as the repeal of the existing provisions of law relating to the Public Health Service.

Large portions of the bill consist merely of reenactment of existing legislation with minor textual changes proposed in the interest of clarity and consistency. In some fields, however, the inadequacies of present law have necessitated a complete rewriting. In the process of clarification some doubtful authorities would be confirmed, and in a few instances, where administrative experience has shown the need for it, wholly new authority would be conferred.

The bill does not include the subject matter of the so-called Nurse Training Act (Public Law 74, 78th Cong., as amended), because that act will by its own terms expire with the termination of hostilities in the present war. As it is a separate and self-contained enactment there is no need to incorporate it in even the temporary provisions of the bill.

PRINCIPAL ADDITIONS TO AND CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

The section by section explanation of the bill which is appended indicates the additions to and changes in substantive law which would be effected by the bill. The most important are these:

The President would be authorized to create special temporary positions in the Public Health Service for important work in time of war or emergency (sec. 207 (a)). The classes of persons eligible for appointment to the regular corps of the Service would be enlarged. to include scientists in such fields as biology and zoology (sec. 208 (a)). The authority to employ special consultants, now conferred by the National Cancer Institute Act, would be broadened to apply to all branches of the work of the Service (sec. 208 (c)). Provision is included for allowances to female commissioned officers on account of their actual dependents (sec. 209 (d)). The provisions governing retirement of commissioned officers, now contained in regulations, would be written into law, but without any major changes (sec. 211). The regulatory authority would be divided, more clearly and logically than at present, between the President, on the one hand, and the Surgeon General and the Federal Security Administrator, on the other (sec. 215).

The authority to make grants, in aid of research work, to public or private institutions, now contained in the National Cancer Institute Act, would be expanded to include all fields of research related to the public health (sec. 301 (d)). Appropriations for grants to the States for general public health work would be authorized in the sum of $20,000,000 annually, of which up to $2,000,000 would be available, in the discretion of the Surgeon General, for direct Federal expenditure for purposes related to such grants (sec. 314 (b)). The present limitation is $11,000,000 for such grants, with an additional authorization for the Federal expenditures. From the grants to the States, both for general health work and for venereal-disease control, the bill would permit allotments and payments to be made from time to time (sec. 314 (c) and (d)). At present allotments are made at the beginning of the fiscal year, and payments are made quarterly. Provisions relating to State matching of funds granted and to withdrawal of funds if they have been misapplied by a State, now contained in regulations issued with the approval of the State health authorities, would be incorporated in law (sec. 314 (f) and (g)).

Groups entitled to medical care and hospitalization by the Service would include enrollees of the United States Maritime Service and members of the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps (sec. 322 (a) (6)). At present these persons are cared for by the Service, through an arrangement under the Economy Act. In cases of emergency, treatment at Service hospitals of persons not otherwise eligible would be authorized (sec. 322 (d)). Federal prisoners who are narcotic addicts would be entitled to commutation of sentence for work in prison industries, as are other Federal prisoners, but could not be released under this provision before they are cured (sec. 343 (b)).

Destruction of infected animals or contaminated articles would be permitted as a part of interstate or foreign quarantine procedures,

where such animals or articles are likely to infect human beings with a dangerous disease and no disposition other than destruction can safely be made (sec. 361 (a)). Persons subject to quarantine detention upon entering the country might be released on condition of reporting subsequently to health authorities (sec. 361 (b) and (c)). Under regulations recommended by the National Advisory Health Council, individuals reasonably believed to be infected with certain diseases and to be likely to infect others, might be isolated and examined (secs. 361 (d) and 363). This authority would be limited to the prevention of interstate spread of disease, and the protection in time of war of the military forces and war workers. Persons so isolated would be entitled to treatment by the Service (sec. 322 (c)). Quarantine laws and regulations could, by regulation, be made applicable to civil air navigation and civil aircraft (sec. 367). The penalties for violation of quarantine laws and regulations would be made uniform (sec. 368).

Money_collected from some classes of pay patients is now covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts and that collected from others is credited to the applicable appropriation. Under the bill such collections would in all cases be credited to the applicable appropriation (sec. 503). A penalty would be provided for unauthorized wearing of the Public Health Service uniform (sec. 510).

EXPLANATION OF THE BILL BY TITLES AND SECTIONS

TITLE I-SHORT TITLE AND DEFINITIONS

SECTION 1

This section provides that titles I to V, inclusive, of the bill may be cited as the "Public Health Service Act.'

SECTION 2

Subsections (a) to (e), inclusive, define the terms "Service," "Surgeon General," "Administrator,' "Administrator," "regulations,' "regulations," and "executive department." These definitions are self-explanatory, and are inserted merely for convenience of reference.

Subsection (f) defines the term "State" to mean a State or the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands, except that as used in section 361 (d) (dealing with certain interstate quarantine measures) the term means a State, the District of Columbia, or Alaska. Subsection (g) defines the term "possession" to include among other possessions Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. While these two definitions overlap, their use saves considerable verbiage in later sections of the bill. One change resulting from the definition of "State" is pointed out in connection with section 314 (b). Subsection (h) defines the term "seamen" in language identical with that in 24 U. S. C. 1 except for the addition of the word "primarily." This change confirms the administrative interpretation of existing law.

Subsection (i) defines the term "vessel" in language identical with that found in 29 U. S. C. 87a, except for the addition of the word "artificial" and of the phrase "exclusive of aircraft and amphibious contrivances." No substantive change in existing law is involved.

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