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Chapter 223 - 1st Session
S. 984

AN ACT

To amend the Agricultural Act of 1949.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Agricultural Act of 1949 is amended by adding at the end thereof a new title to read as follows:

"TITLE V-AGRICULTURAL WORKERS

"SEC. 501. For the purpose of assisting in such production of agricultural commodities and products as the Secretary of Agriculture deems necessary, by supplying agricultural workers from the Republic of Mexico (pursuant to arrangements between the United States and the Republic of Mexico), the Secretary of Labor is authorized

"(1) to recruit such workers (including any such workers who have resided in the United States for the preceding five years, or who are temporarily in the United States under legal entry);

"(2) to establish and operate reception centers at or near the places of actual entry of such workers into the continental United States for the purpose of receiving and housing such workers while arrangements are being made for their employment in, or departure from, the continental United States;

(3) to provide transportation for such workers from recruitment centers outside the continental United States to such reception centers and transportation from such reception centers to such recruitment centers after termination of employment;

"(4) to provide such workers with such subsistence, emergency medical care, and burial expenses (not exceeding $150 burial expenses in any one case) as may be or become necessary during transportation authorized by paragraph (3) and while such workers are at reception centers;

"(5) to assist such workers and employers in negotiating contracts for agricultural employment (such workers being free to accept or decline agricultural employment with any eligible employer and to choose the type of agricultural employment they desire, and eligible employers being free to offer agricultural employment to any workers of their choice not under contract to other employers);

"(6) to guarantee the performance by employers of provisions of such contracts relating to the payment of wages or the furnishing of transportation.

"SEC. 502. No workers shall be made available under this title to any employer unless such employer enters into an agreement with the United States

"(1) to indemnify the United States against loss by reason of its guaranty of such employer's contracts;

"(2) to reimburse the United States for essential expenses, not including salaries or expenses of regular department or agency personnel, incurred by it for the transportation and subsistence of workers under this title in amounts not to exceed $15 per worker; and

"(3) to pay to the United States, in any case in which a worker is not returned to the reception center in accordance with the contract entered into under section 501 (5), an amount determined by the Secretary of Labor to be equivalent to the normal cost to the employer of returning other workers from the place of

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employment to such reception center, less any portion thereof required to be paid by other employers.

"SEC. 503. No workers recruited under this title shall be available for employment in any area unless the Secretary of Labor has determined and certified that (1) sufficient domestic workers who are able, willing, and qualified are not available at the time and place needed to perform the work for which such workers are to be employed, (2) the employment of such workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of domestic agricultural workers similarly employed, and (3) reasonable efforts have been made to attract domestic workers for such employment at wages and standard hours of work comparable to those offered to foreign workers.

"SEC. 504. Workers recruited under this title who are not citizens of the United States shall be admitted to the United States subject to the immigration laws (or if already in, for not less than the preceding five years or by virtue of legal entry, and otherwise eligible for admission to, the United States may, pursuant to arrangements between the United States and the Republic of Mexico, be permitted to remain therein) for such time and under such conditions as may be specified by the Attorney General but, notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, no penalty bond shall be required which imposes liability upon any person for the failure of any such worker to depart from the United States upon termination of employment: Provided, That no workers shall be made available under this title to, nor shall any workers made available under this title be permitted to remain in the employ of, any employer who has in his employ any Mexican alien when such employer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe or suspect or by reasonable inquiry could have ascertained that such Mexican alien is not lawfully within the United States.

"SEC. 505. (a) Section 210 (a) (1) of the Social Security Act, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof a new subparagraph as follows:

"(C) Service performed by foreign agricultural workers under contracts entered into in accordance with title V of the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended.'

"(b) Section 1426 (b) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof a new subparagraph as follows:

"(C) Service performed by foreign agricultural workers under contracts entered into in accordance with title V of the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended.'

"(c) Workers recruited under the provisions of this title shall not be subject to the head tax levied under section 2 of the Immigration Act of 1917 (8 U.S. C., sec. 132).

"SEC. 506. For the purposes of this title, the Secretary of Labor is authorized

"(1) to enter into agreements with Federal and State agencies; to utilize (pursuant to such agreements) the facilities and services of such agencies; and to allocate or transfer funds or otherwise to pay or reimburse such agencies for expenses in connection therewith;

"(2) to accept and utilize voluntary and uncompensated services; and

"(3) when necessary to supplement the domestic agricultural labor force, to cooperate with the Secretary of State in negotiating and carrying out agreements or arrangements relating to the employment in the United States, subject to the immigration laws, of agricultural workers from the Republic of Mexico.

"SEC. 507. For the purposes of this title

"(1) The term 'agricultural einployment' includes services or activities included within the provisions of section 3 (f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, or section 1426 (h) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended, horticultural employment, cotton ginning, compressing and storing, crushing of oil seeds, and the packing, canning, freezing, drying, or other processing of perishable or seasonable agricultural products.

"(2) The term 'employer' shall include an association, or other group, of employers, but only if (A) those of its members for whom workers are being obtained are bound, in the event of its default, to carry out the obligations undertaken by it pursuant to section 502, or (B) the Secretary determines that such individual liability is not necessary to assure performance of such obligations.

"SEC. 508. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as limiting the authority of the Attorney General, pursuant to the general immigration laws, to permit the importation of aliens of any nationality for agricultural employment as defined in section 507, or to permit any such alien who entered the United States legally to remain for the purpose of engaging in such agricultural employment under such. conditions and for such time as he, the Attorney General, shall specify. "SEC. 509. No workers will be made available under this title for employment after December 31, 1953."

Approved July 12, 1951.

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Making a supplemental appropriation for the Department of Labor for the fiscal year 1952,

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1952, the following sum:

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY

For necessary expenses to enable the Secretary of Labor to discharge his responsibilities under the provisions of the Act of July 12, 1951 (Public Law 78), $950,000, of which $750,000 shall be for the establishment of a working capital fund, such fund to be used for the payment of those expenses for which employers are liable under agreements entered into pursuant to section 502 of the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended by the Act of July 12, 1951, and such fund to be reimbursed from payments made to the United States by employers pursuant to such agreements: Provided, That expenditures from this appropriation shall be charged to the applicable appropriations when enacted into law: Provided, That in carrying out the provisions of title V of the Agricultural Act of 1949, as added by the Act entitled "An Act to amend the Agricultural Act of 1949", approved July 12, 1951 (Public Law 78, Eighty-second Congress), the Secretary of Labor is authorized, without regard to the civil-service laws or the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, to appoint Mexican nationals for temporary employment in Mexico for a period of not to exceed one hundred and twenty days.

Approved August 16, 1951.

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1st Session

S. 684

AN ACT

To amend the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act so as to provide a more effective distribution of mortgage loans insured under title I, to give holders of such mortgage loans preference in the refinancing of loans on a noninsured basis, to adjust the loan limitations governing title II loans so as to provide more effective assistance to production and subsistence loan borrowers, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sections of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, as amended (60 Stat. 1062), are hereby amended as follows:

Amend section 4 by striking out the words "and insuring mortgages" and "insure mortgages or" where they occur in said section and amend the last sentence of section 12 (b) to read as follows:

"With respect to any fiscal year, one-quarter of the amount available for insurance, commitments and acceptance of mortgages under this title shall be distributed among the several States and Territories on the basis of bona fide applications and the availability of farms with respect to which loans may be insured and the balance shall be distributed on the basis provided in section 4, and preferences shall be given to mortgages executed by veterans qualified under section 1.

SEC. 2. Amend section 21 to read:

"SEC. 21. (a) The Secretary may make loans to farmers and stockmen who are citizens of the United States for the purchase of livestock, seed, feed, fertilizer, farm equipment, supplies, and other farm needs, the cost of reorganizing the farming enterprise or changing farming practices to accomplish more diversified or more profitable farming operations, the refinancing of existing indebtedness, and for family subsistence.

"(b) No loan shall be made under this section for the purchase or leasing of land or for the carrying on of any land-purchase or landleasing program. No initial loan to any one borrower under this section shall exceed $7,000 and no further loan may be made under this section to a borrower so long as the total amount outstanding, including accrued interest, taxes, and other obligations properly chargeable to the account of the borrower, exceeds $10,000.

"(c) The terms of loans under this section, including any renewal or extension of any such loan, shall not exceed seven years from the date the original loan was made.

"(d) No person who has failed to liquidate his indebtedness under this section for seven consecutive years shall be eligible for loans hereunder until he has paid such indebtedness in full, except that the indebtedness on loans made prior to November 1, 1946, which are being serviced and collected by the Farmers Home Administration, shall not be subject to the limitations of this section until November 1, 1953."

SEC. 3. Amend section 44 (c) by changing the period at the end of said section to a colon and adding the following proviso: “Provided, however, That in the case of mortgage loans heretofore or hereafter insured under this title, the Secretary may at his discretion delay his request for refinancing until the borrower has acquired a sufficient equity in the farm to enable the holder of the insured mortgage to refinance the loan on an uninsured basis under laws or regulations to which he may be subject."

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