[CHAPTER 723-2D SESSION] [S. 1636] AN ACT To amend the Surplus Property Act of 1944 to designate the Department of State as the disposal agency for surplus property outside the continental United States, its Territories and possessions, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 10 of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended, is hereby amended by adding a new subsection (c) to read as follows: "(c) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the Department of State shall be the sole disposal agency for surplus property located outside the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, and with respect to such property the Secretary of State shall exercise the functions heretofore conferred upon the Surplus Property Administrator by Public Law 181, Seventy-ninth Congress. The Secretary of State shall, subject to the provisions of the War Mobilization and Reconversion Act of 1944, have sole responsibility for carrying out the provisions of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, with respect to surplus property located outside the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.' "" SEC. 2. Section 32 (b) of such Act, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "(b) (1) The provisions of this Act shall be applicable to disposition of property within the United States and elsewhere, but the Secretary of State may exempt from some or all of the provisions hereof dispositions of property located outside of the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, whenever he deems that such provisions would obstruct the efficient and economic disposition of such property in accordance with the objectives of this Act. In addition to the authority conferred by section 15 of this Act, the Department of State may dispose of surplus property located outside the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, for foreign currencies or credits, or substantial benefits or the discharge of claims resulting from the compromise, or settlement of such claims by any Government agency in accordance with the law, whenever the Secretary of State determines that it is in the interest of the United States to do so and upon such terms and conditions as he may deem proper. Any foreign currencies or credits acquired by the Department of State pursuant to this subsection shall be administered in accordance with procedures that may from time to time be established by the Secretary of the Treasury and, if and when reduced to United States currency, shall be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. "(2) In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary of State is hereby authorized to enter into an executive agreement or agreements with any foreign government for the use of currencies, or credits for currencies, of such government acquired as a result of such surplus property disposals, for the purpose of providing, by the formation of foundations or otherwise, for (A) financing studies, research, instruction, and other educational activities of or for American citizens in schools and institutions of higher learning located in such foreign country, or of the citizens of such foreign country in American schools and institutions of higher learning located outside the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, including payment for transportation, tuition, maintenance, and other expenses incident to scholastic activities; or (B) furnishing transportation for citizens of such foreign country who desire to attend American schools and institutions of higher learning in the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, and whose attendance will not deprive citizens of the United States of an opportunity to attend such schools and institutions: Provided, however, That no such agreement or agreements shall provide for the use of an aggregate amount of the currencies, or credits for currencies, of any one country in excess of $20,000,000 or for the expenditure of the currencies, or credits for currencies, of any one foreign country in excess of $1,000,000 annually at the official rate of exchange for such currencies, unless otherwise authorized by Congress, nor shall any such agreement relate to any subject other than the use and expenditure of such currencies or credits for currencies for the purposes herein set forth: Provided further, That for the purpose of selecting students and educational institutions qualified to participate in this program, and to supervise the exchange program authorized herein, the President of the United States is hereby authorized to appoint a Board of Foreign Scholarships, consisting of ten members, who shall serve without compensation, composed of representatives of cultural, educational, student and war veterans groups, and including representatives of the United States Office of Education, the United States Veterans' Administration, State educational institutions, and privately endowed educational institutions: And Provided further, That in the selection of American citizens for study in foreign countries under this paragraph preference shall be given to applicants who shall have served in the military or naval forces of the United States during World War I or World War II, and due consideration shall be given to applicants from all geographical areas of the United States. The Secretary of State shall transmit to the Congress not later than the 1st day of March of each year a report of operations under this paragraph during the preceding calendar year. Such report shall include the text of any agreements which have been entered into hereunder during the preceding calendar year, and shall specify the names and addresses of American citizens who are attending schools or institutions of higher learning in foreign countries pursuant to such agreements, the names and locations of such schools and institutions, and the amounts of the currencies or credits for currencies expended for any of the purposes under this paragraph in each such foreign country during the preceding calendar year." Approved August 1, 1946. [PUBLIC LAW 585-79TH CONGRESS] [S. 1717] AN ACT For the development and control of atomic energy. (8) without regard to the provisions of the Surplus Property Act of 1944 or any other law, make such disposition as it may deem desirable of (A) radioactive materials, and (B) any other property the special disposition of which is, in the opinion of the Commission, in the interest of the national security. Approved August 1, 1946. (Extract from) [PUBLIC LAW-597-79TH CONGRESS] [CHAPTER 741-2D SESSION] AN ACT To amend the Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946, for the purpose of making a clerical correction. SEC. 3. Section 201 of such Act is amended on page 8, lines 12 and 17, after the word "Philippines," by addition of the following "(Republic of the Philippines),". Approved August 2, 1946. [CHAPTER 790-2D SESSION] [H. R. 6702] AN ACT To clarify the rights of former owners of real property to reacquire such property under the Surplus Property Act of 1944. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 23 (a) (1) of the Surplus Property Act of 1944 is amended to read. as follows: "(1) The term 'real property' means property consisting of land, together with any fixtures and improvements thereon (including hotels, apartment houses, hospitals, office buildings, stores, and other commercial structures) located outside the District of Columbia, but does not include (A) commercial structures constructed by, at the direction of, or on behalf of any Government agency, (B) commercial structures which the Administrator determines have been made an integral part of a functional or economic unit which should be disposed of as a whole, and (C) war housing, industrial plants, factories, airports, airport facilities, or similar structures and facilities, or the sites thereof, or land which the Administrator determines essential to the use of any of the foregoing; and". SEC. 2. Section 23 (c) of the Surplus Property Act of 1944 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "The classification of property by the Administrator (including the determination of whether property is 'real property' as defined in this section) shall be based on the highest and best use of the property at the time it is reported as surplus property regardless of its former character or use." SEC. 3. The Secretary of War and the War Assets Administration are authorized and directed to take such action as may be necessary (A) to reinstate the leasehold covering the Chamberlin Hotel, Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort, Virginia, and its appurtenant land, buildings, utilities, and facilities, which leasehold, with all the furnishings and equipment used in connection therewith, was acquired on December 30, 1941, by the Department of the Navy, and on December 20, 1945, declared by the Department of the Navy to be surplus to its needs and responsibilities; and (B) to convey and sell, to the former owner or owners authorized under this section to be the lessee under the reinstated leasehold, all of the right, title, and interest in and to such hotel, land, buildings, utilities, furnishings, and equipment, which existed in the person who was the lessee prior to such acquisition by the Department of the Navy. The former owner or owners for the purposes of this section shall be either (i) those persons who on December 30, 1941, owned bonds to secure payment of which the property was then held by a trustee, and who, within sixty days after the date of first publication of notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property is situated, as hereinafter provided, commit themselves, in such manner as the War Assets Administrator may prescribe, to participate in the acquisition of the property, the participation by each such person to be in the proportion which the face amount of the bonds owned by such person on December 30, 1941, is of the aggregate face amount of such bonds owned by all of the participants, or (ii) a corporation all of the shares of which (except qualifying shares) are owned in like proportion by the persons making such commitments. Notice of the right of such persons to have the benefits of this section shall be given by publication in the Federal Register, publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property is situated, and by any other means which may be deemed appropriate by the War Assets Administrator. The leasehold shall contain the same terms and conditions as that which was in effect immediately prior to the acquisition of the property by the Department of the Navy, and upon the reinstatement thereof shall be subject to all of the provisions of Public Resolution 71, Sixty-seventh Congress (42 Stat. 843), as if such acquisition by the Department of the Navy had not taken place. The consideration to be paid to the United States for reinstating such leasehold and for such conveyance and sale to the former owner or owners shall be a price not greater than that for which the property was acquired by the United States. Such acquisition price being properly adjusted to reflect any increase or decrease in the value of the property resulting from action by the United States, or a price equal to the market price at the time of sale, whichever price is the lower. This section shall cease to be in effect unless, within six months from the date of the enactment of this Act, the former owner or owners pay or tender the consideration prescribed in this section for the reinstatement of the leasehold and for such conveyance and sale. Approved August 7, 1946. |