section 2 (a) (4) any functions with respect to employees whose appointment remains vested in the Commission under the first proviso of section 2 (a) (3), above; (5) The functions of the Commission with respect to directing the preparation of the budget estimates and with respect to the use and expenditure of the funds; and (6) The functions of the Commission with respect to executing, administering, and enforcing (A) the civil-service rules and regulations of the President of the United States and of the Commission and the laws governing the same, and (B) the other activities of the Commission, including retirement and classification activities: Provided, That there are not transferred by the provisions of this section 2 (a) (6) the functions of the Commission with respect to: (i) The preparation of suitable rules in accordance with the provisions of the first subsection of section 2 of the Act of January 16, 1883 (ch. 27, 22 Stat. 403), and the making of an annual report under the fifth subsection of said section 2; (ii) The promulgation of any rules, regulations, or similar policy directives, now vested in the Commission; (iii) The prevention of pernicious political activities, including such functions under the Act of July 19, 1940 (54 Stat. 767), as amended; (iv) The hearing or providing for the hearing of appeals, including appeals with respect to examination ratings, veterans' preference, racial and religious discrimination, disciplinary action, efficiency ratings, and dismissals, and the taking of such final action on such appeals as is now authorized to be taken by the Commission; (v) The recommendation to the President for transmission to the Congress of such legislative or other measures as will promote an efficient Federal service and a systematic application of merit system principles, including measures relating to the selection, promotion, transfer, performance, pay, conditions of service, tenure, and separation of Federal employees; (vi) The investigation of matters pertaining to the administration of functions of the Commission or Chairman; nor (vii) The revision and submission to the Bureau of the Budget of budget estimates. (b) The functions transferred by the provisions of sections 2 (a) (2) to 2 (a) (6), inclusive, of this reorganization plan shall be performed by the Chairman or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers and employees under his jurisdiction as he shall designate. (c) Each Civil Service Commissioner, including the Chairman, and duly authorized representatives of the Commission or Chairman, shall have authority to administer oaths pursuant to section 1 of the act of August 23, 1912 (ch. 350 (37 Stat. 372)). SEC. 3. Executive Director.-There shall be under the Chairman an Executive Director who shall be appointed by the Chairman under the classified civil service. During the absence or disability of the Chairman, or in the event of a vacancy in the office of Chairman, the Executive Director shall perform those functions of the Chairman which are transferred to the Chairman by the provisions of sections 2 (a) (2) to 2 (a) (6), inclusive, of this reorganization plan unless the President shall designate another person so to perform said functions: Provided, That the Executive Director shall at no time sit as a member or acting member of the Commission. SEC. 4. Offices abolished.---The heretofore existing offices of Executive Director and Chief Examiner, and the office of Secretary of the Commission and the title of "President of the United States Civil Service Commission" are hereby abolished. [H. Doc. No. 227, 81st Cong., 1st sess.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TRANSMITTING REORGANIZATION PLAN No. 6 OF 1949, DESIGNED ΤΟ STRENGTHEN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNITED STATES MARITIME COMMISSION BY MAKING THE CHAIRMAN THE EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER OF THE COMMISSION AND VESTING IN HIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF ITS PERSONNEL AND THE SUPERVISION AND DIRECTION OF THEIR ACTIVITIES To the Congress of the United States: I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1949, prepared in accordance with the Reorganization Act of 1949. This plan is designed to strengthen the administration of the United States Maritime Commission by making the Chairman the chief executive and administrative officer of the Commission and vesting in him responsibility for the appointment of its personnel and the supervision and direction of their activities. After investigation, I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in this plan is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2 (a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949. Unlike other major regulatory commissions, the Maritime Commission is responsible not only for the performance of important regulatory functions but also for the administration of large and complex operating and promotional programs. Whereas the budgets of most regulatory agencies amount to only a few million dollars annually, the expenditures of the Maritime Commission exceed $130,000,000 a year. As a result of the war the Commission is the owner of a fleet of over 2,300 ships, aggregating more than 23,00,0000 dead-weight tons. While it is the policy of the Government, as set forth by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 and the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, to develop and maintain an adequate and effective merchant marine under private ownership, the Commission is still confronted with the necessity of carrying on substantial programs for the charter and sale of Government-owned vessels and with the continuing task of maintaining the reserve merchant fleet. Apart from its functions with respect to the war-built fleet, the accomp ishment of the Government's permanent objective with respect to the development of the American merchant marine inevitably involves the Commission to a wide variety of activities. Among these are the regulation of rates and competitive practices of water carriers, the determination of essential trade routes and services, the award of subsidies to offset differences between American and foreign costs, the design and construction of ships, the inspection of subsidized vessels, and the training of seamen. In the last 2 years the operation of the Maritime Commission has been subjected to independent examination by three bodies-the President's Advisory Committee on the Merchant Marine, the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, and the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government. All of these studies have pointed to difficulties in the conduct of the Commission's business and the necessity of improved organization to strengthen the administration of the agencies. The remedies proposed have differed in some respects, but all the studies have emphasized the need of concentrating in a single official the management of a large part of the agency's work. During the war such a concentration was temporarily accomplished by Executive order under the authority of the First War Powers Act. In effect, the Chairman of the Commission, as War Shipping Administrator, was made directly responsible for the administration of several major operating programs of the Commission. This arrangement proved its value under the stress of war. About a year after the end of the fighting, however, it was terminated and the organization reverted to the prewar pattern. As a result of postwar experience, the Commission appointed a general manager in 1948. While this has brought considerable improvement, it has not extricated the Commission from administration to the degree which is desirable. After careful consideration of the problems involved in improving the operation of the Maritime Commission, I have concluded that the proper action at this time is to concentrate in the Chairman the responsibility for the internal administration of the agency. This is achieved by the proposed reorganization plan by transferring to the Chairman the appointment of the personnel of the agency, except for the immediate assistants of the Commissioners, and the supervision and direction of their work. This is substantially the arrangement recommended for regulatory commissions by the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government. Such a plan of organization has many advantages. It leaves in the Commission as a body the performance of regulatory functions, the determination of subsidies, and the determination of major policies. Thus, it utilizes the Commission for the type of work for which such a body is best adapted. At the same time the plan places under a single official the day-to-day direction of the work of the staff within the policies and determinations adopted by the Commission in the exercise of its functions. This will provide more businesslike administration and help to overcome the delays, backlogs, and operating difficulties which have hampered the agency. At the same time by freeing the members of the Commission of much detail, the plan will enable them to concentrate on major questions of policy and program and thereby will obtain earlier and better considered resolution of the basic problems of the agency. Though the taking effect of this plan in itself may not result in substantial immediate economies, it is probable that the improved organizational arrangements will bring about, over a period of time, improved operations and substantially reduced expenditures. An itemization of these reductions, however, in advance of actual experience under the plan is not practicable. I am convinced that this reorganization plan will contribute importantly to the more businesslike and efficient administration of the programs of the Maritime Commission. HARRY S. TRUMAN. THE WHITE HOUSE, June 20, 1949. REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 6 OF 1949 Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, June 20, 1949, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, approved June 20, 1949 United States Maritime Commission SECTION 1. Administration of functions of Commission.-The Chairman of the United States Maritime Commission shall be the chief executive and administrative officer of the United States Maritime Commission. In executing and administering on behalf of the Commission its functions (exclusive of functions transferred by the provisions of section 2 of this reorganization plan) the Chairman shall be governed by the policies, regulatory decisions, findings, and determinations of the Commission. SEC. 2. Transfer of functions.-There are hereby transferred from the United States Maritime Commission to the Chairman of the Commission the functions of the Commission with respect to (1) the appointment and supervision of all personnel employed under the Commission, (2) the distribution of business among such personnel and among organizational units of the Commission, and (3) the use and expenditure of funds for administrative purposes: Provided, That the provisions of this section do not extend to personnel employed regularly and full time in the offices of members of the Commission other than the Chairman: Provided further, That the heads of the major administrative units shall be appointed by the Chairman only after consultation with the other members of the Commission. SEC. 3. Performance of transferred functions.-The functions of the Chairman under the provisions of this reorganization plan shall be performed by him or, subject to his supervision and direction, by such officers and employees under his jurisdiction as he shall designate. [H. Doc. No. 228, 81st Cong., 1st sess.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TRANSMITTING REORGANIZATION PLAN No. 7 of 1949, TRANSFERRING THE PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE To the Congress of the United States: I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 7 of 1949, prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949. This plan transfers the Public Roads Administration to the Department of Commerce. After investigation I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in this plan is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2 (a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949. This plan directly carries out the recommendation of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government with respect to the Public Roads Administration. That the Department of Commerce is the appropriate location for the Public Roads Administration in the executive branch is evident from the nature of its functions and the basic purpose of the Department. The Public Roads Administration is primarily engaged in planning and financing the development of the highways which provide the essential facilities for motor transportation throughout the country. Thus, it comes directly within the purpose of the Department of Commerce, as defined by its organic act, which provides: "It shall be the province and duty of said Department to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce and the transportation facilities of the United States." In its reorganization proposals the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government adhered to the statutory definition of the functions and role of the Department of Commerce. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Congress likewise were guided by this concept of the Department in transferring to it the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Inland Waterways Corporation under the Reorganization Act of 1939. A careful review of the structure of the executive branch reveals no other department or agency in which the Public Roads Administration can so appropriately be located. The desirability of this transfer of the Public Roads Administration is further emphasized by its relation to the Federal property and administrative services bill now pending in the Senate. This bill creates a new General Services Administration and concentrates in it the principal central administrative service programs of the executive branch. The bill also revises the basic legislation on property management. It has been passed by the House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote and unanimously reported by the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments and awaits final action on the floor of the Senate. This measure substantially conforms to recommendations which I submitted to the Congress more than a year ago and to proposals more recently presented by the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, with which I concur. The enactment of this bill will constitute an important step in increasing the efficiency of Federal administration. Since the bill makes permanent provision for the disposal of surplus property, now handled by the War Assets Administration which will expire by law on June 30, early enactment is vital. In establishing the General Services Administration the Federal Property and Administrative Services bill transfers to the Administration all of the functions and units of the Federal Works Agency. Part of these functions relating to the housing of the governmental establishment clearly fall within the purpose of such an Administration. Certain other functions of the Federal Works Agency, however, bear very little real relation to the objectives of the General Services Administration. The congressional committees which have dealt with the bill have frankly indicated that further consideration must be given to the proper location of some of the programs of the Federal Works Agency. The sooner these unrelated programs can be removed from the new agency, the sooner it can concentrate its efforts upon improving administrative services throughout the executive branch and make the contribution to governmental efficiency for which it has been designed. Principal among the programs of the Federal Works Agency which are unrelated to the General Services Administration are those of the Public Roads Administration. This agency is primarily engaged in the administration of Federal grants to States for highway purposes rather than in the performance of services for other Federal agencies. Its functions, therefore, do not fall within the field of activities of the General Services Administration. Their inclusion cannot but complicate and impede the development of the General Services Administration in the performance of its intended purpose. This reorganization plan will eliminate such a difficulty. Since the Public Roads Administration will be transferred bodily from one major agency to another, it is not to be expected that this reorganization will directly result in any appreciable reduction in its expenditures at this time. However, the plan will make for better organization and direction of Federal programs relating to transportation. Assuming the early enactment of the Federal property and administrative services bill, the plan will also materially simplify the development of the proposed general services administration and thereby facilitate improvements in the efficiency of administrative services throughout the GovernHARRY S. TRUMAN. ment. THE WHITE HOUSE, June 20, 1949. REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 7 OF 1949 Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, June 20, 1949, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, approved June 20, 1949 Public Roads Administration SECTION 1. Transfer of Public Roads Administration.-The Public Roads Administration, together with its functions, including the functions of the Commissioner of Public Roads, is hereby transferred to the Department of Commerce and shall be administered by the Commissioner of Public Roads subject to the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce. SEC. 2. Transfer of certain functions of Federal Works Administrator.-All functions of the Federal Works Administrator with respect to the agency and functions transferred by the provisions of section 1 hereof are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce and shall be performed by the Secretary or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers, employees, and agencies of the Department of Commerce as the Secretary shall designate. SEC. 3. Records, property, personnel, and funds.-There are hereby transferred to the Department of Commerce, to be used, employed, and expended in connection with the functions transferred by the provisions of this reorganization plan, the records and property now being used or held in connection with such functions, the personnel employed in connection with such functions, together with the Commissioner of Public Roads, and the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds available or to be made available for use in connection with such functions. Such further measures and dispositions as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to be necessary in order to effectuate the transfers provided for in this section shall be carried out in such manner as the Director shall direct and by such agencies as he shall designate. SEC. 4. Effect of reorganization plan.-The provisions of this reorganization plan shall become effective notwithstanding the status of the Public Roads Administration within the Federal Works Agency or within any other agency immediately prior to the effective date of this reorganization plan. (The subcommittees are as follows:) SUBCOMMITTEES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE Reorganization plan Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1949, providing for a Department of Welfare to perform the functions and conduct the programs now administered by the Federal Security Agency, and S. 2060 (McCarthy), to establish a Department of Welfare. Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949, to transfer the Bureau of Employment Security from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor, etc. Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1949, to strengthen the the organization of the Post Office Department. Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1949, to transfer the National Security Council and the National Security Resources Board to the Executive Office of the President. Subcommittee members Long, chairman; McCarthy. Humphrey, chairman; Long, chairman; pel. Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1949, to provide for the Hoey, chairman; Schoep- Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1949, to strengthen the etc. Reorganization Plan No. 7 of 1949, to transfer the Public Roads Administration to the Department of Commerce. Eastland, chairman; O'Conor, chairman; Taylor, Schoeppel. |