LETTER TO JOHN A. MCCONE FROM PHILLIP S. HUGHES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP65B00383R000500020002-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2014
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 23, 1963
• Content Type: LETTER

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
BUREAU OF THE BUDGET
WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
WAY 2 3 1963
Honorable John A. McCone
Director, Central Intelligence
Agency
Washington 25, D. C.
Attention: Mr. John S. Warner
2430 E Street, N. W.
Dear Mr. McCone:
The Bureau intends again to propose legislation to restate and clarify the
existing authority which permits the rental of Government quarters and the
providing of other related services to its personnel. The proposal is
primarily in the nature of perfecting legislation.
A virtually identical proposal, Senate Bill 3486, was favorably reported
by the Senate Committee on Government Operations in Report No. 1570, and
passed in the Senate on June 14, 1960. The bill was not acted upon by the
House in that Congress. In the 87th Congress, that same proposal, as H.R.
7021, was reported by the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service in
Report No. 856, and passed in the House on August 21, 1961. The Senate
Committee had not reported its identical bill, S. 797, at the time of ad-
journment.
The current version has been changed in one important respect. The
Comptroller General had indicated that the earlier version would upset
present practice in most instances of retaining proceeds of rentals and
other services in appropriations or other funds. The change is intended
to permit present practice to continue.
Since earlier versions of the bill received the usual prior circulation
among the agencies, this version is not being circulated in the expectation
of gaining a repetition of earlier comments, but largely as a matter of
information. However, if there should be a particular need for comment in
your present view, please do so. We plan to transmit the bill in the very
near future.
Sincerely
Ph lip S. Hughes
Assistant Director for
Enclosures: Legislative Reference
1. Draft of Bill
2, Statement of Background
nnA Pnrnnnn"
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A BILL
To authorize Government agencies to provide quarters, household
furniture and equipment, utilities, subsistence, and laundry
service to civilian officers and employees of the United States,
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 head of each
department independent establishment, and Government corporation may,
under such regulation as the President may prescribe and where con-
ditions of employment or availability of quarters warrant it, provide,
either directly or by contract, civilian officers and employees sta-
tioned in the United States, its territories and possessions, and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, with quarters (Government owned or leased),
household furniture and equipment, utilities, subsistence, and laundry
service.
Sec. 2. Rental rates for any Government owned or leased quarters
provided under authority of section 1 of this Act, or occupied on a
rental basis under authority of any other provision of law, and charges
for any furniture and equipmeni', utilities, subsistence, and laundry
service made available in connection with the occupancy of such quarters,
shall be based on the reasonable value thereof to the officer, employee,
or member of the uniformed services concerned, in the circumstances
under which furnished. Such rates and charges shall be determined in
accordance with such regulations as the President may prescribe, and the
amounts thereof shall be paid by or deducted from the salary of such
officer, employee, or member of the uniformed services, or otherwise
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charged against them: Provided, That the amounts of any payroll de-
ductions for such charges shall remain in the applicable appropriation
or fund, but whenever payments are made by- any other method the amounts
shall be credited to miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury or to such
appropriation or fund as may be otherwise provided by law.
Sec. 3. Whenever, as an incidental service in support of a Govern-
ment program, any Government owned or leased quarters, and any related
furniture and equipment, utilities, subsistence, and laundry service are
provided, under specific Government direction,, to any person who is not
an officer or employee of the Government ora member of the uniformed
services, the rates and charges therefor, which shall be paid or other-
wise credited to the Government, shall be determined in accordance with
section 2 of this Act: Provided, That the amounts of any such charges
shall be credited to miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury or to such
appropriation or fund as may be otherwise provided by law.
Sec. 4. No civilian officer, employee, or member of the uniformed
services, shall be required to occupy Government owned or leased rental
quarters unless the head of the agency concerned shall determine that
necessary service cannot be rendered or property of the United States
cannot be adequately protected otherwise.
Sec. 5. Section 2 of this Act shall not be construed as repealing
or modifying any provision of law which may authorize the provision,
without charge or at specified rates, of any of the items enumerated
in section 1 of this Act, to any specific civilian officer or employee,
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or to any class of such officers or employees, or to such officers or
employees under emergency conditions or to members of the uniformed
services.
Sec. 6. Section 3 of the Act of March 5, 1928 (45 Stat. 193
(5 U.S.C. 75a)), is repealed.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF PROPOSED BILL
"To authorize Government agencies to provide quarters, household furniture
and equipment, utilities, subsistence and laundry services to civilian
officers and employees of the United States, and for other purposes."
The purpose of the proposed bill is to restate and clarify existing statutory
authority and regulations which authorize the providing by the Government of
rental quarters and certain related services for its personnel. It is pri-
marily in the nature of perfecting legislation, intended to provide a basis
for the uniform application of regulations governing rental quarters and re-
lated services, to state legislative intent against forced occupancy of
Government housing, and to clarify authority to establish rates for the use
of such housing and services in cases not now clearly stated in law. The
bill would not authorize any new construction or other acquisition of quarters;
nor is it expected to result either in additional costs or in savings
Specifically, the bill would:
(a) restate existing authority to provide rental housing for civilian
employees of the Government;
(b) reinstate a statutory barrier against forced occupany of Government
rental housing such as was carried for some years in appropriation acts;
(c) authorize the President to issue regulations for more equitable
application of the laws relating to rental quarters and related services; and
(d) clarify the applicability of the law in certain cases not now
clearly covered, such as rent for contractors' employees and members of the
uniformed services who occupy rental housing.
The authority now contatted in the Act of March 5) 1928 (5 U.S.C. 75a), to
provide quarters) household furniture and equipment) utilities, subsistence,
and laundry service for civilian employees, would be continued in the provisions
of the bill, but with further restatement and.clarification. Section 3 of
the Act of March 5, 1928 (5 U.S.C. 75a), is the only existing law of general
application to civilian employees which authorizes the government to provide
quarters and to fix rents. It reads as follow:
"The head of an executive department or independent establishment,
where, in his judgment, conditions of employment require it, may
continue to furnish civilians employed in the field service with
quarters, heat, light, household equipment, subsistence, and laundry
service; and appropriations of the character used before March 5)
1928, for such purposes are made available therefor: Provided, that
the reasonable value of such allowances shall be determined and con-
sidered as part of the compensation in fixing the salary rate of
such civilians."
That part of the section which establishes "reasonable value" as the basis
for rentals and charges for related services has been adopted as the governing
principle in efforts to administer the law, and would be Preserved and extended
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inrthe,proposed bill. That portion which requires the value of. allowances
to be considered in fixing:salary rates has become obsolete inasmuch as the
present compensation laws rest upon the premise that salary and wages are'
determined solely upon the basis of work performed. In practice, and of
necessity in adapting the more recent compensation concept, salaries and
wages are determined apart from considerations of quarters and services
that may be provided, while the reasonable rate of rentals and service
charges are deducted from the employee's pay, or paid in cash. The Proposed
legislation would remove this conflict.
Since 1928, several other laws have been enacted which authorize rental of
quarters in specified kinds of cases. The Act of July 2, 1945, as amended
(37 U.S.C. 111a), authorized the occupancy of certain quarters, on a rental
basis, by members of the uniformed services who are authorized to continue
to receive their basic allowances for quarters. The law did not specify how
the rental rates were to be determined, in these cases, nor did subsequent
law specify how rental rates were to be determined for authorized occupancy
of Capehart housing by civilian personnel or of Wherry housing by civilian
and military, personnel. (Sections 404(f) and 405 of the Act of August 11,
1955, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1594a(f) and 1594b)). The draft bill would
provide a basis for determination of uniform rental rates in these cases and
in all other similar cases.
For a number of years the Congress wrote into annual appropriation acts a
prohibition against requiring employees to occupy Government rental quarters,
unless the head of the agency determined that necessary service could not be
rendered or property of the United States could not be adequately protected.
This guarantees against the impingement of the rights of employees as indi-
viduals. The provision has not been proposed in appropriation language for
several years in recognition of the need for permanent legislation to accom-
plish the purpose. The proposed bill will accomplish this.
To the extent possible under present law, the Bureau of the Budget has
promulgated regulations intended to provide a basis for determination of
"reasonable value" for rentals and service charges. The proposed bill would
provide statutory authority for regulations similar to that dealing with
employee allowances and benefits, such as the Travel Expense Act of 1949, as
amended (5 U.S.C. 835-842), and the Government Employees Training Act (5 U.S.C.
2301 et seq.).
It is, in some instances, to the advantage of the Government to make available
rental housing and other services to employees of its contractors, but there
is no clear statutory basis for determining the rental rates or service
charges. The proposed bill would provide that such rates be established under
the same system of regulations as the President is authorized to issue for
facilities and services made available to Government employees.
While the bill would reform and restate the authority to provide rental quarters
and related services and to establish uniformity in determining rates, it
leaves undisturbed those determinations in previous law relating to providing
of public quarters to the uniformed services or those governing provision of
quarters in foreign countries. It also preserves any existing exemptions
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from the reasonable value rule that may now be specified in law, and continues
an exemption in the event of occupancy required by disasters and other such
emergencies.
Except where specific law may permit or require otherwise, it has long been
the practice generally to retain the salary deductions of employees in
appropriations from which salaries are paid where the amounts may be used
for the maintenance of the housing or to defray the expense of providing
services. In some few instances where specific appropriations or other funds
are designated for housing maintenance, deductions are deposited to the credit
of those appropriations or funds, rather than retained in the appropriation
for salaries. Collections, other than by salary deductions, are ordinarily
credited to miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury, except where provisions
of law may determine otherwise. The proposed bill includes language intended
to continue present practice and to allow it to be applied in future similar
instances.
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ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
El SECRET
Sumo': (optional) Re: Correspondence from the Bureau of the Budget concerning legislation
to provide quarters, household furniture, subsistence, etc., to civilian employees
stationed in the United States.
FROM:
Chief, Administrative Staff, OL
Roam 1326 Quarters Eye Building
NO.
DATE
3 June 1963
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
? RECEIVED
FORWARDED
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
1 0 C
STAT:tn:
Room 7D-01 Headquarters Bldg.
2.
3.
STAT
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
STAT
10.
12.
13.
14.
15.
This confirms our telephone conver-
sation of 3 June 1963 in which we
informed you that the Office of
Logistics has no comments to make
on the 'slation
JSW
OL 3 3435a
FORM Ll fl USE PREVIOUS ir.r&,yi*i I-1 INTERNAL 1:1 UNCLASSIFIED
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