MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00965R000400090020-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 5, 2003
• Sequence Number: 20
• Content Type: LETTER

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Proposed transmittal letter to accompany a bill, "To amend laws
relating to Federal personnel and their dependents to take into
account the Territory of Alaska having become a State of the Union."
My dear Mr. Speaker:
There is forwarded herewith a draft of legislation "To amend laws
relating to Federal personnel and their dependents to take into account
the Territory of Alaska having become a State of the Union",, together
with a section-by-section analysis thereof.
The President recommended in his 1960 Budget Message that, where
necessary, changes should be made in Federal laws "to apply to Alaska
the same general laws, rules, and policies as are applicable to other
States." The proposal is designed to apply this policy to Federal
personnel and their dependents in Alaska. Special account has been
taken, however, of the substantially higher costs of living in Alaska.
Provision has been made to continue additional compensation and per
diem allowances in Alaska so that Federal employees may receive com-
pensation reasonably comparable with salaries paid by non-Federal
employers in Alaska for the same or similar work.
Section 1 of the proposed legislation would amend section 207 of
the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1911.9, as amended, which now
authorizes additional compensation to Federal employees stationed out-
side the continental United States or in Alaska whose rates of basic
compensation are fixed by statute. The amendatory language would
(a) permit employees in Alaska to continue to receive additional com-
pensation based on conditions of environment which differ substantially
from those in other States, (b) limit the amount of additional compen-
sation based on conditions of environment to 25 percent of the rate of
basic compensation, and (c) remove the limit on additional compensation
which may be paid for differences in costs of living in Alaska. Employees
in other areas outside the United States would continue to be able to
receive additional compensation,not to exceed 25 percent of their basic
compensation, for differences in costs of living and conditions of
environment combined as they do now. Payment of additional compensation
in Alaska and elsewhere would remain subject to regulation by the
President,
The difficult employment situation in Alaska, resulting from high
costs of living, competition in the labor market, high wage rates and,
at some posts, notably unfavorable environmental conditions, continues
to be of serious concern to the military and civilian agencies. The
Civil Service Commission conducted a survey in the fall of 1957, in
connection with its annual review of Territorial cost-of-living allow-
ances required by Executive Order 10000, and found that the cost of
living in Juneau was 12 percent higher than in the District of Columbia,
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in Anchorage 57 percent higher, and in Fairbanks 67 percent higher.
Using the State Departmentts criteria for measuring hardship factors
overseas, at least eight posts in Alaska would merit post differ-
entials ranging from 10 to 25; percent. Two of those posts are within
the Arctic Circle, two are near the Bering Straits, one is in the
Aleutian Islands and the others are also geographically isolated.
The amendments in section 1 of the proposed legislation would
authorize payment of fair amounts of additional compensation in
Alaska to meet actual differences in living costs and amounts, up
to 25 percent of basic compensation, to induce personnel to accept
assignments in areas of Alaska where conditions of environment differ
substantially from those in other States, Adoption of the proposed
language is recommended to provide for adequate staffing in Alaska of
continuing Federal programs. Authority to provide adequate compensa-
tion on the above proposed basis would also make it feasible and
reasonable to terminate other special benefits which are now available
to personnel in Alaska.
We believe that the additional compensation for enlisted military
personnel in Alaska should also be continued. Therefore, no change is
recommended in section 206 of the Act of October 12, 1949, as amended
(37 U. S. C., sec, 237)9 which provides additional compensation for
enlisted personnel of the uniformed services outside the continental
United States or in Alaska.
In keeping with the same principle, it is proposed, in sections 2(c)
and 8, that per diem allowances in Alaska remain on the same basis as at
present. Sections 2(c) and 8 of the proposal would merely clarify the
language of section 5 of the Administrative Expenses Act and section 3
of the Travel Expense Act to provide that the $15 and $12 maximum per
diem allowances, allowed under those laws, respectively, would continue
to apply to the States of the Union, except Alaska, and the District of
Columbia. Employees in Alaska could continue to receive per diem allow-
ances prescribed by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget which more
fairly meet the higher costs of living in the State of Alaska.
The remaining provisions of the proposed legislation amend personnel
laws in keeping with the general principle that Alaska be treated like
other States. For example, section 2(a) would clarify sections 1 and 7
of the Administrative Expenses Act to provide that new appointees would
no longer be compensated for transportation expenses in connection with
moving themselves, their families and their households and personal
effects to Alaska or back to residences in the other States. Nor would
employees in Alaska be entitled to free transportation for themselves
and their immediate families in connection with "home leave" in the
other States. Such appointees and employees would, of course, continue
to receive benefits available to personnel in other States.
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Continuation of the special benefits relating to moves to Alaska,
free travel for home leave, and home leave itself would carry the
implication that Alaska remains an overseas post where Federal employees
are expected to serve only a tour of duty. Such an implication is
believed to be incompatible with the position of Alaska as a full and
equal member of the Union. It is also believed that action to provide
adequate cost-of-living allowances, as provided in section 1 of the
proposal, and to continue adequate per diem allowances, would eliminate
the need for such fringe benefits as an incentive for recruitment and
retention of personnel in Alaska.
Subsections (b), (d), and (e) of section 2 of the proposal merely
eliminate or clarify language made superfluous by the amendment pro-
posed in subsection (a). Section 3 of the proposal also merely clari-
fies the Act of June 5, 1936, relating to personnel in the Virgin
Islands, to include Alaska in the term "continental United States".
Those amendments do not, in themselves, affect employee benefits.
Other fringe benefits would be eliminated under the proposed
legislation. Those include the right to make allotments from pay,
benefits accruing in the event of an employee's death or a dependent's
death, additional leave, the receipt of personal supplies and sub-
sistence on a reimbursable basis, and the furnishing of military trans-
portation in connection with travel for home leave, In each case,
employees in Alaska would be placed on the same footing as those in
other States.
The proposal would also extend the Federal Employees Pay Act of
1945 and the Performance Rating Act of 1950, to cover native employees
in Alaska paid in accordance with local prevailing wages, and would
require certain insurance companies selling group policies under the
Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act of 1954 to be licensed in
Alaska as well as all other States. Finally, a law relating to Coast
Guard enlistments would be amended to provide for detention of person-
nel beyond the term of enlistment on the same basis in Alaska as in
the other States.
The Comptroller General, in decision B?137245, has ruled that the
provisions of the Annual and Sick Leave Act of 1951, as amended (5
U. S. C.,. sec. 2062(d),(e)), which authorized accumulations of 45 days
of annual leave by certain employees, instead of the usual 30 days,
and leave-free travel time in connection with "home leave", no longer
apply to employees in Alaska since they apply only to persons stationed
"outside the several States and the District of Columbia". Thus,
employees in Alaska are now on the same basis as those in other States
in. that respect. Similarly, a number of sections of Title 10 of the
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United States Code which provided special benefits to civilian and
military personnel of the military departments while Alaska was a
Territory automatically ceased to apply when Alaska became a State.
No action is proposed to restore such fringe benefits.
The final section of the proposal, section l5, would continue
in effect any outstanding employment agreements concluded pursuant
to sections 1 and 7 of the Administrative Expenses Act of 19116. Those
agreements, which are in the nature of contracts, provide for payment
of transportation expenses to and from Alaska for new appointees in
return for a commitment by the appointee to serve a specified period
of time in Alaska.
The Bureau of the Budget urges early and favorable consideration
of the legislative proposal transmitted herewith.
Sincerely yours,
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