446 COLORADO RIVER COMPACT EXPLANATORY Note Approval of the Compact. By section 13(a) of the Boulder Canyon Project Act approved December 21, 1928, the Colorado River Compact was approved by Congress and the provisions of the first paragraph of Article XI of the Compact making said Compact binding and obligatory when it shall have been approved by the legislature of each of the signatory States, were waived, the approval to become effective when the State of California and at least five of the other States mentioned shall have approved or may thereafter approve said Compact and shall consent to such waiver. The Presi dent proclaimed on June 25, 1929, 46 Stat. 3000, that the necessary ratifications had taken place. 447 AMEND CREDITS FOR CHARGES ON YUMA AND YUMA AUXILIARY PROJECTS ACT An act to amend the act entitled "An act to authorize credit upon the construction charges of certain water-right applicants and purchasers on the Yuma and Yuma Mesa auxiliary projects, and for other purposes." (Act of February 26, 1929, ch. 339, 45 Stat. 1321) [Act of June 28, 1926, amended-Credits on construction charges and on operation and maintenance charges-Yuma Indian Reservation.]—The act entitled "An act to authorize credit upon the construction charges of certain water-right applicants and purchasers on the Yuma and Yuma Mesa auxiliary projects and for other purposes," approved June 28, 1926, [is] amended so as to read as follows: "That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to credit the individual water-right applicants on the Yuma reclamation project and the purchasers of water rights on the Yuma Mesa auxiliary project, on the construction charges due under their contracts with the United States under the reclamation act and acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, with their proportionate part of all payments heretofore made or hereinafter to be made by the Imperial irrigation district of California under contract entered into under date of October 23, 1918, between the said district and the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, That lands in the Yuma Indian Reservation for which water rights have been purchased shall share pro rata in the credits so to be applied: Provided further, That where construction charges are paid in full said payments shall be credited on operation and maintenance charges assessed against the lands to which said payments would otherwise apply." (45 Stat. 1321) EXPLANATORY NOTES Not Codified. This Act is not codified in the U.S. Code. Editor's Note, Annotations. Annotations of opinions, if any, are found under the Act of June 28, 1926. Legislative History. H.R. 15918, Public Law 825 in the 70th Congress. H.R. Rept. No. 2115. S. Rept. No. 1839. 448 CONSULTING ENGINEERS, GEOLOGISTS, AND ECONOMISTS ON IMPORTANT RECLAMATION WORK An act authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to employ engineers and economists for consultation purposes on important reclamation work. (Act of February 28, 1929, ch. 374, 45 Stat. 1406) [Sec. 1. Employment of consulting engineers, etc.; compensation limited to $50 a day, and to $5,000 a year-Retired Army and Navy officers eligibleRetired Interior Department personnel eligible.]—The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his judgment and discretion, to employ for consultation purposes on important reclamation work ten consulting engineers, geologists, appraisers, and economists, at rates of compensation to be fixed by him, but not to exceed $50 per day for any engineer, geologist, appraiser, or economist so employed: Provided, That the total compensation paid to any engineer, geologist, appraiser, or economist during any fiscal year shall not exceed $5,000: Provided further, That notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act, retired officers of the Army or Navy may be employed by the Secretary of the Interior as consulting engineers in accordance with the provisions of this Act. (45 Stat. 1406; Act of April 22, 1940, 54 Stat. 148; Act of December 23, 1944, 58 Stat. 915; § 8, Act of September 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 652; 43 U.S.C. § 411b) EXPLANATORY NOTES 1966 Amendment. Section 8 of the Act of September 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 652, amended the Act by repealing the last proviso of section 1 which had been added to the section by the 1944 Amendment explained in the note following this note. The 1966 Act is a recodification of title 5 of the United States Code. Section 8 of the Act repeals a long list of provisions of law no longer required because of the recodification. Section 8 of the 1966 Act reads as follows: "Sec. 8. (a) The laws specified in the following schedule are repealed except with respect to rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before the effective date of this Act and except as provided by section 7 of this Act. "(b) The right to a deferred annuity on satisfaction of the conditions attached thereto is continued notwithstanding the repeal of the law conferring the right. "(c) The repeal of a law by this Act may not be construed as a legislative inference that the provision was or was not in effect before its repeal." 1944 Amendment. The Act of Decem ber 23, 1944, 58 Stat. 915, amended the Act by adding to section 1 a proviso that was repealed in 1966 and which read as follows: "Provided further, That, notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act, retired personnel of the Department of the Interior may be employed by the Secretary of the Interior as consultants in accordance with the provisions of this Act, without deductions from compensation for retirement, without loss of or redetermination of retirement status, and without loss or reduction of retirement annuity or other benefits by reason of such employment, except that there shall be deducted from the compensation otherwise payable to any such retired employee sums equal to the retirement annuity or benefit allocable to the days of actual employment hereunder." The 1944 Act appears herein in chronological order. 1940 Amendment. The Act of April 22, 1940, 54 Stat. 148, amended section 1 by providing for the employment of appraisers, and by increasing the number of persons authorized to be employed from five to ten. The 1940 Act appears herein in chronological order. Sec. 2. [Joint resolution of June 28, 1926, repealed.]—The joint resolution approved June 28, 1926, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to employ en CONSULTING ENGINEERS, ETC. 449 gineers for consultation in connection with the construction of dams for irrigation purposes, is hereby repealed. (45 Stat. 1406) EXPLANATORY NOTES Cross Reference, Employment of Experts and Consultants. In recent years most experts and consultants have been hired under the authority of section 15 of the Act of August 2, 1946, 60 Stat. 806, 810, Public Law 600 in the 79th Congress, 5 U.S.C. §3109, and general provisions in the annual appropriation acts (see, for example, sec tion 506 of the Public Works Appropriation Act, 1967, 80 Stat. 1015) because of the higher per diem rates allowed and the absence of a limit on the number of such persons employed. Legislative History. S. 4528, Public Law 851 in the 70th Congress. H.R. Rept. No. 2143. NOTES OF OPINIONS The restrictions of Act of February 28, 1929, apply only to employment under that act. New positions may be established and payment made from Public Works funds but such new employment must be in conformity with the executive order of November 18, 1933, or the Classification Act of 1923 as amended. Solicitor Margold Opinion, 54 I.D. 411 (1934). 2. Dual compensation The temporary employment by the War Department at any rate of compensation of a consulting engineer holding an appointment under the Act of February 28, 1929, in the Bureau of Reclamation at $50 a day when actually employed, would, notwithstanding the fact that the employee was in a nonpay status on the rolls of the bureau and would not receive compensation from the bureau and the War Department covering the same period of time, nevertheless be in contravention of the Act of May 10, 1916, as amended by the Act of August 29, 1916 (39 Stat. 120, 582), which prohibits the payment of more than one salary when the combined rate of such payment exceeds $2,000 per annum. Comp. Gen. Dec. A-30788 (Mar. 24, 1930) Employees appointed pursuant to the Act of February 28, 1929, 45 Stat. 1406, which limits the aggregate that may be paid to any one person to $5,000 per year, and to whom it is not practical to apply section 101 (b) of the Economy Act of June 30, 1932, 47 Stat. 400, are subject to 83 percent reduction prescribed by section 105 (d) of that Act for persons whose rate of compensation is between $1,000 and $10,000. As the rate of pay of the positions authorized by this statute will exceed $3,000 per annum, such employees would not be entitled, during the present fiscal year, to receive any pay as retired Army officers unless the retired pay amounts to $3,000 or more, in which case they may elect to receive either the civilian or the retired pay. Dec. Comp. Gen., A-44084 (August 23, 1932). 3. Application Where the services involved in a consulting engineer's appointment, under the above act, are not for performance at any fixed place and the appointment contemplates travel at Government expense between his home and the various places where his services might be required, the employee is considered as actually employed and entitled to salary per diem as well as per diem in lieu of subsistence whenever necessarily absent from his place of residence for purposes of consultation on reclamation projects, including necessary travel time and intervening Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and holidays. His compensation is subject to reduction required by the Economy Act of June 30, 1932, and its amendments, and to the fiscal year limitation. Dec. Comp. Gen., A-47819 (April 6, 1933). The words "important reclamation work" are used in the act in a collective sense and refer to the reclamation work of the Department as a whole; they are not restricted to any one project; and only five engineers, five geologists and five economists may be employed by the Department at any one time on important reclamation work. Dec. Comp. Gen.; B-6069 (October 4, 1939). 450 CONVEYANCE OF WATER RIGHTS, BOISE PROJECT An act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey or transfer certain water rights in connection with the Boise reclamation project. (Act of February 28, 1929, ch. 382, 45 Stat. 1410) [Sec. 1. Authority to relinquish interest in Ridenbaugh or Nampa and Meridian irrigation district water rights.]—The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to relinquish to the board of control of the Arrowrock division, Boise irrigation project, all the right, title, and interest of the United States in or to certain Ridenbaugh or Nampa and Meridian irrigation district water rights, not heretofore disposed of, obtained when land with appurtenant water rights was purchased by the United States for the Deer Flat Reservoir. (45 Stat. 1410) Sec. 2. [Water to be used by board of control of Arrowrock division.]—The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to permit the water to which the United States is entitled under the said Ridenbaugh rights to be taken into and distributed through the canal system of the Arrowrock division of the Boise project by the board of control and used or disposed of by the said board of control for the benefit of the said Arrowrock division. (45 Stat. 1410) EXPLANATORY NOTES Not Codified. This Act is not codified in the U.S. Code. Legislative History. H.R. 11360, Public Law 859 in the 70th Congress. H.R. Rept. |