Section 1004: This section continues provisions of existing law designed to safeguard against possible interferences with the veterans' preference provisions of other laws.

Section 1005: This section specifies effective dates. Generally, the bill is to take effect upon enactment. However, the compensation schedules, the step increase plans, the pay rules, and the repeal of existing pay laws are to become effective on the first day of the first pay period which begins after the date of enactment.

For positions which are not subject to the Classification Act immediately prior to the enactment of the bill, but to which the bill will apply, subsection (b) postpones the effective date to afford opportunity to make the necessary studies of the positions and place them in their proper classes and grades. The date would be specified by the Commission in each case or group of cases as the necessary work is completed, but would not be later than the first day of the first pay period beginning after 6 months following enactment of the bill.

The last sentence of this subsection safeguards present employees in such positions from possible reductions in pay due to their inclusion within the pay scales of the bill. The purpose of this saving clause (which applies to employees coming under the revised Classification Act for the first time) is the same as that of section 604 (b) (10), which applies to employees subject to the Classification Act.

Section 1006: This section provides that references in existing law to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, shall be construed as references to this bill. References to specific grades of the Classification Act shall be construed as references to the corresponding grades of this bill. The purpose of this section is to avoid confusion in applying laws which apply to groups exempted by section 202 and which refer to the Classification Act or specific grades thereof as a general standard or limitation on administrative discretion. It is not the purpose of the section to add indirectly to the exemptions listed in title II.

Section 1007: This section is the customary appropriation authorization.

TITLE XI-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Section 1101: This section raises the ceiling limitations of the Federal Employees Pay Acts of 1945, 1946, and 1948 from $10,330 to $10,500.

The ceiling rate specified in these laws is a limitation on the aggregate rate of compensation, i. e., the rate of basic compensation plus the rate of any extra compensation to which the employee may be entitled for overtime, night, or holiday work under titles II and III of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945, as amended. It is also an aggregate limitation on the aggregate compensation of employees in the legislative and judicial branches whose pay was increased by the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945, as amended or supplemented, and to whom titles II and III of that Act do not apply.

Any change in the present ceiling rate for these groups would be prospective and would have no retroactive effect.

Section 1102. This section expressly repeals:

(1) The Classification Act of 1923, as amended. This is the original Classification Act, and its various amendments, which the bill completely supersedes.

(2) Public Resolution of June 7, 1924. This resolution corrected a clerical error in the rates of pay of two of the grades in the original Classification Act. When the rates were comprehensively revised in 1928, this resolution became obsolete.

(3) The Welch Act of May 28, 1928.

Section 1 of this act comprehensively revised the pay schedules of the Classification Act.

The pay schedules of the bill contained in title VI are intended, of course, to supersede the pay schedules of the Welch Act as amended and supplemented.

Section 2 of this act provided for a survey of field positions by the Personnel Classification Board. This survey was reported by the Board to Congress in 1929 and 1931.

Section 3 of this act authorized the departments and agencies to adjust the pay rates of field positions "so far as may be practicable,' to correspond with Classification Act rates for positions in the District of Columbia. This authorization was superseded by a similar provision enacted in the Brookhart Act of 1930.

Section 4 of this act excluded from the Classification Act the prevailing-wage or production positions in the Government Printing Office covered by the Kiess Act of June 7, 1924. This exclusion is repeated in section 202 of the bill.

(4) The Brookhart Act of July 3, 1930.

Section 1 of this act revised the pay scales of some of the grades of the Classification Act.

The pay schedules of the bill contained in title VI supersede, of course, any revisions made in 1930 by this act, as supplemented or amended by the Pay Acts of 1945, 1946, and 1948.

Section 2 of this act authorized and directed the departments and agencies to adjust the pay rates of field positions "to correspond, so far as may be practicable," to Classification Act rates. This authorization and direction are existing law, but would be replaced by the provisions of the bill, especially those in titles II, V, and VI.

Section 3 of this act continued the unamended provisions of the Welch Act of May 28, 1928.

Section 4 of this act gave the Personnel Classification Board authority to review, on its own motion, the correctness of its own actions in placing positions in classes and grades in the departmental service (an authority which had been questioned by the General Accounting Office). This authority is paralleled. in the case of the Commission. by section 501 of the bill.

Sections 5 and 6 of this act authorized an appropriation for the Personnel Classification Board; and changed the form of its top organization. These provisions became obsolete in 1932, when the Personnel Classification Board was abolished and its functions and authority transferred to the Commission.

(5) Sections 505, 506, 507, 508, and 509 of the Economy Act of June 30, 1932. Section 505 abolished the Personnel Classification Board and transferred its duties, powers, and functions to the Commission. Section 506 dealt with the transfer of the Board's employees to the Commission. Section 507 provided for continuation of the effect of laws and regulations affecting the work of the Board. tion 508 transferred unexpended appropriations. Section 509 established an effective date of October 1, 1932.

This act is the source of the existing authority of the Commission to administer the Classification Act in the departmental service in the District of Columbia. Although the purposes of sections 506, 508, and 509 have been accomplished, sections 505 and 507 are existing law. These sections are superseded by the provisions of the bill.

(6) Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Ramspeck Act of November 26, 1940.

Section 3 (a) provided a method whereby, upon survey and report by the Commission and Executive order of the President, the final jurisdiction of the Commission to place positions in classes and grades could be extended to positions in the field service. This subsection of section 3 is existing law (not being utilized) which is entirely superseded by the bill, especially titles II, IV, and V.

Section 3 (b) authorized the President to establish additional classification services and pay schedules. This is existing law, which is and should be superseded by title VI of the bill, which merges three existing services.

Section 3 (c) authorized the President to establish schedules of pay differentials for excessive isolation, hazard, or location outside the States and District of Columbia. Section 207 of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act for 1949, as amended, and Executive Order 10,000, September 16, 1948, have already superseded section 3 (c) of the 1940 act so far as employment in foreign countries, Territories, or possessions are concerned. Such differentials are separate problems, affecting positions within and outside of the bill, and hence require separate legislative treatment.

Section 3 (d) listed groups of positions or agencies to be exempted from the President's authority. All of these except certain positions in the customs service and immigration inspectors-are exempted from the bill by the provisions of section 202.

Section 3 (e) guarded against discrimination on account of race, creed, or color. This provision is continued in section 1003 of the bill. Section 4 authorized the President to exclude from the Classification Act certain positions or employments for which fixed grade schedules are not feasible or appropriate. These are covered as exemptions in section 202 of the bill.

Section 5 provided a transition method of making classifications and fixing pay when the extensions provided by section 3 (a) should take place.

Section 6 repeated the provisions of existing law with respect to safeguarding the veterans' preference rights and preventing possible interference with the civil-service rules respecting promotion. Preservation of veterans' preference rights is covered in section 1004 of the bill. The provision with respect to civil-service promotion rules is no longer necessary in view of rulings of the Comptroller General clearly distinguishing between reclassifying a position and requalifying its incumbent (24 Comp. Gen. 518, Jan. 12, 1945).

Section 7 created boards of review to decide efficiency rating appeals. This is repeated in the provisions of title IX of the bill.

(7) The Mead-Ramspeck Act of August 1, 1941. This is the original within-grade salary advancement or step increase law.

Section 2 of this act provided (a) a plan for periodic salary increases within the employee's grade, and (b) a plan for additional increases for especially meritorious service. These two step increase plans were

later revised in title IV of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945 and are completely superseded by sections 701, 702, 704, and 705 of the bill.

Section 3 of the bill authorized the extension of the uniform efficiency rating system to the field service "as nearly as is practicable." This provision is now superseded by Public Law 581, Seventy-ninth Congress, July 31, 1946.

Section 4 of this act established five rates of pay, instead of the previous three, for each of the two highest levels (without change of minimum or maximum rates of such levels). This revision of the construction of the top pay ranges is, of course, superseded by the pay schedules in title VI of the bill.

Section 5 of this act brought within the Classification Act certain positions in the customs service: verifiers, openers, and packers; guards, inspectors, and station inspectors. These positions would remain under the Classification Revision Act by the provisions of title II.

(8) The Custodial Pay Act of August 1, 1942.

Section 1 of this act revised the pay schedules for the first eight grades of the crafts, protective, and custodial service and the first two grades of the subprofessional service. This revision, as later amended and supplemented. is superseded by the new schedules in title VI of the bill.

Section 2 (a) of the act was a facilitating provision making the pay revisions applicable to the field service.

The remainder of section 2 of the act brought customs laborers under the Classification Act pay scales. This would be continued in

effect under the provisions of title II of the bill.

Section 3 was intended to be a facilitating provision to place in effect higher grades which were proposed but which were stricken out of the bill before passage. It therefore had no meaning.

(9) Title IV of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945. Section 401 of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945 authorized the Commission, under certain circumstances, to establish entrance rates higher than the minimum rate of the appropriate grade, but no higher than the middle rate of the grade. This authority has not been used

Sections 402, 403, and 404 revised the step-increase plan. These provisions are superseded by those of title VII of the bill.

Section 405 raised the pay scales of the Classification Act. This revision of pay rates was superseded in 1946.

(10) Sections 2 and 12 of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1946. Section 2 raised the pay scales of the Classification Act. This revision of pay rates was superseded in 1948

Section 12 of the act revised the pay scales of grades 9 and 10 of the crafts, protective, and custodial service. This revision was superseded in 1948 and is also, of course, superseded by the crafts, protective, and custodial schedule contained in title VI of the bill.

Section 1103: This is a general repealer. Among other things, its effect is to make sure that the pay scales of the Classification Act, as amended, and as supplemented by the $330 increase provided by Public Law 900, Eightieth Congress, effective July 11, 1948, are completely replaced by those set forth in title VI of the bill. This

law is not repealed in the bill, because it applies to employees not under the bill, particularly in the postal service and in the legislative and judicial branches.

Another purpose of this section is to make sure that the bill repeals existing limitations on salaries of positions coming under the bill, such as collectors of internal revenue, and also provisions of prior law fixing specific salaries of less than $15,000 for individual positions coming under the bill.

RECENT PAY INCREASE LEGISLATION

In recent years the pay rates for Federal employees under the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, have been adjusted upon three occasions. On July 1, 1945, the Federal Employees' Pay Act of 1945 became effective which granted an average increase of 15.9 percent. The range of increase varied from 20 percent at the floor of the schedules to 8.9 percent at the ceiling. On July 1, 1946, additional increases were authorized by the Federal Employees' Pay Act of 1946. This act granted an average increase of 14.2 percent and the range of increases varied from 25 percent in the lowest rate to 2 percent at the ceiling. The last increase was granted by the postal rate revision and Federal Employees' Pay Act of 1948, which became effective July 11, 1948, and granted a flat increase of $330 per annum. The average increase was 11 percent and the range varied from 30.6 percent at the floor to 3.35 at the ceiling.

As shown in appendix C on page 49, the range of rate increases as a result of the three pay adjustments is from 95.8 percent at the lowest rate in the schedule to 14.8 percent at the ceiling, with an average increase of 46 percent.

The committee agrees with the Bureau of the Budget and the Civil Service Commission that the flat increases superimposed upon percentage increases have distorted the pay rates in those positions covered by the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. The adjustment proposed in H. R. 5931 will not only rectify the distorted pay rates of positions under the Classification Act, but also will provide an increase in compensation for those employees in the lower grades. The reports of the Bureau of the Budget dated August 11, 1949, and the Civil Service Commission dated August 8, 1949, containing recommendations which were accepted by the committee with technical changes, with respect to H. R. 4169, the predecessor bill to the present legislation, are as follows:

Hon. Toм MURRAY,

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THe President,

BUREAU OF THE BUDGET, Washington 25 D. C., August 11, 1949.

Chairman, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service.
House of Representatives, Washington 25, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. MURRAY: This is in reply to your letter of April 14, 1949, in which you request the comments of the Bureau of the Budget with respect to H. R. 4169, a bill to establish a standard schedule of rates of basic compensation for certain employees of the Federal Government; to provide an equitable system for fixing and adjusting the rates of basic compensation of individual employees; to repeal the Classification Act of 1923, as amended; and for other purposes. The bill is in many respects substantially similar to S. 1762 which was introduced in the Senate by Mr. Long. In our opinion, the provisions of S. 1762 are generally preferable in those instances where the two bills differ.