83D CONGRESS 1st Session } SENATE { REPORT No. 681 MAKING RETROACTIVE CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT ACT OF MAY 29, 1930, AS AMENDED JULY 27, 1953.-Ordered to be printed Mr. CARLSON, from the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 1688] The Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1688) to amend the Civil Service Retirement Act of May 29, 1930, as amended, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. PURPOSE Section 1 of this bill would make the amendment to the Civil Service Retirement Act, by the act of September 30, 1949, effective April 1, 1948, instead of September 30, 1949. It provides, however, that any increase in annuities resulting therefrom would not be payable for any period prior to the first day of the first month after the act becomes effective. Section 2 (a) and (b) provides that when computing civil-service retirement credit for Members of Congress, periods of active service in the Armed Forces prior to separation of service as a Member, shall be considered without the requirement that a deposit be made to the retirement and disability fund for such service. STATEMENT The proposed amendments are remedial in character and would tend to equalize the rights of personnel retired between April 1, 1948, and the date of the amendatory acts, with the rights of those retiring after September 30, 1949. In addition it provides that Members of Congress will receive credit for active service in the military forces of the United States such as now accorded all other Federal employees. The act of February 28, 1948, amending the Civil Service Retirement Act of May 29, 1930, carried an amendment to section 4 of the 1930 act, which provided an elected survivorship annuity as follows: (1) A husband retiring under age, optional, or disability provision, may provide an annuity for his widow equal to 50 percent of his own life annuity by taking a reduced annuity equal to 90 percent of the annuity to which he would be entitled, reduced by three-fourths of 1 percent for each year his widow is under 60 at the time of his retirement, but not below 75 percent of the full annuity, the widow's payments to begin at age 50 and to continue until her death or remarriage; (2) an unmarried employee in good health retiring under age or optional provisions may take a reduced annuity and designate a surviving annuitant who has an insurable interest in his death (reduction to range from 10 percent to 40 percent, depending upon difference between the age of the retiring employees and the age of the surviving annuitant), the annuity to continue at 50 percent of the reduced rate to the named survivor. The act of September 30, 1949 (Public Law 310, 81st Cong.), changed this by making survivor benefits also available for widowers of married female employees who retire under the Retirement Act. Also, the formula for reducing the annuity of the person making the election was changed, the first $1,500 being reduced by 5 percent. In addition to this, the annuity was to be reduced by three-fourths of 1 percent for each full year the designated spouse was under 60 years of age on the date of retirement. However, in no case should these combined reductions exceed 25 percent of the life annuity. During the period April 1, 1948, to September 30, 1949, referred to in the bill, approximately 6,200 married male employees retired under the provisions of the Civil Service Retirement Act of 1930 and elected to receive reduced annuity with provisions for annuity to surviving widows. The average single life annuity of this group was $1,720. The net effect of the proposal made in section 1 of S. 1688 will be to increase the annuities of these 6,200 annuitants by an average of $75 per annum or a net decrease in the revenue to the retirement system of $465,000 annually. Under the provision of the Civil Service Retirement Act of 1930 all active service in the military forces of the United States performed by employees of the executive branch of the Government prior to their retirement is included in their total period of service for retirement credit without contributions to the retirement system. Under the provisions of section 2 (a) and (b) of S. 1688 such provisions would be made applicable also to Members of Congress. The report of the Comptroller General is attached: Hon. FRANK CARLSON, Comptroller General of the United StaTES, Chairman, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, United States Senate. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to your undated letter, receip of which was acknowledged by telephone April 23, 1953, enclosing copy of S 1688, and requesting any comments I may wish to submit thereon. Section 1 of S. 1688 would make the amendment to the Civil Service Retiremen Act, by the act of September 30, 1949, effective April 1, 1948, instead of Septembe 30, 1949, but provides that any increase in annuities resulting therefrom woul not be payable for any period prior to the first day of the first month after th act becomes effective. Section 4 of the act of February 28, 1948 (62 Stat. 49), effective April 1, 1948 authorizes a husband, at the time of his retirement, to elect an annuity payabl to his widow equal to 50 percent of the annuity otherwise payable to the husban but requires a reduction of 10 percent of the annuity payable to the husband The act of September 30, 1949, Public Law 310, amended this section by substi tuting for the 10 percent a requirement for reduction of 5 percent on the first $1,500 of the retired annuity plus 10 percent of the balance. Since there was nothing in that act to make it effective retroactively it became effective only with respect to the annuities beginning on and after its date. That created a difference between annuities beginning between April 1, 1948, and September 30, 1949, and those beginning thereafter amounting to $75 a year on annuities of $1,500 or more a year. Section 1 of S. 1688 proposes to correct this disparity with respect to future payments by making the act of September 30, 1949, effective April 1, 1948. This Office has no available information with respect to the number of annuitants which would be affected by the proposed legislation. See similar report to you March 13, 1953, upon S. 1113, which is identical with section 1 of this bill. I have no information respecting the necessity of the amendments proposed under section 2 (a) and (b) of this bill, or the results desired to be accomplished thereby; hence, I am without any basis for commenting upon the merits thereof. Sincerely yours, LINDSAY C. WARREN, Comptroller General of the United States. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW In compliance with subsection (4) of rule XXIX of the Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, S. 1688, as reported, are shown as follows (new matter is printed in italics, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman, matter to be omitted shown in black brackets): CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT ACT OF MAY 29, 1930, AS AMENDED SEC. 3. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act— (5) Subject to the provisions of section 9 and of subsections (c) and (d) of section 4, the annuity of a Member of Congress shall be an amount equal to 21⁄2 per centum of his average annual basic salary, pay, or compensation as a Member of Congress multiplied by the sum of his years of service as a Member of Congress and his years of active service performed as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States prior to his separation from service as a Member of Congress, but no such annuity shall exceed an amount equal to three-fourths of the salary, pay, or compensation that he is receiving at the time [he becomes] of such separation [separated] from the service. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3 (a) of the Act of February 28, 1948, the last proviso in section 9 of the Civil Service Act of May 29, 1930, as amended, shall apply to Members of Congress. COMPILATION ON THE LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1946 JULY 28 (legislative day, JULY 27), 1953.-Ordered to be printed Mr. JENNER, from the Committee on Rules and Administration, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. Res. 148] The Committee on Rules and Administration, to whom was referred the resolution (S. Res. 148) to print a compilation of the Legislative Reorganization Act, as amended to date, having considered same report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the resolution be agreed to by the Senate. The purposes of this resolution is explained in a letter dated July 24, 1953, addressed by Senator Margaret Chase Smith, chairman of the Subcommittee on Reorganization of the Committee on Government Operations, to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, as follows: UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, Hon. WILLIAM E. JENNER, Chairman, Committee on Rules and Administration, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Attached hereto is a copy of Senate Resolution 148, which is now pending before your committee. The purpose of this resolution is to authorize the printing of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as amended, as a Senate document. The document Would include the present language of the act, and a detailed analysis of the Amendments effected since its enactment. The resolution authorizing the printing of 6,500 copies is based on an estimate ubmitted by the Joint Committee on Printing, that this number would come within the limitation allowed in the Senate for the printing of such documents without the consent of the House of Representatives. The revised act, and the upporting material, as to how and when the changes were effected which will be ncluded in the document, are expected to aggregate approximately 150 pages. The staff has completed the basic work in the compilation of this material, and he document is ready to be submitted to the printer for galley proofs. It will be ecessary for the staff to reexamine each of the amendments, in cooperation with |