OCEANOGRAPHY 9 



II and III of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945, as amended (5 U.S.C. 

 911 et seq.) at base rates not to exceed the maximum scheduled rate for GS-12, 

 and (b) grant extra compensation to employees of other Government agencies 

 for taking and transmitting meteorological observations.' " 



"statement of purpose and need 



"The purpose of the bill is to make possible simplification of appropriation 

 act language and fo provide flexibility in the legal provisions under which tlie 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Weather Bureau, in the Department of Com- 

 merce, cari-y out certain functions relating to oceanographic observations, seismo- 

 graph observations, magnetic observations, meteorological observations and me- 

 teorological investigations in the Arctic region. 



"Section 2 of the act of July 22, 1947, 61 Stat. 400, 33 U.S.C. 873, authorized 

 the Coast and Geodetic Survey to pay extra compensation to members of cx'ews 

 of vessels when assigned duties as bombers or fathometer readers, and to em- 

 ployees of other Federal agencies while observing tides or currents or tending 

 seismographs, at such rates as may be specified from time to time in the appro- 

 priation concerned. 



"During the intervening years, it has been necessary each year to incorporate 

 in the appropriation for the Coast and Geodetic Survey language fixing the 

 above-mentioned rates. This has resulted in an unnecessary and undesirable 

 complication of the appropriation act language. In addition, the rate in- 

 corporated in the appropriation act language tends to become fixed and inade- 

 quate in the light of changing times and conditions. Necessary adjustments 

 from time to time require the attention of the Congress, even though they are 

 of negligible significance compared with the many imixirtant questions of public 

 policy which urgently require the attention of the Congress. 



"To remedy this difficulty and provide necessary flexibility, it is proposed 

 in section 1 of the bill to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to fix the rates 

 rather than to require them to be specified in appropriation acts. 



"Section 1 of the bill would also correct certain obsolete language. In view 

 of technological advances in the nature of the work concerned, the phra.se in the 

 present law 'assigned duties as bombers or fathometer readers' would be changed 

 to 'assigned duties as instrimient observer or recorder,' and 'tending seismo- 

 graphs' would be changed to 'tending seismographs or magnetographs'." 



"The Weather Bureau has a similar but somewhat more complex problem. 

 Section 3 of the act of June 2, 1948, 62 Stat. 286, 15 U.S.C. 327, authorized the 

 Weather Bureau to (a) grant extra compensation to employees of other Gov- 

 ernment agencies for taking and transmitting meteorological observations, and 

 (b) appoint employees for the conduct of meteorological investigations in the 

 Arctic region without regard to the civil service and classification laws and 

 titles II and III of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945, both at base rates 

 which shall not exceed such maximum rates as may be specified from time to 

 time in the appropriation concerned. 



"The foregoing language makes it nece.ssary to specify the rates mentioned in 

 the appropriation language each year. This unnecessarily complicates the ap- 

 propriation language, fixes the rates in relatively rigid form, and makes it 

 necessary to take up the time of the Congress in consideration of adjustments 

 in such rates. In addition, the section as enacted in 1948 contained an exception 

 from the classification laws. This exemption was nullified by the Classification 

 Act of 1JM9, and it has been necessary to reenact it each year in the annual 

 appropriation act. 



"The additional complexity in the appropriation act resulting from the neces- 

 sity of including these details is refiected by the fact that two-thirds of the 

 appropriation act language is devoted to a proviso setting forth these details. 



"Section 2 of the bill would authorize the Secretary of Commerce to prescribe 

 the rates concerned, at base rates not to exceed the maximum scheduled rate 

 for GS-12, and would reenact on a continuing basis the exemption from the 

 classification laws which is now dependent on annual appropriation acts. 



"Changes in the rates now specified in the appropriation acts are urgently 

 needed. The Coast and Geodetic Survey reports that it is no longer practicable 

 in numerous localities to obtain the services required for only $1 a day, the 

 rate now authorized by statute. An increase in the rate to $5 a day is now 



