[S. 3505]

AN ACT

For the improvement and protection of the beaches along the shores of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to assist in the construction where Federal interests are involved, but not the maintenance, of works for the improvement and protection of the beaches along the shores of the United States, and to prevent erosion due to the action of waves, tides, and currents, with the purpose of preventing damage to property along the shores of the United States, and promoting and encouraging the healthful recreation of the people. As used in this Act, the word "beaches" includes all those situated on the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the shores of the Great Lakes, and all estuaries and bays directly connected therewith.

SEC. 2. (a) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, through the Beach Erosion Board, organized under the provisions of section 2 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, approved July 3, 1930, to make investigations with a view to determining the most suitable methods of beach protection and restoration of beaches in different localities; to advise the States, counties, municipalities, or individuals of the appropriate locations for recreational facilities; and to publish from time to time such useful data and information concerning the protection of beaches as the Board may deem to be of value to the people of the United States: Provided, That not more than 75 per centum of the cost of any specific investigation shall be borne by the United States.

(b) All provisions of existing law relating to examinations and surveys and to works of improvement of rivers and harbors shall apply, insofar as practicable, to examinations and surveys and to works of improvement relating to shore protection; except that all projects having to do with shore protection shall be referred for consideration and recommendation to the Beach Erosion Board instead of to the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors.

SEC. 3. The Beach Erosion Board, in making its report on any work or project relating to shore protection shall, in addition to any other matters upon which it may be required to report, state its opinion as to (a) the advisability of adopting the project, (b) what Federal interest, if any, is involved in the proposed improvement, and (c) what share of the expense, if any, should be borne by the United States.

SEC. 4. Any expenses incident and necessary in the undertaking of the investigations and studies authorized herein may be paid from funds hitherto or hereafter appropriated for examinations. surveys, and contingencies for rivers and harbors.

Approved, June 26, 1936.

[S. 3424]

AN ACT

To continue Electric Home and Farm Authority as an agency of the United States until February 1937, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, Electric Home and Farm Authority, a corporation organized under the laws of the District of Columbia, shall continue until February 1, 1937, or such earlier date as may be fixed by the President by Executive order, to be an agency of the United States. During the continuance of such agency, the present investment in the capital stock of such corporation, for the use and benefit of the United States, shall be continued, and such corporation is hereby authorized to use all its assets, including capital and net earnings therefrom, and all moneys which have been or may hereafter be allocated to or borrowed by it, in the exercise of its functions as such agency.

SEC. 2. The corporation shall file with the President and with the Congress, in December of each year, a financial statement and a complete report as to the business of the corporation covering the preceding governmental fiscal year. This report shall include an itemized statement of the cost of operation, the total number of employees and the names, salaries and duties of those receiving compensation at the rate of more than $1,500 a year.

Approved, March 31, 1936.

(132)

[S. 3483]

AN ACT

To provide for rural electrification, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby created and established an agency of the United States to be known as the "Rural Electrification Administration", all of the powers of which shall be exercised by an Administrator, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of ten years, and who shall receive a salary of $10,000 per year. This Act may be cited as the "Rural Electrifi cation Act of 1936".

SEC. 2. The Administrator is authorized and empowered to make loans in the several States and Territories of the United States for rural electrification and the furnishing of electric energy to persons in rural areas who are not receiving central station service, as hereinafter provided; to make, or cause to be made, studies, investigations, and reports concerning the condition and progress of the electrification of rural areas in the several States and Territories; and to publish and disseminate information with respect thereto.

SEC. 3. (a) The Reconstruction Finance Corporation is hereby authorized and directed to make loans to the Administrator, upon his request approved by the President, not exceeding in aggregate amount $50,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1937, with interest at 3 per centum per annum upon the security of the obligations of borrowers from the Administrator appointed pursuant to the provisions of this Act or from the Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration established by Executive Order Numbered 7037: Provided, That no such loan shall be in an amount exceeding 85 per centum of the principal amount outstanding of the obligations constituting the security therefor: And provided further, That such obligations incurred for the purpose of financing the construction and operation of generating plants, electric transmission and distribution lines, or systems shall be fully amortized over a period not to exceed twenty-five years, and that the maturity of such obligations incurred for the purpose of financing the wiring of premises and the acquisition and installation of electrical and plumbing appliances and equipment shall not exceed two-thirds of the assured life thereof and not more than five years. The Administrator is hereby authorized to make all such endorsements, to execute all such instruments, and to do all such acts and things as shall be necessary to effect the valid transfer and assignment to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of all such obligations.

(b) There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938, and for each of the eight years thereafter, the sum of $40,000,000 for the purposes of this Act as hereinafter provided.

(c) Fifty per centum of the annual sums herein made available or appropriated for the purposes of this Act shall be allotted yearly by the Administrator for loans in the several States in the proportion which the number of their farms not then receiving central station electric service bears to the total number of farms of the United States not then receiving such service. The Administrator shall, within ninety days after the beginning of each fiscal year, determine for each State and for the United States the number of farms not then receiving such service.

(d) The remaining 50 per centum of such annual sums shall be available for loans in the several States and in the Territories, without allotment as hereinabove provided, in such amounts for each State and Territory as, in the opinion of the Administrator, may be effectively employed for the purposes of this Act, and to carry out the provisions of section 7: Provided, however, That not more than 10 per centum of said unallotted annual sums may be employed in any one State, or in all of the Territories.

(e) If any part of the annual sums made available for the purposes of this Act shall not be loaned or obligated during the fiscal year for which such sums are made available, such unexpended or unobligated sums shall be available for loans by the Administrator in the following year or years without allotment: Provided, however, That not more than 10 per centum of said sums may be employed in any one State or in all of the Territories: And provided further, That no loans shall be made by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to the Administrator after June 30, 1937.

(f) All moneys representing payments of principal and interest on loans made by the Administrator under this Act shall be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, except that any such moneys representing payments of principal and interest on obligations constituting the security for loans made by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to the Administrator shall be paid to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in payment of such loans.

SEC. 4. The Administrator is authorized and empowered, from the sums hereinbefore authorized, to make loans to persons, corporations, States, Territories, and subdivisions and agencies thereof, municipalities, peoples utility districts and cooperative, nonprofit, or limiteddividend associations organized under the laws of any State or Territory of the United States, for the purpose of financing the construction and operation of generating plants, electric transmission and distribution lines or systems for the furnishing of electric energy to persons in rural areas who are not receiving central station service: Provided, however, That the Administrator, in making such loans, shall give preference to States, Territories, and subdivisions and agencies thereof, municipalities, peoples utility districts, and cooperative, nonprofit, or limited dividend associations, the projects of which comply with the requirements of this Act. Such loans shall be on such terms and conditions relating to the expenditure of the moneys loaned and the security there for as the Administrator shall determine and may be made payable in whole or in part out of income: Provided, however, That all such loans shall be selfliquidating within a period of not to exceed twenty-five years, and shall bear interest at a rate equal to the average rate of interest pay

able by the United States of America on its obligations, having a maturity of ten or more years after the dates thereof, issued during the last preceding fiscal year in which any such obligations were issued: Provided further, That no loan for the construction, operation, or enlargement of any generating plant shall be made unless the consent of the State authority having jurisdiction in the premises is first obtained. Loans under this section and section 5 shall not be made unless the Administrator finds and certifies that in his judgment the security therefor is reasonably adequate and such loan will be repaid within the time agreed.

SEC. 5. The Administrator is authorized and empowered, from the sums herein before authorized, to make loans for the purpose of financing the wiring of the premises of persons in rural areas and the acquisition and installation of electrical and plumbing appliances and equipment. Such loans may be made to any of the borrowers of funds loaned under the provisions of section 4, or to any person, firm, or corporation supplying or installing the said wiring, appliances, or equipment. Such loans shall be for such terms, subject to such conditions, and so secured as reasonably to assure repayment thereof, and shall be at a rate of interest equal to the average rate of interest payable by the United States of America on its obligations, having a maturity of ten or more years after the dates thereof, issued during the last preceding fiscal year in which any such obligations were issued.

SEC. 6. For the purpose of administering this Act and for the purpose of making the studies, investigations, publications, and reports herein provided for, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as shall be necessary.

SEC. 7. The Administrator is authorized and empowered to bid for and purchase at any foreclosure or other sale, or otherwise to acquire, property pledged or mortgaged to secure any loan made pursuant to this Act; to pay the purchase price and any costs and expenses incurred in connection therewith from the sums authorized in section 8 of this Act; to accept title to any property so purchased or acquired in the name of the United States of America; to operate or lease such property for such period as may be deemed necessary or advisable to protect the investment therein, but not to exceed five years after the acquisition thereof; and to sell such property so purchased or acquired, upon such terms and for such consideration as the Administrator shall determine to be reasonable.

No borrower of funds under section 4 shall, without the approval of the Administrator, sell or dispose of its property, rights, or franchises, acquired under the provisions of this Act, until any loan obtained from the Rural Electrification Administration, including all interest and charges, shall have been repaid.

SEC. 8. The administration of loans and contracts entered into by the Rural Electrification Administration established by Executive Order Numbered 7037, dated May 11, 1935, may be vested by the President in the Administrator authorized to be appointed by this Act; and in such event the provisions of this Act shall apply to said loans and contracts to the extent that said provisions are not inconsistent therewith. The President may transfer to the Rural Elec