All 70 Stat. 296. Administrative State demonstrations of public library services in rural areas undertaken under this Act. (c) There are hereby authorized to be appropriated for expenses appropriations. of administration such sums as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Secretary and the Commissioner under this Act. DEFINITIONS SEC. 9. For the purposes of this Act (a) The term "State" means a State, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands; (b) The term "State library administrative agency" means the official State agency charged by State law with the extension and development of public library services throughout the State; (c) The term "public library" means a library that serves free all residents of a community, district, or region, and receives its financial support in whole or in part from public funds; (d) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; and (e) The term "rural area" does not include an incorporated or unincorporated town having a population of more than ten thousand persons. Approved June 19, 1956. 54-998 O 71 21 Public Law 732 84th Congress S. 3246 AN ACT All 70 Stat. 578. To increase the amount authorized for the erection and equipment of suitable and adequate buildings and facilities for the use of the National Institute of Dental Research. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 5 of the "National Dental Research Act", approved June 24, 1948 (Public Law 755, Eightieth Congress), is amended by striking out “$2,000,000” and 62 Stat. 601. inserting in lieu thereof "$4,000,000”. Approved July 19, 1956. 42 USC 288 not (310) To provide for further effectuating the Act of May 15, 1862, through the exchange of employees of the United States Department of Agriculture and employees of State political subdivisions or educational institutions. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Congress Agriculture. hereby declares that the objectives of this Act are to aid in the dis- Dissemination semination of useful information on subjects connected with agricul- of information. ture and to provide a means whereby the Government of the United States and the several States may better cooperate in problems arising as a result of the interrelationships of their work in the field of agriculture. SEC. 2. For the purposes of this Act, the term "Department" shall Definitions. be deemed to mean United States Department of Agriculture; "Secretary" shall mean Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture; and "State" shall mean a State, county, city, municipality, land-grant college, or a college or university operated by any State or local government. SEC. 3. In carrying out this Act, the Secretary is authorized through Interchange cooperative agreements or otherwise to provide for the interchange of employees. of employees of the Department and employees of States. The period of assignment under such an interchange arrangement shall not exceed two years. leave rights. SEC. 4. Employees of the Department participating in an exchange Department of personnel as authorized in section 3 may be considered during such employees. participation to be (1) on detail to a regular work assignment of the Salary and Department, or (2) in a status of leave-of-absence from their positions in the Department. Employees who are considered to be detailed shall be entitled to the same salary and benefits to which they would otherwise be entitled and shall remain employees of the Department for all other purposes except that the supervision of their duties during the period of detail may be governed by agreement between the Department and the State involved. Employees who are in a leaveof-absence status as provided herein shall be carried on leave without pay: Provided, That they may be granted annual leave to the extent authorized by law and may be granted authorized sick leave only in circumstances considered by the Secretary to justify approval of such leave. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, such employees shall have the same rights, benefits, and obligations as employees generally who are in such leave status but notwithstanding any other provision of law such employees shall be entitled to credit the period of such assignment (1) toward periodic and longevity step-increases, and (2) upon payment into the retirement fund of the percentage of their State salary which would have been deducted from a like Federal salary for the period of such assignment, to credit such period as service within the meaning of the Civil Service Retirement Act; and 46 Stat. 468. they shall also be entitled to continuation of their insurance under the Federal Employee's Group Life Insurance Act of 1954, so long as the Department continues to collect the employee's contribution from the employee and to transmit for timely deposit into the employees' life insurance fund the amount of the employee's contribution, and the Government's contribution from Department appropriations. Any employee who participates in an exchange under the terms of this section who suffers disability or death as a result of personal injury arising out of and in the course of an exchange, or sustained in the performance of duties in connection therewith shall be treated, for the purposes of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, as 5 USC 691 notes. 68 Stat.736. 5 USC 2091 note. All 70 Stat. 935. 63 Stat. 860. amended (5 U. S. C., sec. 790), as though he were an employee, as defined in such Act, who had sustained such injury in the performance of such duty, but shall not receive benefits under that Act for any period for which he elects to receive similar benefits from a State agency. Travel expenses. State employees. 63 Stat. 954. 5 USC 1071 note. 62 Stat. 697, 703, 790. 63 Stat. 860. Travel expenses. SEC. 5. Appropriations of the Department shall be available, in accordance with Standardized Government Travel Regulations, as amended, for the expenses of travel of employees assigned to States on either a detail or leave basis, expenses of transportation of their immediate families and expenses of transportation of their household goods and personal effects to the location of the posts of assignment and for such expenses for the return of employees to their official stations, but shall not be available for expenses of travel of the employees during such period of assignment. SEC. 6. Employees of States who are assigned to the Department under authority of this Act may (1) be given appointments in the Department covering the periods of such assignments, or (2) be considered to be on detail to the Department. Appointments of persons so assigned may be made without regard to the civil-service laws or regulations. Persons given appointment in the Department shall be paid at rates of compensation in accordance with the Classification Act of 1949, as amended. State employees who are assigned to the Departinent without appointment shall not be considered to be employees of the Department, except as provided in section 7, nor shall they be paid a salary or wage by the Department during the period of their detail. The supervision of the duties of such employees during the assignment may be governed by agreement between the Department and the State involved. SEC. 7. (a) Any State employee who is assigned to the Department without appointment shall nevertheless be subject to the provisions of sections 281, 283, 284, 434, 1902, 1905, and 1914 of title 18 of the United States Code and section 99, title 5, of the United States Code. (b) Any State employee who is given an appointment while assigned to the Department or who is assigned to the Department without appointment and who suffers disability or death as a result of personal injury arising out of and in the course of such assignment, or sustained in the performance of duties in connection therewith shall be treated, for the purpose of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, as amended (5 U. S. C., sec. 790), as though he were an employee, as defined in such Act, who had sustained such injury in the performance of such duty, but shall not receive benefits under that Act for any period for which he elects to receive similar benefits as a State employee. SEC. 8. The appropriations of the Department shall be available in accordance with the Standardized Government Travel Regulations, as amended, for the payment of expenses of travel of persons assigned to, but not given appointments by, the Department under authority of this Act during the periods of such assignments on the same basis as if they were employees of the Department. Approved August 2, 1956. Chapter 882 - 2d Session S. 3259 AN ACT To amend the Act to promote the education of the blind, approved March 3, 1879, as amended, so as to authorize wider distribution of books and other special instructional material for the blind, to increase the appropriations authorized for this purpose, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the paragraph Education of of section 102 of the Act of March 3, 1879, as amended (20 U. S. C. the blind. 102), labeled "First" is amended to read as follows: 20 Stat. 468. "First. Such appropriation shall be expended by the trustees of the Expenditure of American Printing House for the Blind each year in manufacturing appropriation. and furnishing books and other materials specially adapted for instruction of the blind; and the total amount of such books and other materials so manufactured and furnished by such appropriation shall each year be distributed among all the public institutions, in the States, Territories, and possessions of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, in which blind pupils are educated. Each public institution for the education of the blind shall receive, in books and other materials, upon requisition of its superintendent, that portion of the appropriation as is shown by the ratio between the number of blind pupils in that institution and the total number of blind pupils in all of the public institutions in which blind pupils are educated. Each chief State school officer 70 Stat. 938. shall receive, in books and other materials, upon requisition, that por- 70 Stat. 939. tion of the appropriation as is shown by the ratio between the number of blind pupils in public institutions (in the State) in which blind pupils are educated, other than institutions to which the preceding sentence is applicable, and the total number of blind pupils in the public institutions in which blind pupils are educated, in all of the States, Territories, and possessions of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. The ratio referred to in each of the two immediately preceding sentences shall be computed upon the first Monday in January of each year; and for purposes of such sentences the number of blind pupils in public institutions in which blind pupils are educated shall be authenticated in such manner and as often as the trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind shall require. For purposes of this Act, an institution for the education of the blind is any institution which provides education exclusively for the blind, or exclusively for the blind and other handicapped children (in which case special classes are provided for the blind); the chief State school officer of a State is the superintendent of public elementary and secondary schools in such State or, if there is none, such other official as the Governor certifies to have comparable responsibility in the State; and a blind pupil is a blind individual pursuing a course of study in an institution of less than college grade.' SEC. 2. The Act entitled "An Act providing additional aid for Trust fund. the American Printing House for the Blind", approved August 4, 1919, as amended (20 U. S. C. 101), is further amended by striking out "$250,000" and inserting in lieu thereof "$400,000”. Approved August 2, 1956. |