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ESTABLISHING AN OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL

RELATIONS

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11455

[34 Fed. Reg. 2299]

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows:

SECTION 1. Establishment of the Office. (a) There is hereby established the Office of Intergovernmental Relations (hereinafter referred to as "the Office"). The Office shall be under the immediate supervision of the Vice President of the United States.

(b) In addition to his other duties, the Vice President shall act as the President's liaison with executive and legislative officials of State and local governments; encourage and assist in facilitating maximum cooperation between and among the various Federal agencies and such other governments; help to make the Federal executive branch, especially those sectors thereof having a direct impact on intergovernmental relations, more sensitive, receptive and responsive to the views of State and local officials; serve as the focal point of efforts by Federal departments, agencies, and interagency councils and committees to resolve specific difficulties that arise in their relationships with such officials; work closely with and encourage the work of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations; and inform the Council for Urban Affairs on general intergovernmental issues of an informational, administrative, or program nature so that the Council may more effectively advise and assist the President with respect to urban affairs.

SEC. 2. Functions of the Office. The Office shall advise and assist the Vice President with respect to (1) intergovernmental relations generally, and (2) the responsibilities assigned to the Vice President specifically undersection 1(b). In addition, the Office shall:

(a) serve as the clearinghouse for the prompt handling and solution of Federal-State-local problems brought to the attention of the President or Vice President by executive and legislative officers of State and local governments;

(b) identify and report to the Vice President on recurring intergovernmental problems of a Federal interdepartmental and interprogram nature;

(c) explore and report to the Vice President on ways and means of strengthening the headquarters and interagency relationships of Federal field offices as they relate to intergovernmental activities;

(d) maintain continuing liaison with intergovernmental units in Federal departments and agencies and with the staff of the Council for Urban Affairs, and provide the staff of the Council with infor

mation and assistance regarding issues arising in Federal-State-local relations; and

(e) review procedures utilized by Federal executive agencies for affording State and local officials an opportunity to confer and comment on Federal assistance programs and other intergovernmental issues, and propose methods of strengthening such procedures.

SEC. 3. Administrative Arangements. (a) A person designated by the Vice President shall serve as Director of the Office. The Director shall perform such duties as the Vice President may from time to time direct.

(b) A person designated by the Vice President shall serve as Deputy Director of the Office and assist the Director in performing those duties assigned to him.

(c) All Federal departments, agencies, interagency councils and committees having an impact on intergovernmental relations, and all Federal Executive Boards, shall extend full cooperation and assistance to the Vice President and the Director of the Office in carrying out the responsibilities under this order. The Director shall, upon request, assist all Federal departments and agencies with problems that may arise between them and the executive agencies or elected officials of State and local governments.

(d) The head of each Federal department and agency shall designate an appropriate official with broad general experience in his department or agency to serve, upon request of the Vice President, as a point of contact in carying out Federal-State-local liaison activities under this order.

SEC. 4. Construction. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed as subjecting any department, establishment, or other instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government or the head thereof, or any function vested by law in or assigned pursuant to law to any such agency or head, to the authority of any other such agency or head or as abrogating, modifying, or restricting any such function in any

manner.

(b) This order supersedes Executive Order No. 11426 of August 31, RICHARD NIXON.

1968.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 14, 1969.

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FEDERAL ENABLING LEGISLATION FOR TERRITORIES, LOW-RENT PUBLIC HOUSING AND URBAN RENEWAL

Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands

TERRITORIAL ENABLING ACT OF 1950

[Public Law 615, 81st Congress; 64 Stat. 344, 48 U.S.C. 480, 721, 910, 1408] AN ACT To enable the governments of Alaska, of Hawaii, of Puerto Rico, and of the Virgin Islands to authorize public bodies or agencies to undertake slum clearance, urban redevelopment, and low-rent housing activities including the issuance of bonds and other obligations, to amend the low-rent housing enabling statutes for Alaska and Hawaii, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Territorial Enabling Act of 1950".

TITLE I-SLUM CLEARANCE AND URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AND URBAN RENEWAL IN ALASKA, HAWAII, AND PUERTO RICO

SEC. 101. The governments of Alaska, of Hawaii, and of Puerto Rico, each acting through its legislature, may create a public corporate authority or authorities and may authorize such authority or authorities or any other public corporate authority or any municipal corporation or political subdivision, acting directly or through any officer or agency thereof or through a public corporate authority, to undertake slum clearance and urban redevelopment projects and urban renewal projects and to do all things, exercise any and all powers, and to assume and fulfill any and all obligations, duties, responsibilities, and requirements, including but not limited to those relating to planning and zoning, necessary or desirable for receiving Federal assistance under title I of the Housing Act of 1949 (Public Law 171, Eighty-first Congress), as amended, or any other law, except that public corporate authorities (as distinct from municipalities or political subdivisions) created or authorized to operate in accordance with this Act, as amended, shall not be given any power of taxation or any power to pledge the full faith and credit of the people of the Territory, or municipality, or political subdivision, as the case may be, for any loan whatever. The Legislatures of Alaska, of Hawaii, and of Puerto Rico may, with respect to any public corporate authority or authorities empowered or which may be empowered to undertake slum clearance and urban redevelopment projects, and urban renewal projects provide for the appointment and terms of office of the members thereof, and for the powers of such authorities, including authority to accept whatever benefits the Federal Government may make available for slum clearance and urban redevelopment projects, and urban renewal projects and authority, notwithstanding any other Federal law, to borrow

1 Sec. 107 of the Housing Amendments of 1955, Public Law 345, 84th Congress, approved Aug. 11, 1955, 69 Stat, 635, 638, inserted "urban renewal."

money and to issue notes, bonds, and other obligations of such character and maturity, with such security, and in such manner as the respective legislatures may provide. Such notes, bonds, and other obligations shall not be a debt of the United States, or of any Territory or municipal corporation or other political subdivision or agency thereof other than the public corporate authority which issued such notes, bonds, or obligations, nor constitute a debt, indebtedness, or the borrowing of money within the meaning of any limitation or restriction on the issuance of notes, bonds, or other obligations contained in any laws of the United States applicable to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico, or to any municipal corporation or other political subdivision or agency thereof.

SEC. 102. The governments of Alaska, of Hawaii, and of Puerto Rico may assist slum clearance and urban redevelopment projects and urban renewal projects through cash donations, loans, conveyances of real and personal property, facilities, and services, and otherwise, and may authorize municipalities or other political subdivisions to make cash donations, loans, conveyances of real and personal property to public corporate authorities and to take other action, including but not limited to the making available or the furnishing of facilities and services, in aid of slum clearance and urban redevelopment projects. SEC. 103. All legislation heretofore enacted by the Legislature of the Territory of Alaska, of Hawaii, and of Puerto Rico dealing with the subject matter of this Act and not inconsistent herewith is hereby ratified and confirmed.

TITLE III-SLUM CLEARANCE, URBAN REDEVELOPMENT, URBAN RENEWAL,1 AND LOW-RENT HOUSING IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

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SEC. 301. The government of the Virgin Islands, through its legislative assembly, may grant to a public corporate authority existing or to be created through said assembly, exclusive authority to undertake slum clearance, urban redevelopment, urban renewal,' and lowrent housing activities within the municipalities of the Virgin Islands. The legislative assembly may provide for the appointment and terms of office of the members of such authority and for the powers of such authority, including authority to accept whatever benefits the Federal Government may make available under the Housing Act of 1949 (Public Law 171, Eighty-first Congress), as amended, or any other law, for projects contemplated by this Act, as amended, and to do all things, to exercise any and all powers, and to assume and fulfill any and all obligations, duties, responsibilities, and requirements, including but not limited to those relating to planning or zoning, necessary or desirable for receiving such Federal assistance, except that such authority shall not be given any power of taxation, nor any power to pledge the faith and credit of the people of the Virgin Islands for any loan whatever.

1 Sec. 107 of the Housing Amendments of 1955, Public Law 345, 84th Congress, approved Aug. 11, 1955, 69 Stat. 635, 638, inserted "urban renewal."

An opinion of the Associate Solicitor, Territories, Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior, dated May 25, 1956, states that it is his view "that the Revised Organic Act of 1954 (68 Stat. 497, 48 U.S.C., sec. 1541) invests the Governor with full power and authority to appoint the members of the Housing Authority without the advice and consent of the Legislature."

SEC. 302. The legislative assembly may authorize such authority, any provision of the Virgin Islands Organic Act or any other Act of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding, to borrow money and to issue notes, bonds, and other obligations of such character and maturity, with such security, and in such manner as the legislative assembly may provide. Such notes, bonds, and other obligations shall not be a debt of the United States, or of the Virgin Islands or of any municipality or subdivision thereof, other than such authority, nor constitute "bonds and other obligations" within the meaning of the Act approved October 27, 1949 (Public Law 418, Eighty-first Congress), entitled "An Act to authorize the government of the Virgin Islands or any municipality thereof to issue bonds and other obligations", or a debt, indebtedness, or the borrowing of money within the meaning of any limitation or restriction on the issuance of notes, bonds, or other obligations contained in any laws of the United States applicable to the Virgin Islands or to any municipal corporation or other political subdivision or agency thereof.

SEC. 303. The government of the Virgin Islands, through its legislative assembly, may assist such authority with cash donations, loans, conveyances of real and personal property, facilities, and services, and otherwise, and may authorize municipalities and other subdivisions to make cash donations, loans, conveyances of real and personal property to such authority, and to take other action, including but not limited to, the making available or the furnishing of facilities and services, in aid of slum clearance, urban redevelopment, urban renewal, or low-rent housing projects.

SEC. 304. Notwithstanding the limitation contained in the last sentence of section 110 (d) or in any other provision of title I of the Housing Act of 1949 (Public Law 171, Eighty-first Congress), as amended, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is hereby authorized to allow and credit to such authority as may be created for the Virgin Islands under this Act, as amended, (1) such local grantsin-aid as are otherwise approvable pursuant to the first sentence of said section 110 (d) with respect to any slum clearance and urban redevelopment or urban renewal 2 project or projects undertaken by such authority with Federal assistance made available under title I of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, and (2) such grants-in-aid made or assistance given to the local community by any Federal department or agency pursuant to authority of law other than the Housing Act of 1949 which would, if made or given by a State or local community, be approvable pursuant to said first sentence of section 110 (d) with respect to any such project or projects so undertaken.

SEC. 305. All legislation heretofore enacted by the legislative assembly of the Virgin Islands dealing with any part of the subject matter of this Act and not inconsistent herewith is hereby ratified and confirmed.

SEC. 306. Powers granted herein shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any powers granted by other law to or for the benefit or assistance of any public corporate authority or municipality. Approved July 18, 1950.

1 Infra.

Sec. 107 of the Housing Amendments of 1955, Public Law 345, 84th Congress, approved Aug. 11, 1955, 69 Stat. 635, 638, inserted "urban renewal".