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[CHAPTER 552-3D SESSION]

[S. 3931]

AN ACT

For the acquisition of Indian lands for the Parker Dam and Reservoir project, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in aid of the construction of the Parker Dam project, authorized by the Act of August 30, 1935 (49 Stat. 1028), there is hereby granted to the United States, its successors and assigns, subject to the provisions of this Act, all the right, title, and interest of the Indians in and to the tribal and allotted lands of the Fort Mohave Indian Reservation in Arizona and the Chemehuevi Reservation in California as may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior shall determine the amount of money to be paid to the Indians as just and equitable compensation for the rights granted under section 1 hereof. Such amount of money shall be paid to the Secretary of the Interior by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a public corporation of the State of California, in accordance with the terms of the contract made and entered into on February 10, 1933, between the United States of America, acting through the Secretary of the Interior, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. In the case of tribal lands, the amount due to the appropriate tribe shall be deposited by the said Secretary in the Treasury of the United States, pursuant to the provisions of the Act of May 17, 1926 (44 Stat. 560), as amended. The amounts due individual allottees, their heirs, or devisees shall be deposited by the said Secretary to the credit of the Superintendent of the Colorado River Indian Agency, or such other officer as shall be designated by the Secretary, for the credit on the books of the said agency to the accounts of the individual Indians concerned.

SEC. 3. Funds deposited to the credit of the allottees, their heirs, or devisees may be used, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, for the acquisition of other lands and improvements now in Indian ownership, or the construction of improvements for the allottees, their heirs, or devisees whose lands and improvements are acquired under the provisions of this Act. Lands so acquired shall be held in the same status as those from which the funds were derived. SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to perform any and all acts and to prescribe such regulations as may be deemed appropriate to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Approved, July 8, 1940.

[CHAPTER 269-1ST SESSION]

[8. 2172)

AN ACT

To prevent speculation in lands in the Columbia Basin prospectively irrigable by reason of the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam project and to aid actual settlers in securing such lands at the fair appraised value thereof as arid land, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That no part of the funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated or allotted for the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam project (authorized by section 2 of the Act of August 30, 1935, 49 Stat. 1028, 1039, entitled "An Act authorizing the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors and for other purposes", and by the Act of June 22, 1936, 49 Stat. 1757, 1784, entitled "An Act making appropriations for the Department of the Interior for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1937, and for other purposes") or for the reclamation of land in connection with said project shall be expended in the construction of any irrigation feature of said project, exclusive of Grand Coulee Dam and appurtenant works now under construction, until after the following provisions have been complied with:

(a) The privately owned lands proposed to be irrigated under said project (including county lands and such State lands as the State may desire and be able to subscribe for irrigation under said project and to subject to the terms of this Act) shall have been impartially appraised in a manner and to the extent prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior for the determination of their value at the date of appraisal without reference to the proposed construction of the said irrigation works and without increment on account of the prospect of the construction of the said project.

(b) A contract or contracts shall have been made with an irrigation or reclamation district or districts organized under State law providing for payment by the district or districts of that part of the cost of construction of the project allocated by the Secretary of the Interior as the part thereof properly chargeable to irrigation, the said cost of construction to be repaid within such term or terms of years as the Secretary shall find to be necessary, not to exceed the maximum term permitted under the Federal reclamation laws, the payments to be made in the manner and subject to the terms and conditions provided in the said reclamation laws and subject to enforcement by all of the means and remedies provided in the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts supplementary thereto or amendatory thereof: Provided, That every such contract with any district shall further require that all irrigable land held in private ownership by any one owner in excess of forty irrigable acres and all county and State lands which may be subscribed to or irrigated under the said project shall be designated as excess land

and as such shall not be entitled to receive water from said project. The contract shall provide further that no owner of such excess lands in the said project shall receive water therefrom for any part of the lands owned by him if and so long as he shall refuse to sell any excess lands owned or held by him under terms and conditions satisfactory to the Secretary of the Interior and at prices fixed in the appraisals made and approved as hereinabove provided. The Secretary of the Interior may require each landowner, as a condition precedent to receiving water from the said irrigation works, to execute a valid recordable contract wherein he shall agree to dispose of excess holdings then or thereafter owned by him in the manner provided in this Act and in the contract between his district and the United States, and wherein the said landowner also shall confer upon the Secretary of the Interior an irrevocable power of attorney to make any such sale on his behalf. For the purpose of determining excess lands under the provisions of this Act husband and wife shall be considered separate persons and each may hold not to exceed forty irrigable acres as nonexcess lands or husband and wife together may hold eighty irrigable acres of community property as such nonexcess lands: Provided further, That as to any part of the irrigable lands of the said project for which the Secretary of the Interior shall deter.nine that farm units of less than forty irrigable acres would be sufficient to support a family, he may approve and cause to be filed farm unit plats establishing farm units of less than forty acres but not less than ten acres and in that event all lands held in any one ownership in excess of one farm unit as shown on such plat shall be considered excess lands subject to the provisions of this Act applicable to excess lands: Provided further, That in addition to the foregoing provisions, every such contract with any district shall also provide, with respect to all irrigable lands whether initially excess or nonexcess, that whenever any land is sold at a price in excess of the sum of the appraised value of the arid land, the appraised value of improvements made thereon after the date of the original appraisal, and the amount of irrigation construction costs actually paid for that land, then, before the new owner shall be entitled to receive water from the project, a proportionate part of the said excess or incremented value shall be paid to the United States as follows: If such payment is made to the United States more than fifty months after such sale at an excessive price has been made, then as a prerequisite to the right to receive water all of the incremented value shall be paid to the United States to apply on construction installments to come due on such land in inverse order of their accrual; if payment is made in less than fifty months but more than forty-nine months after the date of such sale, then 99 per centum of such incremented value or excess of sale price shall be thus paid and applied; if payment is made in less than forty-nine but more than forty-eight months after the date of such sale, then 98 per centum of such incremented value or excess of sale price shall be thus paid and applied, and so on for earlier payment allowing an additional reduction of 1 per centum for each month, so that in the event that such payment is made to the United States within one month after the date of such sale, then the percentage of the incremented value required to be paid to the United States for appli

cation to construction costs as a prerequisite to the right to receive water shall be 50 per centum thereof: Provided further, That each district contract may include a provision which, subject to authorization and validation thereof by the State of Washington, shall require that all irrigable lands which are allowed by the owners thereof without objection to remain in such district until after the judicial confirmation of the organization of the district and of the regularity and validity of said contract and the proceedings authorizing it shall be considered as automatically subjected to the provisions of the excess land clauses and incremented value clauses hereinbefore provided for, such obligation to be impressed on the title to the land and to be considered equivalent to a covenant running with the land. The said provision, however, shall not apply to any landowner who, prior to the entry of the judicial decree of confirmation, shall file with the district and duly record as an instrument affecting title to his land, a notice of his objection to the said obligation and of his renunciation of the right of the said land to receive water through, from, or by means of any works constructed by the United States in connection with such project: And provided further, That the foregoing four provisos shall not apply to any lands in the State of Washington which have already been developed and are now being cultivated with the aid of water from sources other than the said Grand Coulee project and for which additional water may be desired.

(c) The State of Washington by appropriate legislation shall have authorized, adopted, ratified, and consented to all the provisions of this Act insofar as such provisions or any of them, in whole or in part, may come within the scope of State jurisdiction or authority or be applicable to State lands.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to use not to exceed $350,000 of the funds hereafter appropriated or allotted for the fiscal year 1938 for the said project for the purpose of the survey, investigation, and appraisal of the irrigable lands of the said project and for surveys, investigations, plans, and designs for the irrigation works therefor.

SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to make such rules and regulations and to include in the contracts hereinbefore. provided for such provisions as may be appropriate and useful for the purpose of carrying out the purpose and provisions of this Act.

SEC. 4. The consent of the United States is hereby given to the sale of school lands and any other public lands of the State of Washington which may be included in any irrigation or reclamation project to which this Act is or may be applicable at prices not to exceed the appraised valuation thereof determined as herein provided.

Approved, May 27, 1937.

(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 Electrification 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

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