B-Section-by-Section Analysis SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED Section 2. Purpose. Declares congressional intent to establish a framework for joint Federal and State effort toward providing basic facilities essential to economic development of the region. Directs concentration of public investments in areas having significant potential for future growth. Places primary responsibility for initiating plans and projects on the States. TITLE I—THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION Section 101. Membership and voting.-Creates a commission_with one member from each Applachian State (the Governor or his designee) and a Federal Cochairman appointed by the President. Commission action requires the affirmative vote of the Federal Cochairman and a majority of the State members. Sections 102 and 103. Functions.-Directs the Commission to develop on a continuing basis comprehensive plans and programs for the development of the region; to provide technical assistance to the States and local development districts; to sponsor and initiate research on problems facing the region; to serve as the focal point of coordination of Federal and State efforts in Appalachia; and to recommend Federal, State and local legislative or administrative actions for the purpose of accelerating regional development. Section 104. Liaison between Federal Government and Commission.-Directs the President to provide liaison between the Federal Government and the Commission. Section 105. Administrative expenses of the Commission.-Provides for administrative expenses of the Commission. These are shared 50-50 by the Federal and State governments except for the expenses of the Federal Cochairman and his staff which are funded entirely by the Federal Government. The current authorization for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971, is $1.9 million, including $475,000 for the Federal Cochair man. Section 106. Administrative powers of Commission. Provides standard powers for the Commission to carry out its duties, including authority to employ staff, rent space, make contracts, etc. Section 107. Information.-Directs Commission to obtain information through hearings and otherwise and to print and distribute reports as it deems advisable and to maintain accurate and complete records for public inspection. Section 108.-Personal financial interests.-Sets out provisions to prevent conflicts of interest. Section 109. Employee protections.-Permits Federal agencies to treat service with Regional Commissions as Federal service for the (41) purpose of determining rates of pay of former Federal employees who return to the Federal service. TITLE II-SPECIAL APPALACHIAN PROGRAMS PART A-NEW PROGRAMS Section 201. Highways.-Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to assist in the construction of up to 2,700 miles of an Appalachian development highway system and 1,600 miles of local access roads. Highways recommended by the States and approved by the Commission are constructed by the State highway departments working with the Bureau of Public Roads under usual Federal-aid highway procedures. The Federal share may be as much as 70 percent of the cost. The act authorizes appropriations to the President of $175 million for each of fiscal years 1970, 1971, and 1972 and $170 million for fiscal year 1973. Including previous appropriations, the total authorization for the program is $1,165 million. Section 201 funds allocated to the States by the Commission are authorized to be obligated in advance of appropriations in a manner similar to the regular Federal-aid highway programs. Section 202. Demonstration health projects.--Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to make grants for planning, constructing, equipping, and operating multicounty demonstration health, nutrition, and child care projects approved by the Commission, including hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centers, health facilities and services. Planning grants are limited to 75 percent of the cost; construction grants are authorized up to 80 percent of the project cost; and operating grants may be made up to 100 percent of the cost for the first 2 years and up to 75 percent for the following 3 years of operation. Section 202 grants can be made either entirely with section 202 funds or in combination with grants under other programs of similar purpose up to the maximum set in section 202. The 1969 amendments provide for emphasis on programs and research for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of black lung and other occupational diseases from coal mining; $90 million is authorized for this program under section 401 of the act for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971. Section 203. Land stabilization, conservation, and erosion control.Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into agreements of not more than 10 years with owners, operators, or occupiers of land in the region, providing grants for up to 80 percent of the cost of improving not more than 50 acres of land occupied by any such person. These contracts provide for the conservation and development of the region's soil, water, woodland, wildlife, and recreation resources, by land stabilization, erosion and sediment control, reclamation through changes in land use, and so forth; $15 million is authorized for this program under section 401 for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971. Section 204. Timber development organizations.-Section 204 of the 1965 act authorized technical assistance and loans for the development of timber organizations which would provide improved management, harvesting, and marketing of forest products for small woodlot owners. An initial study obtained by the Commission in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service suggested that the organizations envisioned when the act was passed may not be a feasible solution to the problem of improving timber management in the region. Consequently, the initial 2-year authorization of not more than $5 million against which was appropriated $1 million was permitted to expire on June 30, 1967. Unobligated balances of funds appropriated for the program have been made available to the Forest Service for several studies to further test this conclusion. The 1967 amendments to the act authorized a hardwood research program for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1969 and carried a maximum authorization of $2 million for such purpose for this period. Since the Department of Agriculture has separate authority adequate for this purpose, this research effort was not funded. Section 205. Mining area restoration.-Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to assist, by grant or otherwise, in up to 75 percent of the cost of sealing and filling voids in abandoned coal mines, planning and executing projects for the extinguishment and control of underground and outcrop mine fires, sealing abandoned oil and gas wells, and reclaiming and rehabilitating strip- and surface-mined areas, to serve areas with potential future growth. Strip-mined land may be assisted under this program only if in public ownership; $15 million is authorized in section 401 to carry out this section for the 2-fiscalyear period ending June 30, 1971. Section 206. Water Resources Survey.-Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to prepare a comprehensive water resource development plan for the region; $5 million has been authorized and appropriated for this purpose. The findings and report of the survey are to be submitted to Congress. Section 207. Housing assistance. To stimulate the construction (including rehabilitation) of housing for low and moderate income families in growth areas of the region; provides seed money loans and grants for planning and other preliminary expenses of housing projects under sections 221 and 236 of the National Housing Act. For the same general purpose, also provides technical assistance directly or through contracts with private or public entities to encourage the formation of nonprofit or limited dividend housing groups, including State housing corporations, and other programs and projects to provide such housing; $3 million is authorized in section 401 to carry out this section for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971. PART B-SUPPLEMENTS AND MODIFICATIONS OF EXISTING PROGRAMS Section 211. Vocational education facilities.-Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, to make grants for the construction of school facilities and for the equipping of existing and new facilities to provide vocational education in areas of the region where it is not adequately available. Grants are made in accordance with applicable provisions of the Vocational Education Act of 1963; $50 million is authorized in section 401 to carry out this section for the 2fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971 (in addition to funds provided under the Vocational Education Act of 1963). Section 212. Sewage treatment works.-Authorizes Secretary of the Interior to make basic grants for the construction of sewage treat 44 ment facilities in accordance with provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The 1969 amendments do not include any additional authorization for this section (see section 214). Section 213. Amendments to the Housing Act of 1954.-Amends section 701 of the Housing Act of 1954 to make the Appalachian Regional Commission, its member States, and local development districts certified to the Commission by the respective Governors, eligible for planning grants. Grants can be made for up to 75 percent of the cost of planning for Appalachian regional programs. Section 214. Supplements to Federal grant-in-aid programs.— Authorizes supplemental grants to enable the States, local governments, and other eligible applicants to take full advantage of Federal grant-in-aid programs enacted on or before December 31, 1970, which assist in the construction or equipment of facilities, or the acquisition of land. The 1969 amendments permit supplemental grants for sewage treatment projects constructed, in advance of appropriations, under section 8 (c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Grants may increase the authorized Federal percentage under existing grant-in-aid programs to a maximum of 80 percent. $82.5 million is authorized in section 401 to carry out this section for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971. PART C-GENERAL PROVISIONS Section 221. Maintenance of effort.-Requires the States to maintain expenditures of funds for their Appalachian areas at a level which does not fall below the average level of such expenditures for the last 2 fiscal years preceding the date of the Appalachian Act. Section 222. Consent of State.-Provides that no State will be required to engage in or accept any program without its consent. Section 223. Program implementation.-Defines the responsibilities of the Commission and the Federal departments and agencies with respect to project approval. With respect to applying Appalachian Act program criteria, the Commission's judgment shall be final and not subject to further review by the Federal departments and agencies. However, no program or project is to be implemented until the applications and plans relating thereto have been determined by the responsible Federal official to be compatible with the provisions and objectives of Federal laws which he administers that are not inconsistent with this Act. The technical evaluation of projects and the actual accomplishment of the programs and projects continues to be the responsibility of the Federal departments and agencies. Section 224. Program development criteria.-Describes criteria for the Commission to consider in approving priorities for projects to be assisted under the act. Also prohibits use of Appalachian Act funds to assist establishments relocating from one area to another, or to finance gas or electric facilities. TITLE III-ADMINISTRATION Section 301. Local development districts-certification.-Authorizes the Appalachian Governors to certify to the Commission local development districts having a charter or authority that includes the eco nomic development of counties or parts of counties or other political subdivisions within the region. This certification is a prerequisite to funding of planning and administrative expenses under section 302. Section 302. Administrative expenses of local development districts and research and demonstration projects. Authorizes the President to make grants to the Commission for administrative expenses of local development districts (limited to 75 percent and, in the case of a State agency certified as a local development district, to a period of 3 years), and for investigation, research, studies, technical assistance, and demonstration projects, and for training programs, furthering the purposes of the act. All research assisted under the Act must be freely available to the public. Senate and House conferees agreed that in the administration of section 302 and all other provisions of law authorizing grants for manpower training, there should be increased emphasis on projects for training, retraining and rehabilitating coal miners, particularly those in rural areas of Appalachia. The Commission and all recipients of Federal assistance are required to maintain adequate records with respect to such assistance and to make them available for Federal audit. The section also provides for a study of acid pollution in the region resulting from mining activities and the effects of such pollution, with the objective of developing a program for the appropriate control, reduction, or elimination of acid pollution. The President has submitted the Commission's report to Congress; $13 million is authorized in section 401 to carry out this section for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971. Section 303. Project approval.-Defines the procedure and responsibilities for processing and evaluating applications for assistance under the act. Applications must be submitted through the State member on the Commission and evaluated by him. Only applications approved by a State member as meeting the requirements of the act may receive Commission approval. Section 304. Annual report.-Directs Commission to submit an annual report on its activities within 6 months after the close of the Federal fiscal year, to the Governor of each State in the region and the President, for transmittal to the Congress. TITLE IV-APPROPRIATIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS Section 401. Authorization of appropriations.—Authorizes the appropriation to the President of not to exceed $268.5 million to carry out nonhighway programs under the act for the 2-fiscal-year period ending June 30, 1971. Provides program ceilings as follows: Sec. 202. Demonstration health projects.. Sec. 203. Land stabilization, conservation, and erosion control_. Sec. 205. Mining area restoration_ Sec. 207. Housing assistance___ Sec. 211. Vocational education.. $90, 000, 000 15, 000, 000 15, 000, 000 3, 000, 000 50, 000, 000 Sec. 214. Supplemental grants--. and research____ Sec. 302. Administrative expenses of local development districts 82, 500, 000 13, 000, 000 Section 402.-Provides that the construction projects assisted by this act will be covered by standard Davis-Bacon (local prevailing wage) provisions. |