ALANSON W. WILLCOX, GENERAL COUNSEL REGINALD G. CONLEY, ASSOCIATE GENERAL COUNSEL (The information to be supplied follows:) DESCRIPTION OF FUNCTIONS OF NEW POSITIONS REQUESTED BY OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL Positions requested to meet increased legal services and case workload are as follows: Public Health Division.—The attorney positions are intended primarily t terpret questions arising from and developing regulations related to (1) the Dr S authorized national library of medicine grant program (Public Law 862 (2) heart disease, cancer and stroke amendments of 1965 (Public Law SE2 and (3) expanded water pollution control activities. The attorneys will technical advice on such items as the eligibility and accountability of gra and will play their key role in the preparation and application of reg.. under the two new grant programs mentioned above. The secretarial positi will provide typing and stenographic assistance as necessary. Health Insurance Division. —-The three attorneys are expected to deal primar T with administrative and judicial review of the mass of legal problems ex; THE to arise when the program for health insurance for the aged goes into effet July 1, 1966. The secretarial position will provide typing and stenogra;¿a ices as necessary. Welfare and Rehabilitation Division-The attorney position requested v be used to render legal consultations, advice and interpretations, reirtea t recently enacted Older Americans Act of 1965 and the vocational rela bu amendments of 1965. The position, will assist in the devel quest of them. for the new and expanded programs and will be expe ted to interpret cums on such items as the legality of applications, State plans, grants, contra’ts, eti which arise. Krosnai and hold – The nire attorney pos ti as requested will supplemen » existing staff in each region and their attent, a w... be directed to the pro ** 21 ** expected to be associated with the bes.th insurance for the acni të ÆTLIL will work primarily with the remoral beg'th, insurance gif of the Syd Aistration The secretarial post on, to be located Est KVide. Devessary supporting STUNTS handling that work almost entirely simply as a part of the advisory service to the Public Health Service, to the Welfare Administration, and so on. We do have two attorneys and one secretary who have been working full time on civil rights matters. Mr. FOGARTY. What would happen if we took out all of the request for civil rights and put it in your office? Mr. WILLCOX. Chaos, I should think. Mr. FOGARTY. Chaos? Mr. FLOOD. What would be unusual about that? Mr. WILLCOX. The civil rights work is an ongoing part of all of the grant programs, and it would seem to me that the administrative officials responsible for making the grants, responsible for enforcing all of the other Federal conditions that are attached to the grantsas you know, in public assistance, for example, there is a great variety of conditions that the States have to meet to be eligible for these grants-and the Civil Rights Act merely adds one more to those. It would seem to me that dividing the decisional authority in making grants would, at least, complicate the administration. Perhaps I exaggerate when I say "chaos." Perhaps it could be worked out. I should think it is much wiser to keep the decisional responsibility for making public assistance grants, for example, in the Commissioner of Welfare who makes the decision on all other aspects of the grants. Mr. FOGARTY. Mr. Denton. TRANSFER OF EMPLOYEES FOR WATER POLLUTION CONTROL Mr. DENTON. I notice that one reason you want extra attorneys is because of the emphasis on water pollution control under Public Law 89-234. In the event that agency should be transferred to Interior, you wouldn't need that extra number of employees, would you? Mr. WILLCOX. We met this morning with the Solicitor for the Department of the Interior, sir, and tentatively, at least, our conclusion was, if this committee and Congress approved this request, that one of those positions would be transferred along with two professional positions we already have in that division. Mr. DENTON. Three of the positions you need would be transferred? Mr. WILLCOX. Yes. I think the request for increase must be made in our appropriation, even thought it is for transfer, if the transfer plan is allowed to take effect. BACKLOGS Mr. DENTON. How large is your backlog? Mr. WILLCOX. It varies in different parts of the office. A good deal of our work is work that really can't have a backlog much, because the grants have to be approved, and so on. We simply do the best we can to give advice as things go along. We have a backlog in the litigation work in OASI, a heavy litigation load. There is a backlog in part of our Food and Drug Office. There is a considerable backlog in our Legislative Division on processing of reports on individual bills. Mr. DENTON. How bad is that backlog on education? On public health how far back are you, the Pure Food and Drug? Mr. WILLCOX. In Food and Drug, I can't tell you the figures offhand, sir. It would be in the processing, for instance, of the notices of judgment. I can get the current figures for you. (The information to be supplied follows:) DESCRIPTION OF FUNCTIONS OF NEW POSITIONS REQUESTED BY OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL Positions requested to meet increased legal services and case workload are as follows: Public Health Division.-The attorney positions are intended primarily to interpret questions arising from and developing regulations related to (1) the new iy authorized national library of medicine grant program (Public Law 89-291); (2) heart disease, cancer and stroke amendments of 1965 (Public Law 89–239+; and (3) expanded water pollution control activities. The attorneys will render technical advice on such items as the eligibility and accountability of grantees and will play their key role in the preparation and application of regulations under the two new grant programs mentioned above. The secretarial position will provide typing and stenographic assistance as necessary. Health Insurance Division.--The three attorneys are expected to deal primarily with administrative and judicial review of the mass of legal problems expected to arise when the program for health insurance for the aged goes into effect on July 1, 1966. The secretarial position will provide typing and stenographic services as necessary. Welfare and Rehabilitation Division.—The attorney position requested will be used to render legal consultations, advice and interpretations related to the recently enacted Older Americans Act of 1965 and the vocational rehabilitation amendments of 1965. The position will assist in the development of regulations for the new and expanded programs and will be expected to interpret questions on such items as the legality of applications, State plans, grants, contracts, etc. which arise. Regional and field.-The nine attorney positions requested will supplement the existing staff in each region and their attention will be directed to the problems expected to be associated with the health insurance for the aged program. They will work primarily with the regional health insurance staff of the Social Security Administration. The secretarial position, to be located in Boston, will provide necessary supporting services. CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVITIES Mr. FOGARTY. How much do you have budgeted for civil rights activities in 1966 and how much for 1967? Mr. WILLCOX. We have no breakdown by that category, Mr. Chairman. Civil rights work spreads through a large part of our office because so many of the programs are involved in it, and we have been handling that work almost entirely simply as a part of the advisory service to the Public Health Service, to the Welfare Administration, and so on. We do have two attorneys and one secretary who have been working full time on civil rights matters. Mr. FOGARTY. What would happen if we took out all of the request. for civil rights and put it in your office? Mr. WILLCOX. Chaos, I should think. Mr. FOGARTY. Chaos? Mr. FLOOD. What would be unusual about that? Mr. WILLCOX. The civil rights work is an ongoing part of all of the grant programs, and it would seem to me that the administrative officials responsible for making the grants, responsible for enforcing all of the other Federal conditions that are attached to the grantsas you know, in public assistance, for example, there is a great variety of conditions that the States have to meet to be eligible for these grants and the Civil Rights Act merely adds one more to those. It would seem to me that dividing the decisional authority in making grants would, at least, complicate the administration. Perhaps Ï exaggerate when I say "chaos." Perhaps it could be worked out." I should think it is much wiser to keep the decisional responsibility for making public assistance grants, for example, in the Commissioner of Welfare who makes the decision on all other aspects of the grants. Mr. FOGARTY. Mr. Denton. TRANSFER OF EMPLOYEES FOR WATER POLLUTION CONTROL Mr. DENTON. I notice that one reason you want extra attorneys is because of the emphasis on water pollution control under Public Law 89-234. In the event that agency should be transferred to Interior, you wouldn't need that extra number of employees, would you? Mr. WILLCOX. We met this morning with the Solicitor for the Department of the Interior, sir, and tentatively, at least, our conclusion was, if this committee and Congress approved this request, that one of those positions would be transferred along with two professional positions we already have in that division. Mr. DENTON. Three of the positions you need would be transferred? Mr. WILLCOX. Yes. I think the request for increase must be made in our appropriation, even thought it is for transfer, if the transfer plan is allowed to take effect. BACKLOGS Mr. DENTON. How large is your backlog? Mr. WILLCOX. It varies in different parts of the office. A good deal of our work is work that really can't have a backlog much, because the grants have to be approved, and so on. We simply do the best we can to give advice as things go along. We have a backlog in the litigation work in OASI, a heavy litigation load. There is a backlog in part of our Food and Drug Office. There is a considerable backlog in our Legislative Division on processing of reports on individual bills. Mr. DENTON. How bad is that backlog on education? On public health how far back are you, the Pure Food and Drug? Mr. WILLCOX. In Food and Drug, I can't tell you the figures offhand, sir. It would be in the processing, for instance, of the notices of judgment. I can get the current figures for you. |