A resolution through the deferral process means that duly certified State or Local Fair Employment Practices Agency (also called upon certification by EEOC a 706 Agency) will through the use of their resources conduct the required administrative enforcement activities. EEOC in turn applies some of its field resources to the review of these activities to insure conformance with Title VII and administrative remedies set forth in the code of Federal regulations. Currently these reviews lead to an average acceptance of 75% which are included in our reporting system as State and Local resolutions (See Table Pg. 32 of FY 78 Budget Submission). Those activities not accepted (the 25%), may be subject to further EEOC internal processing. Are the 22,300 charges to be resolved by the State and Local 706 agencies part of the 85,300 charges that the Commission expects to resolve in FY 1978? Yes, the 22,300 State and Local Resolutions are included in the 85,300 total Commission resolutions projected for FY 78. ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL FUNDS You have an increase of $1,210,000 to increase your position utilization. According to the schedule in the President's budget, the Commission anticipates an increase of only 17 man years in 1978. If I divide that 17 man years into this $1,210,000 I get an average cost of $71,276. Haven't you budgeted way too much for these additional man years? The increase of $1,210,000 is required to fund a projected increase of 84 man years in FY 1978. This information is included on page 8 of the budget request presented here today. The man year information provided in the President's budget was not updated prior to printing. According to the justification, the Commission achieved a position utilization rate of 95% in March of 1976. If you had the funds in your base budget to support such a utilization rate last March, why are you asking for additional funds now? Page 3 of the general statement mentions that a new recruitment procedure was introduced in March of 1976. Using the new system the 95 percent utilization rate was achieved in March of 1977. Actually on March 31, 1977 there were 155 vacant positions in the Commission for a position utilization rate of 94.1 percent versus 407 vacant positions on March 31, 1976 for a position utilization rate of 84.3 percent. Similarly, the summary of requirements shows $63,600 under other obligations for moving allowance. I can find $42,600 of this amount under the Legal Programs; where is the other $21,000? The $21,000 was incorrectly included in the moving allowances line item on the summary sheet on page 7 after a reduction of $21,000 was made on page 21 in the line item "other services". FOREIGN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT COMMISSION STATEMENT OF J. RAYMOND BELL, CHAIRMAN ACCOMPANIED BY: FRANCIS T. MASTERSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Senator HOLLINGS. Our next request is the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. The amount requested is $929,000, an increase of $187,000, and provides for 33 permanent positions. Appearing on behalf of this request is J. Raymond Bell, Chairman, who is accompanied by Mr. Francis T. Masterson, Executive Director, and Mr. Wayland D. McClellan, General Counsel. We are glad to have you here at this time. Mr. BELL. Thank you, sir. My colleagues and I thank you for this equal opportunity. [Laughter.] PREPARED STATEMENT We have filed a formal statement. I think it might serve the committee's time and purpose, with your permission, to waive reading the statement and permitting me to summarize it. Senator HOLLINGS. Didn't we just have this in the supplemental? Mr. BELL. That is right. Actually, we are almost covering old territory. Senator HOLLINGS. The statement will be included in its entirety. [The statement follows:] (481) STATEMENT OF J. RAYMOND BELL Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you in support of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission's request for Fiscal Year 1978 funds. The Commission requests $929,000 for Fiscal Year 1978, an increase of $187,000 over the $742,000 projected for the current year. Included in this projected figure are the two supplementals recently approved by the Senate and the House. East German Claims Program Fiscal Year 1978 will represent the first full year of funding of a new claims program against the German Democratic Republic authorized by Public Law 94-542, approved October 16, 1976. The Commission anticipates receiving a minimum of 6,000 claims from American Citizens for losses resulting from the nationalization, expropriation or other takings by the Government of East Germany. A request of $75,000 in initial funds to be used in Fiscal Year 1977 to commence the program appears in HR 4877, the supplemental appropriations bill. Under the law, the Commission is required to publish regulations governing the adjudication of these claims no later than 60 days following the availability of funds. Of the total amount requested, $337,000 will be applied to the adjudication of claims against East Germany. Approximately 75% of this amount will be used to support ten additional positions over the staffing level planned for the end of Fiscal Year 1977. Eight of these positions will be in Washington and two in a field office in West Germany where local employees will conduct record searches and engage in the acquisition of other materials in support of claims. The balance of the funds sought for this program will be used to procure additional equipment where it cannot be obtained without charge from other government sources and for physical support items related to the establishment of a small office abroad, including the cost of reimbursements to other agencies for services that will be rendered overseas. Assuming that the four year adjudication period will begin to run in May of 1977, the Commission will be required to produce at least 1,000 claims in Fiscal Year 1978 and no less than 1,850 decisions in each of the Fiscal Years 1979 and 1980 and approximately 1,200 during the first three quarters of Fiscal Year 1981 in order to complete the program on time. On the basis of estimated receipts of 6,000 claims, adjustments of attorney staffing patterns will be made during later fiscal years to maintain production at the level necessary to complete the program by the statutory deadline due to occur in the spring of 1981. For the budget year, seven attorney positions are requested which I feel will be adequate during the initial stages of the program when emphasis must be placed on research and developmental work and until firm work load figures are known at the end of the filing period in May of 1978. Because of the extended elapse of time since these losses occurred, the Commission expects to be confronted with unusually complex problems. in the adjudication of these claims. First of all, the Commission is aware that many claimants who owned properties at the time these losses occurred may now be deceased and the claims for such losses will have descended to their heirs. Our experience in other programs indicates that records and documents supporting these claims may be sparse and that recollections of current claimants may be dimmed and confused as to the details of events that occurred 30 years ago. The Commission will immediately be confronted with problems relating to the effective dates of the taking of properties since the German Democratic Republic did not come into formal existence until 1949. Many claimants, of course, lost control of their properties in the late 1930's, when they were forced from their homes by the Nazi regime and were unable to regain possession following the end of the War. Further, the Commission is also aware that the assets of these claimants may or may not have been formally taken by official decree as has been the case in other countries. Other Activities of the Commission During Fiscal Year 1978, the Commission will continue to perform numerous activities pertaining to completed claims programs. This Commission and its predecessor agencies have been settling claims under the International Claims Settlement Act and the War Claims Act for 28 years. Since appearing before this Committee last year, the Commission has successfully concluded the Micronesian Claims Program and abolished the Micronesian Claims Commission which had issued awards to nearly 11,000 claimant residents of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands totaling $67 million under Titles I and II of the Micronesian Claims Act of 1971. However, there are numerous related inquiries and actions by groups and individual claimants in the Trust Territory which continually require the attention of the staff even though the Commission's authority for deciding such claims has expired. The Commission is now in the very final stages of completing a Hungarian Claims Program which has involved 1,500 claims representing awards of $2.5 million. Initial decisions have been issued on all claims and by the statutory deadline of May 15, 1977, all of the pending 100 hearings will have been held. A further example of this residual activity was demonstrated in the passage of the East German legislation which contained an Amendment, Section 615, directing the Commission to entertain protests to awards granted in the General War Claims Program which had been completed ten years earlier in 1967. The Commission was given a 90-day period to carry out the requirements of the Amendment. Fortunately, only a few protests were filed and the Commission was able to hear and dispose of these matters within the time available. Had there been a large volume of filings, |