Evening star., 1941-05-11
House 10 Vote
Tomorrow on
0verton Bill
Randolph Presses
For Passage Of
D. 6. Fiscal Plan
By LANES E. CHM.

BY JAMES E. CHINN.
Aided by House leaders, Chair
man Randolph of the District Com
mittee last night sought sufficient
support to assure House passage
tomorrow of the Senate-approved
Overton bill-a measure designed to
end the perennial controversy over
fiscal relations between the Fed
eral and local municipal govern
ments.
OF the four District bills on the
House calendar the Overton measure
is the most important scheduled to
be called up for consideration. 1t
provides a formula for fixing the
annual Federal share toward sup
port of the municipal government.
Adoption of this plan. it is eSti-
mated, would increase the present
Sc 100000 annual lump sum Federal
payment to approximately S9,O00.-
900 in the fiscal year beginning July
! and give the District about S3,000,-
900 more in revenue to help meet
the emergency budget resulting
from the influx of national defense
workers.
(The original Overton formula
provides that the Federal pay
ment be based on the ratio of
taX-eXempt United States owned
property here, after certain de-
ductions, to the total land area.
An amendment approved by the
House District Committee-a
change said to have been sug-
gested by President Roosevelt
would require that the amount
appropriated for capital i'm
provements in the District, in
cluding those carried in the spe-
cial highway and water funds,
''at least equal" the Federal pay
ment)
Counts on Presidents Support.
Chairman Randolph said he ex-
pected some opposition to the bill,
but declined to make prediction as
to its fate. He is counting heavily,
however, on the Presidents interest
In the legislation, plus the already
pledged support of House leaders,
to bring about its approval.
Majority Leader Mccormack sew
eral days ago said he would support
the Overton plan. And last night,
Representative Boland of Pennsyl-
vania, the majority whip. told news
papermen he thought the Overton
bill should be passed by the House.
Rumors have been current for a
week that opponents of the Over
ton bill would attempt to kill it by
attempting to substitute an increase
In the present real estate and per-
sonal property tax rate. Repre-
sentative Rees, Republican. of Kan
sas several weeks ago introduced a
bill to raise the tax rate from SITS
to 50 so on S100 of assessed valuation
And Representative McGehee, Demo-
crat, of Mississippi, a member of the
District committee, recently threat
ened to propose an amendment
which would replace the Overton
formula with a fixed Federal pay
ment of S7,500,000 a year for the
next five fiscal years.
Hearings May Start May rs.
As Representative Randolph be-
gan his move to round up additional
support for the Overton bill, Chair
man Mahon of the House subcom-
mittee in charge of the District
supply measure announced that
hearings would not start before May
26. He had hoped to begin the
hearings week earlier.
1--WE have got to get started soon. -
said Representative Mahon, Demo-
crat, of Texas, but another week S
delay will not be serious. I wanted
to start the hearing about May IT,
but that is not possible because of
the current hearings on the War
Department appropriation bill.
by the time we get started, how
ever, We will know the outcome of
House action on the Overton bill,
which will affect our plans. Since
the House will act Monday on the
Overton bill we will know whether
to proceed on the basis of a $6,000,-
900 Federal payment or some other
figure"
Three Other District Measures.
Representative Randolph has ar
ranged to call up tomorrow ahead
Of the Overton bill the three rela-
lively minor District bills on the
House calendar. They would:
/. Give the Board of Public We'll
fare additional powers to provide
home care for dependent children.
2. Authorize admission to st.
Elizabeth's Hospital of foreign serv-
ice employees of the United States
who are adjudged insane and have
no established legal residence in this
country.
8. Authorize the Federal Security
Administrator to accept gifts for
st. Elizabeth's Hospital.