An Act to amend the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, in order to expedite and improve the administrative process by authorizing the Federal Communications Commission to delegate functions in adjudicatory cases, repealing the review staff provisions
PL 87-192 (S.2034), enacted 08/31/1961

420 
PUBLIC LAW 87-192-AUG. 31, 1961 
[75 ST A T . 
August 31, 1961 
[S. 2034] 
Public Law 87-192 
AN ACT 
To am^id the Communications Av,t of 1934, as amended, in order to expedite 
and improve tlie administrative process by atitliorizing tlie Federal Communica-
tions Commission to delegate functions in adjudicatory cases, repealing the 
review staff provisions, and revising related provisions. 
C otnmunications 
A c t 
of 
1 9 3 4 , 
a m e n d m e n t . 
66 Stat. 712. 
47 u s e 155. 
Deleg at i on o f 
functions. 
Publication. 
60 Stat. 237. 
5 U S C 1 0 0 1 
note. 
5 u s e 1006. 
" O r d e r , 
deci-
s i o n , 
report, 
or 
action.'" 
Post, p. 422. 
Application 
for 
review. 
Post, p. 421. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representaiives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That subsection (c) 
of section 5 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, relating 
to a "review staff", is hereby repealed. 
SEC. 2. Subsection (d) of section 5 of the Communications Act of 
1934, as amended, is amended to read as follows: 
"(d) (1) When necessary to the proper functioning of the Commis-
sion and the prompt and orderly conduct of its business, the Commis-
sion may, by published rule or by order, delegate an^ of its functions 
(except functions granted to the Commission by this paragraph and 
by paragraphs (4), (5), and (6) of this subsection) to a panel of com-
missioners, an individual commissioner, an employee board, or an indi-
vidual employee, including functions with respect to hearing, deter-
mining, ordering, certifying, reporting, or otherwise acting as to any 
work, business, or matter; except that in delegating review functions 
to employees in cases of adjudication (as defined in the Administrative 
Procedure Act), the delegation in any such case may be made only to 
an employee board consisting of three or more employees referred to in 
paragraph (8). Any such rule or order may be adopted, amended, or 
rescinded only by a vote of a majority of the members of the Commis-
sion then holding office. 
Nothing in this paragraph shall authorize 
the Commission to provide for the conduct, by any person or persons 
other than persons referred to in clauses (2) and (3) of section 7(a) 
of the Administrative Procedure Act, of any hearing to which such 
section 7(a) applies. 
" (2) As used in this subsection (d) the term 'order, decision, report, 
or action' does not include an initial, tentative, or recommended deci-
sion to which exceptions may be filed as provided in section 409(b). 
"(3) Any order, decision, report, or action made or taken pursuant 
to iny such delegation, unless reviewed as provided in paragraph (4), 
shall have the same force and effect, and shall be made, evidenced, and 
enforced in the same manner, as orders, decisions, reports, or other ac-
tions of the Commission. 
"(4) Any person aggrieved by any such order, decision, report or 
action may file an application for review by the Commission within 
such time and in such manner as the Commission shall prescribe, and 
every such application shall be passed upon by the Commission. 
The 
Commission, on its own initiative, may review in whole or in part, 
at such time and in such manner as it shall determine, any order, deci-
sion, report, or action made or taken pursuant to any delegation under 
paragraph (1). 
"(6) In passing upon applications for review, the Commission may 
grant, in whole or in part, or deny such applications without specify-
ing any reasons therefor. 
No such application for review shall rely 
on questions of fact or law upon which the panel of commissioners, in-
dividual commissioner, employee board, or individual employee has 
been afforded no opportunity to pa^s. 
"(6) If the Commission grants the application for review, it may 
affirm, modify, or set aside the order, decision, report, or action, or it 
may order a rehearing upon such order, decision, report, or action in 
accordance with section 405. 
75 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-192-AUG. 31, 1961 
421 
"(7) The filing of an application for review under this subsection 
shall be a condition precedent to judicial review of any order, de-
cision, report, or action made or taken pursuant to a delegation under 
paragraph (1). The time within which a petition for review must 
be filed in a proceeding to which section 402(a) applies, or within 
which an appeal must be taken under section 402(b), shall be com-
puted from the date upon which public notice is given of orders dis-
posing of all applications for review filed in any case. 
"(8j The employees to whom the Commission may delegate review 
functions in any case of adjudication (as defined in the Administra-
tive Procedure Act) shall be qualified, by reason of their training, 
experience, and competence, to j)erform such review functions, and 
shall perform no duties inconsistent with such review functions. 
Such employees shall be in a grade classification or salary level com-
mensurate with their important duties, and in no event less than the 
grade classification or salary level of the employee or employees 
whose actions are to be reviewed. 
In the performance of such review 
functions such employees shall be assigned to oases in rotation so far 
as practicable and shall not be responsible to or subject to the super-
vision or direction of any officer, employee, or agent engaged in the 
performance of investigative or prosecuting functions for any 
agency. 
"(9) The secretary and seal of the Commission shall be the secre-
tary and seal of each panel of the Commission, each individual com-
missioner, and each employee board or individual employee exercising 
functions delegated pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection." 
SEC. 3. Section 405 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 
is hereby amended to read as follows: 
Judicial review. 
66 Stat. 718. 
47 u s e 402. 
Delegates, qual-
ifications, etc. 
5 u s e 1001 note. 
Se c r e t i i r y and 
seal. 
47 u s e 405. 
a REHEARING8 
"SEC. 405. After an order, decision, report, or action has been made 
or taken in any proceeding by the Commission, or by any designated 
authority within the Commission pursuant to a delegation under sec-
tion 5(d) (1), any party thereto, or any other person aggrieved or 
whose interests are adversely affected thereby, may petition for re-
liearing only to the authority making or taking the order, decision, 
report, or action; and it shall be lawful for such authority, whether 
it be the Commission or other authority designated under section 5 
(d) (1), in its discretion, to grant such a rehearing if sufficient reason 
therefor be made to appear. A petition for rehearing must be filed 
within thirty days from the date upon which public notice is given of 
the order, decision, report, or action complained of. No such applica-
tion shall excuse any person from complying with or obeying any 
order, decision, report, or action of the Commission, or operate in any 
manner to stay or postpone the enforcement thereof, without the 
special order of the Commission. The filing of a petition for rehear-
ing shall not be a condition precedent to judicial review of any such 
order, decision, report, or action, except where the party seeking such 
review (1) was not a party to the proceedings resulting in such order, 
decision, report, or action, or (2) relies on questions of fact or law 
upon which the Commission, or designated authority within the Com-
mission, has been afforded no opportunity to pass. The Commission, 
or designated authority within the Commission, shall enter an order, 
with a concise statement of the reasons therefor, denying a petition 
for rehearing or granting such petition, in whole or in part, and 
ordering such further proceedings as may be appropriate: Provided, 
That in any case where such petition relates to an instrument of 
authorization granted without a hearing, the Commission, or desig-
Ante, p. 420. 
422 
PUBLIC LAW 87-192-AUG. 31, 1961 
[75 STAT. 
nated authority within the Commission, shall take such action within 
ninety days of the filing of such petition. 
Rehearings shall be 
governed by such general rules as the Commission may establish, 
except that no evidence other than newly discovered evidence, evidence 
which has become available only since the original taking of evidence, 
or evidence which the Commission or designated authority within the 
Commission believes should have been taken in the original proceed-
ing shall be taken on any rehearing. The time within which a peti-
47 use 402. 
tion for review must be filed in a proceeding to which section 402(a) 
applies, or within which an appeal must be taken under section 402 
(b) in any case, shall be computed from the date upon which public 
notice is given of orders disposing of all petitions for rehearing filed 
with the Commission in such proceeding or case, but any order, 
decision, report, or action made or taken after such rehearing 
reversing, changing, or modifying the original order shall be subject 
to the same provisions with respect to rehearing as an original order." 
Hearings. 
^EC. 4. Sectiou 409 (a), (b), (c), and (d) of the Communications 
47 ^
*
s
^
c
* '^^* 
'^^^ ^^ 1934, as amended, are amended to read as follows: 
" (a) In every case of adjudication (as defined in the Administrative 
5USC looinote. Procedure Act) which has been designated by the Commission for 
hearing, the person or persons conducting the hearing shall prepare 
and file an initial, tentative, or recommended decision, except where 
such person or persons become unavailable to the Commission or where 
the Commission finds upon the record that due and timely execution 
of its functions imperatively and unavoidably require that the record 
be certified to the Commission for initial or final decision. 
Exceptions. 
"(b) In every case of adjudication (as defined in the Administrative 
Procedure Act) which has been designated by the Commission for 
hearing, any party to the proceeding shall be permitted to file excep-
tions and memoranda in support thereof to the initial, tentative, or rec-
ommended decision, which shall be passed upon by the Commission or 
by the authority within the Commission, if any, to whom the function 
of passing upon the exceptions is delegated under section 5(d) (1) : 
Provided, hotoever, That such authority shall not be the same authority 
which made the decision to which the exception is taken. 
"(c) (1) In any case of adjudication (as defined in the Administra-
tive Procedure Act) which has been designated by the Commission for 
a hearing, no person who has participated in the presentation or prep-
aration for presentation of such case at the hearing or upon review 
shall (except to the extent required for the disposition of ex parte mat-
ters as authorized by law) directly or indirectly make any additional 
presentation respecting such case to the hearing officer or officers or to 
the Commission, or to any authority within the Commission to whom, 
in such case, review functions have been delegated by the Commission 
under section 5(d)(1), unless upon notice and opportunity for all 
parties to participate. 
"(2) The provision in subsection (c) of section 5 of the Admin-
5 use 1004. 
istrative Procedure Act w^iich states that such subsection shall not 
apply in determining applications for initial licenses, shall not be 
applicable hereafter in the case of applications for initial licenses 
before the Federal Communications Commission. 
"(d) To the extent that the foregoing provisions of this section 
and section 5(d) are in conflict with the provisions of the Administra-
tive Procedure Act, such provisions of this section and section 5(d) 
shall be held to supersede and modify the provisions of that Act." 
SEC. 5. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this Act, the 
second sentence of subsection (b) of section 409 of the Communica-
tions Act of 19e34 (which relates to the filing of exceptions and the 
presentation of oral argument), as in force at the time of the enact-
75 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-193-AUG. 31, 1961 
423 
ment of this Act, shall continue to be applicable with respect to any 
case of adjudication (as defined in the Administrative Procedure 
Act) designated by the Federal Communications Commission for 
hearing by a notice of hearing issued prior to the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
Approved August 31, 1961. 
Public Law 87-193 
AN ACT 
August 31, 1961 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide water and sewage disposal 
[s^U 
facilities to the Medora area adjoining the Theodore Roosevelt National 
Memorial Park, North Dakota, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That in order to \^,J/'^°a°"i^°n a*i 
afford adequate facilities to persons visiting Theodore Roosevelt Memorial park, 
National Memorial Park, and to enhance the setting of the park en- ^- '°^^-
trance and further the interpretive program of the park through en-
couraging the preservation and restoration of the pioneer cattle town 
of Medora, North Dakota, and its associations with Theodore Roose-
velt, by non-Federal endeavors in accordance with house concurrent 
resolutions "T" and "U" of the 1959 Session Laws of the State of 
North Dakota, pages 878 and 879, the Secretar^r of the Interior is 
authorized to modernize the water and sewage facilities of the village 
,of Medora adjoining the park, in the manner hereinafter provided. 
SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct, 
Medora, N. Dak. 
operate, and maintain, on rights-of-way donated for the purpose and in ^c'liitiTs*! ^*^^^* 
such manner as he shall consider to be in the public interest, water 
supply and sewage disposal systems to serve Federal and non-Federal 
properties in the said Medora area, and he may make existing Federal 
systems available to serve such properties: Provided, 
That non-
Federal users of the systems shall comply with standards of use pre-
scribed by the Secretary and shall be charged rates sufficient to recover 
a pro rata share of depreciation and costs of operation and main-
tenance of the systems plus interest on the Federal investment in the 
systems. 
Funds obtained from such non-Federal users of the systems 
shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States as miscella-
neous receipts, with the exception that the Secretary may consider as 
appropriation reimbursements, to be credited in the appropriation 
current at the time received, such amount of the aforesaid collections 
as may be necessary to reimburse, on a pro rata basis, appropriated 
operating funds expended for maintenance and operation costs of the 
systems. 
SEC. 3. Construction of the facilities authorized herein shall not 
conditions for 
be undertaken or use of existing Federal systems authorized until at 
least 80 per centum of the potential non-Federal users, as defined by 
the Secretary of the Interior, are committed to connecting to said w^ater 
and sewage systems and until there shall have been reached an agree-
ment with the duly authorized officials of the village of Medora, by 
which the village is obligated to adopt and enforce a zoning ordinance 
which complies with standards prescribed by the Secretary for the 
purpose of preserving the historic character of Medora and affording 
a park-like setting in the vicinity of the park and the entrance thereto. 
SEC. 4. There are authorized to be appropriated for the construction 
Appropriation, 
of these facilities such sums as may be required therefor, not to exceed 
$100,000. 
Approved Augu.st 31, 1961.