An Act to consolidate the Hatch Act of 1887 and laws supplementary thereto relating to the appropriation of Federal funds for the support of agricultural experiment stations in the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
PL 84-352 (S.1759), enacted 08/11/1955

69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 352-AUG. 11, 1955 
671 
Public Law 352 
CHAPTER 790 
AN ACT 
To consolidate the Hatch Act of 1887 and laws supplementary thereto relating 
to the appropriation of Federal funds for the support of agricultural experi-
ment stations in the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. 
August 11, 1955 
[S. 1759] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
U'nited States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Hatch 
Act of March 2, 1887, relating to the appropriation of Federal funds 
for the support of State agricultural experiment stations, is hereby 
amended to read as follows: 
"SECTION 1. It is the policy of Congress to continue the agricultural 
research at State agricultural experiment stations which has been 
encouraged and supported by the Hatch Act of 1887, the Adams Act 
of 1906, the Purnell Act of 1925, the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935, 
and title I, section 9, of that Act as added by the Act of August 14, 
1946, and Acts amendatory and supplementary thereto, and to pro-
mote the efficiency of such research by a codification and simplifica-
tion of such laws. As used in this Act, the terms 'State' or 'States' 
are defined to include the several States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto 
Rico. As used in this Act, the term 'State agricultural experiment 
station' means a department which shall have been established, under 
direction of the college or university or agricultural departments of 
the college or university in each State in accordance with an Act 
approved July 2,1862 (12 Stat. 503), entitled 'An Act donating public 
lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges 
for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts'; or such other 
substantially equivalent arrangements as any State shall determine. 
"SEC. 2. It is further the policy of the Congress to promote the 
efficient production, marketing, distribution, ancl utilization of prod-
ucts of the farm as essential to the health and welfare of our peoples 
and to promote a sound and prosperous agriculture and rural life 
as indispensable to the maintenance of maximum employment and 
national prosperity and security. It is also the intent of Congress 
to assure agriculture a position in research equal to that of industry, 
which will aid in maintaining an equitable balance betw^een agricul-
ture and other segments of our economy. It shall be the object and 
duty of the State agricultural experiment stations through the 
expenditure of the appropriations hereinafter authorized to conduct 
original and other researches, investigations, and experiments bearing 
directly on and contributing to the establishment and maintenance 
of a permanent and effective agricultural industry of the United 
States, including researches basic to the problems of agriculture in 
its broadest aspects, and such investigations as have for their purpose 
the development and improvement of the rural home and rural life 
and the maximum contribution by agriculture to the w^elfare of the 
consumer, as may be deemed advisable, having due regard to the 
varying conditions and needs of the respective States. 
"SEC. 3. (a) There are hereby authorized to be appropriated for 
the purposes of this Act such sums as Congress may from time to time 
determine to be necessary, 
"(b) Out of such sums each State shall be entitled to receive annu-
ally a sum of money equal to and subject to the same requirement as 
to use for marketing research projects as the sums received from 
Federal appropriations for State agricultural experiment stations for 
the fiscal year 1955, except that amounts heretofore made available 
from the fund known as the 'Regional research fund, Office of Experi-
ment Stations' shall continue to be available for the support of coop-
erative regional projects as defined in subsection 3 (c) (3), and the 
said fund shall be designated 'Regional research fund, State agricul-
Agricultural ex-
periment stations. 
24 Stat. 440. 
7 u s e 
361 
et 
seq. 
34 Stat. 63; 43 
Stat. 970; 49 Stat. 
436; 60 Stat. 1083. 
7 u s e ch. 14. 
7 u s e 301-308. 
Research and in-
vestigations. 
Appropriations. 
872 
PUBLIC LAW 352-AUG. 11, 1955 
[69 STAT. 
tural experiment stations', and the Secretary of Agriculture shall be 
entitled to receive annually for the administration of this Act, a sum 
not less than that available for this purpose for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1955 : Provided, That if the appropriations hereunder avail-
able for distribution in any fiscal year are less than those for the fiscal 
year 1955 the allotment to each State and the amounts for Federal 
administration and the regional research fund shall be reduced in 
proportion to the amount of such reduction. 
"(c) Any sums made available by the Congress in addition to 
those provided for in subsection (b) hereof for State agricultural 
experiment station work shall be distributed as follows: 
"1. Twenty per centum shall be allotted equally to each State; 
"2. Not less than 52 per centum of such sums shall be allotted to 
each State, as follows: One-half in an amount which bears the same 
ratio to the total amount to be allotted as the rural population of the 
State bears to the total rural population of all the States as determined 
by the last preceding decennial census current at the time each such 
additional sum is first appropriated; and one-half in an amount which 
bears the same ratio to the total amount to be allotted as the farm 
population of the State bears to the total farm population of all the 
States as determined by the last preceding decennial census current 
at the time such additional sum is first appropriated; 
"3. Not more than 25 per centum shall be allotted to the States for 
cooperative research in which two or more State agricultural experi-
ment stations are cooperating to solve problems that concern the agri-
culture of more than one State. The funds available for such pur-
poses, together with funds available pursuant to subsection (b) hereof 
for like purpose shall be designated as the 'Regional research fund, 
State agricultural experiment stations', and shall be used only for 
such cooperative regional projects as are recommended by a committee 
of nine persons elected by and representing the directors of the State 
agricultural experiment stations, and approved by the Secretary of 
Agriculture. The necessary travel expenses of the committee of nine 
persons in performance of their duties may be paid from the fund 
established by this paragraph. 
' "4. Not less than 20 per centum of any sums appropriated pur-
suant to this subsection for distribution to States shall be used by 
State agricultural experiment stations for conducting marketing 
research projects approved by the Department of Agriculture. 
"5. Three per centum shall be available to the Secretary of Agri-
culture for administration of this Act. 
"(d) Of any amount in excess of $90,000 available under this Act 
for allotment to any State, exclusive of the regional research fund, 
State agricultural experiment stations, no allotment and no payments 
thereof shall be made in excess of the amount which the State makes 
available out of its own funds for research and for the establishment 
and maintenance of facilities necessary for the prosecution of such 
research: And 'provided further, That if any State fails to make avail-
able for such research purposes for any fiscal year a sum equal to the 
amount in excess of $90,000 to which it may be entitled for such year, 
the remainder of such amount shall be withheld by the Secretary of 
Agriculture. 
"(e) 'Administration' as used in this section shall include participa-
tion in planning and coordinating cooperative regional research as 
defined in subsection 3 (c) 3. 
"(f) In making payments to States, the Secretary of Agriculture 
is authorized to adjust any such payment to the nearest dollar. 
Use o
f moneys. 
"SEC. 4. Moueys appropriated pursuant to this Act shall also be 
available, in addition to meeting expenses for research and investiga-
"Admini s tr a-
tion»'. 
7 use 331. 
State allotments. 
69 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 352-AUG. 11, 1955 
673 
tioiis conducted under authority of section 2, for printing and dissemi-
nating the results of such research, retirement of employees subject to 
the provisions of an Act approved March 4,1940 (54 Stat. 39), admin-
istrative planning and direction, and for the purchase and rental of 
land and the construction, acquisition, alteration, or repair of build-
ings necessary for conducting research. 
The State agricultural exper-
iment stations are authorized to plan and conduct any research author-
ized under section 2 of this Act in cooperation with each other and 
such other agencies and individuals as may contribute to the solution 
of the agricultural problems involved, and moneys appropriated pur-
suant to this Act shall be available for paying the necessary expenses 
of planning, coordinating, and conducting such cooperative research. 
"SEC. 5. Sums available for allotment to the States under the terms 
of this Act, excluding the regional research fund authorized by sub-
section 3 (c) 3, shall be paid to each State agricultural experiment 
station in equal quarterly payments beginning on the first day of July 
of each fiscal year upon vouchers approved by the Secretary of Agri-
culture, 
Each such station authorized to receive allotted funds shall 
have a chief administrative officer known as a director, and a treasurer 
or other officer appointed by the governing board of the station. 
Such 
treasurer or other officer shall receive and account for all funds allotted 
to the State under the provisions of this Act and shall report, with the 
approval of the director, to the Secretary of Agriculture on or before 
the first day of September of each year a detailed statement of the 
amount received under provisions of this Act during the preceding 
fiscal year, and of its disbursement on schedules prescribed by the 
Secretary of Agriculture. 
If any portion of the allotted moneys 
received by the authorized receiving officer of any State agricultural 
experiment station shall by any action or contingency be diminished, 
lost, or misapplied, it shall be replaced by the State concerned and 
until so replaced no subsequent appropriation shall be allotted or paid 
to such State. 
"SEC, 6. Bulletins, reports, periodicals, reprints of articles, tmd portg^^etcV"^''^ 
other publications necessary for the dissemination of results of the 
F""*® mauing. 
researches and experiments, including lists of publications available 
for distribution by the experiment stations, shall be transmitted in 
the mails of the United States under penalty indicia: Provided^ 
however^ That each publication shall bear such indicia as are pre-
scribed by the Postmaster General and shall be mailed under such 
regulations as the Postmaster General may from time to time pre-
scribe. Such publications may be mailed from the principal place 
of business of the station or from an established subunit of said 
station. 
"SEC. 7. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby charged with secretary'o°f"Agrif 
the responsibility for the proper administration of this Act, and is 
authorized and directed to prescribe such rules and regulations as 
may be necessary to carry out its provisions. It shall be the duty 
of the Secretary to furnish such advice and assistance as will best 
promote the purposes of this Act, including participation in coordi-
nation of research initiated under this Act by the State agricultural 
experiment stations, from time to time to indicate such lines of inquiry 
as to him seem most important, and to encourage and assist in the 
establishment and maintenance of cooperation by and between the 
several State agricultural experiment stations, and between the sta-
tions and the United States Department of Agriculture. 
"On or before the first day of July in each year after the passage 
of this Act, the Secretiiry of Agriculture shall ascertain as to each 
State whether it is entitled to receive its share of the annual appro-
54402 O - 55 - 43 
culture. 
R e p o r t to Coiv-
gressa 
674 
PUBLIC LAW 352-AUG. 11, 1955 
[69 S T A T , 
priations for agricultural experiment stations under this Act and tlie 
amount which thereupon each is entitled, respectively, to receive. 
"Whenever it shall appear to the Secretary of Agriculture from 
the annual statement of receipts and expenditures of funds by any 
State agricultural experiment station that any portion of the preced-
ing annual appropriation allotted to that station under this Act 
remains unexpended, such amount shall be deducted from the next 
succeeding annual allotment to the State concerned, 
dentf°'* *° ^'^^^' 
"If the Secretary of Agriculture shall withhold from any State 
any portion of the appropriations available for allotment, the facts 
and reasons therefor shall be reported to the President and the amount 
involved shall be kept separate in the Treasury until the close of the 
next Congress. If the next Congress shall not direct such sum to be 
paid, it shall be carried to surplus. 
"The Secretary of Agriculture shall make an annual report to the 
Congress during the first regular session of each year of the receipts 
and expenditures and work of the agricultural experiment stations 
in all the States under the provisions of this Act and also whether 
any portion of the appropriation available for allotment to any State 
has been withheld and if so the reasons therefor. 
"SEC. 8. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impair or modif}^ 
the legal relation existing between any of the colleges or universities 
under whose direction State agricultural experiment stations have 
been established and the government of the States in which they are 
respectively located. States having agricultural experiment stations 
separate from such colleges or universities and established by law, 
shall be authorized to apply such benefits to research at stations so 
established by such States: Provided, That in any State in which 
more than one such college, university, or agricultural experiment 
station has been established the appropriations made pursuant to this 
Act for such State shall be divided between such institutions as the 
legislature of such State shall direct. 
"SEC. 9. The Congress may at any time, amend, suspend, or repeal 
any or all of the provisions of this Act." 
Repeals. 
gj^^ £. The followiug listed sections or parts of sections of the 
Statutes at Large heretofore covering the provisions consolidated in 
this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, however, That any rights or 
liabilities existing under such repealed sections or parts of sections 
shall not be affected by their repeal: 
Bankhead-Jones Act, title I, sections 2 to 8. June 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 
436;7U.S.C.427a-g). 
Section 9, and related provisions of section 11 of the Bankhead-
Jones Act, title I, as added by title I of the Research and Marketing 
Act (60 Stat. 1082; 7 U. S. C. 427h, 427j). 
Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1944, title I, section 
105, amending the Bankhead-Jones Act, title I, section 5, by adding 
subsection (c) (58 Stat. 735; 7 U. S. C. 427d). 
Act approved June 7,1888, amending the Hatch Act (25 Stat. 176; 
7 U . S. C. 372). 
Adams Act approved March 16, 1906 (34 Stat. 63; 7 U. S. C. 369, 
371,373,366,374,375,361,376,380,382). 
Purnell Act approved February 24, 1925 (43 Stat. 970; 7 U. S. C. 
370,371,373,374,375,376,366,361,380,382). 
The Acts extending the benefits of the foregoing Acts to the Terri-
tory of Hawaii, the Territory of Alaska, and Puerto Rico: Hawaii, 
Act of May 16,1928 (45 Stat. 571; 7 U. S. C. 386, 386a, 386b) ; Alaska, 
Act of June 20, 1936 (49 Stat. 1553), as amended by Public Law 739, 
approved August 29, 1950 (7 U. S. C. 369a) ; Alaska, Act of Febru-
ary 23, 1929 (45 Stat. 1256; 7 U. S. C. 386c) ; Puerto Rico, Act of 
March 4, 1931 (46 Stat. 1520; 7 U. S. C. 386d, e, f). 
69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 354-AUG. 11, 1955 
675 
Such portion of the Department of Agriculture Appropriation 
Act of 1890, approved March 2,1889, as related to examination of soils 
by experimental stations (25 Stat. 841; 7 U. S. C. 364). 
That part of the Act of October 1, 1918, relating to the Georgia 
Agricultural Experiment Station (40 Stat. 998; 7 U. S. C. 383). 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
Public Law 353 
CHAPTER 791 
AN ACT 
Granting the consent of Congress to the States of California and Nevada to 
negotiate and enter into a compact with respect to the distribution and use of 
the waters of the Truckee, Carson, and Walker Rivers, Lake Tahoe, and the 
tributaries of such rivers and lake in such States. 
August 11, 1955 
[S. 1391] 
Be it enaeted hy the Senate and Houne of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled^ That the consent 
of Congress is hereby given to the States of California and Nevada to 
negotiate and enter into a compact with respect to the distribution 
and use of the waters of the Truckee, Carson, and Walker Rivers, 
Lake Tahoe, and the tributaries of such rivers and lake in such States. 
SEC. 2. Such consent is given upon the following conditions: 
(1) A representative of the ITnited States, who shall be appointed 
by the President of the LTnited States, shall participate in such nego-
tiations and shall make a report to the President and to the Congress 
of the proceedings and of any compact entered into; and 
(2) Such compact shall not be binding or obligatory upon either 
of such States unless and until it has been ratified by uvt, legislature 
of each of such States and consented to by the Congress of the United 
States. 
SEC. 3. The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby 
expressly reserved. 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
C a 11 f o rnla and 
Nevada. 
Water contact. 
Reports. 
Public Law 354 
CHAPTER 792 
AN ACT 
To provide that the tax on admissions shall not apply to certain athletic events 
held for the benefit of the United States Olympic Association. 
August 11, 1955 
[H. R. 7095] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 4233 
(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (relating to exemptions 
from the admissions tax) is hereby amended by adding at the end 
thereof the following new paragraph: 
"(10) 
ATHLETIC EVENTS FOR BENEFIT OF UNITED STATES OLYMPIC 
ASSOCIATION.—Any admissions to an athletic event, if (A) such 
event is conducted by the United States Olympic Association, or 
the conduct of such event for the benefit of such association is 
authorized in advance by such association, and (B) all the pro-
ceeds of the admissions inure exclusively to the benefit of such 
association." 
SEC. 2. The amendment made by the first section of this Act shall 
apply only with respect to amounts paid on or after the first day of 
the first month which begins more than 10 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act for admission on or after such first day. 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
68A Stat. 498. 
26 u s e 4233 (a).