An Act to supplement the Federal reclamation laws by providing for Federal cooperation in non-Federal projects and for participation by non-Federal agencies in Federal projects
PL 84-984 (H.R.5881), enacted 08/06/1956

1D44 
PUBLIC DAW 984-AUG. 6, 1956 
[70 ST A T . 
August 6, 1956 
[H. R. 5881] 
Public Law 984 
CHAPTER 972 
AN ACT 
To supplement the Federal reclamation laws by providing for Federal cooperation 
in non-Federal projects and for participation by non-Federal agencies in 
Federal projects. 
S m a l l Reclama-
tion Projects Act 
of 195 6. 
Definitions. 
43 u s e 371 note. 
Proposals. 
58 Stat. 889. 
33 u s e 70i-l 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of Afnerica in Congress assembled, That the purpose of 
this Act is to encourage State and local participation in the develop-
ment of projects under the Federal reclamation laws and to provide 
for Federal assistance in the development of similar projects in the 
seventeen western reclamation States by non-Federal organizations. 
SEC. 2. As used in this Act— 
(a) The term "construction" shall include rehabilitation and better-
ment. 
(b) The term "Federal reclamation laws" shall mean the Act of 
June 17,1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or supple-
mentary thereto, 
(c) The term "organization" shall mean a State or a department, 
agency, or political subdivision thereof or a conservancy district, irri-
gation district, water users' association, an agency created by interstate 
compact, or similar organization which has capacity to contract with 
the United States under the Federal reclamation laws. 
(d) The term "project" shall mean (i) any complete irrigation 
undertaking, including incidental features thereof, or distinct unit of 
such an undertaking or a rehabilitation and betterment program for 
an existing irrigation project, authorized to be constructed pursuant 
to the Federal reclamation laws and (ii) any similar undertaking pro-
posed to be constructed by an organization. The term "project" shall 
not include any such undertaking, unit, or program the cost of which 
exceeds $5,000,000: Provided, That any project, the estimated cost of 
which is more than $5,000,000 but less than $10,000,000, may qualify 
under this Act if the applicant organization is ready, able, and willing 
to finance otherwise than by loan or grant under this Act all costs in 
excess of the amount of the loan or grant which would be made under 
this Act if the estimated construction cost were $5,000,000: Provided 
further, That nothing contained in this definition shall preclude the 
making of a grant not in excess of $5,000,000 in accordance with the 
provisions of sections 4 and 5 of this Act, to organizations whose pro-
posed projects qualify for the same but which are not applicants for 
a loan under this Act: And provided further, That nothing contained 
in this Act shall preclude the making of more than one loan or grant, 
or combined loan and grant, to an organization so long as no two such 
loans or grants, or combinations thereof, are for the same project, as 
herein defined. 
(e) The term "Secretary" shall mean the Secretary of the Interior. 
SEC. 3. Any organization desiring to avail itself oi the benefits pro-
vided in this Act shall submit a proposal therefor to the Secretary in 
such form and manner as he shall prescribe. Each such proposal shall 
be accompanied by a payment of $1,000 to defray, in part, the cost of 
examining the proposal. 
SEC. 4. (a) Any proposal with respect to the construction of a 
project which has not theretofore been authorized for construction 
under the Federal reclamation laws shall set forth, among other 
things, a plan and estimated cost in detail comparable to those in-
cluded in preauthorization reports required for a Federal reclama-
tion project; shall have been submitted for review by the States of 
the drainage basin in which the project is located in like manner as 
provided in subsection (c), section 1 of the Act of December 22,1944 
(58 Stat, 887), except that the review may be limited to the State or 
70 ST AT. 1 
PUBLIC L A
W 9 84 - AUG. 6, 19 56 
1046 
States in which the project is located if the proposal is one solely for 
rehabilitation and betterment of an existing project; and shall include 
a proposed allocation of capital costs to functions such that costs for 
facilities used for a single purpose shall be allocated to that purpose 
and costs for facilities used for more than one purpose shall be so 
allocated among the purposes served that each purpose will share 
equitably in the costs of such joint facilities. 
(b) Every such proposal shall include a showing that the organiza-
tion already holds or can acquire all lands and interests in land 
(except public and other lands and interests in land owned by the 
United States which are within the administrative jurisdiction of the 
Secretary and subject to disposition by him) and rights, pursuant 
to applicable State law, to the use of water necessary for the successful 
construction, operation, and maintenance of the project and that it is 
ready, able, and willing to finance otherwise than by loan and grant 
under this Act such portion of the cost of construction (which portion 
shall include all costs of acquiring lands, interests in land, and rights 
to the use of water) as the Secretary shall have advised is proper in 
the circumstances: Provided, That the contribution of any applicant 
organization shall not be required to be in excess of 25 per centum 
of the costs of the project which, if it were being constructed as a 
Federal reclamation project, would be properly allocable to reim-
bursable functions under general provisions of law applicable to such 
projects. 
(c) If the project is found by the Secretary and the Governor of the 
contracts. 
State in which it is located (or an appropriate State agency designated 
by him) to be financially feasible and upon determination by the 
Secretary that the requested project constitutes a reasonable risk under 
the provisions of this Act, the Secretary is hereby authorized to 
negotiate a contract with the applicant organization as provided in 
section 5; but no such contract shall be executed by the Secretary prior con^eilr^"**'*^ 
to sixty calendar days (which sixty days, however, shall not mclude 
days on which either the House of Representatives or the Senate is 
not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to 
a day certain) from the date on which the project proposal has been 
submitted to both branches of the Congress for consideration by the 
appropriate committees thereof, and then only if neither such com-
mittee, by committee resolution and notification in writing to the 
Secretary, disapproves the project proposal within such period: Pro-
oided, That if both such committees, in the same manner and prior 
to the expiration of such period, approve the project proposal, then 
the Secretary may proceed to execute the contract: Provided 
further, 
That in the event either committee disapproves the project proposal, 
the Secretary shall not proceed further unless the Congress has ap-
proved the same. The Secretary at the time of submitting the project tiwi^^ re »erva-
proposal to Congress or at the time of his determination that the re-
quested project constitutes a reasonable risk under the provisions of 
this Act, may reserve from use or disposition inimical to the project 
any lands and interests in land owned by the United States which are 
within his administrative jurisdiction and subject to the disposition by 
him and which are required for use by the project. 
Any such reserva-
tion shall expire at the end of two years unless the repayment contract 
provided for in section 5 of this Act shall have been executed. 
(d) The Secretary shall give due consideration to financial feasi- needre^t!'*"*"*"' 
bility, emergency, or urgent need for the project, whether the proposal 
involves furnishing supplemental irrigation water for an existing irri-
gation project, whether the proposal involves rehabilitation of existing 
irrigation project works, and whether the proposed project is primarily 
for irrigation. All project works and facilities constructed under this 
1046 
PUBLIC UAW 984-AUG. 6, 1956 
[70 STAT. 
Act shall remain under the jurisdiction and control of the local con-
tracting organization subject to the terms of the repayment contract, 
menu?'**^* '* "^^'^ 
SEC. 5. Any contract authorized to be negotiated under the provisions 
of subsection (c) of section 4 of this Act shall set out, among other 
things— 
(a) the maximum amount of any loan to be made to the organi-
zation and the time and method of making the same available to 
the organization. Said loan shall not exceed that portion of the 
estimated cost of constructing the project which, if it were being 
constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly 
allocable to reimbursable functions under general provisions of 
law applicable to such projects; 
(b) the maximum amount of any grant to be accorded the 
organization and the time and method of paying the same to the 
organization. 
Said grant shall not exceed that portion of the 
estimated cost of constructing the project which, if it were being 
constructed as a Federal reclamation project, would be properly 
allocable to nonreimbursable functions under general provisions 
of law applicable to such projects; 
(c) a plan of repayment by the organization of (1) the sums 
lent to it in not more than nfty years from the date when the 
principal benefits of the project first become available; (2) inter-
est, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, by estimating 
the average annual yield to maturity, on the basis of daily clos-
ing market bid quotations or prices during the month of May 
preceding the fiscal year in which the loan is made, on all out-
standing marketable obligations of the United States having a 
maturity date of fifteen or more years from the first day of such 
month of May, and by adjusting such estimated average annual 
yield to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum at the beginning 
of the fiscal year preceding the date on which the contract is 
executed, on that pro rata share of the loan which is attributable 
to furnishing irrigation benefits in each particular year to land 
held in private ownership by any one owner in excess of one 
hundred and sixty irrigable acres; and (3) in the case of any 
project involving an allocation to domestic, industrial, or munic-
ipal water supply, or commercial power produced as an element 
of the project and incidental to its full development, interest on 
the unamortized balance of an appropriate portion of the loan 
at a rate as determined in (2) above; 
(d) provision for operation of the project, if a grant predicated 
upon its performance of nonreimbursable functions is made, in 
accordance with regulations with respect thereto prescribed by 
the head of the Federal department or agency primarily con-
cerned with those functions and, in the event of noncompliance 
with such regulations, for operation by the United States or for 
repayment to the United States of the amount of any such grant; 
(e) such provisions as the Secretary shall deem necessary or 
proper to provide assurance of and security for prompt repay-
ment of the loan and interest as aforesaid. 
The liability of the 
United States under any contract entered into pursuant to this 
Act shall be contingent upon the availability of appropriations 
to carry out the same, and every such contract shall so recite; and 
(f) provisions conforming to the preference requirements con-
tained in the proviso to section 9 (c) of the Act of August 4,1939 
43usc485h.* 
(53 Stat. 1193), if the project produces electric power for sale. 
SEC. 6. Any proposal with respect to the construction of a project 
which has theretofore been authorized for construction under the Fed-
eral reclamation laws shall be made in like manner as a proposal under 
70 S T A T . 1 
PUBLIC LAW 985-AUG. 6, 1956 
1D47 
section 4 of this Act, but the Secretary may waive such requirements 
of subsections (a) and (b) of that section as he finds to be duplicative 
of, or rendered unnecessary or impossible by, action already taken by 
the United States. Upon approval of any such proj)osal by the Sec-
retary he may negotiate and execute a contract which conforms, as 
nearly as may be, to the provisions of section 5 of this Act. 
SEC. 7. Upon request of an organization which has made or intends 
to make a proposal under this Act, the head of any Federal department 
or agency may make available to the organization any existing engi-
neering, economic, or hydrologic information and printed material 
that it may have and that will be useful in connection with the plan-
ning, design, construction, or operation and maintenance of the project 
concerned. 
The reasonable cost of any plans, specifications, and other 
unpublished material furnished by the Secretary pursuant to this 
section and the cost of making and administering anj loan under this 
Act shall, to the extent that they w^ould not be nonreimbursable in the 
case of a project constructed under the Federal reclamation laws, be 
treated as a loan and covered in the provisions of the contract entered 
into under section 5 of this Act unless they are otherwise paid for by 
the organization. 
SEC. 8. The planning and construction of projects undertaken pur-
suant to this Act shall be subject to all procedural requirements and 
other provisions of the Act of A u ^ s t 14,1946 (60 Stat. 1080). 
SEC. 9. The Secretary is authorized to perform any and all acts and 
to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper in 
carrying out the provisions of this Act. 
SEC. 10. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated, such sums 
as may be necessary, but not to exceed $100,000,000 to carry out the 
provisions of this Act: Provided^ That the Secretary shall advise the 
Congress promptly on the receipt of each proposal referred to in sec-
tion 3, and no contract shall become effective until appropriated funds 
are available to initiate the specific proposal covered by each contract. 
All such appropriations shall remain available until expended and 
shall, insofar as they are used to finance loans made under this Act, 
be reimbursable in the manner hereinabove provided. 
SEC. 11. This Act shall be a supplement to the Federal reclamation 
laws and may be cited as the Small Eeclamation Projects Act of 1956. 
SEC. 12. If any provision of this Act or the application of such pro-
vision to any person, organization, or circumstance shall be held in-
valid, the remainder of the Act and the application of such provision to 
persons, organizations, or circumstances other than those as to which 
it is held invalid shall .not be affected thereby. 
Approved August 6, 1956. 
Information firom 
Federal agendas. 
16 u s e 6 61-666c. 
Appropriation, 
Short title. 
Separability. 
Public Law 985 
CHAPTER 973 
AN ACT 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, so as to require that 
certain vessels carrying passengers for hire be fitted with radiotelephone 
installations. 
August 6, 1956 
[H. R. 7536] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That title I I I of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, is hereby amended by add-
ing at the end thereof the following new part: 
48 Stat. 1064. 
47 u s e 609.