An Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Washita River Basin reclamation project, Oklahoma.
PL 84-419 (S.180), enacted 02/25/1956

28 
PUBLIC LAW 418-FEB. 20, 1966 
[70 ST A T , 
Restriction. 
"(2) where such property is encumbered in any manner, or 
where the decedent incurs any obligation imposed by the trans-
feror with respect to such property, such encumbrance or obli-
gation shall be taken into account in the same manner as if the 
amount of a gift to the decedent of such property was being 
determined; and 
"(3) if the decedent was the spouse of the transferor at the 
time of the transferor's death, the net value of the property trans-
ferred to the decedent shall be reduced by the amount allowed 
under section 812 (e) (relating to marital deductions) as a de-
duction from the gross estate of the transferor. 
"(e) PROPERTY DEFINED.—For purposes of this section, the term 
•property' includes any beneficial interest in property, including a 
general power of appointment (as defined in section 811 (f)). 
"(f) 
DENIAL OF DEDUCTION FOR PROPERTY PREVIOUSLY TAXED.—If 
the executor elects the credit provided by this section, the deduction 
provided by section 812 (c) shall not be allowed." 
SEC. 2. No interest shall be allowed or paid on any overpayment 
resulting from the amendment made by the first section of this Act. 
Approved February 20, 1956. 
February 20, 1956 
[H. R. 7fS6] 
Public Law 418 
CHAPTER 67 
AN ACT 
To provide for the conveyance of certain land of the United States to tlie Board 
of County Commissioners of Lee County, Florida. 
Lee County, Fla. 
Conveyance. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Adminis-
trator of General Services is authorized and directed to convey to the 
J3oard of County Commissioners of Lee County, Florida, all the right, 
title, and interest of the United States in and to a tract of land in 
Government lot numbered 2, in section 9, township 46 south, range 23 
east, in Lee County, Florida, more particularly described as follows: 
Being a strip of land 350 feet in width, lying at the extreme north-
ward part of the aforesaid Government lot numbered 2 and extending 
eastwardl.y and westwardly between parallel lines entirely across said 
Government lot numbered 2, from the waters of Caloosahatchee River 
on the westward side of said Government lot numbered 2 to an 
unnamed bay on tlie eastward side thereof. The northward boundary 
line of said strip of land is also the northward boundary of the 
aforesaid government lot numbered 2. 
Approved February 20, 1956. 
February 25, 1956 
[S. 180] 
Public Law 419 
CHAPTER 71 
AN ACT 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain 
the Washita River Basin reclamation project, Oklahoma. 
B 
Okla 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
S
'
s
Y
n
*
*
^ ro/Vc*' United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Secretary 
n pro ec , ^^ ^^^^ Interior is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain the 
Washita River Basin reclamation project, Oklahoma, in accordance 
with the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, and Acts 
amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto), except so far as those 
laws are inconsistent with this Act, for the principal purposes of stor-
32 Stat. 388. 
43 u s e 371 note. 
70 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 419-FEB. 25, 1956 
29 
ing, regulating, and fiirnisliing water for municipal, domestic, and 
industrial use, and, for the irrigation of approximately twenty-six 
thousand acres of land and of controlling floods and, as incidents to 
the foregoing for the additional purposes of regulating the flow of the 
Washita River, providing for the preservation and propagation of fish 
and wildlife, and of enhancing recreational opportunities. The Wash-
ita project shall consist of the following principal works: A reservoir 
at or near the Foss site on the main stem of the Washita River; a reser-
voir at or near the Fort Cobb site on Pond (Cobb) Creek; and canals, 
pipelines, and other conduits for furnishing Avater for municipal, 
domestic, and industrial use, and for irrigation. 
SEC. 2. In constructing, operating, and maintaining the Washita 
project, the Secretary shall allocate proper costs thereof in accord-
ance with the methods used in determining the allocations made on 
pages 68, 69, and TO, of House Document 219, Eighty-third Congress, 
but with appropriate adjustments for changes in actual cost of con-
struction, under the following conditions: 
(a) Allocations to flood control, recreation, and the preservation 
and propagation of flsh and wildlife shall be nonreturn able. 
(b) Allocations to nuniicipal water supply, including domestic, 
manufacturing, and industrial uses, shall be repaj^able through con-
tracts with municipal corjiorations, or other organizations as defined 
by section 2, Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1187). Such 
contracts shall be precedent to the commencement of construction of 
any project unit aft'ecting the individual municipalities, and shall pro-
vide for repayment of construction costs allocated to municipal water 
supply in not to exceed fifty years from the dates water is first delivered 
for that purpose, and payments of said construction costs shall include 
interest on unamortized balances of that allocation at a rate equal 
to the average rate (which rate shall be certified by the Secretary of 
the Treasury) paid by the United States on its marketable long-term 
loans outstanding on the date of this Act: Provided^ That such con-
tracts shall provide that annual municipal repayments shall continue 
at the same rates until the costs of Foss and Fort Cobb Reservoirs 
allocated to irrigation are fully repaid: Provided 
further^ That if 
irrigation works are constructed, as hereinafter provided, said annual 
repayment rates shall continue so long as the costs of irrigation works 
are unpaid. 
(c) The authorization for construction of the irrigation works, 
exclusive of Foss and Fort Cobb Reservoirs, shall be limited, as to 
each reservoir, to a period of ten years from the commencement of 
the delivery of municipal water from the reservoir on which the 
irrigation unit is dependent. Any contract entered into under section 
9, subsection (d) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, for pay-
ment of those portions of the costs of constructing, operating, and 
maintaining the Washita project which are properly allocable to 
irrigation and which are assigned to be paid by the contracting organ-
ization shall provide for the repayment of the portion of the construc-
tion cost of the project assigned to any contract unit or, if the con-
tract unit be divided into two or more blocks, to any such block over 
a period of not more than fifty-five years, exclusive of any permissible 
development period, or as near thereto as is consistent with the adop-
tion and operation of a variable payment formula which, being based 
on full repayment within the period stated under average conditions, 
permits variance in the required annual payments in the light of 
economic factors pertinent to the ability of the organization to pay: 
Provided^ That nothing in this section is intended to preclude the 
temporary furnishing of irrigation water under contracts appropriate 
for that purpose from Foss and Fort Cobb Reservoirs with or without 
the construction of specific irrigation works. 
A l l o c a t i o n of 
costs. 
Repayment 
tracts. 
43 u s e 48Sa. 
Limitation. 
53 Stat. 1195. 
43 u s e 48Sh. 
30 
PUBLIC LAW 420-FEB. 25, 1956 
[70 
S T A T . 
Construction. 
Park and recrea-
tional facilities. 
Expenditures. 
67 Stat. 266. 
Appropri ation. 
SEC. 3. Construction of the Washita project herein authorized may 
be undertaken in such units or stages as in the opinion of the Secretary 
best serves the project requirements and the relative needs for water 
of the several prospective users. Repayment contracts negotiated in 
connection with each unit or stage of construction shall be subject 
to the terms and conditions of section 2 of this Act. 
SEC. 4. The Secretary may, upon conclusion of a suitable agreement 
with any qualified agency of the State of Oklahoma or a political sub-
division thereof for assumption of the administration, operation, and 
maintenance thereof at the earliest practicable date, construct or 
permit the construction of public park and recreational facilities on 
lands owned by the United States adjacent to the reservoirs of the 
Washita project, when such use is determined by the Secretary not 
to be contrary to the public interest, all under such rviles and regula-
tions as the Secretary may prescribe. No recreational use of any area 
to which this section applies shall be permitted w^hich is inconsistent 
with the laws of the State of Oklahoma for the protection of fish and 
game. 
The costs of constructing, operating, and maintaining the 
facilities authorized by this section shall not be charged to or become 
a part of the costs of the Washita River Basin project. 
SEC. 5. Expenditures for Foss and Fort Cobb Reservoirs may be 
made without regard to the soil survey and land classification require-
ments of the Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1954 (43 
U. S. C. 390a). 
SEC. 6. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated for construc-
tion of the works authorized to be constructed by section 1 of this 
Act the sum of $40,600,000 plus such additional amount, if any, as 
may be required by reason of changes in the costs of construction of 
the types involved in the Washita River Basin project as shown by 
engineering indices. There are also authorized to be appropriated 
such sums as may be required for the operation and maintenance of 
said works. 
Approved February 25, 1956. 
February 25, 1956 
[H. J. Res. 526] 
Public Law 420 
CHAPTER 72 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
To amend the joint resolution of March 25, 1953, relating to electrical and 
mechanical oflice equipment for the use of Members, officers, and committees 
of the House of Kepresentatives, to remove ofticei's and committees from certain 
limitations, and for other puri)oses. 
House of Repre-
sentatives. 
E l e c t r i c a l or 
mechanical 
office 
equipment. 
67 Stat. 7. 
Resolved 
hy the Senate 
and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That (a) subsection 
(a) of the first section of the joint resolution entitled "Joint Resolu-
tion to authorize the Clerk of the House of Representatives to furnish 
certain electrical or mechanical office equipment for the use of 
Members, officers, and committees of the House of Representatives", 
approved March 25, 1953, as amended (2 U. S. C, sec. 112a (a)), is 
amended by striking out the last sentence thereof. 
(b) Subsection (b) of the first section of such joint resolution, as 
amended (2 U. S. C, sec. 112a (b)), is amended to read as follows: 
"(b) The value of equipment furnished under this section, together 
with the value of aiw equipment purchased under House Resolution 
318, Eighty-second Congress, which may be in use in the office of a 
Member at any one time shall not exceed $2,500. For the purposes 
of this subsection the value of any article of equipment shall be deemed 
to be the cost thereof less depreciation, determined in accordance with 
rules or regulations prescribed by the Committee on House Admin-
istration."