An Act to provide for payment of annuities to widows and dependent children of Comptrollers General
PL 86-87 (H.R.7062), enacted 07/13/1959

73 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-87-JULY 13, 1959 
197 
(2) in connection with the opening of such bridge to the public, 
provide for suitable ceremonies honoring George Mason, the 
American statesman of the Eevolutionary War period from the 
State of Virginia, who drafted the renowned Virginia Declara-
tion of Rights which became the basis for the first ten amendments 
to the Constitution of the United States. 
Approved July 13, 1959. 
Public Law 86-87 
AN ACT 
July 13, 1959 
To provide for payment of annuities to widows and dependent children of 
'• ' ' 
L 
Comptrollers General. 
Co m p t r o l l e r s 
General. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Budget 
and Accounting Act of 1921 (42 Stat. 20-27), as amended, is further "^uio"w8 and de-
amended by adding after section 318 a new section designated as ^ufuls.' 
section 319 and reading as follows: 
^' ^^^ '• 
"SEC. 319. (a) Any Comptroller General of the United States, with-
in six months of the date on which he takes office, or in the case of the 
Comptroller General currently in office and any retired Comptroller 
General, within six months after enactment of this section, may in 
writing elect a reduction in his salary and retirement pay for purposes 
of survivorship benefits as hereinafter provided. 
"(b) There shall be deducted from the salary and retirement pay 
of any Comptroller General or retired Comptroller General making 
an election to receive survivorship benefits a sum equal to 3 per centum 
of his salary and retirement pay. 
"(c) Each Comptroller General, or retired Comptroller General, 
making an election to receive survivorship benefits, shall deposit with 
the General Accounting Office for covering into the general fund of 
the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts a sum equal to 3 per centum 
of his salary and retirement pay received by him as Comptroller Gen-
eral prior to the date current deductions begin from his salary and 
retirement pay, and of his basic salary, pay, or compensation for serv-
ice as a Senator, Representative, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 
in the Congress of the United States and for any other civilian service 
which may form the basis of a widow's annuity as provided in sub-
section (n) of this section, with interest thereon at the rate of 4 per 
centum per annum to December 31,1947, and 3 per centum per annum, 
thereafter, compounded on December 31 of each year. The current 
deductions from salary or retirement pay shall be regarded as effective 
as of the date the election of reduced salary and retirement pay for 
purposes of survivorship benefits is made. 
"(d) Notwithstanding the failure of a Comptroller General or a 
retired Comptroller General to make the deposit under subsection (c), 
credit shall be allowed for the service rendered, but the annuity of 
the widow shall be reduced by 10 per centum of the amount of such 
deposit, computed as of the date of death of a Comptroller General 
or retired Comptroller General, unless such widow shall elect to elimi-
nate such service entirely from credit under subsections (n) and (o) 
of this section. 
"(e) In case any Comptroller General or retired Comptroller Gen-
eral who has elected to bring himself within the purview of this sec-
tion shall die while in office, or die while in receipt of retirement pay 
198 
PUBLIC LAW 86-87-JULY 13, 1959 
[73 STAT. 
in accordance with section 303, after having rendered at least five years 
of civilian service computed as prescribed in subsections (n) and (o) 
of this section, for the last five years of which the salary deductions 
provided for by subsection (b) of this section or the deposits required 
by subsection (c) of this section have actually been made— 
" Q ) if such Comptroller General or retired Comptroller Gen-
eral is survived by a widow but not by a dependent child, there 
shall be paid to such widow an annuity be^mning with the day 
of his death or following the widow's attainment of the age of 
fifty years, whichever is the later, in an amount computed as 
provided in subsection (n) of this section; or 
"(2) if such Comptroller General or retired Comptroller Gen-
eral is survived by a widow and a dependent child or children, 
there shall be paid to such widow an immediate annuity in an 
amount computed as provided in subsection (n) of this section, 
and there shall also be paid to or on behalf of each such child 
an immediate annuity equal to one-half the amount of the annuity 
of such widow, but not to exceed $900 per year divided by the 
number of children or $360 per year, whichever is lesser; or 
"(3) if such Comptroller General or retired Comptroller Gen-
eral leaves no surviving widow but leaves a surviving dependent 
child or children, there shall be paid to or on behalf of each such 
child an immediate annuity equal to the amount of the annuity 
to which such widow would have been entitled under paragraph 
(2) of this subsection had she survived, but not to exceed $480 
per year. 
"(f) The annuity payable to the widow hereunder shall be termi-
nable upon her death or remarriage. 
The annuity paj^able to a child 
hereunder shall be terminable upon (1) his attaining the age of 
eighteen years, (2) his marriage, or (3) his death, whichever first 
occurs, except that if such child is incapable of self-support by reason 
of mental or physical disability his annuity shall be terminable only 
upon death, marriage, or recovery from such disability. In the event 
of the death of a widow leaving a dependent child or children of a 
Comptroller General or retired Comptroller General surviving her 
the annuity of such child or children shall be recomputed and paid as 
provided in paragraph (3) of subsection (e) of this section. In any 
case in which the annuity of a dependent child, under this subsection, 
is terminated, the annuities of any remaining dependent child or 
children shall be recomputed and paid as though the child whose 
annuity was terminated had not survived such Comptroller General 
or retired Comptroller General. 
"(g) As used herein— 
Definitions. 
"(1) The term 'widow' means a surviving wife of a Comptroller 
General or retired Comptroller General who either (A) shall have 
been married to such individual for at least two years immediately 
preceding his death or (B) is the mother of issue "by such marriage, 
and who has not remarried. 
"(2) The term 'dependent child' means an unmarried child, includ-
ing a dependent stepchild or an adopted child, who is under the a^e 
of eighteen years or who, because of physical or mental disability, is 
incapable of self-support. 
"(h) Questions of dependency and disability arising under this 
section shall be determined by the General Counsel of the General 
Accounting Office, whose decision shall be final and conclusive. 
"(i) In any case in which a Comptroller General who has elected 
to bring himself within the purview of this section is separated from 
the service prior to becoming entitled to retirement pay as provided 
B en e f iciaries, 
order oi' prece-
73 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-87-JULY 13, 1959 
199 
in section 303, he shall be paid the total amount deducted from his 
salary, with interest thereon at the rate of 4 per centum per annum to 
December 31, 1947, and 3 per centum per annum thereafter, com-
pounded on December 31 of each year to date of separation. 
"(j) In any case in which (1) any Comptroller General (A) dies in 
office before completion of five years of civilian service as prescribed in dence. 
subsections (n) and (o) of this section, or (B) after completing five 
years of such service dies in office without any survivors entitled to an 
annuity as provided in subsection (e) of this section, or (2) in any case 
in which any retired Comptroller General dies without any survivors 
entitled to an annuity as provided in subsection (e) of this section, the 
total amount deducted from his salary and retirement pay with interest 
thereon at the rate of 4 per centum per annum to December 31, 1947, 
and 3 per centum per annum thereafter, compounded on December 
31st of each year to date of death, shall be paid to the person or persons 
surviving at the date title to payment arises, in the following order of 
precedence, and such payment shall be a bar to recovery by any Other 
person: 
"First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by a writing of 
a Comptroller General or retired Comptroller General received by 
the General Accounting Office prior to his death; 
"Second, if there be no such beneficiary, to the widow of such Comp-
troller General or retired Comptroller General; 
"Third, if none of the above, to the child or children of such Comp-
troller General or retired Comptroller General and the descendants 
of any deceased children by representation; 
"Fourth, if none of the above, to the parents of such Comptroller 
General or retired Comptroller General; 
"Fifth, if none of the above, to the duly appointed executor or 
administrator of the estate of a Comptroller General or retired 
Comptroller General; 
"Sixth, if none of the above, to such other next of kin of such Comp-
troller General or retired Comptroller General as may be determined 
by the General Counsel of the General Accounting Office to be entitled 
under the laws of the domicile of such Comptroller General or retired 
Comptroller General at time of his death. 
"Determinations as to the widow or child of a Comptroller General 
or retired Comptroller General for the purposes of this subsection 
shall be made by the General Counsel of the General Accounting 
Office without regard to the definition of these terms in subsection 
(g) of this section. 
"(k) In any case in which the annuities of all persons entitled to 
survivor annuities terminate before the aggregate amount of an-
nuity or annuities paid equals the total amount deducted from the 
salary and retirement pay of a Comptroller General or retired Comp-
troller General, with interest thereon at 4 per centum per annum 
to December 31, 1947, and 3 per centum thereafter, compounded on 
December 31st of each year, to the date of his death, the difference 
shall be paid in the order or precedence prescribed in subsection (j) 
of this section. 
"(1) Any accrued annuity remaining unpaid upon the termination di^oosuion""*^*^' 
(other than by death) of the annuity of any survivor of a Comptroller 
General or retired Comptroller General shall be paid to such sur-
vivor. 
Any accrued annuity remaining unpaid upon the death of 
any such survivor shall be paid in the following order of precedence: 
"First, to the duly appointed executor or administrator of the 
estate of such person; 
disposition. 
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PUBLIC LAW 86-87-JULY 13, 1959 
[73 8T A T . 
Monthly 
ments. 
install-
Computa t i o n of 
annuitie s. 
Definitions. 
Service credit. 
Simultaneit y of 
annuities. 
"Second, if there is no executor or administrator payment may be 
made after the expiration of thirty days from the date of death of 
such survivor, to such individual or individuals as may appear in the 
judgment of the General Counsel of the General Accounting Office 
to be legally entitled thereto, and such payment shall be a bar to 
recovery by Buy other individual. 
"(m) Annuities granted under the terms of this section shall ac-
crue monthly and shall be due and payable in monthly installments 
on the first Inisiness day of the month following the month or other 
period for which the annuity shall have accrued. 
None of the 
moneys mentioned in this section shall be assignable, either in law 
or equity, or subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or 
other legal process. 
"(n) The annuity of a widow of a Comptroller General or retired 
Comptroller General who has elected to bring himself within the 
purview of this section shall be an amount equal to the sum of (1) 
1 ^ per centum of the average annual salary received by him for 
service as Comptroller General and any other prior allowable service 
during the last five years of such service multiplied by the sum of his 
years of service as Comptroller General, his years of service as a 
Senator, Representative, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner in the 
Congress of the United States, his years of prior allowable military 
service and his years, not exceeding fifteen, of prior allowable service 
as a congressional employee and (2) three-quarters of 1 per centum 
of such average annual salary multiplied by his years of any other 
allowable service, but such annuity shall not exceed 37i/^ per centum 
of such average annual salary and shall be further reduced in ac-
cordance with subsection (d) of this section if applicable. 
''*(o) As used in subsection (n) the term 'service as a congressional 
employee' means service as defined in section 1(c) of the Civil Service 
Retirement Act, approved July 31,1956, 70 Stat. 743 (5 U.S.C. 2251). 
The term 'allowable military service' means honorable active service 
not exceeding five years in the aggregate in the Army, Navy, Air 
Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard, including service in the Na-
tional Guard only when ordered to active duty m the service of the 
United States, when such military service is not creditable for pur-
poses of retirement or retired pay under any other provision of law. 
The term 'other prior allowable service' means civilian service as an 
officer or employee of the United States or the District of Columbia, 
not otherwise covered by category (1) of subsection (n). 
"(p) The total service of a Comptroller General or retired Comp-
troller General shall be the full years and twelfth parts thereof, 
excluding from the aggregate the fractional part of a month, if any. 
"(q) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to pre-
vent a widow or dependent child eligible therefor from simultaneously 
receiving an annuity under this section and any annuity (including 
old age and survivor benefits) to which she would otherwise be en-
titled under any other law without regard to this section, but, in 
computing such other annuity service used in the computation of an 
annuity under this section shall not be credited. 
" (r) The amiuities and refund of deposits authorized in this section 
shall be paid from appropriations of the General Accounting Office." 
Approved July 13, 1959.