15 U.S.C. § 1517 — Transfer of statistical or scientific work

Page 1439 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 1517 merce and with the heads of other data-gathering Fed- eral agencies, shall develop a Government-wide pro- gram for the collection, analysis, and publication of data with respect to Americans of Spanish origin or de- scent.’’ § 1517. Transfer of statistical or scientific work The President is authorized, by order in writ- ing, to transfer at any time the whole or any part of any office, bureau, division, or other branch of the public service engaged in statis- tical or scientific work, from the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the De- partment of Defense, the Department of Justice, the United States Postal Service, or the Depart- ment of the Interior, to the Department of Com- merce; and in every such case the duties and au- thority performed by and conferred by law upon such office, bureau, division, or other branch of the public service, or the part thereof so trans- ferred, shall be thereby transferred with such of- fice, bureau, division, or other branch of the public service, or the part thereof which is so transferred. All power and authority conferred by law, both supervisory and appellate, upon the department from which such transfer is made, or the Secretary thereof, in relation to the said office, bureau, division, or other branch of the public service, or the part thereof so transferred, shall immediately, when such transfer is so or- dered by the President, be fully conferred upon and vested in the Department of Commerce, or the Secretary thereof, as the case may be, as to the whole or part of such office, bureau, divi- sion, or other branch of the public service so transferred. (Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 12, 32 Stat. 830; July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II, § 201(a), 61 Stat. 499; Aug. 10, 1949, ch. 412, § 4, 63 Stat. 579; Pub. L. 91–375, §§ 4(a), 6(o), Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 773, 783.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified to section 602 of Title 5 prior to the general revision and enactment of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, by Pub. L. 89–554, § 1, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 378. Section is based on section 12 of act Feb. 14, 1903, as originally enacted. Section 12 of the act was amended generally by Pub. L. 93–498, § 23, Oct. 29, 1974, 88 Stat. 1549, and forms the basis of section 1511 of this title. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries CHANGE OF NAME ‘‘United States Postal Service’’ substituted for ‘‘Post Office Department’’ in text pursuant to Pub. L. 91–375, §§ 4(a), 6(o), Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 773, 783, which are set out as notes preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service, and under section 201 of Title 39, respectively, which abolished Post Office Department, transferred its functions to United States Postal Service, and pro- vided that references in other laws to Post Office De- partment shall be considered a reference to United States Postal Service. Department of Defense substituted for Departments of the Army and Navy by act July 26, 1947, as amended Aug. 10, 1949. Act Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, 37 Stat. 736, provided that the Department of Commerce and Labor and Secretary of Commerce and Labor were to be thereafter called the Department of Commerce and Secretary of Commerce and that the act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor (act Feb. 14, 1903) was amended accordingly. METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE (METSAT) AND ASSOCI- ATED GROUND SYSTEMS; EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS TO DEVELOP PROPOSALS TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP TO PRIVATE ENTITIES PROHIBITED Pub. L. 98–166, title I, § 101, Nov. 28, 1983, 97 Stat. 1076, provided that: ‘‘No funds made available by this Act, or any other Act, may be used— ‘‘(1) by the Source Evaluation Board for Civil Space Remote Sensing as established by the Secretary of Commerce to develop or issue a request for proposal to transfer the ownership or lease the use of any me- teorological satellite (METSAT) or associated ground system to any private entity; or ‘‘(2) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- ministration to transfer the ownership of any mete- orological satellite (METSAT) or associated ground system to any private entity.’’ CIVIL LAND REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE SYSTEM; TERMINATION Pub. L. 98–52, title II, § 202, July 15, 1983, 97 Stat. 285, as amended by Pub. L. 103–437, § 5(b)(1), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4582, provided that: ‘‘Notwithstanding title II of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act, 1983 [Pub. L. 97–324, set out as a note below], the Secretary of Commerce shall not transfer the ownership or management of any civil land, meteorological, or ocean remote sensing space satellite system and associated ground system equip- ment unless, in addition to any other requirement of law— ‘‘(1) the Secretary of Commerce or his designee has presented, in writing, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, and to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, a comprehensive statement of recommended policies, procedures, conditions, and limitations to which any transfer should be subject; and ‘‘(2) the Congress thereafter enacts a law which contains such policies, procedures, conditions, or lim- itations (or a combination thereof) as it deems appro- priate for any such transfer.’’ Pub. L. 97–324, title II, § 201, Oct. 15, 1982, 96 Stat. 1601, as amended by Pub. L. 98–365, title VI, § 608, July 17, 1984, 98 Stat. 466; Pub. L. 103–437, § 5(b)(2), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4582, provided that: ‘‘(a) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to plan and provide for the management and operation of civil remote-sensing space systems, which may include the Landsat 4 and 5 satellites and associated ground system equipment transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; to provide for user fees; and to plan for the transfer of the operation of civil remote- sensing space systems to the private sector when in the national interest. ‘‘(b)(1) As part of his planning for the transfer of the ownership and operation of civil operational land re- mote sensing satellite systems to the private sector the Secretary shall— ‘‘(A) Conduct a study to define the current, pro- jected, and potential needs of the government for land remote sensing data. ‘‘(B) Determine and describe the equipment, soft- ware, and data inventory that could be transferred to the private sector. ‘‘(C) Compare various feasible financial and organi- zational approaches for such a transfer. Criteria for the comparison should include considerations such as: maintenance of data continuity; maintenance of United States leadership; national security; inter- national obligations; potential for market growth; marketing ability; sunk and projected cost to the Government; independence of subsidy or financial guarantee from the Government; potential of finan- Page 1440 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 1518 cial return to the Government; and price of data to users. The following institutional alternatives should be compared: (i) wholly private ownership and oper- ation of the system by an entity competitively se- lected; (ii) phased-in Government/private ownership and operation; (iii) a legislatively chartered privately owned corporation; and (iv) continued ownership and operation by the Federal Government. The Secretary shall complete these studies and report on them to the Congress by February 1, 1983. ‘‘(2) In addition to the studies and comparisons called for in section 201(b)(1) the Secretary shall fund at least two parallel studies outside the government independ- ently to assess the alternatives called for in section 201(b)(1)(C). These studies should be submitted to the Congress by April 1, 1983. ‘‘(c) There is authorized to be appropriated $14,955,000 for the fiscal year 1983, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this title [this note]. ‘‘(d) No moneys authorized by this title [this note] shall be used to transfer to the private sector the own- ership or management of any civil land remote sensing space satellite system and associated ground system equipment unless (A) a period of thirty days has passed after the receipt by the Speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives, the President of the Senate, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- portation, of a message from the Secretary of Com- merce or his designee containing a full and complete plan for the action proposed to be taken together with the reasons therefor and expected funding impacts, or (B) each such committee before the expiration of such period has transmitted to the Secretary written notice to the effect that such committee has no objection to the proposed action.’’ Executive Documents EX. ORD. NO. 11564. TRANSFER OF CERTAIN PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES TO SECRETARY OF COMMERCE Ex. Ord. No. 11564, Oct. 6, 1970, 35 F.R. 15801, provided: By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 12 of the Act of February 14, 1903, as amended (15 U.S.C. 1517) [this section] and section 12(d) of the Act of Octo- ber 15, 1966 (49 U.S.C. 1651 note), as President of the United States, and in further implementation of Reor- ganization Plan No. 4 of 1970 [set out as a note under section 1511 of this title] transferring certain functions to the Secretary of Commerce and establishing the Na- tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. (a) The following programs and activities are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce: (1) The National Oceanographic Instrumentation Cen- ter of the Department of the Navy, Department of De- fense. (2) The National Oceanographic Data Center of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense. (3) The Ocean Station Vessel Meteorological Program of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense. (4) The Trust Territories Upper Air Observation Pro- gram of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense. (5) The Hydroclimatic Network Program of the Corps of Engineers of the Department of the Army, Depart- ment of Defense. (6) The National Data Buoy Development Project of the Coast Guard, Department of Transportation. (b) All of the power and authority of the transferor Departments conferred by law which is related to or in- cidental to, in support of, or necessary for, the oper- ation of the programs and activities transferred by sub- section (a) above, may be utilized by the Secretary of Commerce for the operation of those programs and ac- tivities. SEC. 2. (a) Such personnel and positions and so much of the property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds employed, used, held, authorized, affected, available, or to be made available in connection with the operation of the programs and activities transferred by section 1 hereof from the Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation as the Director of the Office of Manage- ment and Budget shall determine shall be transferred from those Departments to the Department of Com- merce at such time or times as the Director shall di- rect. (b) Subject to the direction of the Director of the Of- fice of Management and Budget, the appropriate offi- cers of the Government shall make necessary adminis- trative arrangements for the assumption by the Sec- retary of Commerce of the programs and activities so transferred. RICHARD NIXON. § 1518. Custody of buildings; officers transferred The Secretary of Commerce shall have charge, in the buildings or premises occupied by or ap- propriated to the Department of Commerce, of the library, furniture, fixtures, records, and other property pertaining to it or acquired for use in its business; and he shall be allowed to ex- pend for periodicals and the purposes of the li- brary, and for the rental of appropriate quarters for the accommodation of the Department of Commerce within the District of Columbia, and for all other incidental expenses, such sums as Congress may provide from time to time. Where any office, bureau, or branch of the public serv- ice transferred to the Department of Commerce is occupying rented buildings or premises, it may still continue to do so until other suitable quarters are provided for its use. All officers, clerks, and employees employed on February 14, 1903, in or by any of the bureaus, offices, depart- ments, or branches of the public service trans- ferred to the Department of Commerce are each and all transferred to said department, except where otherwise provided by law. All laws pre- scribing the work and defining the duties of the several bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service transferred to and made a part of the Department of Commerce shall, so far as the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this Act, remain in full force and effect until otherwise provided by law. (Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 9, 32 Stat. 829.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This Act, referred to in text, is act Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, 32 Stat. 825, which is classified to sections 175, 1501, 1504, 1510, 1511, 1512, 1513, 1515, 1516, 1517 to 1519 of this title. CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified to section 603 of Title 5 prior to the general revision and enactment of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, by Pub. L. 89–554, § 1, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 378. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries CHANGE OF NAME Act Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, 37 Stat. 736, provided that the Department of Commerce and Labor and Secretary of Commerce and Labor were to be thereafter called the Department of Commerce and Secretary of Commerce and that the act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor (act Feb. 14, 1903) was amended accordingly.