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may be acquired for the account only on such terms as to provide an investment yield of not less than 3 per centum per annum. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to sell and dispose of obligations in the account if it shall be in the interest of the account so to do. Any obligations acquired by the account, except special obligations issued exclusively to the account, may be sold at the market price. Special obligations issued exclusively to the account shall, at the request of the Board, be redeemed at par plus accrued interest. All amounts credited to the account shall be available for the payment of all annuities, pensions, and death benefits in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935.

"(c) The Board is hereby authorized and directed to select two actuaries, one from recommendations made by representatives of employees and the other from recommendations made by representatives of carriers. These actuaries, along with a third who shall be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be known as the Actuarial Advisory Committee with respect to the Railroad Retirement Account. The committee shall examine the actuarial reports and estimates made by the Railroad Retirement Board and shall have authority to recommend to the Board such changes in actuarial methods as they may deem necessary. The compensation of the members of the committee of actuaries, exclusive of the member designated by the Secretary, shall be fixed by the Board on a per-diem basis.

"(d) The Board shall include in its annual report a statement of the status and the operations of the Railroad Retirement Account. At intervals not longer than three years the Board shall make an estimate of the liabilities created by this Act and the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935 and shall include such estimate in its annual report. Such report shall also contain an estimate of the reduction in liabilities under Title II of the Social Security Act arising as a result of the maintenance of this Act and the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935.

"APPROPRIATION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

"SEC. 16. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated from time to time such sums as may be necessary to provide for the expenses of the Board in administering the provisions of this Act and the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935.

"SOCIAL SECURITY ACT

"SEC. 17. The term 'employment', as defined in subsection (b) of section 210 of title II of the Social Security Act, shall not include service performed by an individual as an employee as defined in section Î (b).

"FREE TRANSPORTATION

"SEO. 18. It shall not be unlawful for carriers by railroad subject to this Act to furnish free transportation to individuals receiving annuities or pensions under this Act or the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935 in the same manner as such transportation is furnished to employees in their service."

PART II

SEC. 201. The Act entitled "An Act to establish a retirement system for employees of carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, and for other purposes", approved August 29, 1935, as in force prior to its amendment by part I of this Act, may be cited as the "Railroad Retirement Act of 1935"; and such Act, as amended by part I of this Act, may be cited as the "Railroad Retirement Act of 1937". SEC. 202. The claims of individuals (and the claims of spouses and next of kin of such individuals) who, prior to the date of the enactment of this Act, relinquished all rights to return to the service of a carrier as defined in the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935 or ceased to be employee representatives as defined therein, and became eligible for annuities under such Act, shall be adjudicated by the Board in the same manner and with the same effect as if this Act had not been enacted: Provided, however, That with respect to any such claims no reduction shall be made in any annuity certified after the date of the enactment of this Act because of continuance in service after age sixty-five: And provided further, That service rendered prior to August 29, 1935, to a company which on that date was a carrier as defined in the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935, shall be included in the service period in connection with any annuity certified in whole or in part by the Board after the date of the enactment of this Act, irrespective of whether at the time such service was rendered such company was a carrier as defined in the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935; and service rendered prior to August 29, 1935, to any express company, sleeping-car company, or carrier by railroad which was a predecessor of a company which on that date was a carrier as defined in the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935, shall also be included in the service period in connection with any annuity certified in whole or in part by the Board after the date of the enactment of this Act, irrespective of whether at the time such service was rendered such predecessor was a carrier as defined in the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935: And provided further, That annuity payments due an individual under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935 but not yet paid at death shall be paid to a surviving spouse if such spouse is entitled to an annuity under an election made pursuant to the provisions of section 5 of such Act; otherwise they shall be paid to such person or persons as the deceased may have designated by a writing filed with the Board prior to his death, or if there be no designation, to the legal representative of the deceased.

SEC. 203. Any individual who, prior to the date of the enactment of this Act, relinquished all rights to return to the service of a carrier as defined in the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935 or ceased to be an employee representative as defined in such Act, and who is not eligible for an annuity under that Act but who would have been eligible for an annuity under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 had such Act been in force from an1 after August 29, 1935, shall have his right to an annuity adjudicated under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937: Provided, however, That no such annuity shall begin prior to the date of the enactment of this Act.

1 So in original.

1

SEO. 204. The Railroad Retirement Act of 1935 shall continue in force and effect with respect to the rights of individuals granted annuities prior to the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 205. The enactment of this Act shall have no effect on the status, tenure of office, or compensation of the present members, officers, and employees of the Railroad Retirement Board; except that individuals who have had experience in railroad service shall be retained in the employ of the Board, whether or not qualified under the civil service laws and rules, if in the judgment of the Board they possess the qualifications necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of the positions which they are holding.

Approved, June 24, 1937.

[PUBLIC NO. 174-75TH CONGRESS)

[CHAPTER 405-1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 7589]

AN ACT

To levy an excise tax upon carriers and certain other employers and an income tax upon their employees, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

DEFINITIONS

SECTION 1. That as used in this Act

(a) The term “employer" means any carrier (as defined in subsection (i) of this section), and any company which is directly or indirectly owned or controlled by one or more such carriers or under common control therewith, and which operates any equipment or facility or performs any service (except trucking service, casual service, and the casual operation of equipment or facilities) in connection with the transportation of passengers or property by railroad, or the receipt, delivery, elevation, transfer in transit, refrigeration or icing, storage, or handling of property transported by railroad, and any receiver, trustee, or other individual or body, judicial or otherwise, when in the possession of the property or operating all or any part of the business of any such employer: Provided, however, That the term "employer” shall not include any street, interurban, or suburban electric railway, unless such railway is operating as a part of a general steam-railroad system of transportation, but shall not exclude any part of the general steam-railroad system of transportation now or hereafter operated by any other motive power, The Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby authorized and directed upon request of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, or upon complaint of any party interested, to determine after hearing whether any line operated by electric power falls within the terms of this proviso. The term "employer" shall also include railroad associations, traffic associations, tariff bureaus, demurrage bureaus, weighing and inspection bureaus, collection agencies and other asso ciations, bureaus, agencies, or organizations controlled and maintained wholly or principally by two or more employers as hereinbefore defined and engaged in the performance of services in connection with or incidental to railroad transportation; and railway labor organizations, national in scope, which have been or may be organized in accordance with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and their State and National legislative committees and their general committees and their insurance departments and their local lodges and divisions, established pursuant to the constitution and bylaws of such organizations.

(b) The term "employee" means any person in the service of one or more employers for compensation: Provided, however, That the

term "employee" shall include an employee of a local lodge or division defined as an employer in subsection (a) only if he was in the service of or in the employment relation to a carrier on or after August 29, 1935. An individual is in the employment relation to a carrier if he is on furlough, subject to call for service within or outside the United States and ready and willing to serve, or on leave of absence, or absent on account of sickness or disability; all in accordance with the established rules and practices in effect on the carrier: Provided further, That an individual shall not be deemed to have been on August 29, 1935, in the employment relation to a carrier not conducting the principal part of its business in the United States unless during the last pay-roll period in which he rendered service to it prior to said date, he rendered service to it in the United States.

(c) The term "employee representative" means any officer or official representative of a railway labor organization other than a labor organization included in the term "employer" as defined in section 1 (a), who before or after the enactment hereof was in the service of an employer as defined in section 1 (a) and who is duly authorized and designated to represent employees in accordance with the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and any individual who is regularly assigned to or regularly employed by such officer or official representative in connection with the duties of his office.

(d) An individual is in the service of an employer whether his service is rendered within or without the United States if he is subject to the continuing authority of the employer to supervise and direct the manner of rendition of his service, which service he renders for compensation: Provided, however, That an individual shall be deemed to be in the service of an employer not conducting the principal part of its business in the United States only when he is rendering service to it in the United States.

(e) The term "compensation" means any form of money remuneration earned by an individual for services rendered as an employee to one or more employers, or as an employee representative, including remuneration paid for time lost as an employee, but remuneration paid for time lost shall be deemed earned in the month in which such time is lost. Such term does not include tips, or the voluntary payment by an employer, without deduction from the remuneration of the employee, of the tax imposed on such employee by section 2 of this Act. Compensation which is earned during the period for which the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall require a return of taxes hereunder to be made and which is payable during the calendar month following such period shall be deemed to have been paid during such period only.

(f) The term "United States" when used in a geographical sense means the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia. (g) The term "company" includes corporations, associations, and joint-stock companies.

(h) The term "employee" includes an officer of an employer. (i) The term "carrier" means an express company, sleeping-car company, or carrier by railroad, subject to part I of the Interstate Commerce Act.

(j) The term "person" means an individual, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, or a corporation.

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