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this section, the Board shall have and exercise such of the powers, duties and remedies provided in subsections (a), (b), (d), and (n) of section 12 of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act as are not inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act. The Board is authorized to delegate to any member, officer, or employee of the Board any of the powers conferred upon the Board by this Act, excluding only the power to prescribe rules and regulations, including the power to make decisions on applications for annuities or other benefits: Provided, however, That any person agrieved by a decision on his application for an annuity or other benefit shall have the right to appeal to the Board. Notice of a decision of the Board, or of an employee thereof, shall be communicated to the applicant in writing within thirty days after such decision shall have been made.

(4) The Board shall from time to time certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the name and address of each individual entitled to receive a payment, the amount of such payment, and the time at which it should be made, and the Secretary of the Treasury through the Division of Disbursements of the Treasury Department, and prior to audit by the General Accounting Office, shall make payment in accordance with the certification by the Board.

(5) The Board shall establish and promulgate rules and regulations to provide for the adjustment of all controversial matters arising in the administration of this Act. All rules, regulations, or decisions of the Board shall require the approval of at least two members, and they shall be entered upon the records of the Board, which shall be a public record.

(6) The Board shall gather, keep, compile, and publish in convenient form such records and data as may be necessary to assure proper administration of this Act, including subdivision (2) of this subsection. The Board shall have power to require all employers and employees and any officer, board, commission, or other agency of the United States to furnish such information and records as shall be necessary for the administration of this Act, including subdivision (2) of this subsection. The several district courts of the United States and the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbiu shall have jurisdiction upon suit by the Board to compel obedience to any order of the Board issued pursuant to this section. The orders, rrits, and processes of the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia in such suits may run and be served anywhere in the United States. Witnesses summoned before the Board shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the district courts of the United States. The Board shall make an annual report to the President of the United States to be submitted to Congress.

(7) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall furnish the Board certified reports of wages, self-employment income, and periods of service and of other records in his possession, or which he may secure, pertinent to the administration of this Act. The Board shall furnish the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare certified reports of records of compensation and periods of service reported to it pursuant to section 9 of this Act, of determinations under section 2 of this Act, and of other records in its possession, or which it may

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secure, pertinent to subsection (c) of this section or to the administra tion of the Social Security Act as affected by section 18 of this Act. Such certified reports shall be conclusive in adjudication as to the matters covered therein: Provided, however, That if the Board or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare receives evidence inconsistent with a certified report and the application involved is still in course of adjudication or otherwise open for such evidence such recertification of such report shall be made as, in the judgment of the Board or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, whichever made the original certification, the evidence warrants. Such recertification and any subsequent recertification shall be treated in the same manner and be subject to the same conditions as an original certification.

(8) Any department or agency of the United States maintaining records of military service, at the request of the Board, shall certify to the Board, with respect to any individual, the number of months of military service which such department or agency finds the individual to have had during any period or periods with respect to which the Board's request is made, the date and manner of entry into such military service, and the conditions under which such service was continued. Any department or agency of the United States which is authorized to make awards of pensions, disability compensation, or any other gratuitous benefits or allowances payable, on a periodic basis or otherwise, under any other Act of Congress on the basis of military service, at the request of the Board, shall certify to the Board, with respect to any individual, the calendar months for all or part of which any such pension, compensation, benefit, or allowance is payable to, or with respect to, the individual, the amounts of any such pension, compensation, benefit, or allowance, and the military service on which such pension, compensation, benefit, or allowance is based. Any certification made pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision shall be conclusive on the Board: Provided, however, That if evidence inconsistent with any such certification is submitted, and the claim is in the course of adjudication or is otherwise open for such evidence, the Board shall refer such evidence to the department or agency which made the original certification and such department or agency shall make such recertification as in its judgment the evidence warrants. Such recertification, and any subsequent recertification, shall be conclusive, made in the same manner, and subject to the same conditions as an original certification.

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(9) The Board shall maintain such offices, provide such equipment. furnishings, supplies, services, and facilities, and employ such individuals and provide for their compensation and expenses as may necessary for the proper discharge of its functions. All positions to which such individuals are appointed, except one administrative assistant to each member of the Board, shall be in and under the competitive civil service and shall not be removed or excepted therefrom. In the employment of such individuals under the civil service laws and rules the Board shall give preference over all others to individuals who have had experience in railroad service, if, in the judgment of the Board, they possess the qualifications necessary for the proper dis charge of the duties of the positions to which they are to be appointed.

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For purposes of its administration of this Act or the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, or both, the Board may place, without regard to the numerical limitations contained in section 505 of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, four positions in grade GS-16 of the General Schedule established by that Act, four positions in grade GS-17 of such schedule, and one position in grade GS-18 of such schedule.

(c) (1) Benefit payments determined by the Board to be payable under this Act shall be made from the Railroad Retirement Account. except that payments of supplemental annuities under section 2(b) of this Act shall be made from the Railroad Retirement Supplemental Account.

(2) At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Board and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall determine the amounts, if any, which if added to or subtracted from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund would place each such Trust Fund in the same position in which it would have been if (A) service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term "employment" as defined in the Social Security Act and in the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and (B) this Act had not been enacted. Such determination with respect to each such Trust Fund shall be made no later than June 15 following the close of the fiscal year. If, pursuant to any such determination, any amount is to be added to any such Trust Fund, the Board shall, within ten days after the determination, certify such amount to the Secretary of the Treasury for transfer from the Railroad Retirement Account to such Trust Fund. If, pursuant to any such determination, any amount is to be subtracted from any such Trust Fund, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall, within ten days after the determination, certify such amount to the Secretary of the Treasury for transfer from such Trust Fund to the Railroad Retirement Account. Any amount so certified shall further include interest (at the rate determined in subdivision (3) for the fiscal year under consideration) payable from the close of such fiscal year until the date of certification. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to transfer to the Railroad Retirement Account from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, or the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund or to any such Trust Fund from the Railroad Retirement Account, as the case may be, such amounts as. from time to time, may be determined by the Board and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision and certified by the Board or the Secretary of Health. Education, and Welfare for transfer from any such Trust Fund or from the Railroad Retirement Account.

(3) For purposes of subdivision (2), for any fiscal year, the rate of interest to be used shall be equal to the average rate of interest. computed as of May 31 preceding the close of such fiscal year, borne by all interest-bearing obligations of the United States then forming a part of the public debt; except that where such average rate is not a multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum, the rate of interest shall be the multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum next lower than such average rate.

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(d) (1) The Board shall, for purposes of this subsection, have the same authority to determine the rights of individuals described in subdivision (2) to have payments made on their behalf for hospital insurance benefits consisting of inpatient hospital services, posthospital extended care services, posthospital home health services, and outpatient hospital diagnostic services (all hereinafter referred to as "services") under section 226, and parts A and C of title XVIII, of the Social Security Act as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare has under such section and such parts with respect to indiriduals to whom such sections and such parts apply. For purposes of section 8, a determination with respect to the rights of an individual under this subsection shall, except in the case of a provider of serv ices, be considered to be a decision with respect to an annuity. (2) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, every person who

(i) has attained age 65 and (A) is entitled to an annuity under this Act or (B) would be entitled to such an annuity had he ceased compensated service and, in the case of a spouse, had such spouse's husband or wife ceased compensated service; or

(ii) has not attained age 65 and (A) has been entitled to an annuity under section 2 of this Act, or under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 and section 2 of this Act, or could have been includible in the computation of an annuity under section 3(f) (3) of this Act, for not less than 24 consecutive months and (B) could have been entitled for 24 consecutive calendar months, and could currently be entitled, to monthly insurance benefits under section 223 of the Social Security Act or under section 202 of that Act on the basis of disability if service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term "employment" as defined in that Act and if an application for disability benefits had been filed,

shall be certified to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare as a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary under section 226 of the Social Security Act.

(3) If an individual entitled to an annuity under paragraph (ir) or (r) of section 2(a)(1) of this Act would have been insured for dixability insurance benefits as determined under section 223 (c) (1) of the Social Security Act at the time such annuity began, he shall be deemed, solely for purposes of paragraph (ii) of subdivision (2), to be entitled to a disability insurance benefit under section 223 of the Social Security Act for each month, and beginning with the first month, in which he would meet the requirements for entitlement to such a benefit, other than the requirement of being insured for disability insurance benefits, if service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term "employment" as defined in the Social Security Act and if an application for disability benefits had been filed.

(4) The rights of individuals described in subdivision (2) of this subsection to have payment made on their behalf for the services referred to in subdivision (1) but provided in Canada shall be the same as those individuals to whom section 226 and part A of title XVIII of the Social Security Act apply, and this subdivision shall be administered by the Board as if the provisions of section 226 and part A of title

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XVIII of the Social Security Act were applicable, as if references to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare were to the Board, as if references to the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund were to the Railroad Retirement Account, as if references to the United States or a State included Canada or a subdivision thereof, and as if the provisions of section 1862 (a) (4), 1863, 1864, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1874 (b), and 1875 were not included in such title. The payments for services herein provided for in Canada shall be made from the Railroad Retirement Account (in accordance with, and subject to, the conditions applicable under section 7(b), in making payment of other benefits) to the hospital, extended care facility, or home health agency providing such services in Canada to individuals to whom subdivision (2) of this subsection applies, but only to the extent that the amount of payments for services otherwise hereunder provided for an individual exceeds the amount payable for like services provided pursuant to the law in effect in the place in Canada where such services are furnished. For the purposes of section 10 of this Act, any overpayment under this subdivision shall be treated as if it were an overpayment of an annuity.

(5) The Board and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall furnish each other with such information, records, and documents as may be considered necessary to the administration of this subsection or section 226, and part A of title XVIII, of the Social Security Act.

(e) The Board is authorized to accept on behalf of the United States money gifts and bequests made unconditionally to the Railroad Retirement Account, to the Railroad Retirement Supplemental Account, or to the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Account, or to the Board, or any member, officer, or employee thereof, for the benefit of such accounts or any activity financed through such accounts. Any such gift accepted pursuant to the authority granted in this subsection shall be deposited in the specific account designated by the donor or, if the donor has made no such specific designation, in the Railroad Retirement Account.

COURT JURISDICTION

SEC. 8. Decisions of the Board determining the rights or liabilities of any person under this Act shall be subject to judicial review in the same manner, subject to the same limitations, and all provisions of law shall apply in the same manner as though the decision were a determination of corresponding rights or liabilities under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act except that the time within which proceedings for the review of a decision with respect to an annuity, supple. mental annuity, or lump-sum benefit may be commenced shall be one year after the decision will have been entered upon the records of the Board and communicated to the claimant.

RETURNS OF COMPENSATION

SEC. 9. Employers shall file with the Board, in such manner and form and at such times as the Board by rules and regulations may prescribe, returns of compensation of employees, and, if the Board shall so require, shall furnish employees with statements of their com pensation as reported to the Board. The Board's recovery of the compensation so returned shall be conclusive as to the amount of com