CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

January 15, 1969

Page 795

S. 11 -- INTRODUCTION OF BILL -- THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PERSONNEL ACT OF 1969

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and Senators ANDERSON, BAYH, BROOKE, BYRD of West Virginia, DODD, ERVIN, GRAVEL, HART, HATFIELD, INOUYE,

JACKSON, KENNEDY, MCCARTHY, MCGEE, MCGOVERN, METCALF, MONDALE, MONTOYA, MOSS, NELSON, PELL, RANDOLPH, RIBICOFF, TYDINGS, YARBOROUGH, and YOUNG of Ohio, I introduce, for appropriate reference, the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1969, to strengthen intergovernmental cooperation and the administration of grant-in-aid programs, to extend State and local merit systems to additional programs financed by Federal funds, to provide grants for improvement of State and local personnel administration, to authorize Federal assistance in training State and local employees, to provide grants to State and local governments for training of their employees, to authorize interstate compacts for personnel and training activities, to facilitate the interchange of Federal, State, and local personnel, and for other purposes.

I also ask unanimous consent that the text and a section-by-section analysis of the bill be printed in the RECORD following my remarks.

Mr. President, among the bills passed by the Senate in the last Congress was the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1967, which was a set of measures designed to help strengthen State and local governments through improved personnel administration and more efficient recruitment and training of personnel, particularly in the administrative, technical, and professional categories.

That bill was reported to the Senate from the Government Operations Committee after several years of study, followed by extensive hearings held by the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations. It came to the floor of the Senate with the sponsorship of 16 Senators, the endorsement of Governors, mayors, and other public officials throughout the country, and the strong support of citizen groups devoted to the public interest, and it was passed by a substantial majority.

Unfortunately, the other House did not have an opportunity to act on it, and it died with the adjournment of Congress.

The bill which I and others are introducing today is almost identical with the bill which was reported to the Senate in the last Congress. It is crucially important to the successful execution of the wide-ranging programs of Federal aid to State and local government which Congress has authorized. It is urgently necessary in order that government below the Federal level may assume its full share of responsibility for the public services demanded in this period of rapid growth and social change.

We have delayed much too long in dealing with the critical shortage of properly qualified personnel for the public service. Since the great expansion in public programs that occurred during the depression thirties, government has been chronically deficient in manpower. Take, for example, this statement from the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel, in 1933:

In spite of the vital importance of government and governmental services, American national, State, and local governments do not at the present time attract to their service their full share of the men and women of capacity and character. This is due primarily to our delay in adjusting our attitudes, institutions, and public personnel policies to fit social and economic changes of the past seventy years.

This must now be revised to read "the past hundred years," since 35 years have passed since that report and we have still not taken the obviously needed actions.

The present state of the public service was characterized in these terms by the Committee on Economic Development in its recent report, "Modernizing Local Government To Secure a Balanced Federalism"

Positions requiring knowledge of modern technology are frequently occupied by unqualified personnel.

Except in large cities, most department heads are amateurs.

The spoils system still prevailing in parts of the nation has deep roots in many local governments.

Pay scales are usually too low to attract competent professional applicants.

Such conditions are deplorable from any point of view, but they are intolerable when we consider that the vast programs of Federal aid, costing some $20 billion a year, are largely dependent upon State and local governments for their execution.

The burden carried by government below the Federal level grows constantly. Citizens are demanding better education for their children, more and better roads and public transit systems, clean and plentiful water, unpolluted air, better police and fire protection, more and better recreation facilities, more and better health care and hospitals, programs for enlarging job opportunities, and many other services.

In response to these demands, State and local government employment has been expanding at a rate of growth four times that of the U.S. economy and seven times that of the Federal Government. In the decade from 1955 to 1965 State and local employment increased from 4.7 to 7.7 million persons, and is expected to exceed 11 million by 1975. Total recruiting needs for administrative, professional, and technical employees are estimated at 250,000 a year.

It is to this crisis of governmental manpower that the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1969 is addressed. The bill provides for a system of Federal financial and technical assistance and other Federal support of State and local governments for personnel administration, training, and recruitment, on a purely voluntary basis. The authorities granted by the bill would be employed in such a manner as to encourage innovation and allow for diversity on the part of State and local governments in the design, execution, and management of their own systems of personnel administration and their own training programs.

The bill would:

First. Provide for intergovernmental cooperation, through an advisory council appointed by the President, in the development of policies and standards for the administration of programs for improvement of State and local personnel administration and training. The advisory council would report from time to time to the President and to the Congress, and in transmitting to the Congress reports of the advisory council, the President would submit to the Congress proposals of legislation which he deems desirable to carry out recommendations of the advisory council.

Second. Authorize the Civil Service Commission to make grants to State and local governments to plan and to make improvements in their systems of personnel administration.

Third. Transfer to the Civil Service Commission responsibility for administration of existing Federal statutory provisions requiring merit personnel administration for State and local employees engaged in certain federally assisted programs.

Fourth. Authorize Federal agencies to admit State and local government officials and employees, particularly in administrative, professional, and technical occupations, to Federal training programs. To meet the costs resulting from the admission of State or local employees or officials to such training programs, the Federal agency concerned may use its appropriations or may be reimbursed by State or local governments, or the Civil Service Commission may use its appropriations to reimburse the Federal agency concerned or make advances toward these costs.

Fifth. Authorize Federal agencies administering programs of financial grants or assistance to State or local governments to provide special training for State and local government officials or employees who have responsibilities related to those programs; and permit State and local governments to use appropriate Federal funds to establish training courses for or to pay certain education expenses of their officials or employees who have responsibilities related to the program concerned.

Sixth. Authorize the Civil Service Commission to make grants to State and local governments and other appropriate organizations for carrying out approved plans for training State and local government employees, for the development of such plans by State and local governments, and for government service fellowships for employees selected for special graduate-level university training.

Seventh. Authorize the Civil Service Commission to join with State and local governments in cooperative recruitment and examining activities and to furnish technical advice and assistance, at the request of State and local governments, to strengthen personnel administration.

Eighth. Give consent of Congress to interstate compacts designed to improve personnel administration and training for State and local employees.

Ninth. Authorize the temporary exchanging of personnel between the Federal Government and States and local governments.

Tenth. Direct the Civil Service Commission to coordinate activities of Federal agencies in providing training and technical assistance services to State and local governments, so as to avoid duplication of effort and to insure maximum effectiveness of administration.

Mr. President, I hope that this bill can be given early consideration in the Senate, and that it will receive final approval by the Congress in time for it to be put into execution before the end of 1969.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill will be received and appropriately referred; and, without objection, the bill and section-by-section analysis of the bill will be printed in the RECORD.

The bill (S. 11) to reinforce the Federal system by strengthening the personnel resources of State and local governments, to improve intergovernmental cooperation in the administration of grant-in-aid programs, to provide grants for improvement of State and local personnel administration, to authorize Federal assistance in training State and local employees, to provide grants to State and local governments for training of their employees, to authorize interstate compacts for personnel and training activities, to facilitate the temporary assignment of personnel between the Federal Government, and State and local governments, and for other purposes was received, read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on Government Operations, and ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

[Bill text omitted]